Tips For Installing And Configuring Digum Cards

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What things do you wish you had been warned while configuring Digium Cards at client’s site? These tips and suggestions will help you avoid pitfalls that will arise (according to Murphy’s law) late in the night and when you have the bigger pressure to have the whole thing working.

This information is based on a brainstorm that was raised in the community user’s list.

Information you should ask for:

  • What are the Ts configuration settings? You could try to get an order form from the client.
    • Line coding (ami, b8zs, hdb3)
    • Framing (d4/esf, cas, ccs)
    • Jack type (RJ48X, RJ45)
    • ISDN protocol (NI2, etc.)
    • Primary D-Channel assignment
  • What’s the relationship between the Ts? NFAS ?
  • Will a telco’s tech who can make changes be available for you by phone?
  • Willl you be receiving digits, if so, how many?
  • How will CID be configured?
  • How they want you to send numbers on outgoing calls, do you need to insert the STD code even for a local call?

Things you must take into account:

  •  Sometimes Telco’s technicians tend to sound very secure of information they have not confirmed, so, don’t blindly believe what they say; and use something like
    exten => s,1,NoOp(Call to ${EXTEN})

    to see how they are _actually_ sending numbers to you. Start out by sending your numbers in the same format, but don’t expect consistency.

Reminders you might found useful:

  • The dahdi program dahdi_genconf creates 2 files:
  1. /etc/dahdi/system.conf
  2. /etc/asterisk/dahdi-channels.conf

The latter is the one that maintains the configuration for asterisk. File chan_dahdi.conf is where the configuration is maintain, you will need to have an

#insert dahdi-channels.conf

at the start of chan_dahdi.conf, otherwise it will never be read. Else you can type the configuration yourselft in chan_dahdi.conf

There are no contexts ( [XXXX] ) in chan_dahdi.conf, so you have specify the characteristics and then specify the channels the characteristics apply to.

characteristic-a = foo
characteristic-b = bar
channel = 1

characteristic-b = baz
channel = 2

results in channel 1 having foo and bar while channel 2 has foo and baz.

Lastly, get sure to bring caffeinated beverages with you, as it will help you keep sharper focus.