How to configure hardware independent faxing using HylaFAX and IAXModem is well documented for Asterisk and trixbox, but not for Switchvox, so Chromis customer Jill Rouleau from Liberty Distribution created a Switchvox-specific walk-through. Jill used Debian 5.0, HylaFAX, IAXModem, a Xen virtual machine, and Switchvox. Read on for Jill’s how-to… Thanks Jill!
Posts Tagged ‘Switchvox SMB’
Configuration of hardware independent faxing
Friday, July 9th, 2010Configuring Mac OS X for Switchvox Faxing
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
The Digium Switchvox User Manual contains general information for setting up your computer for outbound faxing. The User Manual gives detailed instructions for Microsoft Windows but not for Apple Mac OS X nor Linux. Outbound faxing with Switchvox is as easy as setting up a network printer but it turns out that the OS X configuration is not as straight forward. Click here to download a PDF document which contains complete instructions on configuring OS X Snow Leopard with Switchvox outbound faxing.
Switchvox VoIP Security
Monday, February 1st, 2010
Security is always a concern when installing any new devices on a network, and Switchvox certainly is no exception. We frequently get asked about what steps Digium has taken to ensure security on their Switchvox SMB appliances. Chromis Technology addresses four main concerns that our customers ask us about: 1) access to the web interface, 2) access to the manufacturer console and asterisk core, 3) SIP authentication security, and 4) RTP session security.
Following are descriptions of Switchvox security relating to each concern:
1. Switchvox uses the web standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to access the web configuration interface. SSL is the same technology that banks use to conduct online banking. Switchvox allows for the creation of multiple administrators, each with different service level access to the administration web interface. Thus administrators may create different administrators so that powerful controls are limited according to the requirements for specific administrators. Users also may be granted or denied access to the user web interface. Users also use SSL to access their individual settings and must use a password to log in.
2. Switchvox runs using the secure operating system Linux. The server is locked down by default so that only PBX and web interface functions are permitted. The administrator may optionally enable or disable remote console access so that the manufacturer can access the server for advanced diagnostics or repair. The protocol used is Secure SHell (SSH), a high-security system for console access to servers. SSH is disabled by default and the manufacturer (Digium) only has access to the backend if an administrator chooses to grant a technician access. This will then allow a Digium support engineer to access the asterisk core.
3. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is the VoIP protocol that Switchvox uses to connect to telephones. SIP uses a password in a method that is analogous to the way that an email account uses a password to access an email server. Switchvox automatically configures Polycom and snom telephones with secure SIP passwords. This ensures that if a SIP device attempts to connect to Switchvox it will be prevented access unless it has the correct secure SIP password for that individual extension it is trying to register. This password is hidden and cannot be discovered. If a user or administrator forgets their password, they must reset with a new pasword. Switchvox employs complicated, secure passwords for SIP devices and informs the administrator if he or she attempts to create an insecure password.
4. Real Time Transfer (RTP) is the VoIP protocol that Switchvox uses to transport the audio calls between telephones and the server. RTP by itself does not prevent someone from collecting the data from the Switchvox network and listening to pieces of a call. Enhancements to RTP in the future will allow the audio data to be encrypted so that the data captured will not be audible. It is difficult to intercept RTP traffic and requires direct access to the telephone system network. However, until Digium incorporates a secure RTP technology, Chromis recommends that administrators not allow public access to the Local Area Network if they can help it. In other words, standard security procedures such as firewalls, building access control to network equipment, WiFi passwords, etc. should be employed for your network. If VoIP calls are placed over public Internet they may optionally be made through a VPN connection to secure the conversation.
So we want to know, what are your concerns with Switchvox VoIP security? Drop us a line in the comments section or email us at the address in the header above. We love hearing from you and I’m sure you have your own opinions on what I’ve left out…
Digium Releases Switchvox SMB 4.5
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010Switchvox SMB 4.5 (Release number 21669) has been announced today by Digium at IT Expo East in Miami. The new version is available for immediate download. Go to ‘Machine Admin > Upgrades‘ to upgrade your SMB server.
