IX1A.CFG(5)

NAME
ix1a.cfg - Configuration database for IX1 active ISDN controllers

DESCRIPTION
The configuration file for the ix1actl tool is layed out much like the well known INI files for Microsoft Windows. It consists of sections and each section has value assignments to keywords. As an extension the sections are organised in a hierarchy, i.e. every section can have one or more subsections. The (sub-)section level names are divided by the “/” character. This character can also be placed in front of every section, so the section names look much like a Unix path name.

For ix1actl the top-level sections are “[global]” and “[boards]”. Under “[boards]” there are subsections for every IX1 board known to the system. The section for each board in turn contains subsections for the general settings and for each port of the board (the Octo boards have four ISDN ports in contrast to the other ones). The following paragraphs describe the settings for all sections of the configuration file.

  Global settings
The top-level section “[global]” contains common settings for all boards in the configuration file.

BaseDir
    The base directory for the firmware file names in the remaining sections of the configuration file. All other file names are treated to be relative to this directory. The default value is /usr/share/capi/ix1a.

  The section for all boards
This section collects subsections for all boards known to the system. The subsections are named after the controller names delivered by “ix1actl -l”, e.g. “[boards/IX1-Basic-2]”. For an Octo board the section gets the base name of the controller names of its ISDN ports, e.g. “[boards/IX1-Octo-1]”.

The main section for a board has the following entries:

bootcode
    The name of the boot code file for the board, relative to the firmware base directory (see keyword BaseDir in the section “[global]”). If the board does not need a bootstrap the value should be an empty string.

firmware
    The name of the board's firmware file to download, relative to the firmware base directory (see keyword BaseDir in the section “[global]”).

  General board settings
This subsection for a board contains some settings for the board itself, i.e. not related to a specific ISDN port. For a board named “IX1-Basic-2” the section has the name “[boards/IX1-Basic-2/general]”.

MvipType
    Operation type of the MVIP bus, if the board owns one (Octo, Primary, Multimodem). Possible values:

    0   Use this value (or leave it unset) if the board does not have an MVIP bus or if it is not used.

    1   Board is MVIP master.

    2   Board is MVIP slave.

VoiceCoding
    Coding law for raw B-channel data. Normally this keyword should be left set to 0 to use the default setting according to the D-channel protocol used. If needed the voice coding law can be forced to a-law (value 1, used in most parts of the world) or µ-law (value 2, used in North America and Japan).

CountryVersion
    This keyword is only used for Multimodem boards. A value other than 0 optimises the board's modem chips for a specific country. See the Rockwell AT Reference Manual for possible values.

Compression
    The compression to use for default (X.75) connections without application control. At the beginning of a connection the board determines if the partner also supports this feature. If both parties agree the data sent over the line will be compressed. Note that enabling or disabling this feature does not prevent a CAPI application to control compression through the mechanism defined in the CAPI specification (see “facility selector” 0x0002 for V.42bis).

    0   Default operation as implemented in the board firmware.

    1   No compression.

    2   Force usage of V.42bis compression.

    3   Force usage of ITK-specific compression.

    4   Optional compression. The boards on both sides detect the compression facilities supported by each other and choose V.42bis or ITK-specific compression. If the compression scheme cannot be determined, no compression is used. This value should be used as the default setting.

    5   Use CAPIPlus defined compression. Applications can select the compression scheme to use through CAPIPlus messages. CAPIPlus is an ITK-proprietary extension to CAPI 1.1 that is not supported by c4b.

  ISDN port settings
For every port of a board there is a subsection with settings specific to the ISDN line it is attached to. The sections are numbered starting with one, i.e. “[boards/IX1-Basic-2/port-1]” for a Basic board and “[boards/IX1-Octo-1/port-1]” to “[boards/IX1-Octo-1/port-4]” for an Octo board.

The port section itself does not contain any keywords. All settings are stored into the three subsections for line access, Primary-specific settings and configuration data for North American D-channel protocols.

  Line access settings for an ISDN port
The line access subsection is termed “line-access”, a complete section name may be “[boards/IX1-Basic-2/port-1/line-access]”.

DProtocol
    The D-channel protocol to use. Possible values:

    0   Use the default protocol as defined by the board's firmware (discouraged).

    1   1TR6

    2   DSS1 (Euro-ISDN, NET3, ETSI)

    3   VN2 (france)

    4   VN3 (france)

    5   5ESS (AT&T / USA)

    6   DSS1 PBX (with SETUP-ACK)

    7   DMS-100 (USA)

    8   CORNET-N (Siemens PBX)

    9   DSS1 (Norway phase 1)

    10  CORNET-T (Siemens PBX)

    11  National ISDN 1 (NI1, USA)

    12  Q.931 Blue Book (CCITT)

    13  Q.Sig

    15  TS013 / TS014 (Australia)

    16  DSS1 for Netherlands (with type=national)

    17  DSS1 PBX with no sending complete

    21  DSS1 with no RESTART

    22  4ESS (USA, AT&T - T1 long distance)

LineAccess

    0   Use default setting (discouraged).

    1   Multipoint (MSN lines).

    2   Point-to-point (lines with direct dial-in extension numbers).

LineType

    0   Use default setting defined within the firmware (discouraged).

    1   Switched line. This value should be the right one for most scenarios.

    2   Leased line.

LeasedLineType
    This keyword is only used for leased lines, i.e. if “LineType” is set to “2”.

