asterisk users - Jun 2010 - Limit total length of calls to a specifig SIP peer

Hi,

I'm currently using a cheap SIP provider for outbound calls.

I do have 6 channels to them.

In their terms of service there is the following limit:

The total duration of calls during one single day should not exceed 24 
hours or we do have the right to terminate the contract...blah blah

What is the best way to use this provider as long as we are below let's 
say 22h in a single day ?

Thanks

Laurent

If your server is good enough to handle those queries, I would have a cron
job use the CDR to calculate the time spent this current day every minute or
so, put this value in a text file (or anywhere really) and read it every
call you make to check, and use this as the absolute timeout value for your
call. Then again, if you have one hour left, you should divid this by six
(in case everyone calls out at the same time). 

So if you have 2 hours left, only allow one call to use 120minutes/6

Mike.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-
> bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Laurent CARON
> Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 8:53
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Subject: [asterisk-users] Limit total length of calls to a specifig SIP
> peer
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm currently using a cheap SIP provider for outbound calls.
> 
> I do have 6 channels to them.
> 
> In their terms of service there is the following limit:
> 
> The total duration of calls during one single day should not exceed 24
> hours or we do have the right to terminate the contract...blah blah
> 
> What is the best way to use this provider as long as we are below let's
> say 22h in a single day ?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Laurent
> 
> --
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>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

My .02 - I would set up a context for dialing with this provider that counts
minutes and stops the dial with a message once you get to 1321 minutes (22
hours).

Exten => _8X.,1,noop(call using Cheap sip)
Exten => _8X.,2,macro(call_out,${EXTEN:1})
Exten => _8X.,3,hangup

[macro-call_out]
Exten => s,1,Gotoif($[${GLOBAL(SECUSED)} < 79200]?4)
Exten => s,n,playback(out-of-minutes)
Exten => s,n,hangup
Exten => s,n,dial(SIP/${ARG1}...)
Exten => s,n,Set(GLOBAL(SECUSED)=${GLOBAL(SECUSED)} + ${DIALEDTIME})
Exten => s,n,hangup
Exten => h,1,Set(GLOBAL(SECUSED)=${GLOBAL(SECUSED)} + ${DIALEDTIME})

By using DIALEDTIME instead of ANSWEREDTIME, you reduce the possibility of
going over on your minutes, but you could squeeze in an extra 2-20 seconds
per call using AT vs DT.

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Laurent CARON
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 7:53 AM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: [asterisk-users] Limit total length of calls to a specifig SIP peer

Hi,

I'm currently using a cheap SIP provider for outbound calls.

I do have 6 channels to them.

In their terms of service there is the following limit:

The total duration of calls during one single day should not exceed 24 
hours or we do have the right to terminate the contract...blah blah

What is the best way to use this provider as long as we are below let's 
say 22h in a single day ?

Thanks

Laurent

-- 
_____________________________________________________________________
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   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

On Tue, 8 Jun 2010, Laurent CARON wrote:
> I'm currently using a cheap SIP provider for outbound calls.
>
> I do have 6 channels to them.
>
> In their terms of service there is the following limit:
>
> The total duration of calls during one single day should not exceed 24
> hours or we do have the right to terminate the contract...blah blah
>
> What is the best way to use this provider as long as we are below let's
> say 22h in a single day ?
The ONLY way (how's that for humble) to do this in a reliable and robust 
method is to use a real database. Personally, I like MySQL and I prefer to 
do database work in an AGI in a compiled language like C.

Maintaining the accumulated duration in a global variable will fail if you 
need to restart Asterisk at any time. A global variable will also
"fail"
if you have more than 1 call finish at the same time.

Parsing log files is guaranteed to be a resource pig and still has race 
conditions.

-- 
Thanks in advance,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Edwards       sedwards at sedwards.com      Voice: +1-760-468-3867 PST
Newline                                              Fax: +1-760-731-3000