<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">On Wed, 10 Apr 2013, Simon Green wrote:<br>
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Hi there, I’m new to Asterisk and there’s a ton of documentation. I’m not really sure where to start. What I want to do is this: a PBX service ala FreePBX, but where call control is passed via SIP to an external service which will tell Asterisk:<br>
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a) * Whether the call is allowed<br>
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b) * Where to connect the call, if necessary (i.e. forced redirection to a C-party)<br>
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c) * To disconnect the call at some time in future based on charging considerations (i.e. online charging)<br>
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It depends...<br>
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You could probably do all of this just using dialplan logic and Asterisk's internal database.<br>
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If you are looking to build a system that will scale, you'll want to store your call processing parameters in a database like MySQL and access the parameters using an AGI (an external program written in any language you are comfortable with) and then write a dialplan to follow your business logic.<br>
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While the dialplan language does include methods to access databases, I find it cumbersome, limited, and ugly. I like to keep all the nasty details in a little black box and keep my dialplan clean and maintainable.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br><br></font></span></blockquote><div><br></div><div style>It actually looks a little like I might be better off front-ending with OpenSIPS, which can do AAA via Diameter, and then passing the call, once allowed, to Asterisk.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>I'm certainly keen to put extension provisioning information into MySQL, but I need the realtime accounting aspect as much as the authorisation aspect.</div><div style><br></div><div style>
Ideally I'm after Asterisk to be, effectively, a smart media gateway. I want it to handle basic registration of user clients, but for realtime call authorisation and sometimes routing to be handled off-board. Effectively, a prepaid calling service with Asterisk handling the calling and the other system handling the prepaid.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>Am I barking up the wrong tree? </div></div></div></div>