Configuring and Testing Zaptel Hardware
Part 3 - Asterisk Zapata Interface
This is the continuation of Part 2 - Zaptel Drivers. The file /etc/asterisk/zapata-auto.conf is the interface between the Linux operating system and the Asterisk PBX server. It shows Asterisk how to identify the Zaptel ports and what the signalling should be to communicate with the device connected to the port. You do not edit this file for most FXS/FXO cards as it is automatically generated by the genzapconf program. For T1 cards, you may have to manually edit /etc/asterisk/zapata-additional.conf. You can view /etc/asterisk/zapata-auto.conf by typing at the Linux prompt:
root@pbx~$ nano /etc/asterisk/zapata-auto.conf
Here's zapata-auto.conf for an Asterisk server that has a TDM400P card (3 FXS and 1 FXO ports):
It shows the signaling for each port. Notice that the signaling coming out of the port is the exact opposite of the signaling device that is connected to it. It shows the group and channel assigned to each port.
Another tool is the lszaptel command. It shows the zaptel cards and channels, the following snapshot shows that Span 1 is a 4 channel TDM card and Span 2 is a TE110P T1/E1 card - channels 5-27 are B channels (data) with channel 28 being the D channel (control) channel:
Checking if the Zaptel modules are recognized by Asterisk
You can check to see if Asterisk recognizes the Zaptel modules by typing the following at the Asterisk prompt:
pbx*CLI> help
At the end of the help listing, you should see the zap commands.
At the Asterisk CLI, run the "zap show channels" command. It will show you the configured channels:
In the above example, you can't tell but channel 1-4 are from a TDM400P card, 5 to 10 are from a T1 line connected to a channel bank. Now you are ready to add an FXS extension!
No Zap Help Files?
If Asterisk is running and you can't see the zap help commands, it means that there is a misconfiguration between /etc/zaptel.conf and the hardware. Go visit the No Asterisk Zap Help page to troubleshoot.
Poor Performance or Flaky Audio?
It could be a PCI bus problem. Over at www.voip-info.org, they have a great article on testing your Zaptel cards for performance and troubleshooting PCI bus problems.
