Faximum Fax Server Software

README file for:
  • Faximum ELS 4
  • Faximum PLUS 4
  • Faximum Fax Messaging Server (FMS) 2
running on:
  • AIX 5L
  • Linux (IA32)
  • SCO OpenServer 5
  • SCO UnixWare 7
     

README Updated Mon Mar 8 01:05:02 PST 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2003 Faximum Software Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Faximum Software Inc.
1497 Marine Drive, Suite 300
West Vancouver, BC
Canada, V7T 1A6

Phone: 1 (604) 925-3600
Support: 1 (604) 922-7311
Fax: 1 (604) 926-8182
Email: info@faximum.com
  support@faximum.com
WWW: www.faximum.com

If you received this README file as a printed version in your software media kit it may be more current than the version on the media. Please use this version rather than the version on the CD-ROM. The most current copy is always available from http://www.faximum.com/support/readme/efp-readme.html.

If you did not order a printed copy of the manuals for this product, you may obtain a PDF (i.e. Adobe Acrobat) version of the manual from the Faximum Software website at http://www.faximum.com/support/manuals

Please visit http://www.faximum.com/status for the latest news on this software release. This web page also contains information on any updates that might be released after this document was written.

Software Activation Key

Before you will able to use the software included in this distribution you will have to obtain a confidential activation key from Faximum Software.After you have installed the Faximum Messaging Server, please point your browser to your FMS server as shown below. You will be guided to the appropriate page on our website where you can register your copy of the software and request your temporary (if you are evaluating the software) or permanent (if you are purchasing the software) activation key. Thank you.

 

Important Legal Notice

This software and related documentation is covered by a licence and may only be used under the terms of that licence. A copy of the licence may be found at http://www.faximum.com/licence/. Installation of this software is evidence that you have read and agree to be bound by the terms of this licence. If you do not agree with the licence then do not install the software and return the software to your vendor or to Faximum Software Inc. within 10 days of purchase for a full refund of your purchase price.


Introduction

This README has been written to be brief and to the point in order to expedite the installation of Faximum fax server software in the most common situations. Because the Faximum ELS, Faximum PLUS, and Faximum Fax messaging Server (FMS) products share the same underlying fax engine and because in many situations it makes sense to purchase and install both products on the same machine (see below), there is a single installation file for all three products:

  • Faximum ELS 4
  • Faximum PLUS 4
  • Faximum Fax Messaging Server (FMS) 2

In the instructions below the sections specific to a single product will be so marked.

What's the Difference?

Briefly:

Faximum ELS
Faximum ELS is an entry-level fax server designed to fax-enable applications. It provides a subset of the full functionality available with the Faximum PLUS product.
 
Faximum PLUS
Faximum PLUS is a fully-featured robust and scalable fax server designed to be easily integrated with applications. It provides a range of interfaces (APIs) to facilitate the automated generation of faxes by applications and the automated processing of received faxes.
 
Faximum Fax Messaging Server
Faximum FMS fax-enables users by allowing them to send and receive faxes as easily as (and using the same client as) email. FMS provides email-to-fax and fax-to-email gateways which integrate fax communications with an organisation's existing email infrastructure.

A more detailed explanation of the differences between Faximum ELS and Faximum PLUS may be found below. For a detailed description of the features of Faximum fax server software please visit http://www.faximum.com/info/

Why Would I Want Both FMS and PLUS?

As described above, Faximum PLUS fax-enables applications while Faximum FMS fax-enables users. Many organisations need to automate the faxing of documents from applications but also want their users to be able to send and receive faxes from their Windows desktops using the same fax server. Installing Faximum FMS and PLUS on the same system makes that possible. Please contact Faximum Sales for more information on the benefits of Faximum FMS+PLUS (see contact information at the beginning of this file).

Upgrading from Previous Versions

Please note that this version of the Faximum fax server software is designed for new installations only. It cannot be installed on top of an existing ELS, PLUS, or FMS installations. If you are running earlier releases of the Faximum fax server software then please contact support@faximum.com for special instructions on upgrading your installation.


