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213 lines
8.2 KiB
Markdown
213 lines
8.2 KiB
Markdown
# The Asterisk(R) Open Source PBX
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```
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By Mark Spencer <markster@digium.com> and the Asterisk.org developer community.
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Copyright (C) 2001-2025 Sangoma Technologies Corporation and other copyright holders.
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```
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## SECURITY
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It is imperative that you read and fully understand the contents of
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the security information document before you attempt to configure and run
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an Asterisk server.
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See [Important Security Considerations](https://docs.asterisk.org/Deployment/Important-Security-Considerations) for more information.
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## WHAT IS ASTERISK ?
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Asterisk is an Open Source PBX and telephony toolkit. It is, in a
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sense, middleware between Internet and telephony channels on the bottom,
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and Internet and telephony applications at the top. However, Asterisk supports
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more telephony interfaces than just Internet telephony. Asterisk also has a
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vast amount of support for traditional PSTN telephony, as well.
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For more information on the project itself, please visit the [Asterisk
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Home Page](https://www.asterisk.org) and the official
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[Asterisk Documentation](https://docs.asterisk.org).
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## SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS
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### Linux
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The Asterisk Open Source PBX is developed and tested primarily on the
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GNU/Linux operating system, and is supported on every major GNU/Linux
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distribution.
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### Others
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Asterisk has also been 'ported' and reportedly runs properly on other
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operating systems as well, Apple's Mac OS X, and the BSD variants.
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## GETTING STARTED
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Most users are using VoIP/SIP exclusively these days but if you need to
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interface to TDM or analog services or devices, be sure you've got supported
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hardware.
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Supported telephony hardware includes:
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* All Analog and Digital Interface cards from Sangoma
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* Any full duplex sound card supported by PortAudio
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* The Xorcom Astribank channel bank
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### UPGRADING FROM AN EARLIER VERSION
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If you are updating from a previous version of Asterisk, make sure you
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read the Change Logs.
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<!-- CHANGELOGS (the URL will change based on the location of this README) -->
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[Change Logs](ChangeLogs/ChangeLog-21.9.1.html)
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<!-- END-CHANGELOGS -->
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### NEW INSTALLATIONS
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Ensure that your system contains a compatible compiler and development
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libraries. Asterisk requires either the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) version
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4.1 or higher, or a compiler that supports the C99 specification and some of
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the gcc language extensions. In addition, your system needs to have the C
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library headers available, and the headers and libraries for ncurses.
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There are many modules that have additional dependencies. To see what
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libraries are being looked for, see `./configure --help`, or run
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`make menuselect` to view the dependencies for specific modules.
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On many distributions, these dependencies are installed by packages with names
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like 'glibc-devel', 'ncurses-devel', 'openssl-devel' and 'zlib-devel'
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or similar. The `contrib/scripts/install_prereq` script can be used to install
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the dependencies for most Debian and Redhat based Linux distributions.
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The script also handles SUSE, Arch, Gentoo, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD but
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those distributions mightnoit have complete support or they might be out of date.
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So, let's proceed:
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1. Read the documentation.<br>
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The [Asterisk Documentation](https://docs.asterisk.org) website has full
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information for building, installing, configuring and running Asterisk.
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2. Run `./configure`<br>
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Execute the configure script to guess values for system-dependent
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variables used during compilation. If the script indicates that some required
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components are missing, you can run `./contrib/scripts/install_prereq install`
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to install the necessary components. Note that this will install all dependencies
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for every functionality of Asterisk. After running the script, you will need
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to rerun `./configure`.
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3. Run `make menuselect`<br>
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This is needed if you want to select the modules that will be compiled and to
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check dependencies for various optional modules.
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4. Run `make`<br>
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Assuming the build completes successfully:
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5. Run `make install`<br>
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If this is your first time working with Asterisk, you may wish to install
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the sample PBX, with demonstration extensions, etc. If so, run:
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6. Run `make samples`<br>
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Doing so will overwrite any existing configuration files you have installed.
