Configuring NET SatisFAXtion with Avaya IP Office

Documentation provided by Kristian Guntzelman - G&C Interconnects - 3-15-2010

Summary: This document will provide an example of how to connect the FaxBack Net SatisFAXtion server to the Avaya IP Office phone system, utilizing SIP endpoints for T.38 FAX support.

Avaya IP Office Prerequisites: The Avaya IP Office must be running release 5.0 or higher, and an available 3rd Party IP Endpoint license must be available for use by the FAX Server. Additionally, any IP-enablement hardware, such as Voice Compression Modules (VCMs) must be installed/licensed accordingly.

IP Office Connectivity Programming: Prior to connection of the FAX Server, you must build a SIP station in the IP Office. This is the physical “port” the FAX Server will utilize for inbound & outbound FAX calls. After that, an associated USER must also be created to assign dialing rules and restrictions to the FAX Server.

Creating the Extension: Connect to the IP Office and go to the EXTENSIONS section. Right-click and select NEWSIP EXTENSION. A new SIP extension will be created. The Extension ID is irrelevant because the system will find an unused ID after the configuration is saved back to the system. The BASE EXTENSION is the phone’s “Extension Number”. This isn’t the number for your FAX DID. Instead, think of it as creating a specific number for the FAX Server itself (like a modem number), where additional DID will be pointed to in the future. Below, we have chosen extension 6991911 (an internal number – not a DID). Make sure FORCE AUTHORISATION is disabled.

The VoIP tab is where you will set specific capabilities for the SIP Extension. You do not need to enter an IP ADDRESS, as the FAX Server will register to the system from whatever address it has at the time. DTMF SUPPORT = INFO allows dialed digits to be sent as information packets instead of audible tones. This prevents the possibility of distortion of the tones over VoIP. If you experience issues with this setting, you can also select RFC2833. FAX TRANSPORT SUPPORT must be enabled to allow T.38 to function. RE-INVITE SUPPORTED will be automatically enabled when FAX TRANSPORT SUPPORT is activated. ALLOW DIRECT MEDIA PATH allows SIP devices to send audio packets directly to the other end (such as another SIP device or a SIP trunk), without sending them through the IP Office or involving any VCM hardware (there are some caveats to this). This should be enabled unless you anticipate a network routing issue (blockage) between SIP points.

The T38 Fax tab is where you can modify the specific characteristics of T38 support provided by the IP Office for this station. In this case, we’ve left USE DEFAULT VALUES checked.

Creating the Extension’s USER: Now we must create the USER profile for the extension we just created. Most people consider this building the actual extension, as the “user” is where all features, restrictions, name, etc. are programmed. Because the IP Office supports several mobility/hot-desking features, extensions and users are separate entities, which may cause some confusion in this setup. If the Base Extension/Extension Number match on both the extensions and users, they are automatically paired up when the system starts up (the user profile is assigned to the extension automatically). Go to the USER section of the IP Office config. Right-click and select NEW. Enter a NAME (short name – not a display name). Enter a FULL NAME (this is the display name on the phones). Enter the EXTENSION you created in the previous task. In our example, we’d enter 6991911. We chose to hide this extension from the phones’ “phone book”, by putting a check in EX DIRECTORY (Exclude Directory). We also created a template (called a User Right), for some of the common settings we’d apply to SIP Server ports. You can identify these settings in the examples by the appearance of a padlock by the field (such as PRIORITY below).

On the VOICEMAIL tab, make sure VOICEMAIL ON is unchecked. This does not prevent the creation of a voicemail box for this user. This option merely controls whether or not inbound calls can be forwarded to voicemail after x rings. For security reasons, we entered a password for the voicemail box (under VOICEMAIL CODE and CONFIRM VOICEMAIL CODE). This has no impact on the FAX Server, and is just good practice from a telephony perspective.