Faximum ELS/PLUS Release Notes

Faximum ELS 4 and Faximum PLUS 4 have been designed by programmers for programmers. Faximum ELS/PLUS has always been popular with developers and customers for its ease of integration and its flexible and powerful options and utilities. But as more people started to do more with the product it became obvious that better methods of tracking requests and passing status information back to the originating application was needed. And it is in this area that the work on 4 has been concentrated. This includes an improved completion program feature which calls a programmer-specified program or shell script when the request is successful or fails passing much more detailed information on the request than in previous versions; and a new option to submitfax which allows an arbitrary id string to be associated with a request (this id string is passed to the completion program).

The other major enhancement was the replacement of the previous PCL-5 emulator with a new and much better PCL-5e emulator from another supplier. Not only does this new engine much more accurately emulate HP LaserJet printers, it supports more fonts, more commands, and HP/GL-2 (which was completely missing from our previous emulator).

Other features that have been added to produce Faximum ELS/PLUS 4:

  • a much faster modem reset to sharply reduce the time taken to reset the modem between inbound and outbound faxes;
  • support for CSI verification for high-security applications in which sensitive information must not be faxed to unauthorised fax machines (such as medical records or legal reports);
  • support for remote fax modems enabling a single fax server to utilise fax modems in different cities (or even countries) to reduce the need for long-distance calls to deliver faxes to remote locations *; and
  • integration of GhostScript to handle the conversion and faxing of PostScript and PDF (Adobe Acrobat) files.*

* these features require additional support resources in order to exploit and therefore are only available to those who have purchased technical support contracts.

Faximum has a new product called the Faximum Messaging Server which provides email-to-fax and fax-to-email gateway services. Using FMS it is possible to send and receive faxes using your existing email client (on Windows, UNIX, or Linux). FMS can operate by itself (it includes a basic fax server) or it can be installed on top of Faximum PLUS. In such an integrated installation many of the PLUS features (styles, least-cost routing, call-detail recording, intelligent dialling, etc) become available to FMS users. For more information please see http://www.faximum.com/fms).

Migration Issues (applies to customers moving from Faximum ELS and PLUS on AIX or SCO platforms)

The following items were changes introduced in the previous release (2.2) but are worth repeating since they still apply:

  1. Since the "Complete PC" company is no longer in business, we have discontinued support for the Complete PC's Complete Fax board and their Complete Page Scanner.
  2. Since laser printers are now ubiquitous and dot matrix printers no longer cleave to a single standard for graphics images, we have discontinued support for printing faxes on dot-matrix printers. The tiffepsn utility which converts TIFF files into Epson dot-matrix print file format is still included but it is no longer supported.
  3. The transmitfax command-line interface is included in this release but may be discontinued in a future release. Persons using these interfaces are urged to migrate to the fxm or submitfax command-line interfaces.

The following items are changed in ELS & PLUS 4:

  1. With the replacement of the PCL-5 emulator with a more accurate and more feature-rich PCL-5e emulator one can expect that text may shift position on the page slightly and the selected fonts might appear slightly different from the previous releases. If the forms-overlay feature is being used this might result in the alignment of the text with the form changing slightly and users ought to be prepared to adjust their forms or printed output to resolve such misalignment problems. A TechNote (see http://www.faximum.com/technotes/090) has been updated to discuss this issue and the methods available to address the problem.
  2. The forms overlay feature that was in both Faximum ELS 2.21 and PLUS 2.21 is now only in Faximum PLUS 4 (i.e. it has been removed from ELS).
  3. The command-line interfaces (fxm, submitfax, sendfax, and transmitfax) that are only part of the Faximum PLUS product also ship with the ELS product and in some cases may have functioned on ELS installations even though not part of the ELS product. This behaviour should not be counted upon and customers needing to use these interfaces ought to license (or upgrade to) the Faximum PLUS product.

