Table Of Contents
Configuring Fax Pass-Through
Contents
Restrictions for Fax Pass-Through
Prerequisites for Fax Pass-Through
Information About Fax Pass-Through
How to Configure H.323 and SIP Fax Pass-Through
Configuring H.323 and SIP Fax Pass-Through
Configuring One or More Individual VoIP Dial Peers
Configuring VoIP Dial Peers Globally
Verifying Fax Pass-Through Configuration
How to Configure MGCP Fax Pass-Through
Configuration Examples for Fax Pass-Through
H.323 Fax Pass-Through: Example
SIP Fax Pass-Through: Example
MGCP Fax Pass-Through: Example
Configuring Fax Pass-Through
This chapter describes how to configure fax pass-through. Fax pass-through is one of the suite of features that are part of the SIP and H.323 Fax Enhancements feature.
Feature History for SIP and H.323 Fax Enhancements
Release
|
Modification
|
12.2(13)T
|
This feature was introduced.
|
12.4T
|
The mgcp fax t38 inhibit command was no longer configured by default for MGCP gateways that use the auto-configuration function.
|
Finding Support Information for Platforms and Cisco IOS Software Images
Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco IOS software image support. Access Cisco Feature Navigator at http://www.cisco.com/go/fn. You must have an account on Cisco.com. If you do not have an account or have forgotten your username or password, click Cancel at the login dialog box and follow the instructions that appear.
Note
For more information about this and related Cisco IOS voice features, see the following:
•
"Fax Services over IP Overview"
•
Entire Cisco IOS Voice Configuration Library—including library preface and glossary, other feature documents, and troubleshooting documentation—at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6441/prod_configuration_guide09186a0080565f8a.html
Contents
•
Restrictions for Fax Pass-Through
•
Prerequisites for Fax Pass-Through
•
Information About Fax Pass-Through
•
How to Configure H.323 and SIP Fax Pass-Through
•
How to Configure MGCP Fax Pass-Through
•
Configuration Examples for Fax Pass-Through
Restrictions for Fax Pass-Through
The Cisco AS5400 and Cisco AS5850 have the following limitations on the number of ports that can run fax pass-through simultaneously.
•
Subsystems are defined for these platforms, starting from port 0 and grouping consecutive ports 36 at a time. There are 3 subsystems per dfc108 card on the Cisco AS5400 (3 times 36 for a total of 108 ports) and 9 subsystems on the Cisco AS5850 tetryl card (9 times 36 for a total of 324 ports). The limitations are as follows:
–
Thirty-six 10- or 20-ms fax pass-through sessions with no redundancy
–
Thirty 20-ms fax pass-through sessions with redundancy
–
Twenty 10-ms fax pass-through sessions with redundancy
Examples of fax pass-through sessions mixed with a high load voice session type are as follows:
–
Ten 10-ms fax pass-through sessions and 20 G711, no VAD sessions
–
Twelve 10-ms fax pass-through sessions and 16 G.711, no VAD sessions
•
With 10-ms fax pass-through, each subsystem has a 20-session fax pass-through limit. With 20-ms fax pass-through, each subsystem has a 30-session fax pass-through limit. The same limitations would apply to all subsequent subsystems.
The Cisco AS5400 and Cisco AS5850 have a capability to transmit 20-ms packets and receive 10-ms packets, which significantly improves performance over what can currently be handled with 10-ms packets in both directions. Currently, other Cisco universal gateway implementations may have an outgoing packet size limitation that imposes the use of 10-ms packets, as opposed to 20-ms packets, which is the optimal setting. This restriction limits the number of ports that can run fax pass-through to 20 per subsystem (10-ms connections only).
•
Fax pass-through does not support the switch from G.Clear to G.711. If fax pass-through and the G.Clear codec are configured, the gateway is not able to detect the fax tone.
Prerequisites for Fax Pass-Through
•
Install a software release that supports fax pass-through.
•
Establish a working H.323 or SIP network for voice calls.
•
Complete voice interoperability testing with third-party gateways and gatekeepers.
•
Verify network suitability for fax pass-through by determining the packet loss threshold. Packet loss and latency are two impairments that can have a dramatic effect on fax pass-through performance.
