Notes regarding Asterisk and app_rpt

I started by thinking I would use Ubuntu, because I am so familiar with it, and load packages from apt-get. There were indications online that the Ubuntu packages would not result in a working phone system, that it would be better to compile from scratch. But I did have great success with Ubuntu 13.04 and establishing a basic PBX with voicemail in less than an hour. Pretty good for never having done one before.

The problem came in obtaining the app_rpt code. It is not included in anypart of the Ubuntu repository that I could see, and I didn’t find it in Debian either. I found the source in several places on Al Gore’s Interweb, but all are various versions that associate with various versions of Asterisk. I quickly found myself wrapped in clouds of discussion regarding security problems and such. But I’m figuring out that doing this will involve security concerns no matter what.

In the end I decided to take a shortcut, for now, and wanted to download a distribution that was specific to the task. I found that there are three:

  • XIPAR
    • CentOS Linux.
    • Includes app_rpt.
    • Configuration of Asterisk via FreePBX.
  • ACID
    • CentOS Linux.
    • Includes app_rpt.
    • Configuration of Asterisk via text configuration files (classic Unix style).
  • Limey Linux
    • Just like ACID but designed for very high reliability.
    • Only works on certain hardware.

Since I don’t have the hardware that Limey requires, I didn’t mess with that. It seems to be for advanced users and I’m just getting my feet wet here.

My first attempt was with XIPAR and the installation was a breeze. There’s not much to say about it, and that’s saying something. Upon installation I had a working CentOS system with Asterisk installed. It also has Webmin installed which can make remote administration of a Linux system a little easier. I don’t use that a lot but it is handy to have. Configuration of Asterisk on XIPAR is done with FreePBX, a GUI you use with your web browser. While GUI’s are nice for a lot of things, I quickly found myself restricted in what I could do. Or at least it felt that way. Some of the terms that the GUI uses did not seem to be in line with what Asterisk uses. For someone learning Asterisk, especially someone use to the power and control offered by text based configuration files, FreePBX feels unnatural. If you attempt to work with the configuration files directly you find that FreePBX has moved some of them and will often scramble or overwrite anything you do there.

With that in mind I downloaded ACID and installed it on the server. Like XIPAR, the installation was so unremarkable that it’s remarkable. With minimal effort I once again had a CentOS Linux system with Asterisk installed. While I believe you can use ACID as a stand-alone system, it is intended to configure your system to become part of the All Star Link network. I wasn’t prepared to do that on installation so I opted out of those steps initially. I manually installed Webmin on the system. Within minutes I had both hard and soft SIP phones working with the system as a classic and simple PBX with voicemail.
To be continued