Faximum ELS & PLUS 5

If you have any suggestions for features you would like to see in future Faximum products and releases, please do email (support@faximum.com) or fax (1 604 926 8182) to us. We are always interested in learning how our customers and using our software and how we can improve the usefulness of our products.

ELS or PLUS -- Which is it and what's the diff?

Faximum ELS and Faximum PLUS are two of the products available from Faximum Software, Inc.

  1. Faximum ELS is a subset of the Faximum PLUS product. Faximum PLUS contains all of the features of Faximum ELS along with support for:
    • multiple fax lines (additional licence fees apply);
    • advanced accounting and call detail recording;
    • least-cost routing;
    • intelligent dialling;
    • automatic delayed faxing;
    • data/fax sharing;
    • overlays;
    • DID/DTMF inbound fax routing;
    • advanced API features (command-line interfaces, completion program, etc.).

  2. Both Faximum ELS and Faximum PLUS are packaged together into a single installation package. The different functionality and features are enabled through the activation key. If you are evaluating the software you may request either an ELS or a PLUS activation key. If you do not specify you will be sent a PLUS activation key so that you may evaluate all of the features available.

Documentation for ELS/PLUS

The updates to the "Faximum ELS/PLUS Reference Manual" are not complete at this time and so the product is shipping with the 2.x version of the manual. As most of the enhancements in Version 4 do not affect the interfaces documented in the Reference Manual, this ought not to cause any significant problems.

To browse or download a copy of most Faximum manuals please visit www.faximum.com/support/manuals

The new features added in this 4 release are documented in the following TechNotes:

  • TN#062 - The Completion Program Feature (Faximum PLUS)
  • TN#182 - Faximum support for DID and DDI
  • TN#189 - Using the Special CSI Verification Feature
  • TN#215 - Extended DID string manipulation feature
  • TN#224 - Extended Fax Status Codes
  • TN#226 - OEM Documentation for PCL-5e Interpreter
  • TN#228 - Optimizing Modem Reset and Initialization
  • TN#229 - Dialling Prefixes and Suffixes
  • TN#230 - Configuring and using the Line Printer Intercept on Linux

Support for PostScript and PDF Documents

The GhostScript software and related integration components are not part of the Faximum ELS & PLUS software package but must be downloaded and installed separately. They are only needed if you wish to convert and fax PostScript or PDF (Adobe Acrobat) documents. If you have a Technical Support Contract then please contact support@faximum.com for information on obtaining GhostScript binaries from Faximum. You may also obtain a copy of GhostScript from www.sourceforge.net.


Supported Platforms

  • AIX 5 L

    We have developed and tested on AIX 5.1. According to information provided by IBM, software developed for 5.1 is binary compatible with AIX 5.2.

  • Linux:
    • Red Hat 7.x, 8, and 9*
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2 and 3
    • Caldera OpenLinux Server 3.1 (with or without the Caldera Volution Messaging Server)
    • SCO Linux (powered by UnitedLinux)
    • SuSE eMail Server III
    • SuSE Enterprise Linux 8 and 9
    • SuSE eMail Server III and Openexchange Server 4.x

      If you wish to install this software on other Linux distributions please contact Faximum Software Inc. (support@faximum.com) for the latest information.

    • We are currently working on integrating our software with SCOoffice Mail. Please contact support@faximum.com for the most up-to-date information.

      NOTE: Customers planning to install the fax software on SCO, SuSE, or UnitedLinux distributions ought to see the special instructions below.

  • SCO OpenServer 5

    We support SCO OpenServer 5.0.5 and more later.

  • SCO UnixWare 7

    We support all versions of SCO UnixWare including OpenUnix 8


Preparing to Install the Faximum Software

  1. Although this software will drive a wide range of Fax Class 2/2.0 modems, you may find that using a modem other than one recommended (see http://www.faximum.com/modems/) results in less than acceptable performance (owing to limitations in the modem's firmware).
  2. Make sure you have sufficient disk space on your machine to install the software. Note that by default this software will be installed in the /opt directory. You may move it after installation if desired. The software requires about 20Mb of disk space.

