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Fax server Vs Message Manager 1
- Thread starter 7532
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G van Hamburg
IS-IT--Management
Buy a Fax server I'd say.
Message Manager was designed to control your voicemailbox through an application. Sending and recieving faxes is part of that. As far as I know, Avaya stopped development on this tool.
Faxserver software is designed for sending and recieving faxes so it might have more specific features you desire.
Plan your work............Work your plan
![[afro]](/data/assets/smilies/afro.gif "[afro] [afro]")
Message Manager was designed to control your voicemailbox through an application. Sending and recieving faxes is part of that. As far as I know, Avaya stopped development on this tool.
Faxserver software is designed for sending and recieving faxes so it might have more specific features you desire.
Plan your work............Work your plan
7532
I am currently weighing these two options myself. What I have found out so far is that it all comes down to the size of your voicemail server vs. the size of users involved. By choosing the voicemail server to do all of your faxing, you will be vulnerable to tying up all of your voicemail ports if Faxing is heavy in your company. Then voicemail users may experience busy signals on occasion. You would have to monitor the traffic constantly. The other thing would be how long to allow people to store their faxes on the server for? Your drive could begin to fill up quickly again if your company relies heavily on faxes. If you choose to use your VM system as a fax server I would recommend having your network guy create a shared folder on the intranet or personal account so that personel can transfer a fax file from Message Manager to the intranet or network and store the faxes there for 30 days or so..
When it comes down to it in the end, I think I will have to agree with Brandaris and say BUY A FAX SERVER. Their are mnay inexpensive options now a days. One that has me interested right now is GFI Fax Maker. Thier product has great reviews and cost is minimal. I don't have their website address on me but if you search google you'll find it easy enough..
Rob
I am currently weighing these two options myself. What I have found out so far is that it all comes down to the size of your voicemail server vs. the size of users involved. By choosing the voicemail server to do all of your faxing, you will be vulnerable to tying up all of your voicemail ports if Faxing is heavy in your company. Then voicemail users may experience busy signals on occasion. You would have to monitor the traffic constantly. The other thing would be how long to allow people to store their faxes on the server for? Your drive could begin to fill up quickly again if your company relies heavily on faxes. If you choose to use your VM system as a fax server I would recommend having your network guy create a shared folder on the intranet or personal account so that personel can transfer a fax file from Message Manager to the intranet or network and store the faxes there for 30 days or so..
When it comes down to it in the end, I think I will have to agree with Brandaris and say BUY A FAX SERVER. Their are mnay inexpensive options now a days. One that has me interested right now is GFI Fax Maker. Thier product has great reviews and cost is minimal. I don't have their website address on me but if you search google you'll find it easy enough..
Rob
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If you get GFI fax server, and you got a couple of good fax/modems, you are set!
You don't need a special DID card. GFI supports DTMF routing.
DTMF routing does not make sense usually because you can't ask people to send faxes to 555-555-5555 ext 1234
But since you have a Definity, use a VDN/Vector to send calls to the modem hunt group, send a pause, and send the DTMF tones to the modem and voila!
GFI will pick up the DTMF and route the fax to the correct exchange box.
A Brooktrout DID card costs quite a bit, but a couple of high quality fax/modems is very inexpensive. Also the claim that a Brooktrout card sends faxes faster is useless as most of the time, our limitation is the receiving end.
I've got a Brooktrout DID fax card, and a pool of USR sportsters (hooked up with Equinox Serial ports because I have more than 4) and don't notice any difference in sucess or speed. I did notice a difference in price!
You don't need a special DID card. GFI supports DTMF routing.
DTMF routing does not make sense usually because you can't ask people to send faxes to 555-555-5555 ext 1234
But since you have a Definity, use a VDN/Vector to send calls to the modem hunt group, send a pause, and send the DTMF tones to the modem and voila!
GFI will pick up the DTMF and route the fax to the correct exchange box.
A Brooktrout DID card costs quite a bit, but a couple of high quality fax/modems is very inexpensive. Also the claim that a Brooktrout card sends faxes faster is useless as most of the time, our limitation is the receiving end.
I've got a Brooktrout DID fax card, and a pool of USR sportsters (hooked up with Equinox Serial ports because I have more than 4) and don't notice any difference in sucess or speed. I did notice a difference in price!
Hi PhoneFan,
I am planning to get FaxMaker from GFI and I want to use existing DID for new fax numbers.
I have Avaya Definity R11 (csi) and I would like to do what you mentioned above "But since you have a Definity, use a VDN/Vector to send calls to the modem hunt group, send a pause, and send the DTMF tones to the modem and voila!" but this voila is not so simple for me
Can you please help?
Thank you very much
Zbysek
I am planning to get FaxMaker from GFI and I want to use existing DID for new fax numbers.
