TIPS Schmooze Commercial Modules & Incredible PBX...

ballhogg

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Hey everyone,

I'm looking at building a "Commercial" fax server, and I'd like to use incrediblepbx to do it. My limited understanding in that the fax capabilities that come standard with the incrediblefax11 install only support one fax account. (i.e., I can only have incoming faxes forwarded to a single email address, etc.)

I've looked into Schmooze's Commercial modules, including their commercial fax module. It appears that this would do what I was looking for. However, I've also seen many posts around here and elsewhere that the commercial modules only work on their distro.

So I guess my question is a two part question. First, will the commercial fax module work on any of the incrediblepbx distros, and if so, which would you suggest?

Second question, would you have any other suggestions on ways to set up a fax server for multiple fax accounts/fax DID's other than the Schmooze commercial module.

If it helps clarify what I'm trying to do, I have several clients who have multiple fax numbers, thus making it (as far as I am aware) impossible to use just the standard incrediblefax11 install. If I have to have a special setup for them, I was just thinking of creating as dedicated fax server with the commercial module, and pointing all my fax DID's to this one server.

Any thoughts on the best way to accomplish this would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and consideration.
 

wardmundy

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We no longer support Schmooze/Sangoma commercial modules. Incredible PBX for XiVO supports multiple fax accounts using the XiVO Client on any platform at no cost.
 

ballhogg

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We no longer support Schmooze/Sangoma commercial modules. Incredible PBX for XiVO supports multiple fax accounts using the XiVO Client on any platform at no cost.
Do you have a link to instructions on how to set this up? I've never used XiVO. But I would be interested in taking a look.
 

dicko

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If it is helpful, for a "commercial" grade fax server, you might want to look into hylafax , it is much more robust for such a situation, The FreePBX/asterisk method is a "best effort" one shot kinda thing, whereas hylafax will retry failed faxes, pick-up where the last fax attempt failed, you can arrange for alternate routing if the fax repeatedly failed, fax broadcast and a whole bunch of other things. It supports iaxmodems and t38modems for Asterisk integration and you can have as many as you want for DID routing /outbound pooling.

A nice GUI for it is Avantfax which will do pretty well all you ask for, but needs a little patching over the somewhat long in the tooth php code, I believe such patches are mostly posted here though.
 

ballhogg

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If it is helpful, for a "commercial" grade fax server, you might want to look into hylafax , it is much more robust for such a situation, The FreePBX/asterisk method is a "best effort" one shot kinda thing, whereas hylafax will retry failed faxes, pick-up where the last fax attempt failed, you can arrange for alternate routing if the fax repeatedly failed, fax broadcast and a whole bunch of other things. It supports iaxmodems and t38modems for Asterisk integration and you can have as many as you want for DID routing /outbound pooling.

A nice GUI for it is Avantfax which will do pretty well all you ask for, but needs a little patching over the somewhat long in the tooth php code, I believe such patches are mostly posted here though.
I was under the impression that by installing incrediblefax11, that's what it uses (hylafax and avantfax). Am I incorrect with this assumption?
 

dicko

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I can't speak for that script, but I can assure you that once you have those two up and running you are not limited to one account/email, and the abilities of Hylafax are countless if well customized
 

wardmundy

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I was under the impression that by installing incrediblefax11, that's what it uses (hylafax and avantfax). Am I incorrect with this assumption?

You're correct. Incredible Fax is pure HylaFax/AvantFax. What you need to do now is just master HylaFax and AvantFax configuration options. Lots of great documentation is available on the web.
 

ballhogg

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You're correct. Incredible Fax is pure HylaFax/AvantFax. What you need to do now is just master HylaFax and AvantFax configuration options. Lots of great documentation is available on the web.
So, if I can learn/figure out HylaFax and AvantFax, I should be able to set up multiple fax accounts, correct? Ward, how will this interface with the PBX interface? Once set up in HylaFax/AvantFax, can it be managed through the PBX interface? If so, is there any documentation on that? I feel so out of place with not knowing anything really about HylaFax/AvantFax, but I'm always eager to learn.

Thanks
 

wardmundy

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AvantFax is the GUI that is used to manage HylaFax. It's accessible through the browser GUI in Incredible PBX. Each user can have a username and password. HylaFax interfaces to Asterisk using 4 iaxmodem trunks which are automatically configured as part of the install. More can be added, and individual trunks can have separate emails. That's the extent of my knowledge so you'll have to take it from there. We send about one fax a year. :eek:
 

ballhogg

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AvantFax is the GUI that is used to manage HylaFax. It's accessible through the browser GUI in Incredible PBX. Each user can have a username and password. HylaFax interfaces to Asterisk using 4 iaxmodem trunks which are automatically configured as part of the install. More can be added, and individual trunks can have separate emails. That's the extent of my knowledge so you'll have to take it from there. We send about one fax a year. :eek:
Sounds good. I'm with you. I don't understand why people refuse to give up faxing. I have clients who print out digital documents so they can fax them to people. And they scan in every fax they receive so they can store it digitally. But they refuse to just attach the digital document to an email to send it! Anyway, as far as the interface with the PBX goes, I guess I'm mainly wondering if there is a way to specify a certain DID can be sent to a specific account in AvantFax. For instance, if I have multiple customers who each have a separate fax DID, all set up in the same pbx, can I send DID 1 to account 1 in AvantFax, and DID 2 to account 2, and so on and so on.

I do appreciate your help in understanding how the pieces fit together. I'm sure I'll learn lots in figuring out HylaFax/AvantFax and how they interact with IncrediblePBX. Probably just in time for all my customers to ditch faxing and move to email!!! Anyway, thanks again for all your help.
 

dicko

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Hylafax can do all that, The easy way with Avantfax is make a modem and account for each client, as appropriate and Use FreePBX to route the inbound DID's to that modem.

