[Asterisk-Users] Picking an open channel (FXO port) for outbound calls

[Grzegorz Nosek]

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 11:45:17 -0600, Tony Kava wrote
> Greetings:
> 
> I did some quick searching of my history of this list, and I 
> tried a quick Google search as well, but perhaps someone on 
> the list can quickly answer this question.  I have a very 
> nicely working Asterisk system at home with two Digium X100P 
> FXO cards.  When my SIP phones want to dial-out I have them 
> setup to grab the first analog card (Zap/1) with the 
> following extensions.conf segment:
> 
> ==== snippet ====
> 
> ; Outbound
> exten => _9.,1,Dial(Zap/1/${EXTEN:1},90,Tt)
> exten => _9.,2,Macro(fastbusy)
> exten => _9.,102,Macro(fastbusy)
> 
> ==== /snippet ====
> 
> Zap/1 and Zap/2 are analog phone lines.  What is the best 
> method of picking an open line when someone tries to dial-
> out? i.e. if Zap/1 is in use how can I instruct Asterisk to 
> use Zap/2 and vice versa? I know complex methods of making 
> this happen, but I'm sure there is a very simple way to accomplish
> this task.
> 
> Thanks.
> 

Try putting the channels in a group (IIRC just put a group=>1 in
zapata.conf before channel=> lines - I don't own any Digium hardware
though :( ) and replace Zap/1/ with Zap/g1/

Works for me with 2x Fritz PCI cards (i4l, as it mostly works and if
it ain't broken, don't fix it.. capi is on my schedule though..)

HTH,
 Grzegorz Nosek