Installation guide

Appendix 1A :

1 Installing Telephony Board Drivers

Amanda Portal can be used with two different types of telephony boards: Brooktrout

(formerly, Rhetorex) and Intel (formerly Dialogic). The supported Brooktrout boards

provide only basic call handling functionality with analog ports. While the Intel boards

can also provide this same functionality, they can perform several important additional

features, all related to their ability to switch calls over a “mezzanine” bus called the

SCbus. This switching capability can be used to accomplish, among other things:

• Connecting hardware resources to a call “on the fly.” An example of this is with Intel

(formerly, GammaLink) fax resource boards which are supported. When an incoming call

is determined to be from a fax machine, the Amanda software can automatically connect

an available fax resource to the call dynamically. This permits purchasing fewer fax

resources than there are ports in the system, even though every port is potentially capable

of sending or receiving a fax.

• In addition, T1 CAS (Channel Associated Signaling, or standard US robbed-bit

signaling T1), E1 CAS, and many T1 and E1 ISDN protocols are supported.

• Complex call routing without the use of a telephone switch, or routing beyond the

capabilities of the attached switch, can be performed. For example, an incoming call into

a business can be redirected through an outside line to a user at a cell phone or other

PSTN telephone number. Most PBXs will not allow trunk-to-trunk transfers of this

nature, but since Amanda Portal can use the switching facilities of the SCbus, this

limitation can be overcome.

1.1 Installing the Brooktrout Telephony Drivers

If you are using Brooktrout boards in the system, you should install these drivers by

double-clicking on the Brooktrout installer. The current version of the installer is

RHET238.EXE, which contains version 2.38 of Brooktrout’s RealCT Direct drivers.

Once this installation wizard starts, choose to install the drivers in the default location,

and choose a custom installation. Custom installation will allow you to select the

particular set of features to be installed. You should install support for analog boards, and

omit installation of RTNI, T1, and E1 drivers. No additional software needs to be

installed, and it is unlikely that you would find use for the Brooktrout documentation,

though it can be installed if you choose.

Next, you must configure the driver software using a Configuration Wizard, which can be

launched from the Start—Programs—Brooktrout menu. The Wizard is used to tell the

driver which Brooktrout boards are in your computer and how each board is configured.

Brooktrout PCI boards do not have any configuration jumpers or settings, and they

should be automatically detected by the Configuration Wizard through plug-and-play.