Fax Isuues useing fxs blades and e1 gateway on cat 6509 CM version 3.1 3a

a.wells · ‎05-02-2002

The site has about 14 faxes connected to the fxs blade .

What has been happening is fax machines are having intermittent failure by this I mean a sender might keep getting re-order engaged tone or communication error

when trying to send other times they work fine.

Does anyone know of issues simmilar to this ?

This site doesnt run fax over ip so would turning fax-relay off be of any beifet ?

sh ver below

WS-C6509 Software, Version NmpSW: 6.1(4)

NMP S/W compiled on May 15 2001, 12:35:52

System Bootstrap Version: 6.1(3)

System Web Interface Version: Engine: 5.3 ADP device: Cat6000 ADP Version: 1.5 ADK: 40

Hardware Version: 2.0 Model: WS-C6509 Serial #: SCA043200HM

Mod Port Model Serial # Versions

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

1 2 WS-X6K-SUP2-2GE SAD05060NCL Hw : 2.2

Fw : 6.1(3)

Fw1: 6.1(3)

Sw : 6.1(4)

Sw1: 6.1(4)

WS-F6K-PFC2 SAD050610A2 Hw : 1.3

2 2 WS-X6K-SUP2-2GE SAD050608GJ Hw : 2.2

Fw : 6.1(3)

Fw1: 6.1(3)

Sw : 6.1(4)

Sw1: 6.1(4)

WS-F6K-PFC2 SAD0505099X Hw : 1.3

Fw : 5.4(2)

Sw : 6.1(4)

HP : A00203010037; DSP : A003P031 (3.6.15)

5 8 WS-X6608-E1 SAD04220FED Hw : 1.1

Fw : 5.4(2)

Sw : 6.1(4)

HP1: M001C301; DSP1: M002V300 (3.2.4)

HP2: D00403010043; DSP2: D005P031 (3.6.15)

HP3: D00403010043; DSP3: D005P031 (3.6.15)

HP4: D00403010043; DSP4: D005P031 (3.6.15)

HP5: M0010004; DSP5: M002E031 (3.3.2)

HP6: M0010004; DSP6: M002E031 (3.3.2)

HP7: C0010004; DSP7: C002E031 (3.3.2)

HP8: C0010004; DSP8: C002E031 (3.3.2)

6 8 WS-X6608-E1 SAD04220FE6 Hw : 1.1

Fw : 5.4(2)

Sw : 6.1(4)

HP1: D00403010017; DSP1: D005E031 (3.3.32) HP4: D00403010017; DSP4: D005E031 (3.3.32)

HP5: M0010004; DSP5: M002E031 (3.3.2)

HP6: M0010004; DSP6: M002E031 (3.3.2)

HP7: M0010004; DSP7: M002E031 (3.3.2)

HP8: M0010004; DSP8: M002E031 (3.3.2)

7 24 WS-X6624-FXS SAD05100AHR Hw : 3.0

Fw : 5.4(2)

Sw : 6.1(4)

HP : A00203010037; DSP : A003P031 (3.6.15)

15 1 WS-F6K-MSFC2 SAD05060YT1 Hw : 1.2

Fw : 12.1(4)E1

Sw : 12.1(4)E1

16 1 WS-F6K-MSFC2 SAD05060M1K Hw : 1.2

Fw : 12.1(4)E1

Sw : 12.1(4)E1

DRAM FLASH NVRAM

Module Total Used Free Total Used Free Total Used Free

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

1 130944K 60807K 70137K 32768K 26208K 6560K 512K 284K 228K

Mod Slot Ports Module-Type Model Sub Status

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

1 1 2 1000BaseX Supervisor WS-X6K-SUP2-2GE yes ok

15 1 1 Multilayer Switch Feature WS-F6K-MSFC2 no ok

2 2 2 1000BaseX Supervisor WS-X6K-SUP2-2GE yes standby

16 2 1 Multilayer Switch Feature WS-F6K-MSFC2 no ok

3 3 48 10/100BaseTX Ethernet WS-X6348-RJ-45 yes ok

4 4 24 FXS WS-X6624-FXS no ok

5 5 8 E1 WS-X6608-E1 no ok

6 6 8 E1 WS-X6608-E1 no ok

7 7 24 FXS WS-X6624-FXS no ok

dgoodwin · ‎05-02-2002

You didn't say which 6608 module the calls were going through. I notice that in module 5 your gateway ports are running the 43 load which is good, but in module 6 you have at least two gateway ports (you did not show all of them) that are running a very old 17 load. Any particular reason?

a.wells · ‎05-02-2002

Different CM clusters 3.1 1 & 3.13a dedicated blade for each.

module 5 is being used for the cluster thats experiencing the issues.

