MC3810-AVM6

cas27

Hey all Im working on building my home voice lab and was able to get a MC3810 with a AVM6 installed. The AVM has 2 FXS ports which is awesome, but I was curious as to what the other 4 ports are used for. Im not finding much info on the net about these old beasts so any information you guys have about it would be great! Thanks.

cas27

I believe I just found some information on it. Appears you can get APM modules that plug into the AVM board and give whatever functionally you want to the ports such as FXS, FXO etc.

tiersten

Yeah. The AVM6 is basically a carrier board that lets you plug in 6 APMs.

mikej412

The CCVP FAQ has a link to Overview of the Cisco MC3810 Series

Overview of the Cisco MC3810 Series wrote:

Analog Voice Ports

To support analog voice circuits, a Cisco MC3810 series concentrator must be equipped with an analog voice module (AVM). In its optional analog voice configuration, a Cisco MC3810 series concentrator can have up to six analog voice ports. By installing specific signaling modules known as analog personality modules (APMs), you can equip the analog voice ports for the following signaling types in various combinations: FXS, FXO, and E&M. The analog voice ports use an RJ-11 connector interface for FXS and FXO, and an RJ-1CX connector interface for E&M.

I've got my MC3810s with AVM6 modules configured with 1 or 2 FXO ports, 2 or 3 FXS ports, and 1 or 2 E&M ports.

But just adding a single FXO port to your existing 2 FXS ports would be a good start for a Branch Office Router configuration.

cas27

Whats the cheapest way to simulate the pots pstn?
You suggest the Ascend Max 6000 Mikej?

mikej412

cas27 wrote:

Whats the cheapest way to simulate the pots pstn?
You suggest the Ascend Max 6000 Mikej?

I guess the price on the Ascend Max 6000 (and the Adtrans) has dropped since ISDN was dropped from all the exam.... but it's still probably overkill just for the CCVP (and even the CCIE). I think I got a cheap 4 port POTS Simulator for around $80.

But I'm currently using 3 MC3810s as my POTS Cloud in my current home voice lab setup.

My E1 interfaces are in 2 MC3810s with MFT-E1 interfaces -- so one MC3810 is in my lab "European Branch Office" and the other MC3810 with the MFT-E1 is in my POTS Cloud.

I've got the MC3810 with the DVM and the 2 MFT-T1 interfaces connected to my "HQ" and "U.S Branch Office." I also have a 1760-V with a VWIC-2MFT-T1 in the POTS Cloud that I can swap in here instead. And I have 1760-V routers with VWIC-2MFT-T1 at the HQ and US Branch -- along with MC3810s there pretending to be PBXs.

The 3rd MC3810 in my POTS Cloud has a phone connected that can pretend to be any outside phone.... and I have another phone connected (still haven't found an old red analog phone) to be my 911 emergency response center.

A POTS simulator lets you concentrate on learning and configuring your voice routers, but once you know what you're doing, setting up more voice routers to pretend to be the POTS give you a lot more configuration practice. Either way, you have to figure out your lab dial plan and call routing.

You can sneak a peak at NLI's (ccbootcamp.com) PSTN Configuration for their CCIE Lab Workbooks (and Voice Technology Labs) for some hints. They use a single newer router as their PSTN, but you do get even more practice configuring 3 (or more) cheaper routers to do the same work.

Oops -- the PSTN Configuration txt file link isn't there any more -- but you can check out the PSTN configs in the zip files in this CCBootCamp initial Voice configuration download directory
www.ccbootcamp.com - /download/!Voice/
Look for the PSTN.txt file in any of the workbook config.zip files.

cas27

Thanks a ton Mikej, great info there.
I think I'll throw a MFT-T1 in my MC3810 and either grab a 1760-v for my pots cloud or a few more MC3810's. I thought about doing something similar to NLI, but your way will def give me more experience, which is the point of all this.

itdaddy

Mikej

I just bought 4 1760 routers with the T1 dsu cards in the for 40 bucks each..I thought it was a steal so I jumped on it. I am building a 3 site lab at home eventually I will have some 3550 switches with EMI images and
some voip phones tooo...but in the 1760s I do need the pvdm modules correct? for each router to travers phone packets over ip huh?

what are the vwics for? and yes I will get some fxs cards for pots at each site as well hee hee i didnt forget what you said...can i use one of the 1760s like you said and make it into a pstn and the pstn is like a teleco right? and I can use say a fx0 card to connect to my pstn to simulate the post huh? is that right..or am I way off..thanks mike!
Robert

nutech444

Thanks for the update