Ubuntu Manpage: asterisk - All-purpose telephony server.

Provided by: asterisk_22.4.1~dfsg+~cs6.15.60671435-2_amd64

NAME

       asterisk - All-purpose telephony server.

SYNOPSIS

       asterisk [-BcdfFghiImnpqRtTvVW] [-C file] [-e memory] [-G group] [-L loadaverage] [-M value] [-U user]
                [-s socket-file]
                asterisk -r [-v] [-d] [-x command]
                asterisk -R [-v] [-d] [-x command]

DESCRIPTION

       asterisk  is  a  full-featured telephony server which provides Private Branch eXchange (PBX), Interactive
       Voice Response (IVR), Automated Call Distribution (ACD), Voice over IP (VoIP)  gatewaying,  Conferencing,
       and  a  plethora  of  other telephony applications to a broad range of telephony devices including packet
       voice (SIP, IAX2, H.323, Unistim) devices (both endpoints and proxies), as well as traditional TDM  hard‐
       ware including T1, E1, ISDN PRI, GR-303, RBS, Loopstart, Groundstart, ISDN BRI and many more.

       At  start, Asterisk reads the /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf main configuration file and locates the rest of
       the configuration files from the configuration in that file. The -C option specifies  an  alternate  main
       configuration  file.   Virtually  all  aspects  of the operation of asterisk's configuration files can be
       found in the sample configuration files. The format for those files is generally beyond the scope of this
       man page.

       When running with -c, -r or -R options, Asterisk supplies a powerful command line, including command com‐
       pletion, which may be used to monitors its status, perform a variety of administrative actions  and  even
       explore the applications that are currently loaded into the system.

       Asterisk is a trademark of Digium, Inc.

OPTIONS

Running Asterisk starts the asterisk daemon (optionally running it in the foreground). However running it
with -r or -R connects to an existing Asterisk instance through a remote console.

-B Force the background of the terminal to be black, in order for terminal colors to show up proper‐
ly. Equivalent to forceblackbackground = yes in asterisk.conf. See also -n and -W.

-C file
Use file as master configuration file instead of the default, /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf

-c Provide a control console on the calling terminal. The console is similar to the remote console
provided by -r. Specifying this option implies -f and will cause asterisk to no longer fork or de‐
tach from the controlling terminal. Equivalent to console = yes in asterisk.conf.

-d Enable extra debugging statements. This parameter may be used several times, and each increases
the debug level. Equivalent to debug = num in asterisk.conf to explicitly set the initian debug
level to num. When given at startup, this option also implies -f (no forking). However when con‐
necting to an existing Asterisk instance (-r or -R), it may only increase the debug level.

-e memory
Limit the generation of new channels when the amount of free memory has decreased to under memory
megabytes. Equivalent to minmemfree = memory in asterisk.conf.

-f Do not fork or detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any preceding specification of -F on
the command line. Equivalent to nofork = yes in asterisk.conf. See also -c.

-F Always fork and detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any preceding specification of -f on
the command line. May also be used to prevent -d and -v to imply no forking. Equivalent to al‐
waysfork = yes in asterisk.conf.

-g Remove resource limit on core size, thus forcing Asterisk to dump core in the unlikely event of a
segmentation fault or abort signal. NOTE: in some cases this may be incompatible with the -U or
-G flags.

-G group
Run as group group instead of the calling group. NOTE: this requires substantial work to be sure
that Asterisk's environment has permission to write the files required for its operation, includ‐
ing logs, its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.

-h Provide brief summary of command line arguments and terminate.

-i Prompt user to intialize any encrypted private keys for IAX2 secure authentication during startup.

-I Enable internal timing if DAHDI timing is available. The default behaviour is that outbound pack‐
ets are phase locked to inbound packets. Enabling this switch causes them to be locked to the in‐
ternal DAHDI timer instead.

-L loadaverage
Limits the maximum load average before rejecting new calls. This can be useful to prevent a system
from being brought down by terminating too many simultaneous calls.

-m Temporarily mutes output to the console and logs. To return to normal, use logger mute.

-M value
Limits the maximum number of calls to the specified value. This can be useful to prevent a system
from being brought down by terminating too many simultaneous calls.

-n Disable ANSI colors even on terminals capable of displaying them. This option can be used only at
startup (e.g. not with remote console).

-p If supported by the operating system (and executing as root), attempt to run with realtime priori‐
ty for increased performance and responsiveness within the Asterisk process, at the expense of
other programs running on the same machine.

Note: astcanary will run concurrently with asterisk. If astcanary stops running or is killed, as‐
terisk will slow down to normal process priority, to avoid locking up the machine.

-q Reduce default console output when running in conjunction with console mode (-c).

-r Instead of running a new Asterisk process, attempt to connect to a running Asterisk process and
provide a console interface for controlling it.

-R Much like -r. Instead of running a new Asterisk process, attempt to connect to a running Asterisk
process and provide a console interface for controlling it. Additionally, if connection to the As‐
terisk process is lost, attempt to reconnect for as long as 30 seconds.

-s socket file name
In combination with -r, connect directly to a specified Asterisk server socket.

-t When recording files, write them first into a temporary holding directory, then move them into the
final location when done.

-T Add timestamp to all non-command related output going to the console when running with verbose
and/or logging to the console.

-U user
Run as user user instead of the calling user. NOTE: this requires substantial work to be sure that
Asterisk's environment has permission to write the files required for its operation, including
logs, its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.

-v Increase the level of verboseness on the console. The more times -v is specified, the more verbose
the output is. Specifying this option implies -f and will cause asterisk to no longer fork or de‐
tach from the controlling terminal. This option may also be used in conjunction with -r and -R.

Note: This always sets the verbose level in the asterisk process, even if it is running in the
background. This will affect the size of your log files.

-V Display version information and exit immediately.

-W Display colored terminal text as if the background were white or otherwise light in color. Normal‐
ly, terminal text is displayed as if the background were black or otherwise dark in color.

-x command
Connect to a running Asterisk process and execute a command on a command line, passing any output
through to standard out and then terminating when the command execution completes. Implies -r when
-R is not explicitly supplied.

-X Enables executing of includes via #exec directive inside asterisk.conf.

EXAMPLES

       asterisk - Begin Asterisk as a daemon

       asterisk -vvvgc - Run on controlling terminal

       asterisk -rx "core show channels" - Display channels on running server

BUGS

       Bug reports and feature requests may be filed at https://github.com/asterisk/asterisk/issues/

AUTHOR

       Mark Spencer <markster@digium.com>

       Countless other contributors, see CREDITS with distribution for more information.

asterisk Trunk                                     2011-02-08                                       asterisk (8)