The new version contains the following enhancements:
Phone Feature Packs – In this release, ‘Phone Provisioning Tokens’ are updated to ‘Phone Feature Packs.’ You must reboot each of your Configured phones if you want to take advantage of the new features:
- Phone Setup
Now you can set an Alternate Host and up to 3 extensions on each phone, and set several new administration options across all phones. (See ‘System Setup > Phone Setup‘) - Distinctive Ringtones: Administration
Admins can upload system-wide ringtones for use by Configured Polycom phones. Also, two new IVR actions let admins set and remove a ‘hint’ so that extension-owners can set a distinctive ring based on a caller’s IVR selections. (See ‘PBX Features > Distinctive Ringtones‘ and ‘PBX Features > IVR Editor‘) - Distinctive Ringtones for Extensions (Polycom Only)
Extensions can use system-wide ringtones, or upload their own. They can also create ‘Ring Rules’ that cause their phone to ring differently based on the caller or call-type. (See ‘Settings > Phone Features‘) - Phone Features (Polycom Only)
Extension-owners can show Extension Profiles on their phone, set the number of line keys that the extension uses, and interact with PBX applications right on the handset. (See ‘Settings > Phone Features‘) - Phone Features (Polycom and snom)
Extension-owners can customize line labels, auto-answer Switchboard-initiated calls, and disable the missed calls notification. (See ‘Settings > Phone Features‘)
Extension Profiles with Pictures – Phone-type extensions now include a picture, title, and location. This can be edited by the extension-owner (with permission). Profiles are shown in a new Switchboard Panel, and on Polycom phones that have a Phone Feature Pack. (See ‘Extensions > Manage Extensions‘ or ‘Settings > Modify Account‘)
Language Support – The ‘admin’ user, sub-admin users, and extension-owners can each select a language for the PBX’s User Interface. Related sound packs are available. (See ‘Machine Admin > Manage Admins‘ or ‘Settings > Modify Account‘)
PBX Monitoring – A set of SNMP OIDs is now published to monitor the PBX server, phone status, current calls, VOIP providers, and more. (See ‘Machine Admin > Network Settings‘)
Updated Polycom firmware – Most models: SIP 3.2.2 and bootrom 4.2.1 – Discontinued phones (301,501,600,601,4000) do not receive new firmware
Updated snom firmware – 3xx phones: 7.3.30, 820 phone: 8.2.11, 870 phone: 8.3.6
Video Calling - As a result of changes that Polycom, Inc. has made to their VVX 1500 phone, video calling is now available on that phone.
Stay tuned to Chromis.com for a detailed review once we’ve tested this new version on our demo server.
Voice Over the Grand Canyon: A Switchvox Case Study
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Grand Canyon Resort Corp (GCR) is the company that oversees Grand Canyon West. Grand Canyon West comprises the Western part of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and is contained within the Hualapai Nation. GCR chose Chromis Technology to install Digium’s Turnkey Asterisk PBX, Switchvox SMB, to create a VoIP solution to connect to remote locations that do not have traditional telephone facilities.
Grand Canyon West is an amazing canyon land that is very close to Laughlin, NV; Kingman, AZ; and Flagstaff, AZ. It is also a reasonably short drive from Las Vegas, NV; Sedona, AZ; and Phoenix, AZ. GCR has multiple attractions in Grand Canyon West including the increasingly famous Skywalk that takes you 70 feet from the rim of the Canyon and suspends you 4,000 feet above the Canyon floor! (Click on any of the images below for the high resolution version in a new window.)
GCR has one Digium AA350 server at their headquarters in Peach Springs, AZ and three AA60 servers at three remote locations. The AA350 has a TE122 card that connects to a local PRI circuit. A satellite connection to each of the remote locations connects each site back to headquarters via IAX trunks and provides a connection to the public telephone network. The G.729 compression codec is used for calls between the servers and G.722 (HD Voice) and G.711 is used for calls internal to each server. In addition to the Digium Switchvox servers, GCR chose Polycom SoundPoint IP telephones.
A big challenge for GCR was connecting those remote facilities. A recently installed a satellite data network from HughesNet is serving up data and voice services to the remote locations. As is common with Satellite data links, excessive latency can wreak havoc on VoIP and make it difficult to have a normal, duplex conversation. GCR appreciates this fact and primarily focuses on providing telephone service to the edge of the Grand Canyon where there is no terrestrial connection to the rest of the world.
Indeed, latency proved to be high, but was often as low as 600ms. Unfortunately the latency results still cause over-talking (when one caller talks before the other caller is finished). The greater problem with the satellite link is jitter, or variation in the delay. During one test the latency varied from 600ms to 1100ms. GCR installed accelerators from Expand Networks to improve the performance over the satellite links.
The latency and jitter fall just outside the range of acceptable, and the delivery of calls is certainly not what we’re used to back in civilization, but by using Digium’s VoIP technology, calls are now being made in and out of Grand Canyon West like they never have before. For more information on how Chromis Technology can help your business leap canyons, give us a call at 602.357.8070 or email us at info@chromis.com.