  3. In order to complete the installation and configuration of this software you will need to know the following information about your network and server:
    1. The domain name of the fax server machine (i.e. your.server.name).
    2. The name of the serial port on your FMS server machine that your fax modem is connected to (i.e. /dev/ttyS0).

Special Preparations for FMS Installations on SuSE eMail Server III

ELS/PLUS/FMS use the X11 font server, when available, to obtain the fonts used to create cover sheets and to convert text to fax format. Unfortunately the SuSE eMail Server III does not ship with any of the scalable fonts needed by the Faximum Software.

You can check if your system has the necessary fonts by running:

rpm -q xfntscl

If the response is something like:

xfntscl-4.2.0-188
then you have the needed fonts and need not install the xfnstscl.rpm package as described below.

If the response is something like:

package xfntscl is not installed
then please proceed to install the xfnstscl.rpm package as described below.

You can remedy this by installing the xfntscl.rpm package. For the convenience of its customers Faximum has made available a copy of this package on its FTP server. To install this package please run the following command on your SuSE system:

rpm -i ftp://ftp.faximum.com/rpms/xfntscl.rpm 

If your SuSE system is not directly connected to the Internet (or if the above command fails to download the needed RPM file), then please FTP the file from our server manually and then transfer it to your SuSE machine and type:

rpm -i xfntscl.rpm

Special Preparations for FMS Installations on the SuSE, SCO, and UnitedLinux Distributions

Also please note that the default configuration of the Postfix email server that is part of the SuSE eMail Server III and UnitedLinux distributions (such as SCO Linux) causes Postfix to tell our software that it is configured to handle fax email addresses even when it is not so configured. This means that when you get to the point of configuring your email server to accept email addresses (assuming you are configuring your FMS server to send faxes) then you will need to take the special steps outlined below.

Please contact Faximum Technical Support should you have any questions or problems with this


Special Notes for FMS Installations

Supported Email/Network Architectures - Outbound Faxing

It is necessary to understand the architecture of your existing email system since FMS integrates fax with your existing email infrastructure. If you have any questions about this then please consult with your network administrator or with Faximum Software.

If you are planning to use FMS to handle incoming faxes only then skip to the section below and Inbound Faxing.

If your network meets the following criteria then you can follow the instructions in this README to install the software:

  1. Your local network has its own SMTP email server.
  2. The Linux server on which you are planning to install FMS is running either sendmail (the default for Red Hat and Caldera) or Postfix (i.e. the Caldera Volution Messaging Server). Note that your FMS server need not be the main SMTP email server for your network.

If your network meets these two criteria then you can proceed to install FMS confident that it will interoperate with your email infrastructure. If these criteria are not meet then please email the details of your email infrastructure to support@faximum.com and Faximum's engineers will determine if an alternate FMS configuration can meet your needs. For an outline of how to configure FMS to work with networks that have no local SMTP email server (i.e. that use an external email server) see the next section.

If you wish to test a server to see if it is an SMTP server then run telnet to connect to port 25 on the server in question. Under Linux or UNIX (including Mac OS X) you can merely run "telnet 123.123.123.123 25" (without the quotation marks, where 123.123.123.123 is replaced by the IP address or domain name of the server in question) from a terminal session. Using Microsoft Windows, click on the "Start" button, select the "Run" menu option, and type in "telnet 123.123.123.123 25" (again, without quotation marks).

If you are running an SMTP email server on the system in question then you will see a response of the form "220 fms.faximum.com ESMTP Postfix", or perhaps "220 fms.faximum.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.11.2/8.11.2; Tue, 20 Nov 2001 01:40:25 -0800" (obviously the hostname and software version reported by your server will differ from these examples).

If your Linux system fails the above test then please see TechNote 236 (http://www.faximum.com/technotes/236).