If you use Hylafax+ then I would add a cron job

* * * * * if [ "$(head -1 /var/spool/hylafax/etc/hosts.hfaxd)" != "127.0.0.1" ]; then /usr/bin/sort -u /var/spool/hylafax/etc/hosts.hfaxd -o /var/spool/hylafax/etc/hosts.hfaxd ;fi #fix addfaxuser

To fix a small glitch in Avantfax
 

islandtech

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Sounds good. I'm with you. I don't understand why people refuse to give up faxing.
Some of my clients were told that a physical machine was need with their EMR software to meet HIPPA requirements.
 

jerrm

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Some of my clients were told that a physical machine was need with their EMR software to meet HIPPA requirements.
BS. The EMR vendor probably doesn't want to integrate faxing or speak for 3rd party products, so only blesses the easiest, least secure, most basic, but technically allowed method.

But that doesn't mean an "out of the box" IPBX AvantFax/HylaFax install would be HIPAA compliant.
 

dhoppy

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We no longer support Schmooze/Sangoma commercial modules. Incredible PBX for XiVO supports multiple fax accounts using the XiVO Client on any platform at no cost.
Forgive me in advance for reviving this thread. I setup a new Incredible PBX (13-12) today at rentpbx and found that custom contexts won't work with pjsip extensions. I'd like to restrict which outbound routes extensions use, and found a Schmooze module that would work. Is there a way to install Schmooze modules? Or another way to restrict outbound calling without custom contexts?
 

mainenotarynet

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How big is your system (extension wise)?

One way is Connectivity->Outbound Routes -> New Route (for each set of extensions you want to restrict trunks to)

There is something called Dial Pattern -- My state has one area code so I have two lines here (actually 6 for what I need to do)

The 4 blocks there are Prepend (adds stuff for you [+]) -- Prefix (if dialed, strips before sending to trunk [ | ]) -- Dial Pattern (What is needed to trigger the route to be used -- number wise) -- and CallerID <<<----This is what you want to restrict to.

Examples of what I use for one of my businesses (wish I could get the old style block back for when I do my Florida Route [use old style when needed but still have access to the new way as well])

Code:
My dial patterns for calls in anywhere (except Florida -- that is a totally separate animal here)

Prepend + Prefix | Pattern / CallerID
207 + [blank] |  NXXXXXX / 10[1-9]XX  <- Restricts  7 digit dialed numbers to Extensions 10100 - 10999 (I do not have extensions 10000-10099)
207 + [Blank] | NXXXXXX / 11XXX  <- Same as above but for Extensions 11000 - 11999
207 + 61 | NXXXXXX / [Blank] <- If you Dial 61 and 7 digits from any extension 
[Blank] + [Blank] | NXXNXXXXXX / 10[1-9]XX <- Restricts calls to any 10 digit number (even 207) to Extensions 10100 - 10999 (I do not have extensions 10000-10099)
[Blank] + [Blank] | NXXNXXXXXX / 11XXX <- Same as above but for Extensions 11000 - 11999
[Blank] + 61 | NXXNXXXXXX / [Blank] <- If you Dial 61 and 10 digits from any extension

This is the dial plan I use for my MaineNotaryNet Route that uses a MaineNotaryNet Trunk that forces the correct Called ID for that business -- I run my PBX for 4 different groups each set starts with a 1,2,3 or some extensions have a separate number for the extension and a separate route is created for it.

then down the bottom choose the trunks you wish to restrict the extensions to use. and Submit - Apply Config.

The other thing you need is to ORDER the routes - Asterisk goes Top Down My E911 route is first in my list as it is the most specific, then my Fax Route as it is a specific route to ONE extension, then my 3 Groups, then my 4 GVoice routes as I do not use them for outgoing as I do not want the number coming up on caller ID so its just for incoming and for when I do not want my business/real Home number out there (one-off calls), then the default rout which if everything else is done right, should NEVER happen.

This should do what you want without the need for custom contexts -- I found custom contexts break other things, like paging [at least it did when I used them years ago]). Also if you use followme, be sure to create a prefix to force the use of a certain trunk and add it to follow me numbers, as if a call goes to followme - I've hade a default route used as it sees the external CallerID instead of the extension the y wanted that then went to FOllowMe so a number to a cell on my MaineNotaryNet business extension reads 612075551212# (don't forget the # at the end)

Hope this helps you out.
 

dicko

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@krzykat

Hylafax can do all that, The easy way with Avantfax is make a modem and account for each client, as appropriate and Use FreePBX to route the inbound DID's to that modem.

If you use Hylafax+ then I would add a cron job

* * * * * if [ "$(head -1 /var/spool/hylafax/etc/hosts.hfaxd)" != "127.0.0.1" ]; then /usr/bin/sort -u /var/spool/hylafax/etc/hosts.hfaxd -o /var/spool/hylafax/etc/hosts.hfaxd ;fi #fix addfaxuser

To fix a small glitch in Avantfax

was an old "workaround"

better to change to your faxadduser "-c" in

/var/www/html/fax/includes/config.php

$FAXADDUSER = $HYLAFAX_PREFIX.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'sbin'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'faxadduser -c;

(man faxadduser)
 

dicko

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Couple of points to the thread

hylafax+ is a better replacement to hylafax

You will never be able to add commercial modules to a regular PIAF build because they are obfuscated by zandguard and that is not longer a thing , even for RH, so adding that to debian or any non x86 type cpu (arm) will likely just waste your time.

Make sure your ghostscript is not eight years old
 

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