[asterisk-users] Basic asterisk Autodialer?

[Alex Balashov]

Shawn,

> Just call and play the message and move on.  Trying to find a way to 
> notify a couple hundred customers that their service has been changed.
>
> Anyone have any easy ways to do this?  I already have a functioning 
> asterisk server with a POTS interface, etc.

   Set up a dial plan extension that has the effect of calling each
number.  Rather than building a dialplan entry for each number, just
make it require the prepending of a special prefix that is then
stripped off, not entirely unlike how trunk groups are used in TDM
routing:

     exten => _666NXXXXXXXXX,1,Macro(dialer-macro,${EXTEN:3})

   Or do it all without the use of macros, whatever.  Have it Dial() the
customer at ${EXTEN:3}, Background() or Playback() a recording, then hang
up.

   Then, load your target numbers into a text file.  Write a script to
iterate through them, and trigger the dial plan extension through the
Asterisk Manager API:

       http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+manager+API

   It's a simple, TCP-based CLI service and is by far the easiest way to do 
this.  If you have a sound card in the source machine you might even be
able to get away with calling 'console dial ... at context' from the Asterisk
CLI (asterisk -r -x -c), but I think the Manager approach is cleaner.

   Let me know if you need some help getting this up and running, I've done
such things before and have some code readily available.  If so, contact
me off-list.

Hope that helps,

--
Alex Balashov
Evariste Systems
Web    : http://www.evaristesys.com/
Tel    : +1-678-954-0670
Direct : +1-678-954-0671