Mailing List Archive

Hi,

On Sat, Nov 05, 2005 at 05:56:00PM +0100, Gert Doering wrote:
> Hmmm. It *seems* that I'm not accessing the modem properly - a few
> seconds after my last attempt, with me still being in telnet (writing
> this mail), suddenly I had this in my telnet window:
>
> AT&F&D2S34=18000S40=10S54=456debugthismodemS71=4
> OK
>
> ... so it seems that "the router wanting to talk to the modem" and
> "my telnet connection to line 21" are interfering here.

Assuming that "telnet to 2000+<line>" is not the proper way to do it,
I did some more searching on cisco.com and found the page that describes
how to setup a rotary group and telnet into 7000+<rotary>.

Went there, did that, same effect - dialout, remote side picks up,
a few seconds of handshake, NO CARRIER on the AS5300 side (while the
remote modem continues negotiating with "empty air" for some more time).

"term mon" displays this, in parallel:

47w3d: %ISDN-6-CONNECT: Interface Serial0:30 is now connected to 35663087 N/A
47w3d: %ISDN-6-DISCONNECT: Interface Serial0:30 disconnected from 35663087 , call lasted 8 seconds

so the router seems to think "all is well".

I am able to establish a data connection (ATZ, AT+FCLASS=0, ATD...), but
fax *just does not work*.


IOS version is c5300-is-mz.123-12.bin, and we're using the MICA firmware
bundled with that IOS.


So what I'd really like to hear now is a success report "we're sending
faxes with an AS5300, this is our config, and *that* is the common
problem..."

gert

--
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Gert Doering - Munich, Germany gert@greenie.muc.de
fax: +49-89-35655025 gert@net.informatik.tu-muenchen.de
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Hi,

one or the other of you might have seen the thread below - it's about
"using AS5xxx devices to send outgoing faxes", and the non-workings of
it ("telnet $router 3001", send AT+FCLASS=2.0, ATD...).

Since I have a number of not yet fully production devices for my
X.75/modem dial-in tests at hand right now, I decided to give this
another try.

And lo and behold, there's news on this :-)

- Fax *works* on the 3640 with NM-DM, with IOS 12.2(40a) and MICA
portware 2.7.3.0

- Fax does *not* work on the same device with IOS 12.3(26) and
MICA portware 2.9.4.0 (bundled)

- Fax does *not* work on an AS5300 with IOS 12.3(26) and MICA
portware 2.9.5.0 (bundled)


In cases of "not working", the 3640 gives this message from "debug modem":

Jun 12 13:36:05 cisco-test daemon:debug 88: Jun 12 11:36:05: Modem 2/26 Mica: DISCONNECT after 00:00:07, due to reason (0x6104) No end of answer-back tone.

which hints at "V.92 stuff might be confusing the fax part" (the AS5300
doesnt' give this nice message, but there are many more debug options
there and I might not have found the proper one yet).


If I try to disable V.92 stuff (ATS29=0 or ATS63=0), the message changes
to:

Jun 12 13:54:25 cisco-test daemon:debug 164: Jun 12 11:54:25: Modem 2/28 Mica: DISCONNECT after 00:00:03, due to reason (0x4014) UNDOCUMENTED.

... which is "interesting", but not overly helpful...


Interesting enough, calling a different station, I *did* get the MICA modem
to report a fax connect, but with V.34 fax...

Jun 12 13:58:13 cisco-test.medat.de daemon:debug 230: Jun 12 11:58:12: Modem 2/28 Mica: CONNECT at 28800/26400 (Tx/Rx), V34, FAX, None

... which the receiving end doesn't support (V.34 Fax)... and so it
failed, of course.



There's more fun to be had here. If I initialize the modem with
ATS29=4S63=0 and then initiate a fax call, my log shows...

Jun 12 14:06:37 cisco-test.medat.de daemon:debug 318: Jun 12 12:06:36: Modem 2/28 Mica: CONNECT at 2400/2400 (Tx/Rx), V22bis, FAX, None

... which looks nice :-) - but on the receiving end, this is actually
negotiated as a *DATA* call - the receiving modem reports:

RING
CONNECT 38400/V.22b 2400/NONE

... so "something" is missing that will kick the MICA modem to actually
initiate a *FAX* call when in Fax mode.