On the TELEPHONYCALL SETTINGS tab, notice that CALL WAITING is checked. This is a necessity if you expect your FAX Server to handle more than 1 call at a time. We also programmed a WRAP-UP TIME of 5 seconds. This allows the server to delay inbound calls for 5 seconds after the completion of the previous call. This is good practice with analog FAX Servers (allowing time for the FAX modem/card to recycle), but isn’t necessary with SIP. Also note that TRANSFER RETURN TIME is set to OFF.

On the TELEPHONYSUPERVISOR SETTINGS tab, you must enter a LOGIN CODE. This code is the “password” for the FAX Server’s SIP credentials. Also note that FORCE LOGIN is unchecked, as is FORCE ACCOUNT CODE, CAN INTRUDE, and CCR AGENT. The CANNOT BE INTRUDED box is checked, so others can’t monitor FAX calls using Agent/Supervisor call monitoring. Since this is a FAX Server, the only thing you’d hear would be FAX tones. Make sure STATUS ON NO-ANSWER is set for LOGGED ON. This prevents a temporary SIP/FAX Server error from permanently disabling the FAX Server extension. Note that RESET LONGEST IDLE TIME is set for ALL CALLS. This allows the system to take into account the FAX Server’s inbound and outbound calls for its idle time statistics. This will make more sense later when we start dealing with the DIDs (particularly when working with hunt groups).

The config must now be sent back to the IP Office, and may require a system reboot to take effect. This completes the basic settings on the IP Office to support a connection for the FAX Server. Once functioning, feel free to play with additional settings as desired.

NetSatisFAXtion Config: For the most part, the FaxBack Net SatisFAXtion installation and configuration is straight forward. The options are logical and easy to understand. There are only a couple of terminology differences this example should help you with, allowing the FAX Server to be connected to the Avaya IP Office with relative ease.

Installing: When installing the Net SatisFAXtion software, you will choose IP FAX (T.38) VOIP GATEWAYS as the device type. Then hit NEXT.

On the next screen (below), select SHOW ADVANCED SETTINGS, as we will need to customize the specific options for SIP connectivity.

You will be presented with the window below. Select the THROUGH THIS SIP PROXY/SERVER button.

Under the PROXY section, enter the IP ADDRESS of the IP Office system (our example is 192.168.200.101). Under USER NAME, enter the EXTENSION of the USER you created on the IP Office (our example is 6991911). For PASSWORD, enter the user’s password from the TELEPHONYSUPERVISOR SETTINGS section of the IP Office User Config. For AOR (Address of Record), also put the EXTENSION (again our example is 6991911). Then hit NEXT.

Enter an appropriate name for the CSID field. Also enter an appropriate phone number for the ANI field. DO NOT put the dashes (“-“) in the ANI, only the digits. We also told the system to dial a 9 when calling out. This isn’t necessary if you’ve programmed the IP Office USER to not require a 9, which we won’t cover in this example.

Complete the rest of the FAX Server installation, and start the services. If everything has gone well, we now have the FAX Server registered to the IP Office system. If you were to dial 6991911 (in our example), you should receive FAX tone (unless your FAX Server is programmed to not accept unknown DID calls). The next step is to build DIDs in the IP Office.

IP Office DID Programming: Building a DID in the IP Office is relatively simple, and there are two ways to do it. The first method would be to create an IP Office USER (no EXTENSION, just the USER) and enable CALL FORWARD of all calls to the FAX Server extension. However, if there is an issue with the server (such as no available server ports), inbound FAX calls would receive a busy signal. This is the simplest method, and if chosen, you can skip to the CREATING A FAX DID section. There is another way, which minimizes redial attempts. The other (and arguably better) method is to create a HUNT GROUP in the IP Office, and assign a single member to it (The FAX Server user). By doing this, if the FAX Server is too busy to handle an inbound call, we can queue the call for the next available FAX Server port and the congestion is virtually unnoticed to inbound FAX calls. This is the method we’ll discuss in this manual.