Information About Fax Pass-Through
Fax pass-through takes place when incoming T.30 fax data is not demodulated or compressed for its transit through the packet network. The two endpoints (fax machines or modems) communicate directly to each other over a transparent IP connection. The gateway does not distinguish fax calls from voice calls.
On detection of a fax tone on an established VoIP call, the gateways switch into fax pass-through mode by suspending the voice codec and loading the pass-through parameters for the duration of the fax session. This process, called upspeeding, changes the bandwidth needed for the call to the equivalent of G.711.
With pass-through, the fax traffic is carried between the two gateways in RTP packets using an uncompressed format resembling the G.711 codec. This method of transporting fax traffic takes a constant 64-kbps (payload) stream plus its IP overhead end-to-end for the duration of the call. IP overhead is 16 kbps for normal voice traffic, but when switching to pass-through, the packetization period is reduced from 20 ms to 10 ms, which means that half as much data can be put into each frame. The result is that you need twice as many frames and twice as much IP overhead. For pass-through, the total bandwidth is 64 plus 32 kbps, for a total of 96 kbps. For normal voice traffic, total bandwidth is 64 plus 16 kbps, for a total of 80 kbps.
Packet redundancy may be used to mitigate the effects of packet loss in the IP network. Even so, fax pass-through remains susceptible to packet loss, jitter, and latency in the IP network. The two endpoints must be clocked synchronously for this type of transport to work predictably.
Performance may become an issue. To attempt to mitigate packet loss in the network, redundant encoding (1X or one repeat of the original packet) is used, which doubles the amount of data transferred in each packet. The doubling of packets imposes a limitation on the total number of ports that can run fax pass-through at one time. You can calculate that two voice sessions with no VAD equate to one fax pass-through session with redundancy.
Fax pass-through is supported under the following call-control protocols:
•
H.323
•
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
•
Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP)
In addition, the following information applies to H.323 and SIP fax pass-through.
Fax Pass-Through Signaling Using the Protocol Stack or NSEs
When a fax tone is detected, the originating and terminating gateways need to communicate to each other that they are changing to fax pass-through mode. Gateway signaling of the changeover to fax mode can use either of these methods:
•
H.323 or SIP protocol stack (fax pass-through)
•
Named service events (NSEs) (modem pass-through)
New with Cisco IOS Release 12.2(13)T is the ability to specify the use of the H.323 or SIP protocol stack to signal the changeover to fax mode. This is enabled with the fax protocol pass-through command.
Alternatively, you can use the modem passthrough command to configure the gateway to use Cisco-proprietary NSEs to signal the switch to pass-through mode. Pass-through using NSEs has been available on the Cisco AS5300 since Cisco IOS Release 12.1(3)T and on most other platforms since Cisco IOS Release 12.2(11)T.
Modem pass-through is preferred if all of the involved gateways are Cisco IOS gateways. Modem pass-through must be used with Cisco CallManager (CCM).
If non-Cisco gateways are involved in the fax transmissions, fax pass-through must be used. In all cases, however, T.38 fax relay is the best solution if all of the involved gateways support it.
H.323 or SIP Support of Resource Reservation Protocol
As of Cisco IOS Release 12.2(13)T, H.323 or SIP gateways that are configured for fax pass-through or modem pass-through allow Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) bandwidth adjustments when the original voice call is configured to use RSVP. When the original voice codec is restored at the end of the fax session, the original RSVP bandwidth is restored as well. When current bandwidth is unavailable, the fax proceeds at a best-effort rate without RSVP and with no performance guarantees. RSVP bandwidth adjustments for fax transmissions are made as follows:
•
T.38 fax relay—RSVP bandwidth is adjusted to 80 kbps.
•
Fax pass-through—RSVP bandwidth is adjusted to 96 kbps.
