Newbie Questions

Asterisk Asterisk Support
1

My client wants to have a phone number whereby his clients (who ordered prints from his store) can call the number, enter their order id and hear what the status of that order is. The status is of course stored in our MySQL DB. The statuses we will record as sound files, as they are multilingual.

It seems from my research, that this is what we need:

  1. Purchase hardware–the PC can be a simple one–any modern machine will do. The card issue I must clarify still. It seems I either need “real” card which can be had for no less than $500 (new): store.digium.com/productview.php … de=1X100MF

  2. Install Linux and Asterisk on the machine

  3. Develop a small PHP script to receive the information from the caller and return to him the correct sound file, using AGI, as described here: astbook.asteriskdocs.org/en/2nd_ … risk-CHP-9

Would this be essentially correct?

If so, then would it also be correct that it’s probably about a 4 hour job for a complete newie (such as myself) to setup and configure this Asterisk?

Thank you.

2

Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself
Isn’t it a tote here? :wink:

My assumption: one week minimum :smiley:

3

Do you think FredJones is pulling our leg a bit?

4

Not sure why you’re both so negative. My post was not a joke and I see no reason why this technology should take a week to setup. A colleague of mine with experience with Asterisk told me now that 8 hours is more likely than 4, but a week seems quite silly.

I hope the rest of this forum isn’t this unpleasant–this same question elicited quite intelligent and useful responses on another forum.

5

1 week is safe bet.
Of course - if you are newbie - you can do something for 4 hours.
I think you can start with:
downloads.oreilly.com/books/9780596510480.pdf
First 4 hours are “ready” :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

6

I suppose 16 hours as minimum

  • 8 hours to install and configure a minimum asterisk
  • and the rest to programme and test the solution.
7

Sorry, FredJones.
I’ll be really happy to know, that you had success, for example, in two-three days.

8

I apologize; when you listed all the requirements and then said 4 hours, I thought you were joking. It will take you 4 hours just to learn how to script a dial plan properly.

9

Thank you everyone for the replies (and apologies). Seems it is indeed complicated, but certainly not impossible for a newbie. Perhaps however I will post in the Jobs forum for assistance with this.

Thank you.

10

It is not complicated, but there are time consuming things like:
Installation of asterisk - I did it many times, and every time there is something to spent time - mainly dependencies.
Proper text to voice. There are free there are nonfree converters with better quality.
Connection with DB - very simple but if you know logic well.
AGI scripts - again dependencies, modules etc. - simple but time consuming.
Access point - either Digium card or SIP account - again time.
And tests and fine tuning - what will happen if client enter wrong number, or somebody else number? Do you plane to couple clients callerID with clients order? What will happen when some client type 1234 and asterisk receive 22334 (missing digits and duplicated digits) - this is possible and is not issue of script but problem between providers, handset etc…
These are few simple potential issues and I am sure - there could be more.

If you know DB well, if you install Asterisk while doing some other job, if you discard serious tests - yes something could be done for 8 hours.

11

Installation of asterisk - I did it many times, and every time there is something to spent time - mainly dependencies.

I presume that with Debian Stable it should be easy to install, but configuring it could be work.

Proper text to voice. There are free there are nonfree converters with better quality.

This we don’t need–we want to record all sounds and just deliver sound files to the callers.

Connection with DB - very simple but if you know logic well.

PHP coding is my profession. These two lines of code are already written. :smile:

AGI scripts - again dependencies, modules etc. - simple but time consuming.

This I am not 100% clear yet how it works so yes, there may be something here.

Access point - either Digium card or SIP account - again time.

Yes, Digium (or similar) card I figured would be a bit of time.

And tests and fine tuning

Right, this is additional work, IMO. There are lots of things we could add, beyond even what you mentioned, but that is all PHP logic and that would be stage II. With that part, I don’t need assistance. :smile:

How to maintain state with Asterisk I haven’t yet figured out, but there must be a way for that also.

If you know DB well, if you install Asterisk while doing some other job, if you discard serious tests - yes something could be done for 8 hours.

Excellent–that is indeed what I had thought. Thank you.

12

If you have experience with PHP - then problems with AGI dependencies will not disturb you too much - you need to install something like:
voip-info.org/wiki/view/Asterisk+AGI+php
and then see how to use it.
You will need php cli

13

Thank you so much–I found that page already and I thought it was nothing more complex than CLI. Good to hear confirmation however! :smile:

Thanks.