I have Avaya Definity R11 (csi) and I would like to do what you mentioned above "But since you have a Definity, use a VDN/Vector to send calls to the modem hunt group, send a pause, and send the DTMF tones to the modem and voila!" but this voila is not so simple for me
Can you please help?Thank you very much
Zbysek
Octel 100 is what I think of when I think of a fax server, but maybe I have the terminalogy mixed up. I think a fax server as something that says "if u want a list of prices faxed to u press "and then the system sends u the list. Intuity can't do this. Is this what u need, or just something to manually take faxes and send them out?
Course the best thing to do is not work with faxes at all, do it all with email. Faxing is old technology that doesn't use your resources effeciently. But I know that isn't a option in most cases.
Course the best thing to do is not work with faxes at all, do it all with email. Faxing is old technology that doesn't use your resources effeciently. But I know that isn't a option in most cases.
Hi everybody,
And this is the solution:
display agent-loginID 7104
AGENT LOGINID
Login ID: 7104 AAS? y
Name: Test AUDIX? n
TN: 1 LWC Reception: none
COR: 23 LWC Log External Calls? n
Coverage Path:
Security Code:
Direct Agent Skill: LoginID for ISDN Display? n
Call Handling Preference: skill-level Port Extension: 7202
Auto Answer: station
SN SL SN SL SN SL SN SL
1: 8 1 6: 11: 16:
2: 7: 12: 17:
3: 8: 13: 18:
4: 9: 14: 19:
5: 10: 15: 20:
display hunt-group 8 Page 1 of 3
HUNT GROUP
Group Number: 8 ACD? y
Group Name: Fax server - test Queue? y
Group Extension: 7610 Vector? y
Group Type: ucd-mia
TN: 1
COR: 10 MM Early Answer? n
Security Code:
ISDN Caller Display:
display hunt-group 8 Page 2 of 3
HUNT GROUP
Skill? y Expected Call Handling Time (sec): 180
AAS? y
Measured: none
Supervisor Extension:
Controlling Adjunct: none
display vdn 7546 Page 1 of 2
VECTOR DIRECTORY NUMBER
Extension: 7546
Name: Fax DID - test
Vector Number: 11
Attendant Vectoring? n
Meet-me Conferencing? n
Allow VDN Override? n
display vector 11 Page 1 of 3
CALL VECTOR
Number: 11 Name: test
Multimedia? n Attendant Vectoring? n Meet-me Conf? n Lock? n
Basic? y EAS? y G3V4 Enhanced? y ANI/II-Digits? y ASAI Routing? n
Prompting? y LAI? n G3V4 Adv Route? y CINFO? y BSR? y Holidays? y
01 converse-on skill 8 pri h passing vdn and none
02 wait-time 2 secs hearing silence
03 stop
And this is the solution:
display agent-loginID 7104
AGENT LOGINID
Login ID: 7104 AAS? y
Name: Test AUDIX? n
TN: 1 LWC Reception: none
COR: 23 LWC Log External Calls? n
Coverage Path:
Security Code:
Direct Agent Skill: LoginID for ISDN Display? n
Call Handling Preference: skill-level Port Extension: 7202
Auto Answer: station
SN SL SN SL SN SL SN SL
1: 8 1 6: 11: 16:
2: 7: 12: 17:
3: 8: 13: 18:
4: 9: 14: 19:
5: 10: 15: 20:
display hunt-group 8 Page 1 of 3
HUNT GROUP
Group Number: 8 ACD? y
Group Name: Fax server - test Queue? y
Group Extension: 7610 Vector? y
Group Type: ucd-mia
TN: 1
COR: 10 MM Early Answer? n
Security Code:
ISDN Caller Display:
display hunt-group 8 Page 2 of 3
HUNT GROUP
Skill? y Expected Call Handling Time (sec): 180
AAS? y
Measured: none
Supervisor Extension:
Controlling Adjunct: none
display vdn 7546 Page 1 of 2
VECTOR DIRECTORY NUMBER
Extension: 7546
Name: Fax DID - test
Vector Number: 11
Attendant Vectoring? n
Meet-me Conferencing? n
Allow VDN Override? n
display vector 11 Page 1 of 3
CALL VECTOR
Number: 11 Name: test
Multimedia? n Attendant Vectoring? n Meet-me Conf? n Lock? n
Basic? y EAS? y G3V4 Enhanced? y ANI/II-Digits? y ASAI Routing? n
Prompting? y LAI? n G3V4 Adv Route? y CINFO? y BSR? y Holidays? y
01 converse-on skill 8 pri h passing vdn and none
02 wait-time 2 secs hearing silence
03 stop
orypecos, in this discussion, the fax server we are talking about is one that receives and sends faxes for multiple people. IE: have 10 different fax numbers but only 2 lines, and each number is delivered to it's owner via email/exchange.