    1   Single B-channel with D-channel

    2   Single B-channel without D-channel

    3   Bundled B-channels with D-channel

    4   Bundled B-channels without D-channel

TeiType

    0   Use default setting defined within the firmware (discouraged).

    1   Automatic TEI assignment. This value is normally used for multipoint (MSN) lines.

    2   Fixed TEI assignment. This value is normally used for point-to-point (direct dial-in) lines.

TeiValue
    This keyword is only used if a fixed TEI is used, i.e. if keyword “TeiType” is set to “2”. Normally the value “0” is correct. But this depends on the configuration for the PBX or public switch the board's ISDN port is attached to.

NtTeMode

    0   Use default setting defined within the firmware (discouraged).

    1   Set the board to operate as a regular terminal device. This value should be used in most cases.

    2   Set the board to emulate the network side of an ISDN link. This value should be used with care and is only known to work for Primary boards.

  ISDN port settings for Primary boards
The settings in subsection “[boards/IX1-Primary-3/port-1/pmx]” is only relevant for IX1 Primary PCI boards. For other board types these entries are not used and should be set to null or unset.

ClockGenerator

    0   Use default setting as defined within the firmware (discouraged).

    1   Use clock from line for normal operation. This value should be used in almost all cases.

    2   Let the board provide a clock signal to the ISDN line. This is only necessary for NT mode emulation. Because the other side operates in terminal mode it expects the local side to provide a clock signal. Note that it is never a good idea for two parties at both ends of a line to provide a clock signal.

FirstBChan
    The timeslot value for the lowest B-channel to use. 0 means no limit and should be used for normal operation. A value of 1 to 30 tells the board not to use the timeslots below this number. This is only necessary for some rare case of a fractional primary rate line.

LastBChan
    The timeslot value for the highest B-channel to use. 0 means no limit and should be used for normal operation. A value of 1 to 30 tells the board not to use the timeslots above this number. This is only necessary for some rare case of a fractional primary rate line.

BChanSelection
    Algorithm to use for selecting the next B-channel to use.

    0   Use default setting.

    1   Use round robin selection, allocating the next higher timeslot for the next B-channel to use.

    2   Use round robin selection, allocating the next lower timeslot for the next B-channel to use.

    3   Use the lowest free timeslot for the next B-channel allocation.

    4   Use the highest free timeslot for the next B-channel allocation.

LineRate

    0   Use default setting defined within the firmware (discouraged).

    1   E1 operation (30 B-channels).

    2   T1 operation (23 B-channels).

LineCode
    Set the data coding on the line.

    0   Use default setting for the D-channel protocol.

    1   B8ZS (only for T1 operation).

    2   AMI with ZCS (for T1 operation).

    3   HDB3 (only for E1 operation).

    4   AMI (for E1 operation).

FramingFormat
    The framing format to use on the line.

    0   Use default setting for the D-channel protocol.

    1   ESF (only for T1 operation).

    2   SF (D3/D4) (only for T1 operation).

    3   F4 (only for T1 operation).

    4   F72 (only for T1 operation).

    5   CRC4 multi-frame (only for E1 operation).

    6   Double frame (only for E1 operation).

DsxPreEmphasis
    This setting is only used for T1 operation and defines the DSX pre-emphasis used for the line.

    0   Use default setting.

    1   0-115 feet

    2   82-213 feet

    3   180-312 feet

    4   279-410 feet

    5   377-509 feet

    6   476-607 feet

    7   574-689 feet

    8   18 dB

  ISDN port settings for North American D-channel protocols
Entries in the section “spid-settings”, complete name would be e.g. “[boards/IX1-Basic-2/port-1/spid-settings]”, are only used for North American D-channel protocols and only for basic rate lines. For other D-channel protocols and for primary rate lines they should be left unset (i.e. empty strings or null values). There is not much explanation below for these keywords. But people using the North American D-channel protocols normally known their meaning and how to set them correctly.

Spid1DataOn
Spid2DataOn
Spid1VoiceOn
Spid2VoiceOn
SignalDn2AsDn1
SignalAddDn1AsDn1
SignalAddDn2AsDn2
    Set the values for these keywords to “1” for “yes” or to “0” for “no”.

Spid1
    The SPID for the first B-channel.

Spid2
    The SPID for the second B-channel.

Dn1 The primary directory number for the first B-channel.

Dn2 The primary directory number for the second B-channel.

Dn1Add1
Dn1Add2
Dn1Add3
Dn1Add4
    Up to four additional directory numbers for the first B-channel.

Dn2Add1
Dn2Add2
Dn2Add3
Dn2Add4
    Up to four additional directory numbers for the second B-channel.

FILES
/etc/ix1a.cfg
    By default the configuration file for the ix1actl tool resides in the directory /etc. But the directory and the file name can be changed through the command line.

SEE ALSO
c4b(4), ix1a(4), ix1actl(8)

HISTORY
The ix1actl tool first appeared as an add-on for FreeBSD 5.3.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The information needed to implemented the ix1actl tool (and the ix1a device driver) was taken from source code for the Linux and the Microsoft DOS driver package for the IX1 / Datafire boards from Digi International. This source code was donated to the author by Digi for implementing this driver.

AUTHORS
This manual page and ix1actl were written by Thomas Wintergerst <twinterg@gmx.de>.