SOLVED Which Fax to use?

LesD

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│ PIAF Installed Version = 2.0.6.3 under *VIRTUALBOX*
│ FreePBX Version = 2.10.1.9
│ Running Asterisk Version = 1.8.18.0
│ Asterisk Source Version = 1.8.18.0
│ Dahdi Source Version = 2.6.1+2.6.1
│ Libpri Source Version = 1.4.12
│ IP Address = 10.27.27.245 on eth0
│ Operating System = CentOS release 6.3 (Final)
│ Kernel Version = 2.6.32-279.14.1.el6.i686 - 32 Bit

I have been reading various threads and it looks like that HylaFAX / AvantFax for PIAF should fit the bill (reading only the 1st and last page of 26 pages). That thread started in 2009 and I just wonder if it is still the best route to follow using my current PIAF version.

My needs are very simple - to receive and send very occasional faxes.

To receive I would be using a sipgate.co.uk trunk and sending would be via one of several sip trunks or a landline connected via an SPA 3102.

(I am totally confused as to the various FAX versions floating about and what is current. Having looked at this a year or two back I came away with the conclusion that Fax over sip was not reliable. Has that changed?)
 
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Fax over SIP is touch-and-go. It's more reliable than it was in 2009, but it still depends on your SIP carrier and on the equipment you are sending to. I've found that we had better luck when faxing to/from another digital fax service (e.g., eFax) than to an analog device. We would often receive half pages or distorted pages when sending to or from analog devices.

For occasional faxing, Hylafax/Avantfax are excellent options. We switched to Vitelity's vFax service recently but that's for a business line where we couldn't risk the reliability issues we were having (although some were also related to problems with our SIP carrier at the time).
 

LesD

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Thanks. I will give Hylafax/Avantfax a go.
 

LesD

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Gave it a go but fell at the first fence.

The original article is at http://www.pbxinaflash.com/community/index.php?threads/hylafax-avantfax-for-piaf-parts-1-4.3645/

I try

root@pbx:~ $ wget http://projects.colsolgrp.net/projects/afax/repository/raw/a-fax.sh

and get

--2013-06-06 17:59:59-- http://projects.colsolgrp.net/projects/afax/repository/raw/a-fax.sh
Resolving projects.colsolgrp.net... 70.167.120.212
Connecting to projects.colsolgrp.net|70.167.120.212|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 406 Not Acceptable
2013-06-06 17:59:59 ERROR 406: Not Acceptable.
Looks like the project is no longer there.
 

LesD

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The purpose of starting this thread was to get some clarity as to how to install a simple fax facility. I would be very happy with a one click solution - no tutorial necessary!

I have seen references to Incredible Fax but it was always with an immediate reference to Incredible PBX (which I do not have) so I was never sure if that was a prerequisite.

I actually started to read your article before making my original post. Having read it more carefully, just a few questions to clarify:

1. You mention CentOS 5.6 but I presume 6.3 is OK.
2. Under prerequisites you mention Google Voice. Is that necessary?

I'm off to make a backup of my PIAF VM and will then give it a go as per your article.

PS: Reading further, it does seem that Incredible PBX is a perquisite. I have plain PIAF. I am confused.
 
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You can install in this order:

FreePBX via PiaF --> Incredible PBX --> Incredible Fax. You can installed Incredible Fax without installing PiaF but if you do so, you can't go back and install Incredible PBX later.
 

LesD

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Sorry, but I do not understand.

I now have PIAF installed - which includes FreePBX. Can I now install Incredible Fax? I looked some time back at the Incredible PBX goodies and decided I did not need them.
 

wardmundy

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Type help-pbx and follow your nose to the Incredible Fax installer for Asterisk 1.8.
 

LesD

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We have preconfigured PIAF fax installers for Asterisk 1.8 and Asterisk 11. Not sure why you'd expect want a custom tutorial again. :ack2:

Took the plunge, signed my life away to never ever be able to install Incredible PBX, and ran the install. The claim for an under 5 minute install is slightly exaggerated - on my system at least - but it was painless except for the fact that there must be a handful at least of users who do not live in the US of A.

In the UK not all area codes are 3 digits and phone numbers 7 digits and the prefix for international calls is 00. With all the warnings about not touching anything, I did not dare change any of that. I presume there is provision to change after the install.

I have to read through your post-install instructions and follow them (except for any references to 10 digit phone numbers :) )and get it finished. Thanks again for all the hard work.
 

LesD

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Update on how I got on:

As I was using existing trunks there was actually nothing more to be done.

I tried sending a fax to a landline twice. Both times the first attempt failed but the second attempt got through. This was using a VoIPtalk sip trunk.

I then tried to send a fax to myself using the same outgoing trunk and a VoIPtalk IAX incoming trunk. It consistently failed. I say status messages like "Failure to receive silenc" and "DIS/DTC received 3 times". The failure emails said:

requeued Failure to receive silence (synchronization failure).
Problem sending the fax.: DIS/DTC received 3 times; DCS not recognized; Giving up after 3 attempts to send same page

I then tried it to one of my landlines and that went through. Basically consistent with Ward's article.