Wow Zbysek. Thats pretty different that what I would have done.
Though I don't use DTMF here's a different solution that does not require agents logins.
HUNT GROUP
Group Number: 10 ACD? n
Group Name: Fax Queue? y
Group Extension: 8100 Vector? n
Group Type: ucd-mia Coverage Path:
TN: 1 Night Service Destination:
COR: 40 MM Early Answer? n
Security Code:
ISDN Caller Display:
Queue Length: 4
Calls Warning Threshold: Port:
Time Warning Threshold: Port:
On Page 3, specify the analog modem extensions.
VECTOR DIRECTORY NUMBER
Extension: 2123
Name: Fax IT
Vector Number: 100
Attendant Vectoring? n
Meet-me Conferencing? n
Allow VDN Override? y
COR: 60
TN: 1
Measured: external
CALL VECTOR
Number: 100 Name: Fax IT
Multimedia? n Attendant Vectoring? n Meet-me Conf? n Lock? n
Basic? y EAS? y G3V4 Enhanced? y ANI/II-Digits? y ASAI Routing? y
Prompting? y LAI? n G3V4 Adv Route? y CINFO? y BSR? y Holidays? n
01 wait-time 2 secs hearing ringback
02 route-to number 8100~p2123 with cov n if unconditionally
03 busy
04
I never thought to use the Converse-on. That makes it so you can use 1 vec for all your DIDs but the Converse on means your vec keeps control of the call, but thats not a big deal. Anyway, glad to hear you found yourself a solution that didn't require a real DID fax board, the are expensive.
Wow Zbysek. Thats pretty different that what I would have done.
Though I don't use DTMF here's a different solution that does not require agents logins.
HUNT GROUP
Group Number: 10 ACD? n
Group Name: Fax Queue? y
Group Extension: 8100 Vector? n
Group Type: ucd-mia Coverage Path:
TN: 1 Night Service Destination:
COR: 40 MM Early Answer? n
Security Code:
ISDN Caller Display:
Queue Length: 4
Calls Warning Threshold: Port:
Time Warning Threshold: Port:
On Page 3, specify the analog modem extensions.
VECTOR DIRECTORY NUMBER
Extension: 2123
Name: Fax IT
Vector Number: 100
Attendant Vectoring? n
Meet-me Conferencing? n
Allow VDN Override? y
COR: 60
TN: 1
Measured: external
CALL VECTOR
Number: 100 Name: Fax IT
Multimedia? n Attendant Vectoring? n Meet-me Conf? n Lock? n
Basic? y EAS? y G3V4 Enhanced? y ANI/II-Digits? y ASAI Routing? y
Prompting? y LAI? n G3V4 Adv Route? y CINFO? y BSR? y Holidays? n
01 wait-time 2 secs hearing ringback
02 route-to number 8100~p2123 with cov n if unconditionally
03 busy
04
I never thought to use the Converse-on. That makes it so you can use 1 vec for all your DIDs but the Converse on means your vec keeps control of the call, but thats not a big deal. Anyway, glad to hear you found yourself a solution that didn't require a real DID fax board, the are expensive.
FoneFun, I know it is a long time since you posted on this thread but it seems as though you may have the answer to the problem I'm facing.
We have a GFI fax server, 20 inbound fax numbers and 4 fax lines. The fax server doesn't seem to be picking up the DTMF tones and our faxes aren't being routed as we would have wished.
I have set up the VDNs/Vectors and hunt group as per your instructions above and faxes are being sent ok but without the detection of the DTMF tones we cannot route the faxes accordingly.
Is there any other settings on the switch (CM2.0) that could be causing this?
Many thanks
We have a GFI fax server, 20 inbound fax numbers and 4 fax lines. The fax server doesn't seem to be picking up the DTMF tones and our faxes aren't being routed as we would have wished.
I have set up the VDNs/Vectors and hunt group as per your instructions above and faxes are being sent ok but without the detection of the DTMF tones we cannot route the faxes accordingly.
Is there any other settings on the switch (CM2.0) that could be causing this?
Many thanks
Well the fax server wouldn't pick up the DTMF tones from the fax when dialling the VDN. But when we tried calling the fax machine direct from a phone and dialling 4 digits when the fax machine answered it worked. I think it was something to do with the timing of sending the vdn name through the vector.
So I tried the alternative way that has been suggested and created a vector controlled hunt group with an agent ID with AAS. Then used the converse step in the vector. This worked a treat and means we only need to utilise 1 vector.
Still it did baffle me why the GFI fax server would pick up the DTMF tones the other way?
So I tried the alternative way that has been suggested and created a vector controlled hunt group with an agent ID with AAS. Then used the converse step in the vector. This worked a treat and means we only need to utilise 1 vector.
Still it did baffle me why the GFI fax server would pick up the DTMF tones the other way?
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