Setting up the Audiocodes FXS Channel Bank

About the Audiocodes MP11X? and MP124.

<img src="/docs/images/V2.0/mp11x_Series.gif " align=right

Audiocodes produce a range of business and carrier-class IP/TDM gateways and channel banks. There are two models in the IP/Analogue range; the MP11X? and the MP124. Full details of the units can be downloaded in pdf form from here. Essentially the MP11 is an 8-way channel bank and the 124 is a 24 way. Up to press we have only had access to an MP11 8xFXS unit and the notes below apply to that device.

Setting up the MP11 FXS.

This turned out to be a bit of a pain. As delivered the unit does not have DHCP enabled, presumably because the manufacturer sees the unit as an internal server, running at a fixed IP address outside of the DHCP Group. However, this means that you have to set the IP address manually. There are two methods of doing this (according to the manual). In theory you can plug an ordinary pots DTMF phone into one of the RJ11 ports and, following the instructions in the manual, set an IP address. We messed around with this for over an hour and couldn't get it to work. The second method is to connect a PC directly to the ethernet port on the other side of the unit and do it that way. This worked, for us anyway. So, now we had our unit addressed we could connect it to the internal network and browse to the set-up manager. It is big, complex and uses odd terminology. However, it's actually a breeze to get to a basic working set-up provided you ignore 99% of the stuff in there.

Quick Set-up.

<img src="/docs/images/V2.0/audiocodes1.jpg"

Choose Quick Setup and fill out the screen as shown. Here's what the actual fields are set to...

IP Address:

Description - IP address of the MP11
Permissable values - dotted quadrant
default - 192.168.1.34

Subnet Mask:

Description - Subnet mask for this device.
Permissable values - dotted quadrant.
default - 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway IP Address:

Description - Address of your network gateway server.
Permissable values - dotted quadrant or URL.
default - None
Note - We think this is used when no local IP PBX is present, for axample when the MP11 is being used to connect directly to a VoIP Carrier.

Gateway Name:

Description - Name of your Domain - doesn't seem to do anything.
Permissable values - URL.
default - None
Note - See above.

Working with Proxy:

Description - set this to yes.
Permissable values - Yes/No.
default - No

Proxy IP Address:

Description - set this to point to your SARK/SAIL Server.
Permissable values - Dotted Quadrant.
default - None

Proxy Name:

Description - set this to the DNS name of your SARK/SAIL Server.
Permissable values - Name.
default - None

Enable Registration:

Description - set this to Yes.
Permissable values - Yes/No.
default - No

OK, that's it for this screen. One puzzling thing is that it asks if you want it to register but doesn't allow for a registration password. Hmmmmm.

Endpoint Number Table.

Just fill out the extension numbers which it is going to drive in SARK/SAIL. We only did two because we only had two analogue handsets available but as you can see there is room for 8.

DTMF and Dialling (under Protocol Management Heading).

You only need to change the "Max Digits in Phone Num" field on this screen. As delivered the default for this is 3 which means you can't dial too many external numbers (or even extensions in SARK since it uses, pretty much standard, 4 digit extensions). Took a good 20 minutes to find this bloody field.

That's it, you're done with the MP11. We're sure there are loads of other things you can tweak and fiddle with but this will get it sending and receiving calls to and from SARK/SAIL.

SAIL Extensions set-up.

<img src="/docs/images/V2.0/audiocodes4.jpg"

We couldn't be bothered to set-up a special device type for the MP11 so we just used the "General SIP" device type. Add an extension for each line you created in the Endpoint NUmber Table and set their numbers to match. e.g. if you used 6013 thru 6020 when you set up the endpoints in the MP11 then set up 8 extensions with the numbers 6013 thru 6020. You can leave everything to default except the secret tuple. Set that to empty (the MP11 doesn't use passwords).

Save each extension into the database and then when you've done 'em all press "Commit".

Testing.

Restart the MP11 and you should see it come up and register each extension on the Asterisk console. You're now good to go. The MP11 recognises the # key as a valid SEND key so you don't have to wait for digit timeout. Key in the number you want to dial on your pots phone and press the # key. It should go immediately.

In use.

Once we'd gotten over the initial frustration of setting the unit up, we found it to be reliable, fast and with good sound quality (we ran it as alaw but it supports all the common CODECs including g729). It also has support for "chirrupping", or "splash ring" and stutter dial tone to indicate message-waiting on an analogue terminal.

Now we know our way around it (at least as far as getting it to run) we'd have no hesitation in deploying one or more of these devices. It will do particularly well in Hotels and listed buildings (a listed building in the UK is an old building which has a preservation order on it dictating what can and can't be changed) where the cost of re-cabling to RJ45 is either prohibitive or not possible.