TUTORIAL HylaFAX / AvantFax for PIAF! - Parts 1-4

tshif

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Ok Jack -
Thanks for sticking with us while we work through your problem.

Joe Roper pointed out to me that if Asterisk has already been compiled - this may be the result of the series of commands we ran.

Try this:

make distclean
make clean
./configure
make menuselect
make
make install

amportal restart

Let us know if this works - Ill update the instructions accordingly.
-Tony
 

jack

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Ok Jack -
Thanks for sticking with us while we work through your problem.

Joe Roper pointed out to me that if Asterisk has already been compiled - this may be the result of the series of commands we ran.

Try this:

make distclean
make clean
./configure
make menuselect
make
make install

amportal restart

Let us know if this works - Ill update the instructions accordingly.
-Tony

tshif:

Got it and problem solved.

Adding a Dedicated Virtual Fax Machine / DID & Sharing A VoIP DID w/ Fax also works great for me now.

Thanks for your great job and kindly help!
 

tshif

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tshif:

Got it and problem solved.

Adding a Dedicated Virtual Fax Machine / DID & Sharing A VoIP DID w/ Fax also works great for me now.

Thanks for your great job and kindly help!


:hurray: That's GREAT to hear about the did sharing, and virtual fax. Thanks for sharing your success.
I have updated the first post to reflect the make distclean command. Thanks for helping find we need it.
-tshif
 

mp1111

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:hurray: That's GREAT to hear about the did sharing, and virtual fax. Thanks for sharing your success.
I have updated the first post to reflect the make distclean command. Thanks for helping find we need it.
-tshif

for all those who had issues with T30 error (on and off)=>no carrier detected.
problem is now fixed after running update-scripts/update-source and upgrading to latest asterisk version:
http://www.asterisk.org/node/48572

i have send/received many faxes with no issues after this upgrade.
out of 20 tries, only one time I had busy signal and worked on retry.
Just fyi.
 

mp1111

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How did you remove hylafax as I accidentally (stupidly) reinstalled it on top of itself and now I have the same problem as you showed in the pdf file.
i have weekly backup saving to an iso. so i used that iso and restored from backup and reinstalled the script again...
i hope u can do this...
 

tshif

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Reinstall Woes?

Quite a few of us have taken the step of rerunning the install script - and then rather wishing we hadn't. :eek:

After working with a couple of machines in the wild that have gone through this - I can say it's not as bad as it seems.

Step one is to open up the installation script and look at it carefully. Just about any place it works with IAXmodem, or the DEV directory, is a potential place where you may need to remove extra entries.

Don't forget the custom context for the first 4 modems - it will be duplicated (although it doesn't cause any issues, its untidy and adds clutter.) and want removal.

After you have been through the cleanup process by reviewing the install script with a fine tooth comb, there's one last place to clean up for Avantfax. This fixes the problem of having 8 virtual modems that never come out of the not ready mode. Using phpMyAdmin, locate the AvantFax database, and find the modems table. You will see extra entries for the 4 iaxmomdems - a whole set of them for every time you re-ran the setup script. Remove all but the first 4 (0-3) modems in this table.

Once you hope you have it all ready to go - don't forget to:
service hylafax restart

I may put together a quick uninstall guide - but it seems that most folks in this predicament are only missing that last peice about the modems database.

Good luck - and let me know if this helps anyone in this position, ok?

-tshif
 

aster1sk

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Ask questions first, shoot later... no matter the source read the script before running it.

Joe and I talked about this last week. Coming from Joe and the fact that traffic has been huge on this article (generally a good thing) - it is reasonable to run this script on a fresh PiaF installl without question. I personally took a glimpse over this script and ran it after nothing caught my attentions as potentially harmful.

Just a quick note for those with password issues.

Create a new file in /var/www/html
Name it whatever.php
inside type :

<?= md5('some password); ?>

Replace 'some password' with the password you want to use.

You can then use PHPMyAdmin to update your password with the output of this page. This is a common technique used in web applications so admin's can't see passwords.

Note : upon authentication the password is sent from the client in plain text (unless using ssl in which case it is still plain text however via tunnel). Once it hits the server it grabs the value and usually passed it through md5() or sha1().

This is why you can update your password in the db with the md5 value generated from this new file, the only secure way of doing thi is via a client side salt or compiled algorithm on both ends (like VPN).