H.323 Support for Call Admission Control
As of Cisco IOS Release 12.2(13)T, H.323 call admission control (CAC) adjustments are allowed in the case of fax pass-through and modem pass-through. An H.323 gateway that uses a gatekeeper requests the following bandwidths from the gatekeeper when codec changes are necessary:
•
T.38 fax relay—Bandwidth of 80 kbps
•
Fax pass-through—Bandwidth of 96 kbps
If the gatekeeper accepts the bandwidth changes, the session is permitted to continue over the fax codec (G.711). If the gatekeeper rejects the bandwidth increase, the fax codec is terminated and the gateway uses the configured fax protocol fallback or the original voice codec, in which case the fax transfer fails.
How to Configure H.323 and SIP Fax Pass-Through
For H.323 and SIP networks, fax pass-through is configured on gateway dial peers. The configuration is described in the following sections:
•
Configuring One or More Individual VoIP Dial Peers
•
Configuring H.323 and SIP Fax Pass-Through
Configuring H.323 and SIP Fax Pass-Through
The purpose of these tasks is to configure VoIP dial peers for fax or modem pass-through, one at a time or globally. If both methods are used, an individual dial-peer configuration takes precedence over the global configuration, which means that a call matching a particular dial peer tries first to apply the fax method that was configured individually on that dial peer. If no individual dial peer configuration was made, the router uses the global configuration.
When configuring dial peers, you have the choice of specifying fax pass-through or modem pass-through for the pass-through method. If you use the fax protocol pass-through command to specify fax pass-through as the method, the gateway uses the H.323 or SIP protocol stack to signal the changeover to fax mode. If you use the modem passthrough command to specify modem pass-through as the method, the gateway uses NSEs for fax changeover signaling.
Note
If you need to configure fax pass-through to work with Cisco CallManager (CCM), you must use the modem passthrough nse command. The fax protocol pass-through command does not work with CCM, which relies on NSE information.
Configuration of dial peers is described in the following sections:
•
Configuring One or More Individual VoIP Dial Peers (required)
•
Configuring VoIP Dial Peers Globally (optional)
•
Verifying Fax Pass-Through Configuration (optional)
Configuring One or More Individual VoIP Dial Peers
During this task you enable fax pass-through on individual dial peers. Use the fax protocol pass-through command or the modem passthrough command, but not both.
SUMMARY STEPS
1.
dial-peer voice tag voip
2.
fax protocol pass-through {g711ulaw | g711alaw}
or
modem passthrough {system | nse [payload-type number] codec {g711alaw | g711ulaw} [redundancy]}
3.
fax-rate disable
4.
exit
DETAILED STEPS
| |
Command or Action
|
Purpose
|
Step 1
|
dial-peer voice tag voip
Example:
Router(config)# dial-peer voice 25 voip
|
Enters dial-peer configuration mode and defines a dial peer that directs traffic to or from a packet network.
• tag—Dial-peer identifier that consists of one or more digits. Valid entries are from 1 to 2147483647.
• voip—Calls from this dial peer use voice encapsulation on the packet network.
|
Step 2
|
fax protocol pass-through {g711ulaw | g711alaw} |
system
or
modem passthrough {system | nse [payload-type
number] codec {g711alaw | g711ulaw} [redundancy]}
Example:
Router(config-dial-peer)# fax protocol pass-through
g711ulaw
or
Router(config-dial-peer)# modem passthrough nse
codec g711alaw redundancy
|
Specifies the type of fax protocol to use on this dial peer.
• pass-through—Uses the H.323 or SIP protocol stack and the G.711 u-law or G.711 a-law codec. Use the same codec type for the originating and terminating gateways.
• system—Uses the protocol set under the voice-service configuration mode.
Note This command has other keywords and arguments that are used for T.38 fax relay. These keywords and arguments are described in Chapter 4.
or
Enables faxes to use modem pass-through and NSEs for fax changeover signaling. Keywords are as follows:
• system—Uses the protocol set under the voice-service configuration mode+.
• nse—Named service event (NSE) signaling is used to communicate codec switchover.
Note You must use modem passthrough nse with Cisco CallManager.
• payload-type number—(Optional) Value for NSE payload type. Range varies by platform, but is from 96 to 119 on most platforms. Default: 100.
• codec—Codec selection for upspeeding. Default: g711ulaw. Use the same codec type for the originating and terminating gateways.
