The Zaptel Architecture and PRI Library Overview

• Background of Zaptel - where it came from, what motivated it, etc.
• What Zaptel is and what it does: DTMF/MF generation, Echo Can, Analog/Digital line signaling framework, internationalization - tones, etc, hooks into HDLC, Timing - 1000hz telephony timing - good for mixing audio streams, Conferencing and of course Pulse dialing/detection
• What it doesn't do: support for cards w/ dsps that do things such as DTMF detection, codecs, etc.
• Where it could go: Hooks for DTMF detection hardware hardware..
• A bit about Zaptel Drivers: What kind of hardware can be zaptel hardware? Anything that you can pull an audio stream from. Asterisk/Zaptel does the rest - Ex. USB phone,
• Hooks into framework: Data Tx/Rx, Signal Bits - hookstate information, etc
• What exactly is a PRI? 23 bchannels (voice) and 1 dchannel (data/signalling). Where does libpri fit in? What is Q.921 protocol implementation and the higher Q.931 messaging layer.
• What kinds of switches does it support? NI2, NI1, AT&T 5ESS, 4ESS, DMS100, EuroISDN, GR303 (Not quite PRI, but similar in signalling), Q.SIG - PRI on steroids
• What direction is it taking? Supplementary Services - Q.SIG features, Two B-channel Transfer (passing a locally bridged call back into the network)m Calling name over facility IE, Advice of Charge - CDR support(?) (Cost of call data)m Call Diversion Metadata (redirecting name, number, reason, originally called name, number, etc), Message Waiting Indication (Yep, there's a version for PRI too :-) )
• What's the Next Step for Zaptel and LibPRI? There is a LOT of call related information that is passed over facility IEs in Q.SIG and other protocols. Support for these routines would give libpri better grounds

Other ideas to be further developed if time permits:
Zaptel/libpri/chan_zap profiling and performance testing (How many SETUPs per second, etc )

Matthew Fredrickson, Digium

Beyond extensions.conf:
Extending Asterisk with AGI and AMI

This tutorial is targeted at advanced asterisk users and consist of describing the AGI interface to Asterisk as well as the AMI interface. The AGI is used to extend the dial plan with your own scripting logic in almost any programming or scripting language, locally or on another machine in the network. The AMI is the Asterisk Management Interface that is used to manage your Asterisk server, but also for interfacing with third party systems, like contact center platforms..

• I. Introduction to AGI
  • Existing Methods for Using Extenstions.conf
  • Where AGI fits in
• II. Overview of AGI
  • The AGI "Protocol"
  • AGI Basics
  • AGI APIs in C, C++, PHP, and Perl
• III. Special Uses for AGI (in Python)
  • AGI in Python
  • AGI to Access a Database
  • AGI to Collect Information
• IV. Conclusion
  • Short Review
  • Other Possible Uses of AGI
  • Questions from Audience

Matthew A. Nicholson, Digium

Matthew A. Nicholson is from Villa Rica, Georgia and is currently attending Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama studing Computer Science. Matt works as a Support Technician and Software Developer at Digium.

So you want to be an Asterisk developer?

An introduction to development with Asterisk

• The overall code architecture
• What is a channel anyway - how Asterisk handle calls
• Channels basics- the interface
• Applications, functions, resources and features
• The ARA - Realtime Architecture
• AOM - The Asterisk Object Model
• Programmer documentation with doxygen
• The code guidelines
• The Asterisk CVS and branches
• The bug tracker

Kevin P Fleming, Senior Software Engineer, Digium

Kevin Fleming is a Senior Software Engineer at Digium, Inc., the primary developer of Asterisk. His responsibilities include managing Digium's interaction with the Asterisk development community and providing direction for Asterisk's future.

So you want to be an Asterisk developer - part 2