asterisk users - Mar 2004 - Manager Interface "Action: Originate" changed

I have recently noticed that the "Action: Originate" options in
asterisk
        1.0 CVS has changed sometime between 2/23 and 3/18.

I have a 2/23/04 CVS installation (cvs checkout -r v1-0_stable asterisk 
) that allows me to make calls like this using the Manager Interface on 
port 5038.

   action: login
   login: admin
   secret: mypass

   action: originate
   exten: 200
   context: stations
   channel: SIP/agent007

I have a 3/18/04 CVS installation that does NOT work the same way. 
Entering the same information in spits out....

   Response: Error
   Message: Originate with 'Exten' requires 'Context' and
'Priority'

So I've tried adding a priority of 1, like this:

   action: originate
   exten: 200
   context: stations
   channel: SIP/agent007
   priority: 1

I simply get:

   Response: Error
   Message: Originate failed

Obviously, something in the Manager code has changed. With the newer 
code I am unable to originate calls. Can anyone shed additional light on 
how to originate calls under the new 1.0 style Manager Interface?

Tony Wasson

Tony Wasson wrote:
> I have recently noticed that the "Action: Originate" options in
asterisk
>        1.0 CVS has changed sometime between 2/23 and 3/18.
To post a follow up for posterity, 2 tips were suggested when using the 
Manager Interface:

1) Make sure to supply Context AND Priority when using an Exten.
NOTE: It used to work without a Priority, but not anymore.

2) While not a "hard and fast" rule, capitalization may help.
>   Action: Originate
>   Exten: 200
>   Context: stations
>   Channel: SIP/agent007
>   Priority: 1

Here's a brief troubleshooting checklist if Manager Actions like 
Originate are failing:

1) Make sure Asterisk is starting with "debug mode" by starting it
with
a few -vvv's after it.

I'm using this in my /etc/inittab
   ax:2345:respawn:/usr/sbin/asterisk -vvvcf

You can also just stop asterisk (asterisk -rx "stop now"), and
relaunch
it like this:
   # asterisk -vvvcf

2) While making the call, monitor the console for any errors using
   # asterisk -r

3) Ensure any dependant devices are actually connected and registered...
    "sip show peers"
    "iax2 show peers"

While getting the rather unhelpful message of:

   Response: Error
   Message: Originate failed

I got this messages on my console thanks to debugs:

Mar 31 10:03:24 NOTICE[21526]: app_dial.c:536 dial_exec: Unable to 
create channel of type 'SIP'
   == Everyone is busy at this time

After some investigation of "sip show peers" I diagnosed my problem as
an SIP device (Audiocodes MP-108) that needed to be rebooted.

Hope this helps you out!
Tony Wasson