[asterisknow] Automatic configuration of Zaptel.conf and Zapata.conf

[Aldo D. Sudak]

Dear Mr. Kruse,

Thank you for your kind answer. As I stated in my first message, I am completely new to Asterisk, and Asterisk is completely new to me. Maybe I am wrong and, doubtlessly, I lack a lot of knowledge about the subject, so please let me apologize for consuming so much time from you. 

According to what I learned in my Asterisk literature (Asterisk, The Future of Telephony, by J. van Meggelen, J. Smith and L. Madsen, and Voip Telephony with Asterisk, by Paul Mahler) there are several reasons to assign different channels, different contexts (for instance, selectively assigning permissions, preventing an incoming call from accessing a PSTN line through the PBX, etc.), and the proper way (and as long as I know the only way) to assign contexts to channels is by appropriately configuring zapata.conf. Since my TDM800 telephony board is furnished with 4 FXS channels(1 to 4) and 2 FXO channels (5 and 6), I need to assign them at least two different contexts. So, following the literature, I write in zapata.conf.zapscan (actually I should configure zapata.conf but at the top of the file there is an indication to configure zapata.conf.zapscan instead), something similar to this:

        signalling = fxo_ks
        context = internal
        channel => 1,2,3,4

        signalling = fxs_ks
        context = incoming
        channel => 5,6

And here is where the problem arouses, because as soon as I reboot the computer for the configuration to take effect, I find that four lines have been automatically added to the previous six, at the bottom of zapata.conf:

        signalling = fxo_ks
        channel => 1,2,3,4
        signalling = fxs_ks
        channel => 5,6

While this is harmless regarding the redundant signalling assignment, it is certainly not regarding context assignments: since the file is parsed from top to bottom, all my previous context (and probably some other) assignements are overridden except the last one, and so all six channels are assigned the 'incoming' context, which is certainly not what I meant to do. And, in fact, when I dial something from an FXS channel, I see the call is unduly processed through the 'incoming' context instead of the 'internal' context. There perhaps exists some other way to assign channels contexts, groups, etc. outside of zapata.conf. As to me, I do not know anyone.

Of course, it would be possible to assign different permissions to different channels by means of programming tricks based on callerID. But I think this would be quite more complicated, the dialplan would become rather obscure and, in short, things would not be done in the proper way and taking profit of Asterisk's full power.

As to zaptel.conf, of course it is completely indifferent to me whether it is automatically configured or not. I only mentioned it because both files seem to be automatically and simultaneously configured (as well as zapscan.conf) during booting, which is not mentioned in the literature.

Thank you very much in advance for your kind answer.

Sincerely,

A D Sudak
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