Once you have verified that the system on which you plan to install FMS is running an SMTP email server then you ought to test that you can send an email to (say) the root account on the machine. If the FMS machine's domain name is (for example) fms.company.com, try sending email to root@fms.company.com and make sure it arrives. If it does not then there may be a problem with (a) your domain name configuration, (b) your email configuration. In either case this problem will need to be resolved prior to installing FMS since if you cannot get email to this server then there will be no way your faxes can be passed to FMS for delivery.

Supported Email/Network Architectures - Inbound Faxing

To see if the Linux server on which you are planning to install FMS is suitable to deliver received faxes, verify that you can send email from this server to users on your network. On your Linux server run the following:

date | mail person@domain.name

where person@domain.name is the address of one of your users. If they receive an email message that contains the date and time, then your server's email is probably working fine. If not then you will need to work with your network administrator to get the email on your Linux server working otherwise FMS will be unable to deliver the faxes it receives!

How to Configure FMS to Work with External Email Servers

This section outlines how to approach FMS installations in organisations that use an external email server (such as one located at the organisation's ISP). This section is only relevant if you are planning to use FMS to send faxes and you do not use an email server on your local network to deliver email from your users' email clients. If you are going to use FMS to handle incoming faxes only you may ignore this section.

This discussion is, of necessity, relatively technical and intended for email network administrators. If you are not that person then this information ought to be passed to the appropriate person. If you do not have such a person inhouse, then it is necessary to discuss this matter either with Faximum Software or your reseller.

Faximum Software is committed to making your FMS installation a success and will work with you, your reseller, and your ISP to make it all work. Please do not hesitate to email us any questions (technical or otherwise) that arise during the planning of your FMS installation.

Before we proceed to the heart of the matter it will be useful to define some of the terms we will be using:

MTA
Mail Transfer Agent (technical term for an email server)
External MTA
An MTA located outside of the organisation (usually at the ISP's location)
FMS MTA
The MTA running on the system on which FMS is installed. Even if the system on which FMS is installed is not being used to handle email, it must have an MTA, usually sendmail or Postfix, installed -- if only to handle the messages FMS will deliver by fax.
Nomadic FMS user
an FMS user outside of the office who connects using an Internet connection external to the organisation.

When installing FMS in an organisation that utilises an external MTA a key task is to determine how to route email so that messages that are to be delivered by fax are passed to the server running FMS for delivery.

If the organisation's Internet connection is always up and it is possible to send email from the Internet to the FMS MTA then there is no problem whatsoever. The default FMS installation and configuration will work just fine.

If this is not the case then one of two alternate approaches must be taken.

If all of the FMS users are located within the organisation (i.e. there is no need to support nomadic FMS users) then the easiest method is to (a) configure the FMS MTA to relay all non-local email to the external MTA; and (b) configure all of the FMS users' email clients to send all their email to the FMS MTA to process or relay to the external MTA.

Another method that will work if the organisation's ISP supports ETRN is to define another domain name for the FMS MTA (i.e. fax.company.com) and have the FMS MTA poll the External MTA for messages to deliver by fax. This requires that the fax domain be properly set up and the FMS MTA set up for ETRN polling.

In summary, configuring FMS to work with an external email server can be done in a number of ways but may present challenges not present when working with an internal email server. We recommend contacting Faximum Software early in your planning so that appropriate preparations can me made for your successful FMS implementation.

Security Implications

The primary security issue related to email-to-fax gateways such as FMS is preventing unauthorised users from sending faxes through your gateway. Since it is possible (depending on the configuration of your server and phone system) to send long distance (indeed overseas) faxes through an FMS gateway, controlling access to an FMS server is important to prevent unauthorised people from incurring toll charges on your phone lines.

FMS itself performs only the most rudimentary of identity checks for incoming email messages that are to be delivered by fax (i.e. it looks at the From header in the email message). Since it is possible to generate messages with fraudulent headers, this mechanism alone cannot be depended upon to prevent unauthorised use. Therefore it is recommended that your network administrator ensure that it is not possible for an email message from an external unauthorised user to be routed to your (internal) FMS server. If you need further assistance in securing your network please contact Faximum Software (support@faximum.com) for pointers to useful information on this topic.


