[Asterisk-Users] Billing/SPA-841/CDR Log

[Waldo Rubinstein]

Hi list,

I have a couple of questions related to asterisk billing and the  
generation of cdr logs. I've searched the wiki but have not found my  
answers, hopefully you guys can help.

1) When are asterisk CDR logs _normally_ generated? When the call  
arrives, when the call hangs up, or both? I have looked at the  
records created and it seems to only generate it at the time the call  
is hung up in order to write the call duration, etc, but I just want  
to be sure.

2) If in fact it is the case that the CDR entry is written after the  
call terminates, what would be the best place for me to intercept the  
handler so that I can write my own CDR log? Because I only need to  
log certain calls, I was thinking of doing something with FastAGI so  
that only when certain calls terminate, I would write my custom CDR.

3) Related to the same theme (billing), I have a client who uses the  
SPA-841. This phone, by default has two lines. When I only configure  
Line 1, the phone still allows me to make/receive calls on Line 2.  
For the purposes of billing, I could understand allowing my client  
for two simultaneous conversations if s/he uses the call waiting  
feature of Line 1. But by default and without configuring Line 2 on  
the phone, the customer is able to, potentially, establish 4  
simultaneous calls and I'm only billing for one account. Is there a  
way to restrict the SPA-841 from Asterisk so that I don't depend on  
Line 2 being disabled on the SPA-841 (which the client could always  
change)?

4) Because this (item 3) has already happened to me, is there any  
free tool out there that will allow me to parse the CDR logs in order  
to determine the maximum number of simultaneous calls that a  
particular SIP peer has made within a specific timeframe? That way, I  
could potentially bill the client for 2 accounts instead of 1.

Thank you again,
Waldo