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7. Finally, you can launch Asterisk in the foreground mode (not a daemon) with
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`asterisk -vvvc`<br>
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You'll see a bunch of verbose messages fly by your screen as Asterisk
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initializes (that's the "very very verbose" mode). When it's ready, if
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you specified the "c" then you'll get a command line console, that looks
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like this:<br>
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`*CLI>`<br>
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You can type `core show help` at any time to get help with the system. For help
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with a specific command, type `core show help <command>`.
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`man asterisk` at the Unix/Linux command prompt will give you detailed
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information on how to start and stop Asterisk, as well as all the command
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line options for starting Asterisk.
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### ABOUT CONFIGURATION FILES
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All Asterisk configuration files share a common format. Comments are
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delimited by `;` (since `#` of course, being a DTMF digit, may occur in
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many places). A configuration file is divided into sections whose names
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appear in `[]`'s. Each section typically contains statements in the form
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`variable = value` although you may see `variable => value` in older samples.
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### SPECIAL NOTE ON TIME
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Those using SIP phones should be aware that Asterisk is sensitive to
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large jumps in time. Manually changing the system time using date(1)
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(or other similar commands) may cause SIP registrations and other
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internal processes to fail. For this reason, you should always use
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a time synchronization package to keep your system time accurate.
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All OS/distributions make one or more of the following packages
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available:
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* ntpd/ntpsec
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* chronyd
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* systemd-timesyncd
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Be sure to install and configure one (and only one) of them.
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### FILE DESCRIPTORS
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Depending on the size of your system and your configuration,
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Asterisk can consume a large number of file descriptors. In UNIX,
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file descriptors are used for more than just files on disk. File
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descriptors are also used for handling network communication
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(e.g. SIP, IAX2, or H.323 calls) and hardware access (e.g. analog and
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digital trunk hardware). Asterisk accesses many on-disk files for
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everything from configuration information to voicemail storage.
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Most systems limit the number of file descriptors that Asterisk can
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have open at one time. This can limit the number of simultaneous
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calls that your system can handle. For example, if the limit is set
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at 1024 (a common default value) Asterisk can handle approximately 150
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SIP calls simultaneously. To change the number of file descriptors
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follow the instructions for your system below:
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#### PAM-BASED LINUX SYSTEM
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If your system uses PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) edit
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`/etc/security/limits.conf`. Add these lines to the bottom of the file:
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```text
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root soft nofile 4096
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root hard nofile 8196
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asterisk soft nofile 4096
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asterisk hard nofile 8196
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```
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(adjust the numbers to taste). You may need to reboot the system for
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these changes to take effect.
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#### GENERIC UNIX SYSTEM
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If there are no instructions specifically adapted to your system
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above you can try adding the command `ulimit -n 8192` to the script
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that starts Asterisk.
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## MORE INFORMATION
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Visit the [Asterisk Documentation](https://docs.asterisk.org) website
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for more documentation on various features and please read all the
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configuration samples that include documentation on the configuration options.
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Finally, you may wish to join the
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[Asterisk Community Forums](https://community.asterisk.org)
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Welcome to the growing worldwide community of Asterisk users!
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```
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Mark Spencer, and the Asterisk.org development community
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```
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---
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Asterisk is a trademark of Sangoma Technologies Corporation
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\[[Sangoma](https://www.sangoma.com/)\]
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\[[Home Page](https://www.asterisk.org)\]
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\[[Support](https://www.asterisk.org/support)\]
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\[[Documentation](https://docs.asterisk.org)\]
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\[[Community Forums](https://community.asterisk.org)\]
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\[[Release Notes](https://github.com/asterisk/asterisk/releases)\]
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\[[Security](https://docs.asterisk.org/Deployment/Important-Security-Considerations/)\]
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\[[Mailing List Archive](https://lists.digium.com)\]
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