Creating the FAX Server Hunt Group: Connect to the IP Office and go to the HUNT GROUP section. Right-click and select NEW. Enter the display name of the hunt group in the NAME field. Enter the EXTENSION for the Hunt Group (our example is 6991910). You will need this number later. Make sure RING MODE is set to COLLECTIVE CALL WAITING. Without it, the FAX Server will only be able to take 1 inbound call at a time. Also make sure OVERFLOW MODE is set to CALL, in the event you use this capability in the future (for a redundant server). Set the AGENT’S STATUS ON NO-ANSWER APPLIES TO field to NONE. Unless your environment specifically requires it (multi-site networking of IP Office systems), disable the ADVERTISE GROUP checkbox. Now, in the USER LIST, hit EDIT, and add the new FAX Server port (our example is 6991911) to this group. Make sure it’s checkbox is turned on, so it can receive calls. This should be the only user in this hunt group.

On the VOICEMAIL tab, make sure VOICEMAIL ON is unchecked. Again, it is recommended to enter a password for VOICEMAIL CODE / CONFIRM VOICEMAIL CODE, for security reasons.

On the FALLBACK tab, make sure the SERVICE MODE is set to IN SERVICE, or else the hunt group (FAX Server) won’t take any calls.

On the QUEUEING tab, enable the QUEUEING check box. This will allow inbound FAX calls to receiving a ringing signal (instead of a busy signal) when all FAX ports are in use. Set the QUEUE LENGTH to the maximum number of inbound calls you want to queue (wait) for the FAX Server when no ports are available. It is recommended that you set this value to the number of Licensed Ports on the FAX Server. FAX machines have a natural tendency to redial after 60-120 seconds. Having any higher of a QUEUE LENGTH will cause inbound FAX calls to wait unnecessarily, as the existing queue must be answered and FAXes received before any additional calls can be answered (redial time most likely would have expired already). Set QUEUE TYPE to ASSIGN CALL ON AGENT ALERT.

The config may now be sent back to the IP Office.

Creating a FAX DID: Finally, we need to create DIDs to route to the FAX Server. It is assumed the creation of Incoming Call Routes for the DIDs are already complete (or the process at least known) on the FAX Server. As such, it will not be covered here. In our example, we have a published FAX number of 513-361-9663. This comes in on DID 1663. We want to route the DID number to the FAX Server. Note that, depending on the inbound call configuration in your specific environment, you may also need to create an Incoming Call Route, associating the digits inbound from the phone company to the DID extension. That info is not covered in this example. Also note, if you have multiple DIDs to create, you can create them all before sending the config back to the IP Office system. You do not need to send the config after each DID creation. Connect to the IP Office and go to the USER section. Right-click and select NEW. Enter a NAME (short name, not the phone display name). We prefixed everything with FS to indicate “FAX Server”. Enter a FULL NAME (this is the display name on the phones). Enter the EXTENSION of the DID you wish to route. In our example, we’d enter 1663, matching the digits from the phone company. You can decide if you want to enable EX DIRECTORY for your purposes.

On the VOICEMAIL tab, make sure VOICEMAIL ON is unchecked. Again, it is recommended to enter a password for VOICEMAIL CODE / CONFIRM VOICEMAIL CODE, for security reasons.

On the FORWARDING tab, make sure the FORWARD UNCONDITIONAL checkbox is enabled. In the FORWARD NUMBER field, enter the EXTENSION NUMBER of the FAX Server Hunt Group (in our example, this group was 6991910). If you chose not to create a Hunt Group for Call Queuing capabilities, the FORWARD NUMBER would actually be the number of the FAX Server SIP Station you created at the beginning, instead of the Hunt Group extension number. Also enable FORWARD INTERNAL CALLS, so test calls to the DID extensions actually route to the FAX Server as well.

The config may now be sent back to the IP Office.

Conclusion: You should now have a working environment for both inbound and outbound FAXes utilizing T.38 on the Avaya IP Office phone system. Programming of the FAX Server can commence.