[Asterisk-Users] Asterisk for "Man-In-The-Middle" Trunk Side Call Recording?

[Matthew Crocker]

>
> 1. Is this possible? Can Asterisk serve as a man-in-the-middle  
> between a
> traditional PBX and the telco loops?

Yes,  Asterisk can be a PRI client to the telco and a PRI server to  
your internal PBX
>
> 2. If it's possible, which of the two possibilities above is  
> better? For us,
> rack space and power should not be an issue, we're interested in  
> what will
> be most workable.

I would go for multiple low end servers handling 1 or 2 T1s at a  
time.  You have g.711 coming in and going out so recording in g.711  
won't be too CPU intensive.  23 voice calls at 64kbps would be  
2.944mbps  (23 ^* 64000 * 2) so you'll need a hard drive/filesystem  
that can sustain at least 3mbps writes per T1 in the machine.

>
> 3. Once you have the calls recorded, how do you access them? Is it  
> possible
> to use asterisk's logs to correlate calls recordings with specific
> information? We're willing to do some custom programming here if  
> need be.

You should be able to tie the cdr information stored in a mysql  
database with the .wav file of the recording.  It is all setup in the  
extensions.conf file so you can choose the recording naming scheme  
there and make it work.  You would probably need to develop a web  
based app to handle the front end stuf.

>
> 4. Has anyone done anything like this before? If so, would you be  
> interested
> in a consulting gig?

I haven't.

One thing to watch out for is the new digium T1 cards that can bridge  
bearer traffic in firmware.  If that happens the voice doesn't leave  
the card and may not be recordable.  I'm not sure how Asterisk would  
handle that.

>
> Thanks in advance for your responses!
>
>
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--
Matthew S. Crocker
Vice President
Crocker Communications, Inc.
Internet Division
PO BOX 710
Greenfield, MA 01302-0710
http://www.crocker.com