Re: [hylafax-users] HylaFAX working for this idea?

["Josh Welch" <jwelch@buffalowildwings.com>]

Thomas -Balu- Walter said:
> Hi experts,
Disclaimer: I'm no expert :)

> some days ago I was assigned to do the planning for the following
> system:
>
> A campus-wide address-database is being set up (esp. for the press
> office) where addresses of newspapers, companies and such are going to
> be stored (MySQL based, Webfrontend (PHP)).
>
> One function of this database is to send faxes to lists of people out of
> this database (~500 over night, perhaps getting more).
>
> I am wondering if HylaFAX can handle the following requirements:
>
>    - sending faxes from the web-server to the fax-server (if it's
>      going to be divided)
>      -> Since HylaFAX is Client/Server-based that should work
No problem here, check out the clients from the Links section of the
website. We use a email to fax gateway here. Its great for simple ASCII
faxes, would work for more complicated stuff too, but a tougher setup.

>    - sending ~500 FAXes in one night (not every night, but when needed
>      :)
With a sufficient number of lines this should be easy. I don't think faxmail
on this one though, probably better to use sendfax or some such.

>    - are ISDN-cards supported? The campus-phone-network is ISDN based.
>      Or is it better to use modems?
I don't use ISDN myself, but my understanding is that it is supported quite
well with certain cards. One of the ISDN guys will probably jump in on this.

>    - Is it scaleable? (if the number of FAXes increases?
Certainly is.

> How would HylaFAX handle those 500 FAXes - one by one or is there one
> FAX plus a list of numbers to send to? (How much space is needed on the
> server?)
I *think* that if you submit one fax with multiple destinations it does not
replicate the fax on the server. I am probably wrong on this however :)

> What server-hardware is suggested (how much power do we need for such a
> task?)
we use an old 200MHz Pentium, 96MB of memory, IDE hard drives, doing mostly
receiving, five analog modems. I also use this box for building RPMs and
testing misc junk, never have a problem. I would say for your purposes a
decent PII with a decent chunk of memory (Ghostscript likes memory) would
work well. You can throw more at it if it makes you feel better ;)

> And finally: To be able to account the usage we need to add prefix-PINs
> for outgoing calls. Do I have to expect problems regarding sending
> FAXes?
So the fax server will need to dial a certain set of numbers prior to each
fax? This shouldn't be too hard if I understand correctly. Since different
people will be using different PINs, you will just need to make sure that
the right string gets passed to HylaFAX  with each number.

> If possible, reply to me personally too as I am not yet subscribed to
> this list. I am going to check the archive though)
>
> TIA
>         Balu
>
> --
> "Life's not fair," I reply. "But the root password helps."      [BOFH]

HTH

Josh


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