Project DiaStar Server - ISDN Configuration

From ProjectDiaStar

Now that the DiaStar™ Media Engine license is done, configure your PSTN hardware for ISDN. Still in the CLI, do:

CLI> show hardware 
      (do this to get DNI device ID)
CLI> conf hardware pstn <dev_id> <span_no> protocol <network_protocol_value> 
      (do this once for each span on each board)

Network Protocol Values:
  1  - 4ESS
  2  - 5ESS
  3  - CAS
  4  - DMS
  5  - E1CC
  6  - NET5
  7  - NI2
  8  - NTT
  9  - QSIGE1
  10 - QSIGT1
  11 - R2MF
  12 - T1CC
  13 - DASS2
  14 - DPNSS

The following example sets the protocol for device 2 trunk 1 to NET5 ISDN (6).

 CLI> conf hardware pstn 2 1 protocol 6

Finally, apply changes, set media engine start-up to automatic and exit the CLI:

 CLI> conf system pstn apply
 CLI> conf system ipmedia start-mode auto
 CLI> quit

Back at the OS command prompt, restart Dialogic media services to apply the changes just made:

> dlstop
> dlstart

Loopback Testing

The most convenient way to verify that your system works is by connecting two spans to one another, back-to-back. This is known as a loopback configuration, where an outbound call from one side arrives as an inbound call on the other. This may be doen on a single system, or between two DiaStar servers.

A special cable known as a crossover cable must be used when two spans on T1/E1 board(s) are connected. On a single system, you will need at least a dual span board (or two single span boards) to do this sort of arrangement. A crossover cable connects the transmit leads on one side to the receive leads on the other. Here are two references to pinout diagrams - [1] and [2]

Over two systems, the cables should be plugged into like ports. On a single system, the cable should be plugged into the first and second spans of the DNI card. For quad or octal cards, these are the two jacks closest to the three red/yellow/green LEDs on the back of the board. In the DiaStar configuration files, these spans correspond to devices "dtiB1" and "dtiB2".

When using loopback cables for testing using an ISDN protocol, one side of the ISDN connection must be set to USER and the other side to NETWORK. The default setting is USER, as the boards are usually connected to a live ISDN line which provides the NETWORK side of the connection.

To change to NETWORK, in /usr/dialogic/data, edit the config file produced when the DNI boards were configured. These files will begin with "gnetworkonly", contain a shortened form of the protocol selected during board configuration and have a file type of "config". For example, a quad span DNI running NET5 ISDN is named gnetworkonly_hmpqsb_4_net5.config.

There are separate sections, each starting with [CCS] in this config file for each T1/E1 span on the board. Each section has the following line:

Setparm=0x17,0		! ISDN Protocol Mode.  0 = USER_MODE; 1 = NETWORK_MODE

This one is set to USER mode. (0) Make sure that span connected to each end of the loopback connection is different - one set to USER (0) and one set to NETWORK. (1)

Note that other low-level parameters pertaining to the selected protocol may also be changed in this way. See the HMP 4.1LIN System Configuration Guide for details.

Once the file is edited, the changes made in the text config file must be activated by stopping the system services, processing the file with the fcdgen utility and then starting the services. For example:

# dlstop
# fcdgen gnetworkonly_hmpqsb_4_net5.config
# dlstart

Return to the ISO configuration page now to finish configuring the DiaStar server itself.

Further Information

The DiaStar™ Media Engine uses the same installation and configuration scripts as HMP 4.1LIN. In the event that the instructions in this Wiki are not sufficient, additional details can be found in the HMP documentation here.