Chapter 5
If we use a little bit of variable magic, we can get these lines down to:
exten => _890X,1,MeetMe(${EXTEN}) exten => _890X,2,Goto(default,s,1)
And so we see that by making our MeetMe conference number the same as the extension number users dial to join, our lives are made a little bit easier. Also, by having all of our conferences in a block of 10 or 100, we are able to use pattern matching to make our extensions.conf shorter.
Another service we may wish to have is a MusicOnHold extension. It will do nothing but play the music on hold that is currently running. This can be a useful tool for the administrator to check if the music is even running, or to check the volume on a handset. To add a MusicOnHold extension, we would add something like:
exten => 8010,1,MusicOnHold(default)
This extension will play the music that is playing on hold in the default class, as configured in the musiconhold.conf file. It will only end when the caller hangs up the phone. But we need to remember that it is not like the background music of some phone systems, in that it does tie up the line that is listening to the music. If calls come in while a user is listening to the music on hold, they will go through the normal procedure for a phone being busy.
Summary
In this chapter, we have looked at how to create a dialplan for our Asterisk system. We looked at how to set up:
•Contexts
•Extensions for incoming calls
•Extensions for outgoing calls
•Call Queues
•Call Parking
•Direct Inward Dialing
•Voicemail
•Automated Phone Directory
•Conference Rooms
Although this list of available services is not exhaustive, it is certainly enough to get our phone system up and running. There are many further options available to us, which we will try out as we work through various case studies later in this book. These case studies will give us the full configuration of some Asterisk installations for fictitious companies. We will be able to view the configuration files and keep those parts that help us meet our particular needs.
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