Digium Releases Updated Switchvox Appliances
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Digium has released three updated Switchvox Appliances, the AA65, AA305, and the AA355. The new appliances replace the older AA60, AA300, and AA350 appliances. The updated versions each feature a new front-mounted LCD control panel, making it easy to setup and manage your system. Also, the AA65 features a new rack-friendly chassis design and an internal power supply – replacing the AA60 and its external power supply. The appliances were also given some performance enhancements as shown below:
Memory / RAM
AA60 – 512MB -> AA65 – 2GB
AA300 – 1GB -> AA305 – 2GB
AA350 – 2GB -> AA355 – 2GB
Storage / HDD
AA60 – 80GB -> AA65 – 80GB
AA300 – 80GB -> AA305 – 160GB
AA350 – 80GB -> AA355 – 160GB
(2x 160GB HDDs in RAID 1 configuration)
All pricing for the newer appliances remains the same as the older appliances. An AA65 is priced the same as an AA60, an AA305 is priced the same as an AA300, and an AA355 is priced the same as the AA350. The new Appliances are available today.
Switchvox gets a fresh new look…
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009Users who have updated to the current version of Switchvox may have noticed a new graphics package that, according to the release notes: “Reflect the new Digium and Switchvox brands.”
To update your Switchvox PBX to Release 18775, go to Machine Admin > Updates.
Additional issues fixed in this release are:
- Phonebook entries are now consistently in sync with each entry’s ‘Additional Numbers.’
- The Bulk Extension Updater no longer fails under particular circumstances.
- The T1 echo canceler is improved.
- Updated firmware settings to improve VPM hardware echo canceler.
- Switchboard no longer has trouble loading panels under particular circumstances.
- Dates within the Switchboard Panels ‘SugarCRM’ and ‘Salesforce’ are now correct.
Users are flocking to Switchvox…
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
I must apologize for the lack of blog posts lately. We’ve been super busy with Digium Switchvox installs this summer. Let me give you the 10,000 foot overview of some of them and show you how our customers across the spectrum have been using Switchvox SMB… I can’t give you the customer’s names but I think the solution and why they chose Switchvox is really what’s important here…
The flurry of activity started in June with an install outside of Los Angeles with over 200 users on mostly Polycom IP450’s. Quite a fun install and an interesting case study. The customer is in the insurance industry and this is their Corporate HQ. They have a small call center, but is made up of mostly average, everyday users. We replaced an old Nortel system and the customer is happy to have the additional features that their old system couldn’t do. Their plans for the future include trunking their offices together via IAX trunking. We have already replaced several of their other facilities with Switchvox earlier this year in Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas.
Another interesting install was right in our backyard, in Paradise Valley, AZ. We replaced an almost 2 year old Avaya IP Office system in their corporate facility as well as their distribution center in the Scottsdale Airpark a few miles away. That’s right, you read that correctly, the Avaya system was put in a little over two years ago! The reason they abandoned the Avaya solution is that it was not as tightly integrated with their current back end systems, and Asterisk based Switchvox on the other hand was a perfect fit. The customer is in the medical field and has a small call center with answer SLA’s in under 30 seconds. They have about 50 users at the HQ and 10 at their distribution plant. Their Point to point T1 is carrying the traffic beautifully between the two sites. Again they’re using Polycom IP450’s at both sites.
On the smaller end of the SMB market, we have an up and coming Real Estate developer who is moving in this weekend to their new building in the Ahwatukee Foothills section of Phoenix. They have half a dozen users but plan to expand the system as more tenants move into their building on their Switchvox AA300 with SMB. They have never had a phone system before but like the idea of having remote users and tight integration of messaging with voicemail to email. We were up against Mitel and Avaya and pricing weighed heavily on their decision. The lower priced Switchvox solution won out in the end.
So those are just a few examples of the installs we’ve done this summer. And we’ve got more lined up in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and I promise I’ll keep it up. If you’d like to learn more about how Chromis Technology can help you do more in your business with Switchvox, give us a call at 602.357.8070 or drop us a line using our Contact Us page.
Switchvox 4.0 really hits the mark
Friday, February 6th, 2009
So I don’t have time to get into great editorial detail, but I want to break down the new features of Switchvox 4.0… Keep in mind that I’m only talking about the new features that they have added, you still get the same amazing features it had before…
In short, the new version includes integrated faxing, video calling support, and XMPP open source IM/chat/presence, introductory API support, IMAP integration for voicemail, a new Windows desktop client, IP phone autoconfig for snom and Polycom phones, and BRI support. Here are the nitty-gritty details from the press release:
- Fax integration-Users can send and receive faxes quickly and easily via Switchvox.
- Video calling-Switchvox supports video phones that use the codec standards H.263 and H.264.
- Instant messaging-Switchvox includes a private chat server that uses the widely adopted, open XMPP protocol. The Switchvox Switchboard offers a Chat Panel, or users can select their favorite XMPP-based client.
- Centralized presence-Presence and status details for call and chat activity are visible across multiple peered Switchvox PBXs.
- Web-aware interactive voice response (IVR) tools-Switchvox includes many new IVR functions for building custom applications. These sophisticated tools include exchanging sound files with web applications, setting system-wide variables and more.