Staring at the available documentation and at the output of "AT%R"
from the modem, there is not really a documented "bit" to make the
MICA modem enter "fax mode" - this should be automatic by selecting
AT+FCLASS=2 / AT+FCLASS=2.0.


Sooo... maybe this is enough to ring a bell with someone? Aaron,
do you have any idea (or maybe a contact inside the Cisco MICA team
that would be able to help)?

Since these gateways can (supposedly) do T.37/T.38 fax, there must be
a way to get the modems in the proper mode...

gert





On Sun, Nov 06, 2005 at 01:45:12AM +0100, Gert Doering wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Sat, Nov 05, 2005 at 05:56:00PM +0100, Gert Doering wrote:
> > Hmmm. It *seems* that I'm not accessing the modem properly - a few
> > seconds after my last attempt, with me still being in telnet (writing
> > this mail), suddenly I had this in my telnet window:
> >
> > AT&F&D2S34=18000S40=10S54=456debugthismodemS71=4
> > OK
> >
> > ... so it seems that "the router wanting to talk to the modem" and
> > "my telnet connection to line 21" are interfering here.
>
> Assuming that "telnet to 2000+<line>" is not the proper way to do it,
> I did some more searching on cisco.com and found the page that describes
> how to setup a rotary group and telnet into 7000+<rotary>.
>
> Went there, did that, same effect - dialout, remote side picks up,
> a few seconds of handshake, NO CARRIER on the AS5300 side (while the
> remote modem continues negotiating with "empty air" for some more time).
>
> "term mon" displays this, in parallel:
>
> 47w3d: %ISDN-6-CONNECT: Interface Serial0:30 is now connected to 35663087 N/A
> 47w3d: %ISDN-6-DISCONNECT: Interface Serial0:30 disconnected from 35663087 , call lasted 8 seconds
>
> so the router seems to think "all is well".
>
> I am able to establish a data connection (ATZ, AT+FCLASS=0, ATD...), but
> fax *just does not work*.
>
>
> IOS version is c5300-is-mz.123-12.bin, and we're using the MICA firmware
> bundled with that IOS.
>
>
> So what I'd really like to hear now is a success report "we're sending
> faxes with an AS5300, this is our config, and *that* is the common
> problem..."
>
> gert
>
> --
> USENET is *not* the non-clickable part of WWW!
> //www.muc.de/~gert/
> Gert Doering - Munich, Germany gert@greenie.muc.de
> fax: +49-89-35655025 gert@net.informatik.tu-muenchen.de
> _______________________________________________
> cisco-nas mailing list
> cisco-nas@puck.nether.net
> https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-nas
>

--
USENET is *not* the non-clickable part of WWW!
//www.muc.de/~gert/
Gert Doering - Munich, Germany gert@greenie.muc.de
fax: +49-89-35655025 gert@net.informatik.tu-muenchen.de

Hi,

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 02:26:09PM +0200, Gert Doering wrote:
> And lo and behold, there's news on this :-)
>
> - Fax *works* on the 3640 with NM-DM, with IOS 12.2(40a) and MICA
> portware 2.7.3.0
>
> - Fax does *not* work on the same device with IOS 12.3(26) and
> MICA portware 2.9.4.0 (bundled)
>
> - Fax does *not* work on an AS5300 with IOS 12.3(26) and MICA
> portware 2.9.5.0 (bundled)

... experimenting a bit more:

- Fax *works* with the 3640 + NM-DM with IOS 12.4(25) if (and only if)
MICA portware 2.7.4.0 is loaded separately into the modems. If the
bundled portware (2.9.4.0) is used, it will not work - same effect
as before.

So, for me, it looks as if the changes for V.92/V.44 (2.7.x->2.9.x) have
broken Fax callout, and nobody has cared enough yet to open a TAC case
and get it fixed.


Since a few people have asked me after my original posting whether I had
eventually found a solution - well, the interim solution seems to be
"use 2.7.4.0 MICA portware". Of course that also means "do not use V.92
modem calls".


