asterisk users - Mar 2005 - call center: agents, queues, sip

Hi,
 
I am doing some tests with Asterisk's ACD capability, and as far as I
could go I have realized that each agent defined in agents.conf must
keep a session (call) open with Asterisk in order to be considered
online. When a user calls, the agent receives a beep notification in his
softphone and he answers to the pending call in the open channel and
after the call ends he remains on the open channel.
 
My question is about the session that remains open between each agent
and *... Does it maintain an RTP session open? Could several agents
(with open channels) overload the network? What messages are sent
between an open (but on hold) channel and *? 
 
Why does the agent has to be always "connect"? Is there a way to close
the connection and have * to call the correct agent when a call arrives?
 
Thank you!
Dov
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20050328/4c13cae8/attachment.htm

MessageIf you use AgentCallBack  * doesn't keep the call up.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: dovb 
  To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com 
  Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 8:50 PM
  Subject: [Asterisk-Users] call center: agents, queues, sip


  Hi,

  I am doing some tests with Asterisk's ACD capability, and as far as I
could go I have realized that each agent defined in agents.conf must keep a
session (call) open with Asterisk in order to be considered online. When a user
calls, the agent receives a beep notification in his softphone and he answers to
the pending call in the open channel and after the call ends he remains on the
open channel.

  My question is about the session that remains open between each agent and *...
Does it maintain an RTP session open? Could several agents (with open channels)
overload the network? What messages are sent between an open (but on hold)
channel and *?

  Why does the agent has to be always "connect"? Is there a way to
close the connection and have * to call the correct agent when a call arrives?

  Thank you!
  Dov


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  Asterisk-Users mailing list
  Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com
  http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
  To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
     http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20050328/bbf51a19/attachment.htm

asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com wrote on 03/28/2005 11:50:25 PM:
> Why does the agent has to be always "connect"? Is there a way to 
> close the connection and have * to call the correct agent when a call 
arrives?

If you want this to work through NAT, the soft clients will have to keep a 
connection open.  That's the only way to keep a NAT tunnel open...

If it's *not* going through NAT, you may not need the connection; however, 
if you're worried about the volume of connections overloading a box (and 
the limit is at *least* 32,000), you're probably going to have to deal 
with NAT.

Tim Massey