Installation and Configuration

Installation from the Faximum Web Server

  1. Visit http://www.faximum.com/downloads/ and download the current version of the software into a temporary directory on your system. (Remember that if you have to transfer the software from the Faximum server to your system by way of an intermediary Windows system and are using ftp, then make sure that the ftp transfers are done in binary mode to prevent corruption of the files.)

    Note that for Linux users one can download either the tar package or the RPM package. We recommend the RPM package for those users who are installing the software on a Linux distribution that supports the RPM package format.

  2. Note that there is no separate download for Faximum PLUS as opposed to Faximum FMS. There is one download/installation package for all three products: Faximum ELS, Faximum PLUS, and Faximum FMS.

Installation from Faximum CD-ROM

  1. Put the CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive

  2. While logged on in as root (the superuser), mount the CD-ROM by running (using the command appropriate for your platform). For example, on Linux one would type:
        mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom 

  3. Copy the installation file to an appropriate temporary directory on your server.

    Note that for Linux users one can copy either the tar package or the RPM package. We recommend the RPM package for those users who are installing the software on a Linux distribution that supports the RPM package format.

    For example:

    cd /mnt/cdrom/linux
    ls
    cp faximum-4.1-52-linux.tar /tmp
    

    OR

    cd /mnt/cdrom/linux
    ls
    cp faximum-4.1-52.i386.rpm /tmp
    

    (Note that the exact name of the tar or RPM file may vary slightly so you will need to list the files in this directory -- as shown here by the ls command -- in order to determine the correct file name to use here and below).

Running the Installation Script (installing the tar file)

This section covers the installation of the tar package. Please see the next section for instructions for the RPM package.

  1. Login as the root user or use the su command to obtain superuser privileges.

  2. To install the Faximum software, change into the directory in which the installation file has been placed and type (of course the exact name of the faximum...tar file will depend on the name of the file you downloaded or copied from the CD above):
    tar xf faximum-4.1-52-linux.tar
    sh fxm.install
    tail /tmp/faximum.installlog

    Note that the fxm.install script can take up to two minutes to run depending on your system and network response times. On some systems you may see informational messages from the X11 Font Server of the form:

    /usr/bin/X11/xfs notice: listening on port 7100
    /usr/bin/X11/xfs notice: ignoring font path element /usr/share/ghostscript/5.10/fonts (unreadable)
    

    These messages can be ignored.

    Normally no output will be observed while the fxm.install script is running.

  3. If the installation was successful then the last line in the installlog file will be:

    Installation completed successfully!
  4. If errors are reported and it is not apparent what caused the problem then please email the file /tmp/faximum.installlog to support@faximum.com for assistance.

Installing the RPM Package

This section covers the installation of the RPM package. Please see the previous section for instructions for the tar package.

  1. Login as the root user or use the su command to obtain superuser privileges.

  2. To install the Faximum software, change into the directory in which the RPM file has been placed and type (of course the exact name of the faximum...rpm file will depend on the name of the file you downloaded or copied from the CD above):
    rpm -i faximum-4.1-52.i386.rpm
    tail /tmp/faximum.installlog

    Note that the Faximum installation can take up to two minutes to run depending on your system and network response times. On some systems you may see informational messages from the X11 Font Server of the form:

    /usr/bin/X11/xfs notice: listening on port 7100
    /usr/bin/X11/xfs notice: ignoring font path element /usr/share/ghostscript/5.10/fonts (unreadable)
    

    These messages can be ignored.

    Normally no output will be observed while the installation is proceeding.

  3. If the installation was successful then the last line in the installlog file will be:

    Installation completed successfully!
  4. If errors are reported and it is not apparent what caused the problem then please email the file /tmp/faximum.installlog to support@faximum.com for assistance.