– g711alaw—G.711 a-law codec type for E1
– g711ulaw—G.711 u-law codec type for T1
• redundancy—(Optional) Enables a single repetition of packets (using RFC 2198) to protect against packet loss.
|
Step 3
|
fax-rate disable
Example:
Router(config-dial-peer)# fax-rate disable
|
(Optional) Disables fax protocol capability on this dial peer. Use this command only when you want to force faxes to use modem pass-through. Do not use this command when you want faxes to use fax pass-through or fax relay on this dial peer.
|
Step 4
|
exit
Example:
Router(config-dial-peer)# exit
|
Exits dial-peer configuration mode.
|
Configuring VoIP Dial Peers Globally
If you are adding fax pass-through capability to a number of previously defined VoIP dial peers, you can configure all of them at one time in voice-service configuration mode.
Alternatively, you can add fax pass-through capability to VoIP dial peers one at a time by following the instructions in the "Configuring One or More Individual VoIP Dial Peers" section.
Note
When fax or modem pass-through is configured under the dial-peer voice configuration, the configuration for an individual dial peer takes precedence over the global configuration under the voice service voip command.
When configuring dial peers, you have the choice of specifying fax pass-through or modem pass-through for the pass-through method. If you use the fax protocol pass-through command to specify fax pass-through as the method, the gateway uses the H.323 or SIP protocol stack to signal the changeover to fax mode. If you use the modem passthrough command to specify modem pass-through as the method, the gateway uses NSEs for fax changeover signaling.
Note
If you need to configure fax pass-through to work with Cisco CallManager (CCM), you must use the modem passthrough nse command. The fax protocol pass-through command does not work with CCM, which relies on NSE information.
When using the voice service voip and modem passthrough nse commands on a terminating gateway to globally set up fax or modem pass-through with NSEs, you must also ensure that each incoming call is associated with a VoIP dial peer to retrieve the global fax or modem configuration. You associate calls with dial peers by using the incoming called-number command to specify a sequence of digits that incoming calls can match. You can ensure that all calls match at least one dial peer by using the following commands:
Router(config)# dial-peer voice tag voip
Router(config-dial-peer)# incoming called-number .
SUMMARY STEPS
1.
voice service voip
2.
fax protocol pass-through {g711ulaw | g711alaw}
or
modem passthrough nse [payload-type number] {codec {g711alaw | g711ulaw}} [redundancy [maximum-sessions sessions] [sample-duration [10 | 20]]]
3.
exit
DETAILED STEPS
| |
Command or Action
|
Purpose
|
Step 1
|
voice service voip
Example:
Router(config)# voice service voip
|
Enters voice-service configuration mode.
|
Step 2
|
fax protocol pass-through {g711ulaw | g711alaw}
or
modem passthrough nse [payload-type number] {codec
{g711alaw | g711ulaw}} [redundancy [maximum-sessions
sessions] [sample-duration [10 | 20]]]
Example:
Router(config-voi-serv)# fax protocol pass-through
g711ulaw
or
Example:
Router(config-voi-serv)# modem passthrough nse codec
g711alaw redundancy sample-duration 20
|
Specifies fax pass-through as the global transmission method for faxes, and the H.323 or SIP protocol stack to communicate codec switchover. Use the same codec type for originating and terminating gateways.
Note This command has other keywords and arguments that are used for T.38 fax relay, which are described in Chapter 4, "Configuring T.38 Fax Relay."
or
Specifies modem pass-through as the global transmission method for fax and data.
• nse—Named service event (NSE) signaling is used to communicate codec switchover.
Note You must use modem passthrough nse with Cisco CallManager.
• payload-type number—(Optional) Value for NSE payload type. Range varies by platform, but is from 96 to 119 on most platforms; see command-line interface (CLI) help. Default: 100.
• codec—Codec selection for upspeeding. Default: g711ulaw. Use the same codec type for the originating and terminating gateways.
– g711alaw—G.711 a-law codec type for E1
– g711ulaw—G.711 u-law codec type for T1
• redundancy—(Optional) Enables a single repetition of packets (using RFC 2198) to protect against packet loss.
