Guaranteed Fax provides coverage for busy or out-of-service Fax print destination machines, such as a stand-alone Fax machine or a Fax modem on a PC. If the Fax print destination machine is unavailable, Guaranteed Fax redirects the Fax to a mailbox for temporary storage. This Guaranteed Fax mailbox is set to autoprint back to the originally called Fax print destination machine.
The interaction of the Fax print destination machine's extension and the Guaranteed Fax mailbox requires periodic monitoring. There are several considerations that you need to take into account when implementing and maintaining this mailbox:
The Guaranteed Fax mailbox must be large enough to temporarily store a potentially large number of Fax files.
The Guaranteed Fax mailbox is designed to accept Faxes only from remote messaging systems or Fax machines. It must not be implemented when all traffic is from one messaging system.
Faxes that have somehow not been removed by autodelete must be manually deleted periodically; otherwise, the mailbox could be filled to maximum capacity.
The mailbox must be periodically monitored for voice, file attachments, and e-mail messages. These come into the mailbox as part of a voice/Fax/e-mail message, but they are never removed by autodelete.
The Fax machine's paper supply and toner cartridge must be periodically monitored. If the Fax machine is out of paper, the Guaranteed Fax mailbox will fill up with Faxes that cannot be printed.
Do not leave auto print turned on for an out of service Fax machine. If you leave auto print on, you can fill the mailbox with cover sheets from every unsuccessful attempt to print a Fax.
Guaranteed Fax is typically administered as a secondary extension, but it can also be administered as an ordinary subscriber. Each method has its advantages. In either case, the Fax endpoint is set up on the switch for call coverage to the messaging software so that, if the Fax print destination machine is busy, an incoming Fax is directed to the messaging mailbox.
When Guaranteed Fax is administered as a secondary Fax extension, the mailbox is treated as a printer. Voice, file attachments, and e-mail components of an incoming call are ignored. The Fax data is recorded and the Fax print destination machine is tried repeatedly until the Fax can be delivered. No other messaging features are available on a secondary Fax extension. See Administering Guaranteed Fax as a Secondary Extension for procedural information.
When Guaranteed Fax is administered as an ordinary subscriber, the Fax print destination machine is treated as a messaging extension. The messaging software can be used with this number exactly as it can be used for any messaging subscriber. For example, a Fax can be sent directly to the Fax print destination machine's extension as a message to a messaging extension. On the other hand, voice messages sent to this mailbox (perhaps as attachments to forwarded Fax messages) remain in the mailbox and use a portion of the total mailbox size. You must manually delete such messages. See Administering Guaranteed Fax as a Communication Manager Messaging Subscriber for procedural information.