Configuring the Software

  1. To configure the software use your web browser and browse http://your.server.name:7437/ (where your.server.name is replaced with the domain name of your Faximum fax server). If you are unable to connect to the Faximum webserver on port 7437 then please refer to TechNote 235 (http://www.faximum.com/technotes/235).

  2. Log in using admin as your Username and anything as your Password.

  3. Complete the configuration tasks listed on the Home page of the Faximum Administration Webadmin interface. If you have any questions at any point during these configuration tasks merely press the Help button on the appropriate page.

    Special Note for Faximum ELS/PLUS Customers

    • Please note that the on-line manual accessible through the web interface is written for the FMS product. It is accurate as far as the configuration issues are concerned but otherwise does not apply to the Faximum ELS/PLUS products. Please refer to the Faximum ELS/PLUS Reference Manual available at http://www.faximum.com/manual/ for detailed information on the operation of the Faximum ELS & PLUS products.

  4. If you are installing FMS on a SuSE, SCO Linux, or UnitedLinux platform and intend to send faxes using FMS (i.e. not use FMS for receiving only), please take note of the following special instructions:
    When you get to the "Email Server Configuration" page, do not bother using the "Test Email Configuration" option as the Postfix MTA on these systems will always respond as if it is configured for fax even if it is not. Just click on the "Configure Email for Fax" option.

Using the Faximum FMS Software

Sending a Fax Without Using the FMS Print Driver for Windows

To send a fax using FMS merely compose an email message (in plain, not HTML, format) using any email client and address the message to:

Jane_Doe/ACME_Company/FAX=926-3600@your.server.name

where the name and fax number in the left-hand side of the address is changed to match your intended recipient and the domain name on the right-hand side is the domain name of your FMS server.

Note that the email address that you send the fax from must be associated with a FMS user account otherwise the request will be rejected as coming from an unauthorised user. For more information go to the Configure -- User Accounts section of the Webadmin interface, select a user, and check that the From email field matches the one you are using to originate the message.

Sending a Fax Using the FMS Print Driver for Windows

If all you need to fax are text messages then the instructions above ought to suffice. If, on the otherhand, you want to be able to fax from your Windows applications (i.e. Microsoft Word) then you will need to use the FMS Print Driver for Windows. You can download the FMS Print Driver from the webadmin interface.

Receiving a Fax Using FMS

If you have enabled the fax line for receiving then you can test this facility by sending a fax to the fax modem and then checking to see if it has arrived by point your browser at http://your.server.name:7437/ (where your.server.name is replaced with the domain name of your FMS server) and select the Route -- Received Faxes link.


Using the Faximum ELS/PLUS Software

Sending a Test Fax Using ELS/PLUS

You can send a simple test fax by first creating a short text file and then using the fxm command. For example:

  1. Create a short text file called (say) /tmp/testfile using any text editor. Alternatively you can create such a file by typing:
    ls -l > /tmp/testfile
  2. Run the fxm command:
    /opt/faximum/bin/fxm 9268182 /tmp/testfile
    where you replace 9268182 with the number you wish to send the test fax to.

  3. Shortly after this command returns you ought to see the lights flicker on your fax modem and to see the fax being sent.

  4. If nothing seems to be happening look in the Faximum system log for error messages that might explain the problem.
    tail /var/spool/faximum/log
  5. If the fax has been successfully sent you ought to see something like:
    03/08/01 20:54:19: sendfax[931,0]: fax 11/cf13-1 (1 page) queued by root
    03/08/01 20:54:20: faxcico[936,0]: calling 11 using fax-line-1
    03/08/01 20:54:36: faxcico[936,0]: 11/cf13-1: transmission started
    03/08/01 20:55:33: faxcico[936,3]: 11/cf13-1: transmission completed
    03/08/01 20:55:40: faxcico[936,0]: fax transmission succeeded
    

