Switching to VoIP

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Chapter 17: Asterisk Reference

The Asterisk CLI

Asterisk’s CLI is where you, the administrator, control and monitor the Asterisk

PBX. The Asterisk CLI provides you with real-time information about voice chan-

nels, extensions, contexts, and more. Using the CLI, you can start and stop the

Asterisk server, as described earlier in the chapter. You can do status queries about

the voice channels, place and hang up calls, and add or remove extensions and con-

texts.

If the Asterisk server is already running, you can launch the Asterisk CLI by starting

another instance of Asterisk in client mode:

# asterisk –r

The first command you should probably learn is help, which displays a list of valid

commands or, when used as follows, gives command-specific assistance:

pbx*CLI> help show channels

Notice the pbx*CLI> prompt. This prompt will vary depending on the Unix host-

name of your machine—in this case, it’s

pbx.

Md5secret The MD5 hash of the peer’s SIP username and pass-

word; optional measure designed to make password

transmittal more secure.

—

Musiconhold The default class of music-on-hold to use with calls to

and from this peer.

default

Nat

Allows this peer to be behind a NAT firewall and still

work with Asterisk.

yes; no

Pickupgroup

The number of the pickup group that this SIP channel is

a member of. ...