[asterisk-gui] Users.conf questions / thoughts

[Jason Parker]

I can only really comment on some of these.  See below (inline)

----- Steven Sokol <ssokol at sokol-associates.com> wrote:
> Greetings List,
> 
> After playing with the framework for several days I have some
> thoughts
> and questions to toss out.  Before I get into that, I did want to
> thank Pari, Mark and everyone else at Digium who has worked on this.
> It's a great start towards making Asterisk accessible to a
> significant
> number of people who would otherwise run screaming to the hills.
> 
> Questions:
> 
> 1) Users.conf allows you to grant a user IAX or SIP but can you also
> set specific IAX or SIP options (such as auth, dtmfmode, nat,
> qualify)
> in users.conf?

yep, users.conf is actually parsed by each of the channel drivers, so any option the channel driver supports should work here

> 
> 2) Is there a way to store channel variable values in users.conf
> (i.e.
> values that are generally presented in the channel configuration
> files
> as 'setvar=MYVAR=myvalue')?

See 1) - the same should apply here
> 
> 3) Is there any fixed limit on the manager's http server that would
> prevent me from building an end-user portal (i.e. a page which allows
> end users to control their feature settings)?  For example, is there
> a
> limit on simultaneous sessions?

Theoretically, you could have an unlimited number of users connected, just like manager.  I don't know that this has ever been tested though.  One thing to watch out for, I believe, is that multiple connections from the same user might "bleed over" to other connections.

> 
> 4) I have created a user with "CTI" checked in the advanced box.
> However, I don't seem to be able to log into the GUI with that user's
> credentials.  The users.conf file for the user shows "hasmanager =
> yes".  Is this by design or is this a bug?

I don't know what CTI does, but if a user hasmanager, you also need to allow that user to have access to the "config" stuff in manager, I believe.
> 
> 5) Has Digium given any thought to Internationalization/Localization?
> It looks like all of the prompts/text are embedded in the GUI at this
> point.  What's a good, scalable, portable, light-weight means of
> making things more portable?
> 
> Comments:
> 
> 1) It seems to only really like to operate in FireFox (and other
> Gecko-based browsers).  It seems to fail on IE6 and on Safari.

Known issue, which Pari is working on.
> 
> 2) The whole Astman object could use some documentation.  I've felt
> my
> way through creating a working screen and the associated configs, but
> it took me quite a while.  If somebody (Pari?) could spare some time
> to chat I would be happy to write up some basic docs.
> 
> 3) I see support for Service Providers (i.e. Trunks) but I don't see
> any place to add DIDs.  In fact, the Service Providers tab
> specifically mentions outgoing traffic but says nothing about
> incoming.  I'm working up a DIDs tab to which incoming calls can be
> delivered.  Here's my thoughts:
> 
> A) DID numbers can be mapped to: Users, Menus, Queues, Mailboxes.
> 
> B) The DID context also includes a "Default" route for calls which
> arrive without a DID (i.e. calls on analog lines).
> 
> C) The DID context includes the "default" context (or which ever
> context you define as the destination for users).
> 
> Does this sound like a resonable plan?
> 
> 4) I think the GUI could be made even better by the use of some very
> simple Wizards.  The people who need the GUI are not the sort who
> want/need the infinite flexibility of raw Asterisk.  If we give them
> a
> means of adding users that asks a few very simple questions (name,
> email, choice of extension number, class of service) then populates
> the basics, we can eliminate a huge number of support calls.
> 
> 5) Recording of menus should be built into the Voice Menus tab.
> 
> 6) Backup appears to be incomplete.  At least mine did not actually
> generate a tar file.  I also don't see a means of doing an automated
> restore.  If the appliance supports a cron, we should be able to
> schedule an auto-backup.  Better still: configure an auto-backup (if
> anything has changed) which sends the configuration file to an
> FTP/TFTP/DAV/etc. server.  Or emails it.
> 
> 7) A few basic reports would be nice, especially a basic dialplan
> report which dumps out the current dialplan as a visual directory.
> (Go one step further and make it an AJAM app which shows the status
> of
> each extension!)
> 
> What are some of the other ideas out there?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Steve
> -- 
> Steven Sokol
> CEO
> Sokol & Associates, LLC
> 
> Asterisk Training:  http://www.sokol-associates.com/
> AstriCon 2006: http://www.astricon.net/
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-- 
Jason Parker
Digium