[cisco-voip] IP Based Fax Servers

[Nate VanMaren]

I am a big proponent of T.38 for fax, especially when it comes time to do a fax server, if you're doing the right kind of T.38 should be an easy migration.

SCCP does not do protocol based T.38, which is the standard. It only does NSE based T.38 which is cisco proprietary.  Therefore, I try as hard as I can not to do analog gateways as SCCP.

I found this article the other day, I haven't read it all but it looks really good
https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-14470#Q_What_are_some_best_practices_for_configuring_T38_Fax_Relay_on_a_VG224_analog_gateway_running_SCCP_and_STCAPP


-Nate

From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net [mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Matthew Ballard
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 2:22 PM
To: Scott Voll; Mike King
Cc: Cisco VoIPoE List
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] IP Based Fax Servers

When I implemented the fax server here, I switched the remaining analog faxes (very few at this point) onto a VG224, VG202s, or a 1861 in one case, and configured those to use T.38 as well, so that we only use T.38 for faxes on the IP network.  Our main voice gateway then does the translation to a traditional PRI.

Since the migration, I rarely have to troubleshoot fax problems anymore, and basically never have to troubleshoot actual fax protocol issues, only configuration between the MFPs and/or email.

We are using XMedius, I'm generally happy with it.

In order to keep the traditional experience for faxing (for sending at least, ie the ability to walk up and send a fax), we use HP MFPs (3035/3530 or higher) with the HP DSS software so that the faxes go out through the fax server.  Incoming faxes are either routed by email or printed on a printer, depending on what the department wanted.

Even when something does have to be worked on, there are fewer points of problem with this setup, plus I was able to mostly abandon the old phone infrastructure (I switched from using the old 100 pair copper trunks between floors to a couple of CAT5 cables that were already  in place but unused to handle all remaining analog lines).

Matthew Ballard
Network Manager
Otis College of Art and Design
mballard at otis.edu<mailto:mballard at otis.edu>


From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net<mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net> [mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net]<mailto:[mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net]> On Behalf Of Scott Voll
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 9:35 AM
To: Mike King
Cc: Cisco VoIPoE List
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] IP Based Fax Servers

Are all Fax machines going away?

if not, how will you support both T.38 and fax passthrough?

is T.38 stuff coming in on only one pri?

Currently we use right fax... my last enterprise we used Xmeduis...... I like Xmedius much better.  just my 2 cents

Scott
On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 8:55 AM, Mike King <me at mpking.com<mailto:me at mpking.com>> wrote:
I'm looking to escape the support nightmare of Fax machines.  We currently have over 100 fax machines in our enterprise, mostly connected to VG224's, some on ATA's (ugh).  At least once a week I spend a few hours troubleshooting a faxing issue.  (All my sites use PRI's on H323 gateways or MGCP gateways)

Based on Paper, Toner, Drums, Smartnet, and my time savings, I've got a real sweet story on introducing a fax server.  (It'll most likely be a Biscom FAXCom server because it supports direct tie in to our Enterprise application)

They support (require?) T.38.   Should T.38 be the silver bullet and this should "Just Work" or am I trading one headache for another?  (Protocol wise, The actual fax software I can't control, and I imagine they all use T.38 anyways)

Mike

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