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NAME

       asterisk - All-purpose telephony server.

SYNOPSIS

       asterisk [ -tThfdvVqpRgciIn ] [ -C file ] [ -U user ] [ -G group ] [ -x
       command ] [ -M value ]

       asterisk -r [ -v ] [ -x command ] [ -s socket ]

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,  MGCP,  Skinny,
       H.323) devices (both endpoints and proxies), as well as traditional TDM
       hardware  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  completion,  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

       -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.   Specifying
              this option implies -f and will cause asterisk to no longer fork
              or detach from the controlling terminal.

       -d     Enable extra debugging statements.

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

       -f     Do not fork or detach from controlling terminal.

       -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,
              including logs, its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.

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

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

       -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     Disable log and verbose output to remote (-r) consoles.

       -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.

       -p     If supported by the operating system (and  executing  as  root),
              attempt  to run with realtime priority for increased performance
              and responsiveness within the Asterisk process, at  the  expense
              of other programs running on the same 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 Asterisk process is lost, attempt to reconnect
              for as long as 30 seconds.

       -s socket
              Allows to specify the socket file to be used to connect  to  the
              Asterisk console. Used in conjunction with -r or -R.

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

       -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  detach  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     Change the terminal colors to compensate for a light background,
              rather than a dark background, as is the default.

       -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.

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 http://bugs.digium.com

SEE ALSO

       *CLI> help - Help on Asterisk CLI

       *CLI> core show applications - Show loaded dialplan applications

       *CLI> core show functions - Show loaded dialplan functions

       *CLI> dialplan show - Show current dialplan

       http://www.asterisk.org - The Asterisk Home Page

       http://www.asteriskdocs.org - The Asterisk Documentation Project

       http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk - The Asterisk Wiki

       http://www.digium.com/ - Asterisk sponsor and hardware supplier

       http://www.markocam.com/ - Asterisk author’s web cam

AUTHOR

       Mark Spencer <markster@digium.com>

       Countless  other  contributors,  see CREDITS with distribution for more
       information