[asterisk-users] Dahdi > CAPI migration

[Patrick Laimbock]

Hi Toney,

Comments inline.

On 07-08-14 12:10, Toney Mareo wrote:
> Hello Folks,
> I looking to migrate a pbx from one server to another. The original server has this ISDN card:
>
> 00:00.0 ISDN controller: Cologne Chip Designs GmbH ISDN network Controller [HFC-4S] (rev 01)
>
> The new server:
> 00:00.0 I2O: Digital Equipment Corporation StrongARM DC21285 (rev 04) << AVM ISDN Controller C4
>
>
> Now I'm not fully aware of both's cards functions since the manuals are very brief. What I heard is that the later card does not support some NT commands what I might going to need at this migration. I can't really say if one card is "better" than the other one.
> Unfortunately the two uses completely different drivers. The first card uses dahdi, the second uses capi. I want this migration go as smooth as possible with the least downtime so I looking for some help
> maybe someone has more experience with these cards.

In the past I have used Eicon Diva Server cards with chan_capi for years 
and they worked great. I

> I also read something about CAPI uses completely different dial plans.
> So all the Asterisk configurations are migrated from the old server to the new one.

That is correct although the differences/changes you need to make are 
limited. Adjusting the Dial command will go a long way.

> By following this guide:
> http://www.asteriskguru.com/tutorials/avm_c4.html
>
> I have the C4 modul loaded. My asterisk box is Asterisk 1.6.0.26-FONCORE-r78 (Trixbox).

That Asterisk version is rather old and assuming that's the old Trixbox 
CE it is without security updates since 2012. I recommend you use a 
fresh install of something like CentOS 6.5 + all updates and Asterisk 
11.11.0 (or later if available) with the latest dahdi-linux, dahdi-tools 
and libpri releases. Also get the latest chan_capi from here: 
ftp://ftp.chan-capi.org/chan-capi/ The version with -HEAD in the name 
has the latest fixes and is the one I always used.

> How can I see that this C4 card is really working from asterisk?

Once you have the AVM C4 kernel module loaded and Asterisk with 
chan_capi is installed and capi is enabled in the Asterisk config, start 
Asterisk and then you should have a 'capi' command in the CLI. Executing 
it should show you info about the status of your ISDN channels.

> What is the difference between the chan_dahdi.conf and chan_capi.conf?

One is for DAHDI supported cards and the other is for CAPI cards like 
the Eicon Diva Server and the AVM C4.

> Can't I just tell it somewhere to use the new card and I don't have to touch the existing dialplans etc?

Nope.

HTH,
Patrick