1 		asterisk 	(8) 		asterisk 	(8)
2
6 asterisk - All-purpose telephony server.
7
9 asterisk [-BcdfFghiImnpqRtTvVW] [-C file] [-e memory] [-G group] [-L
10 loadaverage] [-M value] [-U user] [-s socket-file] [-x
11 command]
12 asterisk -r [-v] [-x command]
13
15 asterisk is a full-featured telephony server which provides Private
16 Branch eXchange (PBX), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Automated Call
17 Distribution (ACD), Voice over IP (VoIP) gatewaying, Conferencing, and
18 a plethora of other telephony applications to a broad range of telepho‐
19 ny devices including packet voice (SIP, IAX2, MGCP, Skinny, H.323,
20 Unistim) devices (both endpoints and proxies), as well as traditional
21 TDM hardware including T1, E1, ISDN PRI, GR-303, RBS, Loopstart,
22 Groundstart, ISDN BRI and many more.
23 At start, Asterisk reads the /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf main configu‐
25 ration file and locates the rest of the configuration files from the
26 configuration in that file. The -C option specifies an alternate main
27 configuration file. Virtually all aspects of the operation of aster‐
28 isk's configuration files can be found in the sample configuration
29 files. The format for those files is generally beyond the scope of this
30 man page.
31 When running with -c, -r or -R options, Asterisk supplies a powerful
33 command line, including command completion, which may be used to moni‐
34 tors its status, perform a variety of administrative actions and even
35 explore the applications that are currently loaded into the system.
36 Asterisk is a trademark of Digium, Inc.
38
40 -B Force the background of the terminal to be black, in order for
41 terminal colors to show up properly.
42 -C file
44 Use file as master configuration file instead of the default,
45 /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf
46 -c Provide a control console on the calling terminal. Specifying
48 this option implies -f and will cause asterisk to no longer fork
49 or detach from the controlling terminal.
50 -d Enable extra debugging statements.
52 Note: This always sets the debug level in the asterisk process,
54 even if it is running in the background. This may affect the
55 size of your log files, if the debug level is specified in log‐
56 ger.conf.
57 -e memory
59 Limit the generation of new channels when the amount of free
60 memory has decreased to under memory megabytes.
61 -f Do not fork or detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any
63 preceding specification of -F on the command line.
64 -F Always fork and detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any
66 preceding specification of -f on the command line.
67 -g Remove resource limit on core size, thus forcing Asterisk to
69 dump core in the unlikely event of a segmentation fault or abort
70 signal. NOTE: in some cases this may be incompatible with the
71 -U or -G flags.
72 -G group
74 Run as group group instead of the calling group. NOTE: this re‐
75 quires substantial work to be sure that Asterisk's environment
76 has permission to write the files required for its operation,
77 including logs, its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.
78 -h Provide brief summary of command line arguments and terminate.
80 -i Prompt user to intialize any encrypted private keys for IAX2 se‐
82 cure authentication during startup.
83 -I Enable internal timing if DAHDI timing is available. The de‐
85 fault behaviour is that outbound packets are phase locked to in‐
86 bound packets. Enabling this switch causes them to be locked to
87 the internal DAHDI timer instead.
88 -L loadaverage
90 Limits the maximum load average before rejecting new calls. This
91 can be useful to prevent a system from being brought down by
92 terminating too many simultaneous calls.
93 -m Temporarily mutes output to the console and logs. To return to
95 normal, use logger mute.
96 -M value
98 Limits the maximum number of calls to the specified value. This
99 can be useful to prevent a system from being brought down by
100 terminating too many simultaneous calls.
101 -n Disable ANSI colors even on terminals capable of displaying
103 them.
104 -p If supported by the operating system (and executing as root),
106 attempt to run with realtime priority for increased performance
107 and responsiveness within the Asterisk process, at the expense
108 of other programs running on the same machine.
109 Note: astcanary will run concurrently with asterisk. If astca‐
111 nary stops running or is killed, asterisk will slow down to nor‐
112 mal process priority, to avoid locking up the machine.
113 -q Reduce default console output when running in conjunction with
115 console mode (-c).
116 -r Instead of running a new Asterisk process, attempt to connect to
118 a running Asterisk process and provide a console interface for
119 controlling it.
120 -R Much like -r. Instead of running a new Asterisk process, attempt
122 to connect to a running Asterisk process and provide a console
123 interface for controlling it. Additionally, if connection to the
124 Asterisk process is lost, attempt to reconnect for as long as 30
125 seconds.
126 -s socket file name
128 In combination with -r, connect directly to a specified Asterisk
129 server socket.
130 -t When recording files, write them first into a temporary holding
132 directory, then move them into the final location when done.
133 -T Add timestamp to all non-command related output going to the
135 console when running with verbose and/or logging to the console.
136 -U user
138 Run as user user instead of the calling user. NOTE: this re‐
139 quires substantial work to be sure that Asterisk's environment
140 has permission to write the files required for its operation,
141 including logs, its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.
142 -v Increase the level of verboseness on the console. The more times
144 -v is specified, the more verbose the output is. Specifying
145 this option implies -f and will cause asterisk to no longer fork
146 or detach from the controlling terminal. This option may also
147 be used in conjunction with -r and -R.
148 Note: This always sets the verbose level in the asterisk
150 process, even if it is running in the background. This will af‐
151 fect the size of your log files.
152 -V Display version information and exit immediately.
154 -W Display colored terminal text as if the background were white or
156 otherwise light in color. Normally, terminal text is displayed
157 as if the background were black or otherwise dark in color.
158 -x command
160 Connect to a running Asterisk process and execute a command on a
161 command line, passing any output through to standard out and
162 then terminating when the command execution completes. Implies
163 -r when -R is not explicitly supplied.
164
166 asterisk - Begin Asterisk as a daemon
167 asterisk -vvvgc - Run on controlling terminal
169 asterisk -rx "core show channels" - Display channels on running server
171
173 Bug reports and feature requests may be filed at https://issues.aster‐
174 isk.org
175
177 *CLI> help - Help on Asterisk CLI
178 *CLI> core show applications - Show loaded dialplan applications
180 *CLI> core show functions - Show loaded dialplan functions
182 *CLI> dialplan show - Show current dialplan
184 http://www.asterisk.org - The Asterisk Home Page
186 http://www.asteriskdocs.org - The Asterisk Documentation Project
188 http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk - The Asterisk Wiki
190 http://www.digium.com/ - Asterisk sponsor and hardware supplier
192
194 Mark Spencer <markster@digium.com>
195 Countless other contributors, see CREDITS with distribution for more
197 information.
198asterisk 1.6 2010-08-03 		asterisk 	(8)