[Asterisk-Users] Cisco 801 and rcapi

[James Harper]

(This is an extension of an email I sent earlier, but I'm not sure if it
made it to the list or not.... I never saw it!)

We seem to be accumulating Cisco 8XX series ISDN routers as DSL becomes
more and more available in Australia and our clients upgrade.

Does anyone know if those routers can make the ISDN channels available
in a way that can be used by Asterisk? Preferably in a fairly raw form,
eg not SIP.

Further investigation reveals that the 801 can be a server for something
called rcapi, net-capi, or ISDN-DCP, from RCS-COM (which I think is a
company or product that uses it). This doesn't appear compatible with
any of the existing remote capi solutions available for Linux. Can
anyone elaborate? Details of the ISDN-DCP protocol seem a bit hard to
find...

Thanks

James

[James Harper]

Okay then... next question... if I were to come up with a driver for
asterisk (either as hack in chan_capi, an extension to libcapi20, or a
driver for the kernel) to use the rcapi functionality of the cisco (and
other) isdn ta's, would anyone care to try it?

Thanks

James

(ps. Would I get flamed if I crossposted to asterisk-dev?)

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, 8 January 2006 23:23
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Cisco 801 and rcapi
(This is an extension of an email I sent earlier, but I'm not sure if

it

made it to the list or not.... I never saw it!)
We seem to be accumulating Cisco 8XX series ISDN routers as DSL

becomes

more and more available in Australia and our clients upgrade.
Does anyone know if those routers can make the ISDN channels available
in a way that can be used by Asterisk? Preferably in a fairly raw

form,

eg not SIP.
Further investigation reveals that the 801 can be a server for

something

called rcapi, net-capi, or ISDN-DCP, from RCS-COM (which I think is a
company or product that uses it). This doesn't appear compatible with
any of the existing remote capi solutions available for Linux. Can
anyone elaborate? Details of the ISDN-DCP protocol seem a bit hard to
find...
Thanks
James
_______________________________________________
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Asterisk-Users mailing list
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

[Pete Barnwell]

Post by James Harper
Okay then... next question... if I were to come up with a driver for
asterisk (either as hack in chan_capi, an extension to libcapi20, or a
driver for the kernel) to use the rcapi functionality of the cisco (and
other) isdn ta's, would anyone care to try it?
Thanks
James
(ps. Would I get flamed if I crossposted to asterisk-dev?)

I'd like to try that - for exactly the same reason you have I seem to be
acquiring 801s as well.

Rgds

Pete

[Armin Schindler]

Post by James Harper
Okay then... next question... if I were to come up with a driver for
asterisk (either as hack in chan_capi, an extension to libcapi20, or a
driver for the kernel) to use the rcapi functionality of the cisco (and
other) isdn ta's, would anyone care to try it?

I would suggest extend the libcapi20. I already did such an extension to
libcapi20 to support the bintec remote-capi. This means with that libcapi20,
each program (including chan_capi) can do remote-capi without any change...

Armin

Post by James Harper
Thanks
James
(ps. Would I get flamed if I crossposted to asterisk-dev?)

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, 8 January 2006 23:23
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Cisco 801 and rcapi
(This is an extension of an email I sent earlier, but I'm not sure if

it

made it to the list or not.... I never saw it!)
We seem to be accumulating Cisco 8XX series ISDN routers as DSL

becomes

more and more available in Australia and our clients upgrade.
Does anyone know if those routers can make the ISDN channels available
in a way that can be used by Asterisk? Preferably in a fairly raw

form,

eg not SIP.
Further investigation reveals that the 801 can be a server for

something

called rcapi, net-capi, or ISDN-DCP, from RCS-COM (which I think is a
company or product that uses it). This doesn't appear compatible with
any of the existing remote capi solutions available for Linux. Can
anyone elaborate? Details of the ISDN-DCP protocol seem a bit hard to
find...
Thanks
James
_______________________________________________
--Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
Asterisk-Users mailing list
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

_______________________________________________
--Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
Asterisk-Users mailing list
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

[Igor Neves]

Post by James Harper
Okay then... next question... if I were to come up with a driver for
asterisk (either as hack in chan_capi, an extension to libcapi20, or a
driver for the kernel) to use the rcapi functionality of the cisco (and
other) isdn ta's, would anyone care to try it?
Thanks
James
(ps. Would I get flamed if I crossposted to asterisk-dev?)

