asterisk users - May 2008 - Newbie: How to remote test a call prolem in an Asterisk site?

I will be installing Asterisk in a few offices which I don't have any
colleagues over there to help me.
Let's suppose I installed Asterisk in such a site.  I tested it to my
satisfaction and I went back to my home office.
One day, a customer called me to say that he had a problem calling out
or something.
Is there any way I could test out the problem myself remotely (apart
from READING the message on the console when the customer tested) or I
just have to believe what the customer tells me?
Can anyone share their experience with me please?

On 1 May 2008, at 08:17, Lee, John (Sydney) wrote:
> I will be installing Asterisk in a few offices which I don't have any
> colleagues over there to help me.
> Let's suppose I installed Asterisk in such a site.  I tested it to my
> satisfaction and I went back to my home office.
> One day, a customer called me to say that he had a problem calling out
> or something.
> Is there any way I could test out the problem myself remotely (apart
> from READING the message on the console when the customer tested) or I
> just have to believe what the customer tells me?
> Can anyone share their experience with me please?


Send the logs to a syslog server.


logger.conf

[logfiles]
syslog.local0 => debug, warning, error, notice, verbose


... then configure a syslog program on the asterisk box to send  
syslogs to your centralised syslog server that you use for clients you  
support.

You will then be able to see the log messages generated on your own  
equipment, without needing access to the asterisk box.  However, you  
will need to log into the asterisk box to make changes as per your  
customers' requirements !

Andy

On Thu, May 01, 2008 at 05:17:17PM +1000, Lee, John (Sydney)
wrote:
> I will be installing Asterisk in a few offices which I don't have any
> colleagues over there to help me.
> Let's suppose I installed Asterisk in such a site.  I tested it to my
> satisfaction and I went back to my home office.
> One day, a customer called me to say that he had a problem calling out
> or something.
> Is there any way I could test out the problem myself remotely (apart
> from READING the message on the console when the customer tested) or I
> just have to believe what the customer tells me?
> Can anyone share their experience with me please?
If you have access to the console you can do many things.
For instance, you can originate test calls.

Sensible use of log messages and debug messages is also very handy for
troubleshooting. e.g: most channel drivers provide a verbose lower-level
"debug" (sip, iax2, pri).

There are other things you can do, depending on the specific issue. Your
question is quite generic.

-- 
               Tzafrir Cohen
icq#16849755              jabber:tzafrir.cohen at xorcom.com
+972-50-7952406           mailto:tzafrir.cohen at xorcom.com
http://www.xorcom.com  iax:guest at local.xorcom.com/tzafrir

> If you have access to the console you can do many things.
> For instance, you can originate test calls.
> 
Tzafrir, thanks for your response and sorry for not being specific.
You raised a very good point about accessing the console.

For example, I made a major change to some of the config files and I
waited till everyone in the remote office has gone home.
I then sshed into the Asterisk box to reload the config files.  After
that, I wanted to make an inside/outside call to see if the changes did
not mess up anything.
I know I could issue a dial cmd on the console.  I will then be able to
see the message on the console but I will not be able to test the
quality of the call.
Is this the normal way to test?