[Asterisk-Users] General advice on confs and setup for new users

[Jeremy Hall]

tucker scribbled on Sunday, June 27, 2004 8:56 AM:

> This is what I want to do, however I am not sure how to achieve it,
> can you help?
> 
> Asterisk is running with X100P card to local PSTN
> Allow incoming calls over the internet to Asterisk
> Allow internet calls to dial out (restricted) using X100P
> Allow incoming calls via X100P to dial extension over the internet
> Allow incoming calls via X100P to be directed to internet extension N
> after set time and/or on no reply

This is actually a pretty simple configuration.  Do you already have
your X100P card installed and set up in your system?  If you do, use the
'make samples' or similar command that Asterisk points you to when you
compile.  Go through the config files you will need for your setup.
zaptel.conf for your X100P, sip.conf and/or iax.conf for your remote
extensions, and extensions.conf for your dialplan.  Make sure you
understand what the samples are doing, and look for other examples to
confirm your understanding.  Then start modifying it to meet your needs.
 
> There is so much to read, not sure where best to start

That is a very common "complaint" from people starting out.  Like I said
above, just start out simple.  Use the wiki and google, and take it
slow.  Make it so when a call comes in on the PSTN, it calls one local
extension.  Then add another.  Then set it up to allow one remote
extension to dial out local calls only, and another to do long distance.
Then set up a basic IVR (voice menu) asking the caller to press 1 for
your first phone, or 2 for your second one.

One of the biggest "complaints" I have about newbies, is their
expectations of installing it, and having it work out of the box for
their specific hardware and situation with little to no learning and
configuration.  I've seen people here and in the IRC channel that
complained when they practically want a multiple server clustered call
center system to work with their BrandX telephony hardware, when they
have never used Asterisk at all.  Most of the time the hardware they
want to use is not supported, and there is plenty of documentation on
the archive stating as such.

Like I said, you have a very simple system to start out with, which is
good.  If you run into snags, feel free to ask me on IRC (jjhall is my
nick) or just ask the channel in general.  I'm on about half the
evenings out of the week, and usually try to at least monitor here and
there throughout the day while at work.  Just /msg me if I am on and I
will answer when I get a chance. 

Jeremy