An Asterisk 1.8 fax server

To start, I setup a clean, minimal Fedora 15 installation.

Install requirements

After installation, we install a few more tools that we need:
yum install asterisk asterisk-fax #base
yum install perl-Email-MIME libtiff-tools #for mailer script
yum install telnet mc vim ntp rsync #for convenience and backup

Synchronize your time:
sntp -s pool.ntp.org

Configuration

On a clean asterisk installation, we only edit a few files.

sip.conf
Edit /etc/asterisk/sip.conf and make the following changes:

Look for ;faxdetect=yes and uncomment it by removing the ;
Somewhere under [global] put your register string. For example:
register => myUsername:myPassword@12.34.56.78/31331234567
In this example 12.34.56.78 is the ip of my SIP provider and 31331234567 my internationalized fax number.
At the bottom, add the following lines:
[trunk-geeklab-9] username=myUsername type=peer secret=myPassword qualify=yes host=12.34.56.78 canreinvite=yes context=geeklab-fax insecure=invite

extensions.conf
To /etc/asterisk/extensions.conf add the following lines:
[geeklab-fax] exten => 331234567,1,Goto(inboundfax,s,1) ;This is the DID number my provider rings. I would ;prefer 3133123... or 033123... but that's just the ;way it is. Your provider may use another format.

[inboundfax] ;I could have merged this with [geeklab-fax] but i decided not to. exten => s,1,NoOp(**** FAX RECEIVED from ${CALLERID(num)} ${STRFTIME(${EPOCH},,%c)} ****) exten => s,n,Set(FAXOPT(ecm)=yes) exten => s,n,Set(FILENAME=fax-${STRFTIME(${EPOCH},,%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)}-${CALLERID(num)}) exten => s,n,Set(FAXFILE=${FILENAME}.tif) exten => s,n,Set(FAXOPT(ecm)=yes) exten => s,n,Set(FAXOPT(headerinfo)=Received by MYCOMPANY ${STRFTIME(${EPOCH},,%Y-%m-%d %H:%M)}) exten => s,n,Set(FAXOPT(localstationid)=0331234567) exten => s,n,Set(FAXOPT(maxrate)=14400) exten => s,n,Set(FAXOPT(minrate)=2400) exten => s,n,NoOp(FAXOPT(ecm) : ${FAXOPT(ecm)}) exten => s,n,NoOp(FAXOPT(headerinfo) : ${FAXOPT(headerinfo)}) exten => s,n,NoOp(FAXOPT(localstationid) : ${FAXOPT(localstationid)}) exten => s,n,NoOp(FAXOPT(maxrate) : ${FAXOPT(maxrate)}) exten => s,n,NoOp(FAXOPT(minrate) : ${FAXOPT(minrate)}) exten => s,n,NoOp(**** RECEIVING FAX : ${FAXFILE} ****) exten => s,n,ReceiveFAX(/var/spool/asterisk/fax/${FAXFILE}) exten => s,n,Hangup() exten => h,1,NoOp(FAXOPT(ecm) : ${FAXOPT(ecm)}) exten => h,n,system(/usr/local/bin/fax-process.pl --to yourname@geeklab.info --from fax@geeklab.info --subject "Fax from ${URIENCODE(${CALLERID(number)})} ${URIENCODE(${CALLERID(name)})}" --attachment ${FILENAME}.pdf --type application/pdf --file ${FAXFILE});

Inbound fax notification

When you get a fax, you'll probably want it in you mailbox. Download fax-process.txt and move it to /usr/local/bin/fax-process.pl. Make it executable using chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/fax-process.pl. If you haven't disabled SELinux, change the files security context by running: chcon system_u:system_r:asterisk_t:s0 fax-process.pl

Firewall

You won't get any calls if the firewall drops them. You may want a complex firewall. But since I'm using this virtual machine as a dedicated fax, I allow all from my SIP host and nothing from other hosts. Edit /etc/sysconfig/iptables to reflect your preferences. Mine are:
*filter :INPUT ACCEPT [0:0] :FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0] :OUTPUT ACCEPT [59:6844] -A INPUT -s 12.34.56.78 -p tcp -m tcp ! --dport 22 -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -s 12.34.56.78 -p udp -m udp -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp -s my.ho.me.ip --dport 22 -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited -A FORWARD -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited COMMIT

You're done

Start asterisk by running service asterisk start and you're good to go.

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