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, 8 January 2006 23:23
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Cisco 801 and rcapi
(This is an extension of an email I sent earlier, but I'm not sure if

it

made it to the list or not.... I never saw it!)
We seem to be accumulating Cisco 8XX series ISDN routers as DSL

becomes

more and more available in Australia and our clients upgrade.
Does anyone know if those routers can make the ISDN channels available
in a way that can be used by Asterisk? Preferably in a fairly raw

form,

eg not SIP.
Further investigation reveals that the 801 can be a server for

something

called rcapi, net-capi, or ISDN-DCP, from RCS-COM (which I think is a
company or product that uses it). This doesn't appear compatible with
any of the existing remote capi solutions available for Linux. Can
anyone elaborate? Details of the ISDN-DCP protocol seem a bit hard to
find...
Thanks
James
_______________________________________________
--Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
Asterisk-Users mailing list
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

_______________________________________________
--Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
Asterisk-Users mailing list
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

I Have a lot of 8xx ciscos too, i would try it too.

Thanks

[p***@optusnet.com.au]

I would have thought that if the 8XX would send the ISDN channels over as
SIP, that would be the easiest solution...

PaulH

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Harper" <***@bendigoit.com.au>
To: "Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion"
<asterisk-***@lists.digium.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 11:22 PM
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Cisco 801 and rcapi

Post by James Harper
(This is an extension of an email I sent earlier, but I'm not sure if it
made it to the list or not.... I never saw it!)
We seem to be accumulating Cisco 8XX series ISDN routers as DSL becomes
more and more available in Australia and our clients upgrade.
Does anyone know if those routers can make the ISDN channels available
in a way that can be used by Asterisk? Preferably in a fairly raw form,
eg not SIP.
Further investigation reveals that the 801 can be a server for something
called rcapi, net-capi, or ISDN-DCP, from RCS-COM (which I think is a
company or product that uses it). This doesn't appear compatible with
any of the existing remote capi solutions available for Linux. Can
anyone elaborate? Details of the ISDN-DCP protocol seem a bit hard to
find...
Thanks
James
_______________________________________________
--Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
Asterisk-Users mailing list
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

[James Harper]

Post by Armin Schindler
I would suggest extend the libcapi20. I already did such an extension

to

Post by Armin Schindler
libcapi20 to support the bintec remote-capi. This means with that
libcapi20,
each program (including chan_capi) can do remote-capi without any
change...

That was my preferred option. It sounds like you did most of the work
already. Are you patches in libcapi20 or otherwise available? I'm having
trouble finding details on the protocol rvs-com uses to talk to the
netcapi server... rvs-com's website appears mostly broken and I can't
even get a trial version of the software to play with :(

James

[Juergen K. Zick]

Post by James Harper

Post by Armin Schindler
I would suggest extend the libcapi20. I already did such an extension

to

Post by Armin Schindler
libcapi20 to support the bintec remote-capi. This means with that
libcapi20,
each program (including chan_capi) can do remote-capi without any
change...

That was my preferred option. It sounds like you did most of the work
already. Are you patches in libcapi20 or otherwise available? I'm having
trouble finding details on the protocol rvs-com uses to talk to the
netcapi server... rvs-com's website appears mostly broken and I can't
even get a trial version of the software to play with :(
James

HI folks,

I was looking for such an solution already 2 years ago and was only able to
get the BINTEC rcapi to work under LINUX. The ISDN-DCP-Protocol, which was
developed by RVS-COM developers was always a closed protocol. However, it
was widely used e.g. by CISCO and ZYXEL ... As far as I know the RCAPI
which is still available from ZYXEL for the PRESTIGE ISDN-routers under
WINDOWS shoul drun with the CISCO ISDN routers as well.

Nevertheless, I'd like to support this RCAPI solution if I soemhow can ...

--Juergen

[James Harper]

Post by Armin Schindler
I would suggest extend the libcapi20. I already did such an extension

to

Post by Armin Schindler
libcapi20 to support the bintec remote-capi. This means with that
libcapi20,
each program (including chan_capi) can do remote-capi without any
change...

The more I look, the more I think that the bintec protocol might be the
one required to talk to the Cisco anyway. Do you have those patches
somewhere?

Thanks

James

[Juergen K. Zick]

Post by James Harper
The more I look, the more I think that the bintec protocol might be the
one required to talk to the Cisco anyway. Do you have those patches
somewhere?

According to the lists
http://www.c10.com.au/web/Products/ISDN/RVSCOM_Compatible_Routers.pdf
the CISCOs support the DCP of RVS-COM ... But if the BINTEC-RCAPI works ,
then you are lucky ... In a German ISDN/VOIP list from last year they are
saying that it does NOT work ...

-Juergen

[Armin Schindler]

Post by James Harper

Post by Armin Schindler
I would suggest extend the libcapi20. I already did such an extension

to

Post by Armin Schindler
libcapi20 to support the bintec remote-capi. This means with that
libcapi20,
each program (including chan_capi) can do remote-capi without any
change...

The more I look, the more I think that the bintec protocol might be the
one required to talk to the Cisco anyway. Do you have those patches
somewhere?

