Asterisk For Dummies [Paperback]

Stephen P. Olejniczak (Author), Brady Kirby (Author), Mark Spencer (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0470098546 | ISBN-13: 978-0470098547

Your company can save tons of money by taking advantage of Asterisk, an open-source PBX that allows you to bridge data and voice communications. Asterisk for Dummies saves you all the worries and confusion with its easy-to-use, step-by-step walkthrough of the entire program that will have you set up in no time!

Asterisk takes the data side of telecom and applies it to the handling and processing of voice calls. This book will show you everything you need to know to install, program, and grow with Asterisk. The invaluable information covered in this guide shows you how to:

• Utilize dialplan, add features, and build infrastructure
• Maintain your telecom service
• Address call-quality concerns and completion issues
• Provide long-term health for your Asterisk switch
• Operate the AsteriskNOW GUI
• Utilize VoIP codecs
• Troubleshoot VoIP calls with packet captures
• Avoid the things you should never do with Asterisk

In addition to these essential tools, this trusty guide shows you how to manipulate your Asterisk and make it even more useful, such as fending off telemarketers, creating a voice mailbox that e-mails everyone, and transmitting your voice through your stereo. It also has quick references that no Asterisk operator should be without, like dialplan functions, VoIP basics, and a concise guide to Linux. With Asterisk for Dummies, you’ll have the power to handle all the necessary programming to set up the system and keep it running smoothly.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Bridge data and voice with Asterisk!

Create and maintain an economical Asterisk phone system from scratch

Asterisk is the open-source PBX software that offers you the chance to save real money on your voice communications. Invest in this book and save a lot of headaches, too! Here's how to choose the right hardware, install the software, handle all the necessary programming to set up the system, and keep it running smoothly.

Discover how to

• Tie together standard voice and VoIP
• Use AsteriskNOW's GUI interface
• Install cards and telephony devices
• Build dialplans for incoming and outgoing calls
• Manage call flow

About the Author

Stephen Olejniczak is the Director of Operations for ATI, and has over 14 years of experience in telecommunications. His experience is focused on installation, service, and support of voice service with a growing responsibility for delivering VoIP. He’s the author of Telecom For Dummies and a snappy dresser.
Stephen didn’t start out in life as a techie, only falling prey to the glamour and easy money after failing to find a career enabling him to use his Bachelors degree in Cultural Anthropology. He currently lives in the quaint hamlet of Laguna Beach, California with his beautiful wife Kayley and a collection of fountain pens.

Brady Kirby is the owner of Atlas VoIP and has been programming since he was 13 years old. The initial challenge of writing small screen savers in qbasic wasn’t enough for him and by the 10th grade he worked his way up to the strong stuff — game programming. It was at this tender age that Brady accepted his calling. He realized it was his lot in life to make the world a better place, solving people’s problems, by evolving inventive software.
Brady spends his free time with his son, Brady Kirby III, in the crucible of technology and engineering, Huntsville, Alabama. Surrounded by many tech companies, and that space program we have (we think it’s called NASA), they enjoy the good life with large helpings of lasagna and good Mexican food. It’s in this environment that Brady III is mentored in all aspects of programming by his father. Maybe to write his own For Dummies book someday.

Product Details

• Paperback: 334 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (February 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470098546
• ISBN-13: 978-0470098547
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #901,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars (Useless) -- Revised: Not the best book, but has some useful info, June 8, 2007

By 

Johan Adler (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Asterisk For Dummies (Paperback)

This is the first book in the "for Dummies" series that I have bought. I do not consider myself a "dummy", an idiot or a moron, but there are few books on Asterisk basics and this book is rather new, so I thought I would give it a chance. My mistake...

I am using two Linksys/Sipura ATA, one SPA3102 and one PAP2T, this book only covers TDM-cards and Zapata drivers. There is nothing useful on dialplans/extensions, and not much useful on other subjects either. I do not know who the intended audience for this book would be, and I find it hard to believe that a "dummy" or anyone else would be able to do anything useful with Asterisk using this book as guide or reference.

Buy some other book, or just google for the information you need. The latter will be much quicker, more productive and less frustrating. (If anyone wants a slightly used specimen of this book, you can pick it up for free in Stockholm, Sweden.)

Revised March 30, 2008:
I have used a bunch of different books on Asterisk, and information from the web, since I wrote this review. I have realized that I was a bit too harsh when I first wrote this. There are better books on Asterisk, but I must admit that I have found some useful information in this book on some occasions.

If you are going to buy one or two books on the subject, I would probably recommend starting with Asterisk: The Future of Telephony and Building Telephony Systems with Asterisk, in this order.

I am also looking forward to the printed edition of the English translation of Practical Asterisk 1.4: From Beginner to Expert (the translation in progress is available at [...] with a link to the German original). I have found the alpha version of the translation very useful on several subjects.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for Trixbox in anyway, July 24, 2007

By 

Bryan C "Bryan C" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asterisk For Dummies (Paperback)

If you are thinking about using this as a guide for trixbox installation (formerly asterisk@home) think again. Not very helpful. :-(

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not too good for beginners;, June 7, 2007

By 

Jim "Jimmy" (Nc, usa) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Asterisk For Dummies (Paperback)

This book I purchased with great expectation. But this books' many examples are not very clear. I had to refer another book to understand this book well.