Book Details

Language English; See also: Portuguese Spanish Italian
Paperback 180 pages [135mm x 191mm]
Release date September 2005
ISBN 1904811159
Author(s) David Gomillion, Barrie Dempster
Topics and Technologies Networking & Telephony, Open Source, Linux Servers

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This book shows how to build a telephony system for your home or business using the free and open source application, Asterisk. 'Building a Telephony System with Asterisk' takes you step-by-step through the process of installing and configuring Asterisk. It shows you how to make a deployment plan, and how to create a dial plan.

The book also presents example configurations for using Asterisk in three different scenarios: for small and home offices, small businesses, and Hosted PBX.

With an engaging style and excellent way of presenting information, this book makes a complicated subject very easy to understand.

Read Chapter 2: Making a Plan for Deployment [164KB]

In Detail

Asterisk is a powerful and flexible open source framework for building feature-rich telephony systems. As a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) which connects one or more telephones, and usually connects to one or more telephone lines, Asterisk offers very advanced features, including station-to-station calls, line trunking, call distribution, call detail rerecords, and call recording.
Asterisk can be used to provide Interactive Voice Response (IVR). The power and flexibility of a programmable phone system gives us the ability to respond to our customers in meaningful ways.

Asterisk has also a fully-functional voicemail system included. It supports voicemail contexts so that multiple organizations can be hosted from the same server.  It supports different time zones so that users can track when their phone calls come in.  It even provides the option to notify the recipient of new messages via email.  In fact, we can even attach the message in audio!

Finally, Asterisk is a Voice Over IP (VoIP) system. The benefits of VoIP are numerous. For instance, we can have multiple users using the same Asterisk service from a variety of locations; we can have users in the local office using PSTN phones or IP phones; we can have remote VoIP users; we can even have entire Asterisk systems operated and run completely separately but with integrated routing; We can have an extension anywhere we have a reasonably fast Internet connection, which means employees can have an extension on the phone system at home if they have a broadband connection. The benefits are too many to list.

Flexibility often means complexity, and this is true in the case of Asterisk. This book is all you need to understand and use Asterisk to build the telephony system that meets your need. You will learn how to use the many features that Asterisk provides you with.

Read the full Table Of Contents for Building Telephony Systems with Asterisk

What you will learn from this book

This book takes you from installing and configuring Asterisk to using its various advanced features�, helping you build feature-rich telephony systems. With this book, you will learn how to:

• Install, configure, and deploy Asterisk
• Create a dialplan that suits your needs
• Build a fully-featured telephony system
• Monitor, record, and log calls
• Install and use Asterisk@Home
• Backup, secure, and maintain Asterisk
• Use example configurations for different requirements

Who this book is written for

This book is aimed at anyone who is interested in building a powerful telephony system using the free and open source application, Asterisk, without spending many thousands of dollars buying a commercial and often less flexible system.

This book is suitable for the novice and those new to Asterisk and telephony. Telephony or Linux experience will be helpful, but not required.

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Author(s)David Gomillion
David Gomillion currently serves as Director of Information Technology for the Eye Center of North Florida. There, he orchestrates all of the technological undertakings of this four-location medical practice, including computers, software (off-the-shelf and custom development), server systems, telephony, networking, as well as specialized diagnostic and treatment systems. David received a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science from Brigham Young University in August, 2005. There he learned the theory behind his computer experience, and became a much more efficient programmer. David has worked actively in the Information Technology sector since his freshman year at BYU. He has been a Networking Assistant, an Assistant Network Administrator, a Supervisor of a large Network and Server Operations unit, a Network Administrator, and finally a Director of Information Technology. Through his increasing responsibilities, he has learned to prioritize needs and wants, and applies this ability to his Asterisk installations.
Barrie Dempster
Barrie Dempster is currently employed as a Senior Security Consultant for NGS Software Ltd a world-renowned security consultancy well known for their focus in enterprise-level application vulnerability research and database security. He has a background in Infrastructure and Information Security in a number of specialised environments such as financial services institutions, telecommunications companies, call centres, and other organisations across multiple continents. Barrie has experience in the integration of network infrastructure and telecommunications systems requiring high calibre secure design, testing and management. He has been involved in a variety of projects from the design and implementation of Internet banking systems to large-scale conferencing and telephony infrastructure, as well as penetration testing and other security assessments of business critical infrastructure.