High Availability and Failover options for SIP and Asterisk

Overview What’s the disaster we are trying to avoid? The assumed scenario is this: Some kind of centralised VoIP service is being offered to a number of users; the service operates on servers located at a data centre or office and the users each have a SIP client device, such as an IP phone, that … Read more


Configuring IP phones as Asterisk PBX extensions

A first look at the SIP.CONF file It is assumed here that your IP phones all use the SIP protocol to register, make and receive calls. Before an IP phone can connect to Asterisk and operate as an extension, it is necessary to configure user account details on the Asterisk server. The configuration file of … Read more


What is NAT?

What is NAT? NAT stands for Network Address Translation. Many devices sold as Firewalls or Routers are actually combined Firewall, Router and NAT device in one box. NAT is the mechanism that allows you to have many PC’s on your LAN all connected to the Internet through a single external IP address. When one of … Read more


Configuring and Using SIP Domains in Asterisk

What are SIP Domains? SIP requests delivered to a Proxy server or other SIP device must contain details of valid destinations and end-points that are to be reached or which are to receive responses. The address of a SIP device is generally referred to as its URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) – it has to uniquely … Read more


Asterisk SLA (Shared Line Appearances) – Part 4

Link to part 3 What is good and what is bad about the Asterisk implementation of SLA? Benefits of Asterisk Shared Line Appearances Replacement of legacy systems: The main reason for wanting to configure Shared Line Appearances in Asterisk is because the Asterisk system is replacing a traditional key and lamp telephone system. However, this … Read more


Asterisk SLA (Shared Line Appearances) – Part 3

Link to part 2 EXTENSIONS.CONF: Setting the Hints used by SLA The SIP SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY mechanism – what it is and how it works The SIP protocol includes a standardised mechanism to allow any SIP client (an IP phone being an example of a SIP client) to monitor the state of another device. Details are provided … Read more


Asterisk SLA (Shared Line Appearances) – Part 2

Link to part 1 About the examples and conf file samples used in this article The following sections will guide you through the setup of a small Asterisk system using shared line appearances. Each step is explained to show how it works. The dial plan examples will start with a fairly simple configuration and we … Read more


Asterisk SLA (Shared Line Appearances) – Part 1

Terminology and SLA Concepts Terminology We have attempted to use the correct terminology (as recognised throughout the telephony industry) within the explanations on this web page. However, as it is so important to be clear about the meaning of the terminology used here, it seemed like a good idea to set it out explicitly at … Read more