Brooktrout boards with dell servers

Lynne Desrochers · January 06, 2012, 05:11:08 PM

I should have titled this "Did you ever have a project that just crashed and burned" (to be read in the voice of Andy Rooney (may he rest in peace). I've been trying to update my fax server for what seems like forever. We use DID's and have faxing to the desktop using the Brooktrout boards. So i finally got a server ordered and in and finally had some agreement to which board to order. So it now turns out the Brooktrout doesn't communicate with the model dell server i have. Lovely. So now i'm stuck in limbo while dell and Dialogic work this out. One thought is to buy a beefy workstation, use the brooktrout on that until it's worked out. I really just want to return the server and purchase an HP and start again.
What a bummer this whole thing has been. I guess I don't have a question, just putting this out there, because you are all really smart and might have a good idea or two. Thanks for reading!

Jeff Zylstra · January 09, 2012, 02:07:48 PM

"So it now turns out the Brooktrout doesn't communicate with the model dell server i have. Lovely." Could you be more specific, please? Why doesn't it communicate? "Parts is parts" as the saying goes. Unless the bus is physically different and the card won't plug in (in which case you will have to get a machine with the correct architecture), I don't understand why it won't work.

Mark · January 09, 2012, 02:17:09 PM

I don't understand either. I use Brooktrout boards, I've attempted to install them in a vmware environment (& failed, naturally), and feel that I have a fairly decent grip on them (mostly from my experience trying to use them in an unsupported environment).

So, what's up? What's the dealy? :-)

Lynne Desrochers · January 09, 2012, 03:28:55 PM

Thank you both for your interest in my plight! And yes Mark, if only I had used Nick, I never would have been in this boat. Here's the details:
The Brooktrout modem doesn't communicate properly with T100 and T200 Dell servers. It's a communication problem with the PCIe on the main board and the PCIe on the card which needs a Dell mainboard firmware update to resolve.
Going by Dialogic, these are the only known Dell PCIe mainboards that are experiencing this problem.
Dialogic has an "engineering level" ticket with Dell that has been open for a little more than 2 weeks. There is no ETA on when it should be resolved.

Mark · January 09, 2012, 03:32:21 PM

Oh, wow. That's pretty neat, actually. lol

I don't think there is anything Nick could have done in this case, lol.

Alice Mooney · January 09, 2012, 03:43:51 PM

Lynne - just so you don't feel all alone. Although we did not have a communication issue with the HP rack-mounted server IT here required, they also had to purchase a piece of hardware for the Brooktrout PCI card and plug that in to the server. They're the ones who decided to set it up that way. But I will say that ever since we first set it up and did all the necessary tweaks with Applied's help, there have been no issues - extremely stable. Been that way for about 6 months I think.
But good luck and hope it's up and running soon. I think you will be pleased

Mark · January 09, 2012, 03:47:33 PM

Yes, the cards are stable once they are fully functioning. I went from having to support our Fax@ server regularly to forgetting it even exists.

Lynne Desrochers · January 10, 2012, 09:29:12 AM

Thanks guys! Yes, i've loved the brooktrout for 5 years now and I just want the fun to keep on rolling.

Hopefully it will all get resolved soon.

Mark · January 10, 2012, 09:36:11 AM

Did you buy the cards from dell? If so and it doesn't get resolved soon, they need to send you a new server!

Sounds funny, but no joke.

Lynne Desrochers · January 10, 2012, 10:01:41 AM

I like the way you think. I was thinking the tech needs to get me a new server. I had given them all the specs ages ago. this whole thing has been a debacle (is that spelled right?). Regardless, i'm not smitten with them at all at this point.

Mark · January 10, 2012, 10:22:03 AM

Well, if it ever becomes a big deal and the cards came from Dell at the same time as the server, then they sold you an incompatible configuration and will need to make good on it. And they will. They have goofed and fixed things for me a few times.

The last time they did, they sent an R610 Server, after a series of question and answer emails, and told me it has 4 PCIe slots. But it only has 2, so they had to take it back and send me an R710, which does have 4, at the same price. The difference in cost was only a few hundred dollars -- but it was their mistake as I asked how many it had and stated clearly that I needed 4.

Previous to that, we bought like 25 workstations and two of them came without standard VGA connections. The sales guy realized what he did wrong when configuring them & sent me two adapters that I think at the time were like $200/ea.

So, if it's "on them" they will make good without complaint. BUT, you might have to ask for it.

Alice Mooney · January 10, 2012, 02:54:21 PM

Quote from: Lynne Desrochers on January 10, 2012, 10:01:41 AM
Regardless, i'm not smitten with them at all at this point.

Nice crossover Lynne

Lynne Desrochers · January 10, 2012, 05:18:47 PM

Nice crossover Lynne

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Hey, I read.

Jeff Golas · March 30, 2012, 03:38:55 PM

They didn't happen to mention this compatibility issue with R200 servers, did they? Shuffling some things around and I think I'm going to move my fax functionality to the R200 as long as I can convert the existing install to a VM.

Lynne Desrochers · April 11, 2012, 03:24:12 PM

Not that I heard about. I'm still waiting to move mine back over. You reminded me to put in another call about it. Thanks!