About Sangoma's Line of Asterisk Cards

Sangoma makes a series of PCI and PCI-E cards that can be installed in any computer and allow the user to use a PRI line, a T1 line, regular telephone lines (connected to FXO Ports), or to connect standard analog phones (connected to FXS Ports). A PRI Line and T1 line are digital lines that are usually supplied by either a local telephone company or a provider of business telephone and data services. The most common Sangoma cards used in FreePBX installations are the A100 series, A200 series, and A400 series.

A100 Cards

Sangoma's A100 cards are used for PRI and T1 connections. The A101 has one PRI/T1 port. A PRI/T1 port is a digital port that uses the same RJ45 connector that is used by an ethernet cable. One PRI port supports 24 channels, including 1 data channel and 23 audio channels. A T1 supports 24 channels, which can be used for data or audio. Sangoma's A102 card is identical to the A101, except that it has two PRI/T1 ports. The A103 has three ports, and so on.

A200 Cards

Sangoma's A200 cards can support up to four FXO or FXS Ports (minimum 2, maximum 4) as sold. They are sold in a variety of different configurations, ranging from bare boards (with no ports) which can have daughter boards installed on them later, to boards that have 4 FXOs or boards that have 4 FXS ports pre-installed.

You can add up to five REMORA cards to an A200 card. Each Remora card takes up an additional PCI Slot inside your computer case, but connects only to the main A200 Card. Each Remora card will give you an additional 4 ports.

For more information on Sangoma’s A200 Cards, follow this link:

http://sangoma.com/products/hardware_products/analog_telephony/a200.html

A400 Cards

Sangoma's A400 cards can support up to twelve FXO or FXS Ports (minimum 2, increasing by 2 at a time, maximum 12). They are sold in a variety of different configurations, just like the A200's.

You can add up to three REMORA cards to an A400 card. Each Remora card takes up an additional PCI Slot inside your computer case, but connects only to the main A400 Card. Each A400 Remora card will give you an additional 12 ports.

For more information on Sangoma’s A400 Cards, follow this link:

http://sangoma.com/products/hardware_products/analog_telephony/a400.html

Echo Cancellation and PCI-E

All Sangoma cards with model numbers ending in "D" have echo cancellation. Model numbers that don't have D do not have echo cancellation (and it cannot be added later). Model numbers ending in "E" are PCI-E. Model numbers that don't end in E are PCI.

The FreePBX Distro's Support for Sangoma Cards

The FreePBX Distro includes an easy way to configure any of Sangoma's cards. Install one or more cards in your machine, and then download the Sangoma Setup Scripts, execute them, and then create your trunks or extensions.

If you are not using the FreePBX Distro, then you cannot use the Sangoma Setup Scripts. For example, even though PBX In A Flash, Elastix, and AsteriskNOW include FreePBX, they are not the FreePBX Distro, and so the Sangoma Setup Scripts will not work. Instead, you’ll need to manually install the drivers and configure Asterisk. For more information follow this link:

http://wiki.sangoma.com/wanpipe-linux-asterisk

After you’ve manually installed and configured your Sangoma card, you can set-up your trunks as indicated below.

Download the FreePBX Distro Sangoma Setup Scripts:

If you are using the FreePBX Distro, after you have connected the Sangoma cards to the appropriate PCI or PCI-E slot, login as root at the Linux command prompt and issue the following command to install the drivers and scripts:

yum install wanpipe*

Note: Make sure you include the asterisk (*) at the end of the word wanpipe in the line above.

Then issue this command to run the setup script:

setup-sangoma

You'll be asked a series of configuration questions, which will differ depending upon which Sangoma card(s) you have installed on your computer. If you are configuring a PRI/T1 card, your provider should have given you the information necessary to answer these questions. For an FXO or FXS card, the questions are self-evident. For each question, a default answer will be provided, and the default answers are correct about 90% of the time.

By default, setup-sangoma will group all of the channels on the same card into one group. The first card will be configured to Group 0 (g0), the second card will be configured to Group 1 (g1), and so on.