I have placed the patched libcapi20 sources (libcapi20.tgz) on the public
ftp server ftp://isdn4linux.org/pub/capi4linux

It works pretty good with the rcapid (bintec-router emulator) on the remote
side. I never tested it with a real bintec router, because I don't have one.
Maybe it will not work with the real hardware, because the authentification
is not implemented yet.
This libcapi20 support normal /dev/capi20 and the remote version, just
create a file ~/.capi20rc to set the remote station. See README.

You can also use one Linux Server running CAPI cards with rcapid and have
your Asterisk/OpenPBX with chan_capi on another maschine...

Armin

[Peer Oliver Schmidt]

Hi Armin,

Post by Armin Schindler
You can also use one Linux Server running CAPI cards with rcapid and have
your Asterisk/OpenPBX with chan_capi on another maschine...

Did you ever try something like that? What kind of implication had the
remote CAPI with regards to sound quality?

[Armin Schindler]

Post by Peer Oliver Schmidt
Hi Armin,

Post by Armin Schindler
You can also use one Linux Server running CAPI cards with rcapid and have
your Asterisk/OpenPBX with chan_capi on another maschine...

Did you ever try something like that?

I just tried it. But I never really used it longer.

Post by Peer Oliver Schmidt
What kind of implication had the remote
CAPI with regards to sound quality?

I think that depends on the connection between the rcapi-server and the
libcapi20 client...

Armin

[James Harper]

Post by Armin Schindler

Post by James Harper
The more I look, the more I think that the bintec protocol might be

the

Post by Armin Schindler

Post by James Harper
one required to talk to the Cisco anyway. Do you have those patches
somewhere?

I have placed the patched libcapi20 sources (libcapi20.tgz) on the

public

Post by Armin Schindler
ftp server ftp://isdn4linux.org/pub/capi4linux

Thanks!

Post by Armin Schindler
It works pretty good with the rcapid (bintec-router emulator) on the
remote
side. I never tested it with a real bintec router, because I don't

have

Post by Armin Schindler
one.
Maybe it will not work with the real hardware, because the
authentification
is not implemented yet.
This libcapi20 support normal /dev/capi20 and the remote version, just
create a file ~/.capi20rc to set the remote station. See README.

I've had a quick look at it... can you use local (kernel) capi devices
and remote devices on the one machine?

Post by Armin Schindler
You can also use one Linux Server running CAPI cards with rcapid and

have

Post by Armin Schindler
your Asterisk/OpenPBX with chan_capi on another maschine...

I assume you've tried that configuration then... can you comment on the
performance and reliability? How does the system as a whole cope if the
rcapi server goes down?

Thanks

James

[Armin Schindler]

Post by Armin Schindler

Post by Armin Schindler

Post by James Harper
The more I look, the more I think that the bintec protocol might be

the

Post by Armin Schindler

Post by James Harper
one required to talk to the Cisco anyway. Do you have those patches
somewhere?

I have placed the patched libcapi20 sources (libcapi20.tgz) on the

public

Post by Armin Schindler
ftp server ftp://isdn4linux.org/pub/capi4linux

Thanks!

Post by Armin Schindler
It works pretty good with the rcapid (bintec-router emulator) on the
remote
side. I never tested it with a real bintec router, because I don't

have

Post by Armin Schindler
one.
Maybe it will not work with the real hardware, because the
authentification
is not implemented yet.
This libcapi20 support normal /dev/capi20 and the remote version, just
create a file ~/.capi20rc to set the remote station. See README.

I've had a quick look at it... can you use local (kernel) capi devices
and remote devices on the one machine?

It is possible, but not with one and the same application. Currently the
setting for remote-capi is done per-user. Of course, this can be changed.
But if you want to merge local and remote CAPI, then it is not possible at
the moment. This would need enhancements.

Post by Armin Schindler

Post by Armin Schindler
You can also use one Linux Server running CAPI cards with rcapid and

have

Post by Armin Schindler
your Asterisk/OpenPBX with chan_capi on another maschine...

I assume you've tried that configuration then...

I have tried it, but I didn't really test it with Asterisk yet.
I use it, but with other applications like a standalone voicemailbox
and capifax.

Post by Armin Schindler
can you comment on the
performance and reliability?

The connection is TCP, so no problem with reliability with that. But
the perfomance depends on the IP connection.

Post by Armin Schindler
How does the system as a whole cope if the
rcapi server goes down?

I didn't test this yet. But I assume the client libcapi will signal
error codes when the connection is lost.

I'm sure, if someone really wants to use this, some enhancements
must be done for the faulty cases. But it should be easy.

Armin

[James Harper]

Post by Igor Neves
I Have a lot of 8xx ciscos too, i would try it too.

ISDN-DCP, which looked pretty straightforward at first glance, isn't.
Rather than a simple wrapper around the CAPI messages it seems to
provide a similar but not even closely compatible message structure,
such that my libcapi20 code is going to need to do a heap of
manipulation.

So I'm working on it, but slowly.

James