The received fax had on the top line: Left: my email address. Centre: date/time/time-zone. right: Page number

There was no mention anywhere of the sending phone number, but that is actually just fine for me.

The email address on the left is not what I want. I would prefer my name. I'm not sure where it comes from. It is not from my Avantfax account. I presume it must be coming from the modem properties, though that is not very logical.

All in all a very good start!! Thank you Ward.
 

wardmundy

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In the UK not all area codes are 3 digits and phone numbers 7 digits and the prefix for international calls is 00. With all the warnings about not touching anything, I did not dare change any of that. I presume there is provision to change after the install.


Fixing the 00 issue is well-documented, but here you go. Log into your server as root and...

Code:
sed -i 's|_00.|_000.|' /etc/asterisk/extensions_custom.conf
asterisk -rx "dialplan reload"

You'll still have to manually adjust the dialcode prefixes for your area using FreePBX. You'll find them in the Trunk and Outbound Route configurations. Now do some reading. :arabia:
 
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The email address on the left is not what I want. I would prefer my name. I'm not sure where it comes from. It is not from my Avantfax account. I presume it must be coming from the modem properties, though that is not very logical.

All in all a very good start!! Thank you Ward.

The header information is stored in:

var/spool/hylafax/etc/config.ttyIAX...

You'll need to change the settings for each modem (0-3) to whatever you want the header to say. You can set each one separate and then restrict users to only use specific modems (thereby having a unique header for each user).
 

LesD

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Found it. There are two lines that look relevant.

LocalIdentifier: "myEmailAddress"
TagLineFormat: "From %%l|%c|Page %%P of %%T"

The first one I changed and did a test and indeed the header is now showing my name.
The second seems to be what controls the format of the header. The "%%l"" (letter L not a 1) is presumably LocalIdentifier. I wonder what other options are available?

Thank you.
 

LesD

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Fixing the 00 issue is well-documented, but here you go. Log into your server as root and...
Thank you but I don't actually have an issue. I was just mentioning your Fax install script insisting on a 3 digit area code, etc.

In practice it does not seem to be actually relevant as anyway the fax page header does not show a sending fax number (which is fine for me)
-----------

I did one more test using a sipgate.co.uk line to receive on but that came up with a "No carrier detected" error.

Bottom line: The system works for me using a sip trunk for sending and a landline for receiving.
 

LesD

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Good News: I tried a test sending to my Anveo Direct US trunk (claims to be T38 compatible) and it worked 1st time!
 

LesD

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To enable me to use Webmin to configure Hylafax I downloaded [hylafax_mod-1.9.wbm.gz] and installed it into Webmin. The install was confirmed:

The following modules have been successfully installed and added to your access control list :
HylaFAX Server in /usr/libexec/webmin/hylafax (328 kB) under category Servers

However, trying to run the HylaFAX Server module gives me the error:

Error - Perl execution failed

Can't locate CGI.pm in @INC (@INC contains: /usr/libexec/webmin /usr/local/lib/perl5 /usr/local/share/perl5 /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib/perl5 /usr/share/perl5 . /usr/libexec/webmin/) at /usr/libexec/webmin/hylafax/index.cgi line 25.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/libexec/webmin/hylafax/index.cgi line 25.

I then removed the module and installed version 1.8.2 but still got the same error.
 

LesD

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Decided to play with a fresh install of PIAF-Green
Code:
 PIAF Installed Version  = 2.0.6.4 under *VIRTUALBOX*             
  │  FreePBX Version          = 2.11.0.11                             
  │  Running Asterisk Version = 11.5.1                                 
  │  Asterisk Source Version  = 11.5.1                                 
  │  Dahdi Source Version    = 2.7.0.1                               
  │  Libpri Source Version    = 1.4.14                                 
  │  IP Address              = 10.27.27.106 on eth0                   
  │  Operating System        = CentOS release 6.4 (Final)             
  │  Kernel Version          = 2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.i686 - 32 Bit
I would like to install Incredible Fax for this version so ran ' help-pbx' (showing: Menu 2.1.1 released on 122912) which told me to run 'install-incredfax2'

That then displayed
Code:
install-incredfax2 - 2.2.1 released on 052713
CentOS release 6.4 (Final) - 32 Bit
**********************************************************************
* I am sorry. Your system does not meet the requirements            *
**********************************************************************
* REQUIRED                    DETECTED
*----------------------------- ------------------------
* Asterisk Version 1.8/10          | 11
* Freepbx Version 2.8/2.9/2.10 | 2.11.0.11
* PIAF Family Version 206X    | 20645
* CentOS Version 6.2 or higher | 6.4
* CentOS Type 32 or 64 bit      | 32 Bit
**********************************************************************
* Now exiting
How do I install the version for 11?

I have done update-programs/fixes.
 

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