FreePBX Distro 2.210.62-4 and DAHDI Config module 2.10.7.1 configuration with Cologne Chips HFC-S PCI ISDN BRI card

Dear all,

I have a fresh installed FreePBX Distro 2.210.62-4 (updated via script from FreePBX Distro 2.210.62-3) x64 machine equipped with an HFC-S ISDN Cologne Chips BRI PCI card (that I know works very well because I tested it on a temporary test system built up with Elastix 2.4.0 x64) in TE mode.

Asterisk version is 10.11.1.

I then manually installed DAHDI Config 2.10.7.1 module (which was not installed by default during the initial FreePBX Distro setup) to manage the HFC-S ISDN BRI PCI card and, under Connectivity menu, is now available the DAHDi menu which shows a digital hardware entry for that card.

Few Errors messages appeared under the FreePBX Notices box under FreePBX System Status once I (re)started DAHDI service and rebooted the FreePBX Distro (as required):

  • [color=red]File /etc/modprobe.d/dahdi.conf[/color] is not owned by asterisk (Please run 'amportal chown')
  • [color=red]Unable to write to /etc/modprobe.d/dahdi.conf[/color] Please change permissions on /etc/modprobe.d/dahdi.conf
  • [color=red]Unable to write to /etc/dahdi/system.conf[/color] Please change permissions on /etc/dahdi/system.conf
  • [color=red]Symlink from modules failed[/color] retrieve_conf failed to sym link: /etc/asterisk/chan_dahdi.conf from dahdiconfig/etc (Already exists, not a link) This can result in FATAL failures to your PBX. If the target file exists and not identical, the symlink will not occur and you should rename the target file to allow the automatic sym link to occur and remove this error, unless this is an intentional customization.

These Error messages don’t fix even if I run [color=blue]amportal chown[/color] command.

So what’s wrong (I didn’t touch anything via CLI yet) ?

Then I would ask: <color=green>what is the best correct way to setup the HFC Card using DAHDI Config module (or using DAHDI Tools via CLI) to impose the bri_ptmp signalling and the IT (Italy) zone ?

It seems that among Span parameters available (Signalling) editing the discovered digital hardware there isn’t any BRI (nor BRI_PTP neither BRI_PTMP) but only (as written on the drop down signalling menu):

PRI-Net
PRI-CPE
E&M
E&M-Wink
E&M-Fead(DTMF)
FXOKS
FXOLS

In which way I should edit the Global and Modprobe settings of DADHI Config module in order to setup the HFC ISDN Card for EuroISDN BRI in Italy?

Best regards, Davide.

At this time we have done no testing with the DAHDI module on BRIs and I am not even sure your card is supported with that module as you did not tell me the Brand and Model of the card.

Well, thank you for the answer.

I really can’t say (and won’t say) that this ISDN PCI card is not working or it is not recognized, I’m just only want to ask about the best and correct way to configure it via CLI or via FreePBX web interface.

Error messages written above are gone away (probably after a reboot of the FreePBX Distro done after the <color=blue>amportal chown).

Here some details from the FreePBX Distro box about the ISDN PCI HFC card (It’s a very common cheap one port ISDN PCI card and it has no brand):

lspci -v | grep ISDN
05:00.0 Network controller: Cologne Chip Designs GmbH ISDN network controller [HFC-PCI] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Cologne Chip Designs GmbH ISDN Board

dmesg | grep HFC
vzaphfc: HFC-S PCI A ISDN (V1.42) loading
vzaphfc: card 0: registered ZTHFC1/0/1
vzaphfc: card 0: registered ZTHFC1/0/2
vzaphfc: card 0: registered ZTHFC1/0/3

dahdi_hardware
pci:0000:05:00.0 zaphfc+ 1397:2bd0 HFC-S ISDN BRI card

dahdi_scan
[1]
active=yes
alarms=UNCONFIGURED
description=HFC-S PCI A ISDN card 0 [TE]
name=ZTHFC1
manufacturer=Cologne Chips
devicetype=HFC-S PCI-A ISDN
location=PCI Bus 05 Slot 01
basechan=1
totchans=3
irq=0
type=digital-TE
syncsrc=0
lbo=0 db (CSU)/0-133 feet (DSX-1)
coding_opts=AMI
framing_opts=CCS
coding=
framing=CAS

dahdi_test
Opened pseudo dahdi interface, measuring accuracy…
99.997% 99.985% 99.971% 99.614% 99.605% 99.995% 99.980% 99.638%
99.605% 99.996% 99.591% 99.605% 99.638% 99.996% 99.629% 99.638%
99.604% 99.614% 99.996% ^C
— Results after 19 passes —
Best: 99.997% – Worst: 99.591% – Average: 99.773495%
Cumulative Accuracy (not per pass): 99.984

So the intimate question is: since this card appears to be correctly recognized by FreePBX Distro then what is the best and correct way to configure it to interface it with my PSTN Telco (Italy, PTP CPE or PTMP CPE, BRI Signalling, it’s already in TE mode) ?

And then: in which way should I manage Global Settings and Modprobe Settings on DAHDI Config module (I don’t think DAHDI “automagically” can chose my country settings “IT” for Italy even if I specified it elsewhere in the FreePBX Distro settings) ? or should I use the dahdi_genconf via CLI ?

Best regards, Davide.

I would also add, for sake of completeness, that lspci -v command actually shows:

lspci-v
05:00.0 Network controller: Cologne Chip Designs GmbH ISDN network controller [HFC-PCI] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Cologne Chip Designs GmbH ISDN Board
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 16, IRQ 21
I/O ports at 1000 [disabled] [size=8]
Memory at f0100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 1
Kernel driver in use: vzaphfc
Kernel modules: zaphfc, hisax, hfcpci

So the one port ISDN HFC PCI card is, in some way, quite famous (see here here and read this PDF about it).

Another info, executing service dahdi status command:

service dahdi status

Span 1: ZTHFC1 "HFC-S PCI A ISDN card 0 [TE] " (MASTER)

1 BRI
2 BRI
3 BRI