[Asterisk-doc] Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 01:26:07 -0400

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I've added some meat to the prerequisites area. Part of me thinks this is =
going to 
frighten people away, or appear too elitist, so please feel free to be cri=
tical, folks!

Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills
Because of the nearly limitless flexibility of Asterisk, successfully conf=
iguring 
a system requires more than a passing familiarity with several technical 
concepts, most notably Linux Installation and Administration, as well as a=
n 
understanding of Telephony. In this document, we will only be scraping the=

surface of these complex technologies as we discuss concepts relevant to 
Asterisk design, installation and administration. If you desire more knowl=
edge 
on either subject, we have suggested several sources which will set you on=
 the 
path towards the required knowledge.
Telephony
Asterisk is a PBX, and that means that the more Telecommunications 
knowledge you have, the easier Asterisk will be to learn. If you plan to u=
se 
analog circuits and telephones, you will want to understand the difference=

between FXS and FXO interfaces. Digital trunks will require you to be 
conversant with technologies such as ISDN-PRI (including wiring of T1s). 
Terms such as PSTN or VoIP should be second nature to you, and you=92d do 
well to obtain an understanding of the concept of analog to digital conver=
sion, 
and what codecs are.
Before you get overwhelmed, please understand that many excellent 
references exist to help you obtain this knowledge. A good introductory wo=
rk 
is Noll's Introduction to Telephones and Telephone Systems, published by 
Artech House Publishers. The definitive encyclopaedia of all things Teleco=
m is 
Newton's Telecom Dictionary, published by CMP Books =96 this book should 
be on any telecommunication professional=92s bookshelf.
Linux Installation and Administration
You will need an i386-compatible system with Linux installed before you ca=
n 
install and use Asterisk. If you do not have a solid grasp of Linux 
administration concepts you will want to focus on obtaining those skills b=
efore 
attempting an Asterisk install. On the Internet, The Linux Documentation 
Project provides many great resources for beginners. In the bookstore, 
Frisch's Essential System Administration along with Nemeth, et al.'s Linux=

Administration Handbook and Unix System Administration Handbook are 
recommended. Running Linux by Matt Welch, Lar Kaufman et al. is still one 
of the all-time most successful Linux introductions. Reading one or two of=

these books can save a lot of headaches down the road.  
[put this in a coloured box]
Other Systems
While Asterisk has been known to work on other hardware platforms (such as=

x86_64) and other operating systems (such as FreeBSD), we recommend you 
use Asterisk under Linux on an i386, especially while you are first starti=
ng 
out. Getting Asterisk up and running on other platforms or operating syste=
ms 
is not for the faint of heart!
[end of coloured box]
Can you configure Asterisk without all of this knowledge? Perhaps. But you=

will suffer needlessly. Trust us. Obtain the background knowledge and you 
will be rewarded with a far less painful Asterisk installation.

That's all I've got for tonight . . . um . . . I mean this morning :-)

Regards,

-- 
Jim Van Meggelen
DigitAlchemy
416-574-3164
www.digitalchemy.ca
jim@digitalchemy.ca

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<div align=3D"left">I'=
ve added some meat to the prerequisites area. Part of me thinks this is go=
ing to 
frighten people away, or appear too elitist, so please feel free to be cri=
tical, folks!</div>
<div align=3D"left"> </div>
Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills
Because of the nearly limitless flexibility of Asterisk, successfully co=
nfiguring 
a system requires more than a passing familiarity with several technical 
concepts, most notably Linux Installation and Administration, as well as a=
n 
understanding of Telephony. In this document, we will only be scraping the=

surface of these complex technologies as we discuss concepts relevant to 
Asterisk design, installation and administration. If you desire more knowl=
edge 
on either subject, we have suggested several sources which will set you on=
 the 
path towards the required knowledge.
Telephony
Asterisk is a PBX, and that means that the more Telecommunications 
knowledge you have, the easier Asterisk will be to learn. If you plan to u=
se 
analog circuits and telephones, you will want to understand the difference=

between FXS and FXO interfaces. Digital trunks will require you to be 
conversant with technologies such as ISDN-PRI (including wiring of T1s). 
Terms such as PSTN or VoIP should be second nature to you, and you&#146;d =
do 
well to obtain an understanding of the concept of analog to digital conver=
sion, 
and what codecs are.
Before you get overwhelmed, please understand that many excellent 
references exist to help you obtain this knowledge. A good introductory wo=
rk 
is Noll's Introduction to Telephones and Telephone Systems=
, published by 
Artech House Publishers. The definitive encyclopaedia of all things Teleco=
m is 
Newton's Telecom Dictionary, published by CMP Books &#=
150; this book should 
be on any telecommunication professional&#146;s bookshelf.</=
p>
Linux Installation and Administration
You will need an i386-compatible system with Linux installed before you =
can 
install and use Asterisk. If you do not have a solid grasp of Linux 
administration concepts you will want to focus on obtaining those skills b=
efore 
attempting an Asterisk install. On the Internet, The <a href=
=3D"http://tldp.org/" \t "_top">
Linux Documentation 
Project</a>
&#160;provides many great resources for beginners. In the bookstore, 
Frisch's 
Essential System Administration along with Nemeth, et al.'s Linu=
x 
Administration Handbook 
and Unix System Administration Handbook are 
recommended. 
Running Linux by Matt Welch, Lar Kaufman et al. is still one 
of the all-time most successful Linux introductions. Reading one or two of=

these books can save a lot of headaches down the road.&#160; </font></p>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D"3"><span style=3D=
"font-size:12pt">[put this in a coloured box]</span></font></div>
<p><font face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D"3"><span style=3D"font-size:12pt=
"><b>Other Systems</b></span></font></p>
<p><font face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D"3"><span style=3D"font-size:12pt=
">While Asterisk has been known to work on other hardware platforms (such =
as 
x86_64) and other operating systems (such as FreeBSD), we recommend you 
use Asterisk under Linux on an i386, especially while you are first starti=
ng 
out. Getting Asterisk up and running on other platforms or operating syste=
ms 
is not for the faint of heart!</span></font></p>
<p><font face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D"3"><span style=3D"font-size:12pt=
">[end of coloured box]</span></font></p>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D"3"><span style=3D=
"font-size:12pt">Can you configure Asterisk without all of this knowledge?=
 Perhaps. But you 
will suffer needlessly. Trust us. Obtain the background knowledge and you 
will be rewarded with a far less painful Asterisk installation.</span></fo=
nt></div>
<div align=3D"left"><br/></div>
<div align=3D"left"><br/>
</div>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size:10pt">Th=
at's all I've got for tonight . . . um . . . I mean this morning :-)</span=
></font></div>
<div align=3D"left"><br/>
</div>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size:10pt">Re=
gards,</span></font></div>
<div align=3D"left"><br/>
</div>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size:10pt">--=
 </span></font></div>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size:10pt">Ji=
m Van Meggelen</span></font></div>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size:10pt">Di=
gitAlchemy</span></font></div>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size:10pt">41=
6-574-3164</span></font></div>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size:10pt">ww=
w.digitalchemy.ca</span></font></div>
<div align=3D"left"><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size:10pt">ji=
m@digitalchemy.ca</span></font></div>
<div align=3D"left"><br/>
</div>
<div align=3D"left"></div>
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