4 Basic Rate Interface Configuration

The Acme Packet 1100 supports the optional analog Euro-ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI) interface for lower call-volume customers who want to connect their BRI Lines, analog trunk lines, analog phones, fax machines, and other analog communications devices to their IP PBX/IP telephony systems. The BRI interface supports fewer channels than the Primary Rate Interface (PRI) interface, but it can support two calls at the same time on one line. The BRI interface supports 2 b-channels for voice and user data at 128 Kbit/s and 1 d-channel for signaling.

When the system detects the BRI the interface, it displays the corresponding configuration parameters in tdm-config and tdm-profile. The tdm-config element supports creating multiple TDM profiles with different names, so that you can create more than one BRI span configuration for more targeted routing. The tdm-profile sub-element supports enabling a particular span as the timing source, enabling echo cancellation for improved audio quality, and assigning profiles to routing groups. When configuring multiple tdm-profiles, you can create a profile for each span individually or assign multiple spans to one profile. You can assign the profiles to a route group with either the same number or a different number per profile. For example you can configure a call to go to tdm:profileName, tdm:span:1 or tdm:group:2. You can send the call to a specific tdm interface or a group of them.

Span Configuration

TDM supports up to four profiles with the BRI interface, so that you can apply a TDM profile to each span. You can configure each span exclusively or set several spans (up to four) to share the same configuration. Each span represents a physical network interface. The span-number parameter in tdm-profile indicates the interface to which the profile applies. For example, span-number = 1,2,3,4 means that the profile applies to all spans. span-number = 1 means that the profile applies only to span 1. You can specify more than one span and fewer than four spans in the same profile, for example, span-number = 1,2. During configuration, the system validates that a particular span is assigned to only one profile.

Signaling Configuration

Depending on your deployment, you might need the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller (Enterprise SBC) to act as the customer premises equipment (CPE) side of the connection or to act as the network (NET) side of the connection.

For example:
  • The Enterprise SBC can act as the NET side of the deployment and connect to a PBX.
  • The Enterprise SBC can act as the CPE side of the deployment and connect to a network provider's ISDN line.

The system supports the coexistence of multiple profiles for both CPE and NET, and you can configure up to four profiles each.

Upgrade Configuration to Correct TON in TDM Deployments

The calling-type-of-number parameter in your tdm-config specifies the Type of Number (TON) the Enterprise SBC should specify within its signaling.

When upgrading from any version prior to 920p6 to any version after, the Enterprise SBC begins to include an incorrect type of number (TON) label in "prilocaldialplan" attribute when you have configured the value of the calling-type-of-number attribute in your tdm-config to unknown. Specifically, the Enterprise SBC begins to provide the value "national" instead of "unknown" as the TON. This issue occurs regardless of other configuration.

To resolve this issue, you configure the Enterprise SBC with the default-tdm-calling-ton=unknown option in the system-config. 

ORACLE(system=config)#options +default-tdm-calling-ton=unknown

This change requires a reboot. You can satisfy this reboot requirement by setting the option before you upgrade, or by upgrading, setting the option, then rebooting.

Routing Configuration

For control over routing TDM traffic, each TDM profile includes the route-group number parameter that you can use to group profiles together for routing. You can route traffic by setting the following parameters for next-hop in the local-policy configuration:

next-hop = tdm:span:<number> Use span number to specify a routing endpoint.

next-hop = tdm:group:<number> Each TDM profile includes route-group number, so that you can group profiles together. The route-group number can address several profiles for routing. During routing, the embedded Asterisk software that the Enterprise SBC uses to connect PSTN and VoIP phone services to each other picks the first available span and the first available channel when routing to a group.

next-hop= tdm:<profileName> During configuration, the system checks to confirm that no other profile contains the same routing.