Receiving a Test Fax Using ELS/PLUS

If you are planning to use Faximum ELS or PLUS to receive faxes you can send a fax to the fax modem and then check the Faximum system log to make sure the fax has been received. For example:

    tail /var/spool/faximum/log

If the fax has been properly received you ought to see something like

03/13/01 17:30:43: faxgetty[3903,0,40857]: listening for calls on fax-line-1 (/dev/tty1A)
03/13/01 17:42:22: faxgetty[3903,0,40857]: fax-line-1: call received
03/13/01 17:42:23: faxcico[3903,0]: incoming fax on device fax-line-1
03/13/01 17:42:40: faxcico[3903,0]: received 1 page from
03/13/01 17:42:48: faxcico[3903,0]: incoming call completed (inbox/cf21)
03/13/01 17:42:48: faxcico[3903,0]: calling "/opt/faximum/lib/dispatch /var/spool/faximum/inbox/cf21"
03/13/01 17:42:48: dispatch[3917,0]: Copy (21): /var/spool/faximum/inbox/newfax-21
03/13/01 17:42:49: dispatch[3917,0]: Mail (21): postmaster
03/13/01 17:42:54: faxgetty[3918,0,40857]: listening for calls on fax-line-1 (/dev/tty1A)

For more information on how to have these faxes automatically printed or passed to your application for processing please see the Faximum ELS & PLUS Reference Manual.

If you are observing errors and the messages in the system log are not sufficient to explain the problem then please execute the following command and email the resulting file /tmp/problem to support@faximum.com for analysis and assistance.

    tar cf /tmp/problem /var/spool/faximum

Starting the ELS/PLUS Fax User Interface

To run the Faximum ELS/PLUS user interface software, type:

    /opt/faximum/bin/fax

To make this easier, you may wish to:

  1. put /opt/faximum/bin in the search path of those who wish to use the Faximum software; or
  2. copy /opt/faximum/bin/fax to a directory that is already in your users' search path (perhaps /usr/local/bin, or /usr/bin).

For more information on how to use the Faximum user interface please see the Faximum ELS & PLUS Reference Manual.


Removing the Software

To remove the the server software follow these steps:

  1. Copy the removal script to a temporary directory. For example (as root):
    cp /opt/faximum/lib/fxm-remove.sh /tmp

  2. Run the software removal script:
    cd /tmp
    sh fxm-remove.sh

Resolving Problems and Contacting Technical Support

Should you experience any problems with this software, please visit our Technical Support web page at: http://www.faximum.com/support. This page provides access to our library of TechNotes that describe solutions to common problems.

Please also visit the page: http://www.faximum.com/status which contains updated information on bugs and fixes available for this release (i.e. your problem may be the result of a bug that has already been reported to Faximum).

If you are still unable to resolve your problem after following those steps, please contact the company that supplied you with this software.

If your vendor is unable to assist, please contact Faximum Technical Support by fax at (604) 926-8182, by email to support@Faximum.COM or by phone at (604) 922-7311.

Please read http://www.faximum.com/support/policy for detailed information on the options available for purchasing technical support.

Note that if you are contacting Faximum Technical Support with a question we need the following information:

  • the company name under which the product is registered
  • your Activation Key Number (emailed or faxed to you by Faximum Software when you registered the product);
  • the version and release number of the software (from the installation file name, for example 4.0-2) and the name of the fix file(s) installed (if any);
  • the type and release of your operating system; and
  • the manufacturer and model of your fax modem (and if using an external fax modem, the manufacturer of the intelligent multi-port card that the modem is connected to).

It can also help Faximum Technical Support if you also send us a diagnostic snapshot of your installation. You can create this and email it to Faximum by running the following command on your Faximum fax server:

/opt/faximum/lib/diagnostic.sh

If your fax server is behind a firewall that prevents it from sending email directly to Faximum, then please email the diagnostic output to one of your users who can then forward it to support@faximum.com. You can do this by running:

/opt/faximum/lib/diagnostic.sh user@yourdomain.com