Since all this stuff is end of sale anyway, it will be interesting to
re-run the tests with more recent gear (5350XM, 2800 with PVDMs) where
a downgrade to 2.7.x might not be possible... I don't have such hardware
right now, but would be very interested to hear about it :-)

gert

--
USENET is *not* the non-clickable part of WWW!
//www.muc.de/~gert/
Gert Doering - Munich, Germany gert@greenie.muc.de
fax: +49-89-35655025 gert@net.informatik.tu-muenchen.de

Hi Gert,

Outbound fax on MICA was broken after 2.7.4.0/2.9.2.0 due to
CSCeb53414. CSCeb53414 was fixed in portware 2.9.6.0; however 2.9.6.0
was never posted (and it may be that it was never built; at any rate, I
can't find it.)

Since MICA is end of life, a portware downgrade is the only option at
this point.

Best regards,

Aaron

------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 6/12/2009 6:57 AM, gert@greenie.muc.de (Gert Doering) wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 02:26:09PM +0200, Gert Doering wrote:
>
>> And lo and behold, there's news on this :-)
>>
>> - Fax *works* on the 3640 with NM-DM, with IOS 12.2(40a) and MICA
>> portware 2.7.3.0
>>
>> - Fax does *not* work on the same device with IOS 12.3(26) and
>> MICA portware 2.9.4.0 (bundled)
>>
>> - Fax does *not* work on an AS5300 with IOS 12.3(26) and MICA
>> portware 2.9.5.0 (bundled)
>>
>
> ... experimenting a bit more:
>
> - Fax *works* with the 3640 + NM-DM with IOS 12.4(25) if (and only if)
> MICA portware 2.7.4.0 is loaded separately into the modems. If the
> bundled portware (2.9.4.0) is used, it will not work - same effect
> as before.
>
> So, for me, it looks as if the changes for V.92/V.44 (2.7.x->2.9.x) have
> broken Fax callout, and nobody has cared enough yet to open a TAC case
> and get it fixed.
>
>
> Since a few people have asked me after my original posting whether I had
> eventually found a solution - well, the interim solution seems to be
> "use 2.7.4.0 MICA portware". Of course that also means "do not use V.92
> modem calls".
>
>
> Since all this stuff is end of sale anyway, it will be interesting to
> re-run the tests with more recent gear (5350XM, 2800 with PVDMs) where
> a downgrade to 2.7.x might not be possible... I don't have such hardware
> right now, but would be very interested to hear about it :-)
>
> gert
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> cisco-nas mailing list
> cisco-nas@puck.nether.net
> https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-nas
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Hi Aaron,

On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 08:36:32AM -0700, Aaron Leonard wrote:
> Outbound fax on MICA was broken after 2.7.4.0/2.9.2.0 due to
> CSCeb53414. CSCeb53414 was fixed in portware 2.9.6.0; however 2.9.6.0
> was never posted (and it may be that it was never built; at any rate, I
> can't find it.)
>
> Since MICA is end of life, a portware downgrade is the only option at
> this point.

Yep. Thanks a lot for investigating and clarifying things (and putting
it on the list, so the archives will know about it :-) ).

Unfortunately, even with 2.7.4.0, outbound fax is not as good as with
the "classic" modems that we have (the same modems that fail at X.75
dial-in do very well at outbound fax), so I'm giving up on this specific
avenue.


Anyway - would you happen to know whether "outbound fax" is a fully
supported feature on 2800 routers with PVDM modems? Since these are
"the current way" to do modems on IOS routers (that are not AS5300s),
it could be worth evaluating these... the web pages are a bit vague,
but the FAQ *does* state

Q: is fax supported on the ... PVDM2 Module?
A: It supports only sending of faxes, it cannot receive them

(It's a shame that "PVDM2 + NM-8B-S/T" seems to be an unsupported
combination - only HWIC-*CE1T1-PRI and VIC2-2BRI are listed, but
sometimes one just has to do with nxBRI instead of a single PRI...)


What about outbound fax on the AS5300 with NextPort CSM6 modules?

thanks a lot :-)

gert

--
USENET is *not* the non-clickable part of WWW!
//www.muc.de/~gert/
Gert Doering - Munich, Germany gert@greenie.muc.de
fax: +49-89-35655025 gert@net.informatik.tu-muenchen.de