A T1/PRI Card will be configured with up to 24 channels for each port (plug) on the card, depending upon how you answer the configuration questions. An FXO/FXS card will be configured with one channel for each port (plug).

If you want to reassign certain channels on your cards to other groups or just see which ports were assigned to which channels, use this command to manually edit the dahdi-channels.conf file:

nano etc/asterisk/dahdi-channels.conf

If you wish to reassign only some of the channels on a single card to a different group, you may need to duplicate an entry and then change the channel range and assigned group number.

When you're done editing, hit CTRL-X, and then hit ENTER to save your changes. Then issue this command to restart your system:

reboot

If you want to see a list of channels and devices, use this command:

dadhi_cfg -vv

Set-up a DAHDI Trunk (PRI, T1, and FXO only)

If you are using your Sangoma card as a PRI, T1, or FXO (i.e. a regular telephone line), you'll need to create a Trunk so that FreePBX can use the line. Using a web browser, access your PBX by entering its IP address in the address bar. Click on "PBX Administrator" and then enter your FreePBX Username and Password. Select the Trunks Module. Click on Add Dahdi Trunk. Enter a Trunk Name, Outbound Caller ID, Maximum Channels, and Dialed Number Manipulation Rules as you would for any other trunk.

In the "Dahdi Identifier" field, enter either the group number or channel number you want to use for this trunk. If you didn't manually edit dahdi-channels.conf as explained above, then all of the channels available on the Sangoma cards that were configured will be assigned to group 0. If you want to allow your Sangoma card to choose which channel (or line) to use for a particular call, you'll want to use a group number in this field.

If you want to use group 0, enter the following in the Dahdi Identified field:

g0

If you re-assigned some of your channels to another group by manually editing dahdi-channels.conf as indicated above, you can substitute that group number in this field, i.e. g1, g2, g3, etc.

If you only want to use a single channel for this trunk, instead of using a group, enter the channel number. This use is most common when you're using an FXO Card to connect to regular analog telephone lines, and you want to be able to send calls on one trunk to a specific line. For example, to use channel 3 (i.e., line 3), type the following in the Dahdi Identifier field:

3

Only one indicator can be used in each trunk. Thus, you cannot enter g0; g1 or 2, 3 in the Dahdi Identifier field.

Then click "Submit Changes" at the bottom of the screen, and click the Orange "Apply Configuration Changes" at the top of the screen.

Use this Trunk just like you would any other Trunk, by setting up an Outbound Route that sends calls to the Trunk, and by configuring Inbound Routes to accept calls from the DIDs associated with the Trunk.

Configure Zap Channel DIDS (Cards with FXO Ports only)

If you are using a Sangoma card with a PRI or T1, this step is unnecessary. With PRI and T1 connections, the phone company sends the DID (i.e. the telephone number called) with the data that initiates the incoming call. However, if you are using a Sangoma card that has an FXO Port (i.e. a regular telephone line), you'll need to tell FreePBX the phone number (DID) that is attached to each of the FXO Ports on the card, so that FreePBX knows what inbound route to use to process calls that come in on those FXO Ports.

Select the Zap Channel DIDs module. Click "Add Channel." Enter the Channel Number, a Description (for your use only), and the Channel Number.

Then click "Submit Changes" at the bottom of the screen, and click the Orange "Apply Configuration Changes" at the top of the screen.

Set-up a DAHDI Extension (FXS only)

If you are using a Sangoma cards with an FXS Port (i.e. a port to plug in a standard analog telephone), then you'll need to create a DAHDI Extension.

Using a web browser, access your PBX by entering its IP address in the address bar. Click on "PBX Administrator" and then enter your FreePBX Username and Password. Select the Extensions Module. Click on Add Extension, and then pull down and select "Generic Dahdi Device." Configure the extension as you would any other extension, but put the channel number for the FXS port in the "channel" field (under Device Options).

Then click "Submit Changes" at the bottom of the screen, and click the Orange "Apply Configuration Changes" at the top of the screen.

Next, plug a phone into your FXS Port and try making some calls.

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