FOOD FOR THOUGHT PCIE Card Dead?

[Alex Hackney]

I've got an office pbxiaf system setup for an office of about 50. Since I've built and installed this unit, Ive had no issues with the system at all.

I went with a rack mount 1u asus server and more ram and ssd than I'd need just because it seemed like a good deal.

I also installed a Digium AEX808B (8) FXO Ports - PCI Express card to have failover for their dids when/if the internet should ever go down. Unlikely since they have fiber and cable on a load balancer but you never know. I set it up and then in flowroute, I set up the phones as failover for their various numbers as is usual mo. I tested it out and it worked then I never touched it again.

We had a severe storm Friday that did fry a couple of expensive routers in the same rack that werent on ups for some reason. The phone system was on ups but the telephone pots lines were not. The backups did not work while our internet was down. Now I've got the routers replaced and the phones are back up but dialing the backup lines directly yield just a ring and no acknowledgement from the asterisk -r interface that they are ringing. Is there another way to test them?

The lines going in are fine.

 

[briankelly63]

I had one go out after a storm. Digium replaced it. This is one of the drawbacks of POTS lines into a sensitive card in a sensitive PC. Like outboard individual units better.

 

[Alex Hackney]

Got a recommendation for one?

 

[briankelly63]

Cheapest is OBI 110 which has been very popular but Obi has some newer, robust solutions and patton has been a mainstay.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=electronics&field-keywords=obihai

http://www.patton.com/voip-gateway/sn4110/

http://www.obihai.com/

http://www.obihai.com/product-primer

http://www.obihai.com/faq/About-the-OBi/OBi202-OBi100-and-OBi110

 

[Alex Hackney]

Hrm I guess I hadn't realized that there were so many options. I'll look in to these. I need 8 backup lines but it looks like there are a bunch of choices.

Thank you.

 

[markrmcs]

I won't say that your car is fine or if it is indeed not functioning correctly. I will say, however, that the line of Digium cards that you reference, and that the FXO modules are installed on, is very robust when it comes to voltage transient protection. I personally tested several of these cards for Digium with regards to regulatory compliance and as part of the testing the cards are subject to several different voltages simulating lightning surges and I witnessed no faults. Granted the surges I applied were under controlled intervals and conditions, but the likelyhood of all ports failing and not just a few, is minimal. Just my experience with these cards. Something to consider.

 

[Alex Hackney]

I will test them out again today. Each one individually. Maybe I can just replace the modules and not the card itself?

We did get hit with lighting the previous Friday that wiped out a lot of equipment. Pretty much anything not on a ups was dead. Including two peplink routers that were pretty expensive.

This particular unit is at a radio station with a 200+ft tower 100ft behind the building. And we have network lines ran in to the building. They were grounded but I guess it can still happen.

 

[briankelly63]

I will test them out again today. Each one individually. Maybe I can just replace the modules and not the card itself?

We did get hit with lighting the previous Friday that wiped out a lot of equipment. Pretty much anything not on a ups was dead. Including two peplink routers that were pretty expensive.

This particular unit is at a radio station with a 200+ft tower 100ft behind the building. And we have network lines ran in to the building. They were grounded but I guess it can still happen.

call Digium they will probably replace them for free.

 

[phonebuff]

If you are dealing with Mission Critical stuff, you should be handling potential lightening strikes. Rather it be PolyPhasers on your coax antenna runs, or Cat-5 Cable to Wireless shots off the tower, or any thing else the gear is not expensive. https://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=389013

An if your copper FXO comes in anywhere near a tower, or other lightening attraction you should use gas permeable 66 Blocks or some form of protection -
http://www.ptsupply.com/solutions-library/Product Info/termination-and-protection.pdf