Dave since there is no fax over IP happening here would I be better of disabling fax relay on the ports or does it default to fax pass through anyway when using pstn gateways.

I have not found a great deal of doco on this but my understanding is fax pass through will just treat the connection as a normal call sending the T.30 signalling in the voice band.If using fax relay T.38 I could experience sync errors perhaps this is the issue what are your thoughts.

paul.harrison · ‎05-03-2002

Although they are in the same CAT, the fax traffic is still carried over the IP network, albeit very quickly over the back plane of the cat. It has to be, the blades are assigned IP addresses and the traffic goes from one IP address to another.

I would leave Fax-Relay enabled. It is Ciscos preferred method on Cat 6's, it's also more likely to be reliable as the fax is effectivley terminated and re-transmitted, whereas Passthru simply goes open channel and the fax is then subject to any noise introduced by Latency, Jitter etc. (I know they shouldn't be there on a cat 6 but you never know).

I have exactly the same problem on a site. Reliability definitley improves with Fax-Relay enabled but has yet not cured the problem. The call re-start timers also used to (?) make a diference before 3.12c SPA by setting to 1235 you forced Fax-relay only 1236 was Passthru and 5000 was auto negotiate, however whether these worked (ever) is debatable.

Personally I think Cisco have major problems supporting fax with their DSP sets and aren't telling anyone (would you).

Paul

a.wells · ‎05-03-2002

Thanks for your feedback appreciate it.What are your plans to counter the itermittent failures ,because for some people here it is not acceptable I am looking at putting in some anolouge lines witch defeits the purpose of buying fxs blades for the cat though if the situation is not rectified I have no choice as this service must be solid with the old PABX NEC there was never this problem.

Have just purchased 2 vg248 for another site before these issues arrised so looking forward to more excitng times over in NZ

paul.harrison · ‎05-08-2002

What I'vce discovered is that unticking the Fax ECM overide box has a BIG improvement. My customer showed me a log where 95% of faxes failed before I unticked the box and 100% success afterwards.

Strange thing was I'd unticked the one on the port first and that made no difference, unticking the E1 made a big difference, so now I've left the ECM unticked on both ends. I've also got the call restart timer down to 1235 on the FXS ports.

The customer is doing more testing later this week but the initial signs are good with the ECM unticked, I'll let you know how I get on.

Paul

paul.alvarez · ‎05-08-2002

Paul,

What does unticking mean?

Thanks,

Paul

paul.harrison · ‎05-09-2002

the box for ECM fax override has a tick in it - remove it (unchecking for americans)

Paul

dgoodwin · ‎05-03-2002

We will use fax relay if it's enabled on the particular POTS port and on the 6608 gateway port. Do you have fax relay enabled or are you trying to use passthrough?

a.wells · ‎05-03-2002

Dave you will use fax-relay if it is enabled on a particular pots port ?

And if it isnt let me guess you wont ?Sorry Dave This does not explain much

Yesterday I disabled fax-relay on a couple of faxes pots ports I am having troubles with.One particular fax that has given me major issues belongs to a executive who wasnt a very happy chappy : ( I have tested sending faxes to him with other internal faxes going out the pstn gateway.I have seen an iprovement with this fax.

Yesterday I sent 10 successful faxes ,tests throughout the day, 9600bps seems to be the MAX connection speed with fax passthrough. Thats fine as long as it is reliable.

I also have seen alot of the issues related to faxes that dont have memory to store the fax before sending.Yesterday they seemed fine when fax-relay was disabled on there port.Perhaps this is coincidental time will tell.

.

dgoodwin · ‎05-03-2002

There have definitely been issues with certain fax machines, and whether or not you are using fax relay or passthrough can definitely have an effect. I would suggest that you work with Cisco TAC on this issue, and in particular it will be important to pass on the information about what loads are being used in the network, and what fax machines in particular work well and don't work well, and what effect using fax relay vs. passthrough has on those machines.