• maximum-sessions sessions—(Optional) Maximum number of redundant sessions that can run simultaneously on each subsystem. Range varies by platform; see CLI help.
• sample-duration—(Optional) Time length of the largest RTP packet when packet redundancy is active, in ms. Valid keywords are 10 and 20. Default: 10.
|
Step 3
|
exit
Example:
Router(config-voi-serv)# exit
|
Exits voice-service configuration mode.
|
Verifying Fax Pass-Through Configuration
This task confirms that your dial peers are configured for fax pass-through.
SUMMARY STEPS
1.
show running-config
2.
show dial-peer voice [tag] [summary]
DETAILED STEPS
| |
Command or Action
|
Purpose
|
Step 1
|
show running-config
Example:
Router# show running-config
|
Displays the gateway running configuration, including dial-peer configuration.
|
Step 2
|
show dial-peer voice [tag] [summary]
Example:
Router# show dial-peer voice 25 summary
|
Displays configuration information for VoIP and POTS dial peers. Use this command to verify that fax pass-through is enabled. The argument and keyword are as follows:
• tag—Specifies a particular dial peer with an identifier that consists of one or more digits. Valid entries are from 1 to 2147483647.
• summary—Shows a brief form of the output.
|
How to Configure MGCP Fax Pass-Through
Configuration of MGCP fax pass-through on Cisco voice gateways is similar to configuration of MGCP VoIP calls. Configuration is done by means of several commands in addition to a standard VoIP configuration. The same configuration must be present on the originating and terminating gateways.
Prerequisites
•
Complete the prerequisites listed in the "Prerequisites for Fax Pass-Through" section.
•
Identify endpoints and configure the MGCP application as described in the appropriate documentation in the MGCP and Related Protocols Configuration Guide in the Cisco IOS Voice Configuration Library, Release 12.3:
SUMMARY STEPS
1.
mgcp package-capability rtp-package
2.
mgcp modem passthrough voip mode nse
3.
mgcp modem passthrough voip codec {g711ulaw | g711alaw}
4.
mgcp modem passthrough voip redundancy [sample-duration [10 | 20]] [maximum-sessions sessions]
5.
mgcp timer nse-response t38 time
6.
mgcp fax t.38 inhibit
7.
exit
8.
show running-config
9.
show mgcp
DETAILED STEPS
| |
Command or Action
|
Purpose
|
Step 1
|
mgcp package-capability rtp-package
Example:
Router(config)# mgcp package-capability rtp-package
|
Enables availability of the MGCP package for the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) on the gateway.
|
Step 2
|
mgcp modem passthrough voip mode nse
Example:
Router(config)# mgcp modem passthrough voip mode nse
|
Enables peer-to-peer RTP NSE signaling to coordinate the following between the originating and the terminating gateways: codec switchover and the disabling of the echo canceller and voice activity detection (VAD).
|
Step 3
|
mgcp modem passthrough voip codec {g711ulaw |
g711alaw}
Example:
Router(config)# mgcp modem passthrough voip codec
g711alaw
|
(Optional) Specifies codec. Keywords are as follows:
• g711ulaw—G.711 u-law codec type for T1
• g711alaw—G.711 a-law codec type for E1
Default: g711ulaw.
Note Use the same codec type for both the originating and the terminating gateway.
|
Step 4
|
mgcp modem passthrough voip redundancy
[sample-duration [10 | 20]] [maximum-sessions
sessions]
Example:
Router(config)# mgcp modem passthrough voip
redundancy sample-duration 20
|
(Optional) Enables a single repetition of packets (using RFC 2198) to improve reliability by protecting against packet loss. When redundancy is on, all calls on the gateway are affected. Keywords are as follows:
• sample-duration—(Optional) Time length of the largest RTP packet when packet redundancy is active, in ms. Valid keywords are 10 and 20. Default: 10.
