asterisk users - Mar 2006 - Stuck. Extenions.conf? Realtime? MySQL? Grrrrr!

Boy, am I stuck...

I'm officially ready to toss Asterisk out the window. I have to admit it
isn't necessarily all the fault of Asterisk either. It just seems that every
option I turn to suddenly ends in failure. I don't know if it's me
that's bitten of more than I can chew with this project, or maybe Asterisk
just isn't mature enough yet.

Nothing complicated really.... Just a carrier class solution, with advanced
custom routing, incoming and outgoing number blocking (at user/company and
global level) and whitelisting, findme/followme, user specific pic codes and
rate centres based on number dialled, blocking of specific star code prefixed
features, different caller ID based on intra company calls, outside calls, calls
overriden to use alternate caller id with feature codes, and not to mention it
all has to be HA.

I'd been doing it in python written AGI scripts interfacing to custom built
MySQL tables. Doing stuff this complex in the dial plan would be a nightmare
(oh, did I mention a user web interface so that users can make changes
themselves?), and Realtime, well it just has too many limitations. Imagine
trying to code choosing a specific pic code based on the number prefix in
realtime or the dial plan. For example, 1* might be 1123, 1303* might be
something else, and 130* might be another pic code.

Throw in findme/followme with caller id based routing, multiple numbers per dial
(easy in Asterisk but the MySQL tables start to get complex - actually not that
easy if you want to dial a local user AND an OffNet user at the SAME time with
redundancy).While we're at it, write the application generic enough so that
it can handle Queues, voicemail and everything else.

My brain hurts.

Doug

On 3/15/2006, "Douglas Garstang" <dgarstang@oneeighty.com>
wrote:
>Boy, am I stuck...
[snip]
>My brain hurts.
Doug,

Whenever I have gotten to this point in a project, I use two rules for
handling the situation.

Rule 1. Booze
Rule 2. Throw money at it.

Rule 1 makes me feel better.
Rule 2 takes care of the problem but...
If the boss isn't happy - fall back to Rule 1.

The hardest target to hit in the programming shooting gallery is the
moving one.  Unless you 'sold' the powers that be that Asterisk is the
answer to all questions... then you made your bed... but as I remember,
I think you got 'stuck' with this one.

You can probably (but I doubt it) buy a system that will do all this
for you. Probably not out of the box tho and probably not without a
large 'programmers' bill to boot. And several third-party packages.

So grab your favorite alcoholic beverage, nail down what they want, and
start solving the problems.  Even if it takes a year - it will be better
and cheaper than anything they can purchase.

Brett

On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 21:02 -0700, Douglas Garstang
wrote:
> Boy, am I stuck...
[snip]

Why don't you just hire a consultant/company to implement this on a no
cure no pay basis?

Regards,
Patrick

Douglas Garstang wrote:
> Boy, am I stuck...
> 
> I'm officially ready to toss Asterisk out the window. 
Yay!!  Why don't you?
> I have to admit it isn't necessarily all the fault of Asterisk either.
It just seems that every option I turn to suddenly ends in failure. I don't
know if it's me that's bitten of more than I can chew with this project,
or maybe Asterisk just isn't mature enough yet.
> 
Doesn't matter!!

It's making you miserable, and YOU are making a lot of us miserable with 
your incessant and childish whining.

Time to go try VOCAL, or Bayonne, or something, IMO. . .

B.

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</snip>
> Nothing complicated really.... Just a carrier class
> solution, with advanced custom routing, incoming and
> outgoing number blocking (at user/company and global
> level) and whitelisting, findme/followme, user
> specific pic codes and rate centres based on number
> dialled, blocking of specific star code prefixed
> features, different caller ID based on intra company
> calls, outside calls, calls overriden to use
> alternate caller id with feature codes, and not to
> mention it all has to be HA.
> 
> I'd been doing it in python written AGI scripts
> interfacing to custom built MySQL tables. Doing
> stuff this complex in the dial plan would be a
> nightmare (oh, did I mention a user web interface so
> that users can make changes themselves?), and
> Realtime, well it just has too many limitations.
> Imagine trying to code choosing a specific pic code
> based on the number prefix in realtime or the dial
> plan. For example, 1* might be 1123, 1303* might be
> something else, and 130* might be another pic code.
> 
> Throw in findme/followme with caller id based
> routing, multiple numbers per dial (easy in Asterisk
> but the MySQL tables start to get complex - actually
> not that easy if you want to dial a local user AND
> an OffNet user at the SAME time with
> redundancy).While we're at it, write the application
> generic enough so that it can handle Queues,
> voicemail and everything else.
</snip>
How about having some one else come in to help you. It
sures seem's like a load. Convince them that having
some one else will get things done faster etc.

<snip>
> My brain hurts.
</snip>
My brain is hurting from just reading it.

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