Hope this made sense.
 

phinphan

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Kudos and thanks to tshif - Tony

I had done the reinstall and messed up my system. Tony took the time to log into my system and get it working and then explained how he did this. All after hours on a Friday. The generosity of folks on this site is amazing. Thanks Tony.
 

mp1111

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I had done the reinstall and messed up my system. Tony took the time to log into my system and get it working and then explained how he did this. All after hours on a Friday. The generosity of folks on this site is amazing. Thanks Tony.

you are right. Tony was very helpful and always prompt to answer to any questions. same as Ward and tom.
thank you very much guys for all the help and keep up the good work.
piaf rocks!
 

phinphan

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How To: Make a new cover page for Avantfax

After much experimentation and searching, I finally found the method to make a custom cover sheet for Avantfax.

This method will make a cover page that Avantfax will use when you fax from the web interface.

Various printer drivers use other methods so this will not necessarily change their cover pages. Many of the other printer drivers utilize the older hylafax style cover sheet. The variable markers are different. Check out the coverpage in /etc/hylafax for an illustration. You can edit that file with notepad++ and change some names etc. Just copy that file to your local machine that will be sending the faxes and point your printer driver to it. I have not yet figured out how to edit that file with a graphic editor.

To change the Avantfax coversheet I utilized the instructions from these three posts:

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1900254&forum_id=540878
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1969643&forum_id=540878
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=2009269&forum_id=540878

I also utilized the codes from http://www.avantfax.com/faxcover.php

1. Download a copy of freehand from adobe. They have a free 30 day trial. http://www.adobe.com/products/freehand/

2. In Freehand select a postscript printer first and then create a fax cover sheet that you like using your graphics and set up to fit your application.

3. Font selection is critical as you must use a postscript font that is in your printer driver. I Freehand when you have the text selected you can change the font in the box on the right. Look for a font with the printer icon instead of the TT (for TrueType) icon. if you have errors later on it is probably from using the wrong font. I used arial unicode ms and that solved my problems. You place the variable with the XXXX-(code) format.

4. In Freehand make a graphic line (make the font color white so it does not show) that goes from side to side and place it at the bottom of the page. Without that line your text placement will not be accurate when the coverpage is rendered by avantfax.

5. When you are done with your file save it in freehand format.

6. Export your file to encapsulated postscript (.eps) format and select the setup tab and make sure that fonts are embedded and you save it as rgb color.

7. Use winscp or some other program and copy the file to your server in the following directory: /var/www/html/avantfax/images.

8. Rename the file to filename.ps from filename.eps

9. Edit the local_config.php file in /var/www/html/avantfax/includes and find the following (line 246 in my file)
$COVERPAGE_FILE = 'cover.ps'; and change the filename as appropriate.

10. Save your changes in the php file.

11. Send a fax to yourself.

You can download an eps file to edit from megaupload. The link is a couple of post down.

This method worked for me and the credit goes to the original posters on sourceforge's avantfax forums.

It is actually pretty easy when you get the hang of it. Now if I can just find an open source editor that will allow me to make the appropriate eps files I will be quite happy.

Thanks again to Ward, Joe and Tom for making this all possible.

Thanks to Tony for the writeup that brought this great tool to PBXinaFlash.
 

jroper

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Hi

Tony for writing it up, deserves a bit of credit as well ;-)

GIMP, http://www.gimp.org/ can create and edit eps files

If possible, can you upload an EPS file which people can edit to suit, then convert to a .ps file.



Joe
 

phinphan

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I can't seem to post the file as it is quite large. I will happily email it to anyone who pm's their email address.
 

dad311

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I got HylaFAX/AvantFax working, but then had an issue that stopped incoming call processing.

After testing incoming faxes and outgoing faxes. I decided to delete any unsent faxes in the outgoing box.

After deleting the three unsent faxes, there was A LOT of hard disk activity. Soon after my Aastra 57i showed "No Service".

I decided to reboot the machine. After rebooting, out going calls started working, but no incoming calls.

I ended up doing a restore in FreePBX. The restore fixed the issue, but left my with three questions:

1)Has anyone else had a issue like this?

2)How do I reinstall HylaFAX/AvantFax after a FreeBPX restore?

3)Is anyone running this HylaFAX/Avantfax on Pbxiaf on a production machine?
 

tshif

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dad311 -
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc?

1. I sure hope not!
2. well - thats depends on when the backup was made. Was Hylafax/Avantfax installed when the backup was made?
3. Yes, I have now 2 of these in production.
 

dad311

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What if I don't have a dedicated DID for faxing? Can I setup HylaFax/AvantFax with Zaptel or NVfax?

thx
 

tshif

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What if I don't have a dedicated DID for faxing? Can I setup HylaFax/AvantFax with Zaptel or NVfax?

thx

Check out these two articles which provide instructions to do what you want.

Code:
http://pbxinaflash.com/forum/showpost.php?p=22682&postcount=67
http://pbxinaflash.com/forum/showpost.php?p=22683&postcount=68
 

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