• maximum sessions sessions—(Optional) Maximum number of redundant sessions that can run simultaneously on each subsystem. The range varies by platform; see CLI help.
|
Step 5
|
mgcp timer nse-response t38 time
Example:
Router(config)# mgcp timer nse-response t38 250
|
(Optional) Configures a timeout period to wait for NSE responses from a peer gateway. The peer gateway either acknowledges the switchover and its readiness to accept packets or indicates that it cannot accept packets. The argument is as follows:
• time—Timeout period for awaiting NSE responses from a peer gateway, in ms. Range: 100 to 3000. Default: 200.
|
Step 6
|
mgcp fax t38 inhibit
Example:
Router(config)# mgcp fax t38 inhibit
|
(Optional) Disables use of T.38 on the gateway. By default, T.38 is enabled.
Note If the MGCP gateway uses the auto-configuration function, the mgcp fax t38 inhibit command is automatically configured on the gateway each time a new configuration is downloaded. Beginning with Cisco IOS Software Release 12.4T, the auto-configuration of this command is removed. For MGCP gateways running Cisco IOS version 12.4T or later, you must manually configure the mgcp fax t38 inhibit command to use T.38 fax relay.
|
Step 7
|
exit
Example:
Router(config)# exit
|
Exits global configuration mode.
|
Step 8
|
show running-config
Example:
Router# show running-config
|
Displays the gateway running configuration, including dial-peer configuration. For an example of the output from this command, see the "MGCP Fax Pass-Through: Example" section.
|
Step 9
|
show mgcp
Example:
Router# show mgcp
|
Displays MGCP configuration information.
|
Configuration Examples for Fax Pass-Through
This section contains the following examples:
•
H.323 Fax Pass-Through: Example
•
SIP Fax Pass-Through: Example
•
MGCP Fax Pass-Through: Example
H.323 Fax Pass-Through: Example
The following sample output displays a running configuration for fax pass-through with H.323 support on a Cisco AS5850:
service timestamps debug uptime
service timestamps log uptime
no service password-encryption
dial-tdm-clock priority 1 trunk-slot 1 port 0
spe link-info poll voice 5
spe default-firmware spe-firmware-1
ip host colos_tftp 10.100.00.00
ip host brios 255.255.255.255
isdn switch-type primary-net5
modem passthrough nse codec g711alaw redundancy sample-duration 20
no voice hpi capture buffer
no voice hpi capture destination
mrcp client session history duration 0
mrcp client session history records 0
memory check-interval 3600
memory validate-checksum 7200
dial-peer voice 5001 pots
incoming called-number 550
incoming called-number 800
session target ipv4:10.100.00.00
SIP Fax Pass-Through: Example
The following sample output displays the fax pass-through configuration with SIP support on a Cisco 2691:
service timestamps debug datetime msec
service timestamps log datetime msec
no service password-encryption
boot system flash:c2691-ipvoice-mz.andante_0224
logging buffered 100000 debugging
clock summer-time PDT recurring
no network-clock-participate slot 1
no ip dhcp use vrf connected
no ftp-server write-enable
isdn switch-type primary-qsig
fax protocol pass-through g711ulaw
interface FastEthernet0/0
ip address 1.2.109.104 255.255.0.0
interface FastEthernet0/1
ip default-gateway 1.2.0.1
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 1.2.0.1
dial-peer voice 2000 voip
fax protocol pass-through g711alaw
ntp clock-period 17180778
ntp server 223.255.254.253 prefer
MGCP Fax Pass-Through: Example
The following example illustrates the configuration of an MGCP gateway for fax
pass-through.
service timestamps debug datetime msec
service timestamps log datetime msec
no service password-encryption
isdn switch-type primary-5ess
voice call carrier capacity active
mta receive maximum-recipients 0
no ccm-manager fax protocol cisco
clock source line primary
ds0-group 0 timeslots 1 type fxs-loop-start
ds0-group 0 timeslots 1 type e&m-wink-start
ip address 10.3.222.6 255.255.0.0
ip helper-address 10.3.222.1
ip default-gateway 10.3.0.1
ip route 192.168.254.0 255.255.255.0 10.3.0.1
mgcp call-agent 10.3.222.1 service-type mgcp version 0.1
mgcp modem passthrough voip mode nse
mgcp package-capability rtp-package
dial-peer voice 3641 pots
dial-peer voice 3643 pots