Asterisk : Basic SOHO environment VoIP PABX configuration

Asterisk is a free telephony software. I’m posting here sample commented configuration files for reference purposes, hoping they will help you get kickstarted if needed.

This config sets up :

  • SIP phones (for softphones or harware phones with SIP capabilities)
  • Voice mails
  • A few test phone numbers
  • Forwarding of calls to a SIP provider for outbound and incoming calls (from/to PSTN)

That should be plenty already for a SOHO environment !

Note to French readers : Si votre FAI est Free, cette configuration fonctionne pour passer / recevoir des appels via le SIP de Free (Freephonie).

SIP configuration

SIP configuration (for softphones / SIP hardware phones, as well as outbound / incoming PSTN calls to/from an SIP-to-PSTN gateway provider) is performed in the /etc/asterisk/sip.conf file.

Here is an example :

# cat sip.conf 
[general]
defaultexpiry=1800
dtmfmode=auto
qualify=yes

register => 09510XXXXX:ProviderPassword@freephonie.net

; selecting CODECs
disallow=all
allow=ulaw
allow=alaw
allow=speex
allow=gsm

language=fr

[freephonie] ; Outbound phone calls SIP configuration
type=friend
host=freephonie.net
username=09510XXXXX
fromuser=09510XXXXX
secret=ProviderPassword
nat=yes
insecure=port,invite
fromdomain=freephonie.net
context=fromfree

[client1] ; Softphone declaration
type=friend
username=client1
secret=Password01
host=dynamic
context=home
nat=yes ; connexion is allowed from NATted networks

[client2] ; 2nd softphone declaration
type=friend
username=client2
secret=Password02
host=dynamic
context=home
nat=yes

Dialplan configuration

Next you’ll need to setup a dialplan so that calls are routed as you wish.

The dialplan is setup in the /etc/asterisk/extensions.conf.

; context for local SIP clients
[home] 
; if 101 is dialed then send it to SIP client1, wait 15 sec for a 
; pick up, then send it to voicemail
exten => 101,1,Dial(SIP/client1,15)
exten => 101,n,Wait(1)
exten => 101,n,VoiceMail(101@voicemails)
exten => 101,n,PlayBack(vm-goodbye)
exten => 101,n,Hangup()

; 201 phone number will lead to the 101 voicemail menu
exten => 201,1,VoiceMailMain(101@voicemails)
exten => 201,n,Hangup()

; same setup for 102 as for 101
exten => 102,1,Dial(SIP/client2,15)
exten => 102,n,Wait(1)
exten => 102,n,VoiceMail(102@voicemails)
exten => 102,n,PlayBack(vm-goodbye)
exten => 102,n,Hangup()

; 202 phone number will lead to the 102 voicemail menu
exten => 202,1,VoiceMailMain(102@voicemails)
exten => 202,n,Hangup()

; outbound calls :
; if dialing a 0 starting phone number, remove the leading 0 and patch it
; through the freephonie link (SIP-to-PSTN gateway service) 
exten => _0.,1,Dial(SIP/freephonie/${EXTEN:1}) 

; misc testing stuff
; when dialing 500, Asterisk will pick up and count 1,2,3 before hanging up
exten => 500,1,Answer
exten => 500,n,Wait(2)
exten => 500,n,SayDigits(123)
exten => 500,n,Hangup

; when dialing 501, Asterisk will pick up and repeat everything you say with
; as less delay as possible. Good to assess line latency.
exten => 501,1,Answer()
exten => 501,n,Playback(welcome)
exten => 501,n,Playback(demo-echotest)
exten => 501,n,Echo()
exten => 501,n,Playback(demo-echodone)
exten => 501,n,Playback(vm-goodbye)
exten => 501,n,Hangup()

[fromfree] ; Context of inbounds call coming from freephonie.net
; rings both client1 and client2 for 10 secs, then send it to congestion.
; congestion is when all the lines are busy.
; in this case freephonie.net will sent it to its voicemail system
exten => s,1,Dial(SIP/client1&SIP/client2,10)
exten => s,2,Congestion()
exten => s,3,Hangup()

Voicemail configuration

Finally, let’s see the voice mailboxes configuration. They are setup in the /etc/asterisk/voicemail.conf.

[voicemails]
; 101 is the voicemailbox number, 1234 is the password, client1 is the matching client,
; and the email address is to whom to send the audiofile. 
101	=>	1234,client1,client1@sakana.fr
102	=>	5678,client2,client2@sakana.fr

4 thoughts on “Asterisk : Basic SOHO environment VoIP PABX configuration”

Comments are closed.