Configuration - Prosody X

With the v6.4 Aculab drivers, the configuration tool ACT has been extended to support SIP, H323 and IP media stream settings. Also the DSP configuration has been changed to allow the use of a developer provided configuration file which specifies amongst other things all the DSP firmware files that need to be loaded.

1. The first difference is on the Card List screen (Fig. 1).
   

   Fig. 1 - Prosody X Card List

   You may notice that, when a system has been freshly started, the Prosody X cards are missing from the list. This is because it can take a while for them to boot themselves and then be detected on the network.

2. Because each Prosody X board is in fact a stand alone networked computing device (PowerPC based system) they need an IP address configuration. To set this, click on the Prosody X Cards button. The individual cards are listed (Fig. 2).
   

   Fig. 2 - Prosody X Cards - IP Address

3. To edit a card, select it, and click on the Edit button. The Editing dialog is presented (Fig. 3).
   

   Fig. 3 - Prosody X Card Editing

   Each card gets it's own IP address and this will be used to send and receive RTP media streams. SIP messages will be sent and received using the host systems normal network connection. In a larger scale production use system, it will be necessary for the Prosody X cards to have IP addresses accessible by all devices from which RTP streams need to be received, i.e. if calls need to be made to external ITSP services the Prosody X cards cannot be behind a NAT router but must have public IP addresses.

   Do not check the Use DHCP checkbox.

   More information can be found in the Aculab documentation, installed locally, in

   C:\Softdial\Aculab\Docs\Prosody_X_card_network_setup_considerations.pdf

4. Once all the cards have an IP configuration, you can move to the IP settings page (Fig. 4). It, and its sub pages (Fig. 5 & Fig. 6) should be setup as per these examples.
   

   Fig. 4 - Prosody X IP Settings 1

   
   

   Fig. 5 - Prosody X IP Settings 2

   
   

   Fig. 6 - Prosody X IP Settings 3

   Remember to set the configuration for each card.

5. The final screen is the TiNG (Aculab's DSP system) configuration (Fig. 7).
   

   Fig. 7 - Prosody X TiNG Settings

   The Use TRM file checkbox must be ticked and a suitable .trm file selected. The C:\Softdial\STG folder will contain files for both uLaw and ALaw companding modes. Remember to set the configuration for each module on each card as the ACT allows you to have different configurations for each of these. They must all be the same for correct operation of Softdial Telephony Gateway™ (STG).

In a Prosody X environment, STG is able to make use of the Aculab provided SIP services and the RTP media processing capabilities of the boards. The components of the system are:

• 1 (or more) DSP modules, and Ethernet connection and either 0, 4 or 8 E1/T1 ports.
• 0 or more Aculab Prosody or PCI boards with E1/T1 ports
• Prosody X drivers version 6.4 or above

  It is important to use the drivers supplied with STG as other driver versions may not be binary compatible.

• Aculab SIP service (included within the 6.4 drivers).
• STG build 9.3 or later.
• A SIP proxy server will also be required for more complex routing scenarios. (Requires STG build 9.3.0.2 or later)

With Prosody X, Aculab provide access to SIP services via a virtual port, analogous to an E1/T1 port but without a 23/30 channel limit. The configuration changes for STG to make use of such a port are therefore minimal (the differences are detected and accounted for internally by the software). See the examples below.