HOW TO SETUP ASTERISK@HOME

  1. Introduction
  2. Installing the Operating System with Asterisk
  3. Configuring the Operating System
  4. Configuring Asterisk
  5. Getting a Softphone Working - X-Lite
  6. Setting up External Calling using VoIP
  7. Setting up External Calling using VoIP (cont'd)
  8. Advanced Settings and Configuration (via SSH)
  9. Conclusion

Part 4: Configuring Asterisk

Once it boots up successfully, you shouldn't ever have to physically touch the server again (unless something goes very wrong). Henceforth, configuration of the PBX server will be done remotely, from any other computer on the network. Either we'll be using Asterisk's built in web configuration interface, or we'll "SSH in" to gain terminal/console access to the machine.

For now, we will begin with the web based control panel. Launch your favourite browser and enter your PBX server's IP address as the URL. Select Asterisk Management Portal from the menu. An authentication dialog box should appear. Enter main as the user name and your Maintenance/AMP password as the password.


You should now be in the AMP (Asterisk Management Portal) Control Panel. Click on Maintenance and that should bring you to the Asterisk@Home system status page. Make sure everything says running. If anything doesn't, reboot and try again.


Next, click Setup at the top right. Click extensions on the left to set-up each telephone extension number.


For initial testing purposes, we recommend setting up a minimum of two extensions, and using the password "1234" for both voicemail and PBX authentication.


You can leave the other options at their defaults for now. Then click the "Add Extension" button at the bottom of the page.


Repeat this procedure and add a second extension. Now you should have two extensions, we have one for a user named "John Doe" and we made another one for "Jane Doe". We strongly recommend that you add all extensions you can anticipate having to use, because it will be much harder to add new extensions later.

Once all your extensions have been added, click the red bar at the top to apply the changes.


At this point, your two extensions should be functioning over your very own IP-based PBX (private branch exchange). That means Jane Doe should able to communicate with John Doe over your network.

Click here to continue to the next step!

Copyright © 2006-2012 Michael Soares & Alexander Blank