- Unified messaging enhancements-IMAP integration provides a standards-based solution for voicemail and faxes. Also, users can customize multiple greetings and e-mail notifications optimized for display on a wide range of devices.
- Organized phonebooks-Employees can organize their contacts into groups and keep multiple phone numbers for each contact. Also, a company directory panel uses type-to-find to help users find extensions quickly for any of their coworkers.
- Call queue improvements-Small businesses and call centers alike will benefit from the ability to log into, log out of and pause a member’s status on each queue with a single click, and even add comments that are displayed to supervisors or other queue members.
- Switchvox Notifier-A Windows desktop client provides interaction with MS Office applications. Pop-up notifications show incoming caller details and call history, and one-click options let users quickly add Outlook contacts and dial phone numbers.
- Switchvox Extend-An XML-based API lets administrators create new extensions and access call logs, reports and extension lists.
- Auto-provisioning snom IP phones-Switchvox offers automatic configuration of VoIP phones manufactured by snom technology and Polycom.
- G.722 support-Switchvox now supports the G.722 protocol which is commonly reffered to as “HD Voice”. This is high-quality wideband audio delivered with the same bandwidth required as a G.711 call.
Switchvox SMB 4.0 is available free of charge to customers with a current Switchvox SMB software subscription. For new customers, pricing for Switchvox SMB remains unchanged. That’s all the time I have for now but stay tuned for what we at Chromis Technology think are the highlights of the new release.
Switchvox Provisioning Tokens make life easy
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009Digium’s Switchvox is already easy to configure but if you want the greatest in telephone system simplicity, try out the Switchvox phone configuration tool. It auto-discovers and provisions Polycom telephones making adding a phone a quick, painless process. Switchvox SMB includes 10 provisioning tokens; you can purchase additional tokens for additional phones. This post and associated screen shots refer to Switchvox Version 3.5.
To check how many Phone Configuration Tokens you are registered to your system, log into your Switchvox server as an administrator and go to Machine Admin > Updates.
You will see information about your server including the quantity of Phone Configuration Tokens you have available and the number that have been used.
Switchvox discovers the Polycom telephones on your local area network (LAN) and displays them in the web interface if you are logged in as an admin. Go to System Setup > Phone Setup to see the phones on your network. Note that the server can only see phones on your LAN not remote telephones or potentially complicated LANs (like over multiple subnetworks).
Select the phones that you want to configure. The next screen relates a specific telephone with a specific extension that you have already configured. Fill in or select the extension that you want to assign to this phone. The name and email fields will be populated automatically when you select an existing extension.
Once the telephone is configured Switchvox will reboot the phone and automatically configure it for your PBX! You can view configured phones by going to System Setup > Phone Setup and then click on Configured Phones. A configured phone will look like this:
Switchvox will provision your phone with one line key active. For example, if you have an IP 600, 601, 650, or 670 you will have six line keys to the left of the screen. These keys can be used for your extension or as a buddy key (like a speed dial button plus user status such as busy or idle). It is helpful to have multiple buttons programmed as your extension so that you can accept and place multiple calls and easily move between them by pressing the Hold key, and then pressing a line button to activate another call.
If you want to override the default configuration of one line key for your phone you must log into the phones user interface. (To get the IP address that you’ll need to log in, hit the following buttons on your phone: Menu > Status > Network > TCP/IP Parameters) Open a web browser and enter your telephone’s IP address. The default user name is “Polycom” and the default password is “456″. To change your phone’s line appearances click “Lines” at the top of the page, in the Line 1 table change Num Line Keys to the quantity of buttons that you want to use as your extension, scroll down and click the Submit button. Your phone will reboot.
Following is a Polycom IP 601 with the Num Line Keys set to 4. The first four line buttons default to your extension number. All four buttons can be used to place an outbound call using extension 464. The first inbound call will ring to the top button. If you receive a second call it will ring to the second button and so forth until you use all four buttons.
10 digit local dialing
Some regions of the United States require or allow dialing local telephone numbers using 10 digits. Phoenix, AZ is a typical example. We have three primary local area codes (480, 602, 623) and users must dial numbers not in their own area code by dialing ten digits. Most users are accustomed to ten-digit dialing and typical Switchvox administrators like to configure Switchvox to make their users happy. Configure ten-digit dialing under System Setup > Outgoing Calls.
Following is a simple 10 digit outgoing call rule (users in this example dial 9 for outbound call):
Your user’s telephones must also anticipate ten-digit dialing. Go to System Setup, Phone Setup, click Show Advanced Options. Check the Use 10 digit local dialing and then Save Advanced Options. You can also use the Custom Digit Map field for more advanced Polycom digit map settings. Contact Chromis for assistance with Polycom digit maps.
