Ubuntu Manpage: asterisk - All-purpose telephony server.

Provided by: asterisk_11.7.0~dfsg-1ubuntu1_amd64

NAME

       asterisk - All-purpose telephony server.

SYNOPSIS

       asterisk [-BcdfFghiImnpqRtTvVW] [-C file] [-e memory] [-G group] [-L loadaverage] [-M
                value] [-U user] [-s socket-file]
                asterisk -r [-v] [-d] [-x command]
                asterisk -R [-v] [-d] [-x command]

DESCRIPTION

       asterisk is a full-featured telephony server which provides Private Branch eXchange (PBX),
       Interactive  Voice Response (IVR), Automated Call Distribution (ACD), Voice over IP (VoIP)
       gatewaying, Conferencing, and a plethora of other telephony applications to a broad  range
       of  telephony  devices  including  packet  voice (SIP, IAX2, MGCP, Skinny, H.323, Unistim)
       devices (both endpoints and proxies), as well as traditional TDM  hardware  including  T1,
       E1, ISDN PRI, GR-303, RBS, Loopstart, Groundstart, ISDN BRI and many more.

       At  start,  Asterisk  reads  the  /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf  main configuration file and
       locates the rest of the configuration files from the configuration in that  file.  The  -C
       option  specifies  an  alternate  main  configuration  file.  Virtually all aspects of the
       operation of asterisk's configuration files can  be  found  in  the  sample  configuration
       files. The format for those files is generally beyond the scope of this man page.

       When  running  with  -c,  -r  or  -R  options,  Asterisk supplies a powerful command line,
       including command completion, which may be used to monitors its status, perform a  variety
       of administrative actions and even explore the applications that are currently loaded into
       the system.

       Asterisk is a trademark of Digium, Inc.

OPTIONS

Running Asterisk starts the asterisk daemon (optionally running it in the foreground).
However running it with -r or -R connects to an existing Asterisk instance through a
remote console.

-B Force the background of the terminal to be black, in order for terminal colors to
show up properly. Equivalent to forceblackbackground = yes in asterisk.conf. See
also -n and -W.

-C file
Use file as master configuration file instead of the default,
/etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf

-c Provide a control console on the calling terminal. The console is similar to the
remote console provided by -r. Specifying this option implies -f and will cause
asterisk to no longer fork or detach from the controlling terminal. Equivalent to
console = yes in asterisk.conf.

-d Enable extra debugging statements. This parameter may be used several times, and
each increases the debug level. Equivalent to debug = num in asterisk.conf to
explicitly set the initian debug level to num. When given at startup, this option
also implies -f (no forking). However when connecting to an existing Asterisk
instance (-r or -R), it may only increase the debug level.

-e memory
Limit the generation of new channels when the amount of free memory has decreased
to under memory megabytes. Equivalent to minmemfree = memory in asterisk.conf.

-f Do not fork or detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any preceding
specification of -F on the command line. Equivalent to nofork = yes in
asterisk.conf. See also -c.

-F Always fork and detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any preceding
specification of -f on the command line. May also be used to prevent -d and -v to
imply no forking. Equivalent to alwaysfork = yes in asterisk.conf.

-g Remove resource limit on core size, thus forcing Asterisk to dump core in the
unlikely event of a segmentation fault or abort signal. NOTE: in some cases this
may be incompatible with the -U or -G flags.

-G group
Run as group group instead of the calling group. NOTE: this requires substantial
work to be sure that Asterisk's environment has permission to write the files
required for its operation, including logs, its comm socket, the asterisk database,
etc.

-h Provide brief summary of command line arguments and terminate.

-i Prompt user to intialize any encrypted private keys for IAX2 secure authentication
during startup.

-I Enable internal timing if DAHDI timing is available. The default behaviour is that
outbound packets are phase locked to inbound packets. Enabling this switch causes
them to be locked to the internal DAHDI timer instead.

-L loadaverage
Limits the maximum load average before rejecting new calls. This can be useful to
prevent a system from being brought down by terminating too many simultaneous
calls.

-m Temporarily mutes output to the console and logs. To return to normal, use logger
mute.

-M value
Limits the maximum number of calls to the specified value. This can be useful to
prevent a system from being brought down by terminating too many simultaneous
calls.

-n Disable ANSI colors even on terminals capable of displaying them.

-p If supported by the operating system (and executing as root), attempt to run with
realtime priority for increased performance and responsiveness within the Asterisk
process, at the expense of other programs running on the same machine.

Note: astcanary will run concurrently with asterisk. If astcanary stops running or
is killed, asterisk will slow down to normal process priority, to avoid locking up
the machine.

-q Reduce default console output when running in conjunction with console mode (-c).

-r Instead of running a new Asterisk process, attempt to connect to a running Asterisk
process and provide a console interface for controlling it.

-R Much like -r. Instead of running a new Asterisk process, attempt to connect to a
running Asterisk process and provide a console interface for controlling it.
Additionally, if connection to the Asterisk process is lost, attempt to reconnect
for as long as 30 seconds.

-s socket file name
In combination with -r, connect directly to a specified Asterisk server socket.

-t When recording files, write them first into a temporary holding directory, then
move them into the final location when done.

-T Add timestamp to all non-command related output going to the console when running
with verbose and/or logging to the console.

-U user
Run as user user instead of the calling user. NOTE: this requires substantial work
to be sure that Asterisk's environment has permission to write the files required
for its operation, including logs, its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.

-v Increase the level of verboseness on the console. The more times -v is specified,
the more verbose the output is. Specifying this option implies -f and will cause
asterisk to no longer fork or detach from the controlling terminal. This option
may also be used in conjunction with -r and -R.

Note: This always sets the verbose level in the asterisk process, even if it is
running in the background. This will affect the size of your log files.

-V Display version information and exit immediately.

-W Display colored terminal text as if the background were white or otherwise light in
color. Normally, terminal text is displayed as if the background were black or
otherwise dark in color.

-x command
Connect to a running Asterisk process and execute a command on a command line,
passing any output through to standard out and then terminating when the command
execution completes. Implies -r when -R is not explicitly supplied.

-X Enables executing of includes via #exec directive. This can be useful if You want
to do #exec inside asterisk.conf

EXAMPLES

       asterisk - Begin Asterisk as a daemon

       asterisk -vvvgc - Run on controlling terminal

       asterisk -rx "core show channels" - Display channels on running server

BUGS

       Bug reports and feature requests may be filed at https://issues.asterisk.org

AUTHOR

       Mark Spencer <markster@digium.com>

       Countless other contributors, see CREDITS with distribution for more information.