LDAP Integration(external services)

LDAP Integration Asterisk supports the ability to connect to an existing Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server to load information into your Asterisk server using the Asterisk Realtime Architecture (ARA). The advantage of integrating Asterisk and LDAP will become immediately obvious when you start centralizing your authentication mechanisms to the LDAP server and using it … Read more

Out-of-Band Messaging (Messaging Infrastructure)

Out-of-Band Messaging (Messaging Infrastructure) Starting in Asterisk 10, the ability to accept messages out of band (e.g., receive a message without an existing channel) was added in order to allow the triggering of the dialplan based on a received message. Being able to accept a message means that you could potentially trigger a call simply … Read more

Using XMPP (Jabber) with Asterisk

Using XMPP (Jabber) with Asterisk The eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP, formerly called Jabber) is used for instant messaging and communicating presence information across networks in near real time. Within Asterisk, it is also used for call setup (signaling). We can do various cool things with XMPP integration once it’s enabled, such as getting … Read more

Voicemail IMAP Integration

Voicemail IMAP Integration “Unified messaging” has been a buzzword in the telecommunications industry for ages. It’s all about integrating services so users can access the same types of data in multiple locations, using different methods. One of the most touted applications is the integration of email and voicemail. Asterisk has been doing this for years, … Read more

External Services

External Services Asterisk is pretty nifty all by itself, but one of the most powerful, industry-changing, revolutionary aspects of Asterisk is the sheer number of wonderful ways it may be connected to external applications and services. This is truly unprecedented in the world of telecom. In this topic, we’ll explore some popular services and applications … Read more

ODBC Voicemail Message Storage

ODBC Voicemail Message Storage Asterisk enables you to store voicemail inside the database using the ODBC connector. This is useful in a clustered environment where you want to abstract the voicemail data from the local system so that multiple Asterisk boxes have access to the same data. Of course, you have to take into consideration … Read more

Storing Call Detail Records (CDR)

Storing Call Detail Records (CDR) Call detail records (CDR) contain information about calls that have passed through your Asterisk system. Storing CDR is a popular use of databases in Asterisk, because it makes them easier to manage (for example, you can keep track of many Asterisk systems in a single table). Also, by placing records … Read more

Managing Databases

Managing Databases While it isn’t within the scope of this book to teach you about how to manage your databases, it is at least worth noting briefly some of the applications you could use to help with database management. Several exist, some of which are local client applications running from your computer and connecting to … Read more

Relational Database Integration

we are going to explore integrating some Asterisk features and functions into a database. There are several databases available for Linux, but we have chosen to limit our discussion to the two most popular: PostgreSQL and MySQL. We will also explain how to configure Linux to connect to a Microsoft SQL database via ODBC; however, … Read more

Shared Line Appearances

In Asterisk, Shared Line Appearances (SLA)—sometimes also referred to in the industry as Bridged Line Appearances (BLA)—can be used. This functionality can be used to satisfy two primary use cases, which include emulating a simple key system and creating shared extensions on a PBX. Building key system emulation is what these applications were primarily designed … Read more