AsteriskNOW is an open-source Software Appliance from Digium : a customized Linux distribution, which includes Asterisk (the leading open-source telephony engine and tool kit), the AsteriskGUI, and all the other software needed for an Asterisk telephony system. AsteriskNOW is easy to install. It allows you to deploy Asterisk quickly and easily, and offers flexibility, functionality and features that are available only in expensive proprietary business systems. This book is for complete beginners who are interested in setting up their own telephony system and are overwhelmed with the configuration options in Asterisk. It shows how to install and configure AsteriskNow and configure the required dial plan.
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Nir Simionovich has been involved with the Open Source community in Israel since 1997. His involvement with the Open Source community started back in 1997, when he was a student in the Technion-Israel's Technology Institute-in Haifa. Nir quickly became involved in organizing Open Source venues and events, promoting the usage of Linux and Open Source technologies in Israel. In 1998, Nir started working for an IT consulting company (artNET experts Ltd), where he began to introduce Linux-based solutions for enterprises and banks. By the year 2000, Nir had become a SAIR/GNU certified Linux trainer and administrator, slowly educating the future generations of Linux admins. In 2001, Nir moved to the cellular content market, working for a mobile content delivery company (m-Wise Inc.-OTC.BB: MWIS.OB). During his commission at m-Wise, Nir successfully migrated a company that was built purely on Windows 2000 and ColdFusion to open source technologies, such as Mandrake Linux (today Mandriva), Apache Tomcat, and Kannel (open source SMS/WAP gateway). Coming to 2006, Nir had co-founded Atelis (Atelis PLC-AIM: ATEL). Atelis is a Digium distributor and integrator. During the course of 2006, Nir developed an Asterisk-based international operator services platform for Bezeq International, which replaced a Nortel DMS-300 switch. This platform is currently in use by Bezeq International in Israel, serving over 4000 customer a day. In mid 2007, Nir left Atelis to become a freelance Asterisk promoter and consultant. Nir is currently providing Asterisk consulting and development services for various companies, ranging from early-stage start-up companies, through VoIP service providers and VoIP equipment vendors. In his spare time, Nir is the founder of the Israeli Asterisk users group, the website maintainer of the group, and an Asterisk developer, dealing mainly with the localization aspects of Asterisk to Israel. Coming to 2008, Nir's company (Greenfield Technologies Ltd) won the Digium Innovation award at AstriCon 2008, in the pioneer division-for its implementation of a phone-based prayer system, allowing people from around the world to pray at the western wall in Jerusalem.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You really can get up in minutes. Sweet.,
By
This review is from: AsteriskNOW (Paperback)
There's a certain appeal to wanting to have control over your very own phone switch. Perhaps it's the ability to have extensions in your home, patch calls together, surprise your caller with decent on hold music, have a reasonable voicemail configuration, or build your own menus to let callers select options, direct calls, or operate devices remotely.
Luckily, there's an OpenSource package that lets you do just that, and more, called Asterisk. (www.asterisk.org) However, documentation is a little of the spotty side for approachability. Worse yet, the reality of how an actual phone system works seems to be based more on history than common sense expectations. And there's a ton of terminology and details to drown in. Configuration Asterisk can be quite challenging and usually ends in multiple frustrated failed attempts. Thankfully, there's a free distribution called AsteriskNOW (www.asterisknow.org) that can get you running in minutes ...assuming you have the hardware and a little bit of knowledge to get started. PACKT's AsteriskNOW by Simionovich is a working introduction to using the special AsteriskNOW distribution, aimed specifically at new comers with minimal telephony knowledge. It starts off with a decent introduction to phone systems, making sense of all the acronyms. We see that when engineers first designed the phone system, they used what was familiar to them, signalling via an electrical nature, rather than passing data messages like TCP/IP. In this context, Asterisk makes far more sense. The next topic tackled is setting up the hardware and installing the software. Yes, you need some special boards in your PC. Without them, you're not going to get very far, even with the book. You'll learn what you need and where to get it. Installing the AsteriskNOW distribution turns out to be quite simple. Configuration, using AsteriskNOW's GUI interface, also is surprisingly easy, since the terminology is demystified. The author walks through setting up a small virtual office, starting with extensions and virtual phones you run on your PC (www.counterpath.com/x-lite.html). Since you'll want your PBX to actually handle real calls, incoming and outgoing, you'll need a service provider. And, more than just explaining the basics and sending you on your way, the author helps you ask intelligent questions and make the right choice. As a bonus, you also learn how to identify the shadier dealers that are more concerned with your wallet and less about your connectivity. And so begins the crash course on setting up calling rules, call routing, interactive voice menus, voicemail, conference calling, customer support call queues, music on hold and other advanced PBX services. It seems that once you get AsteriskNOW up and running, the difficult part of the learning curve is behind you. Such chapters are astonishingly small. The book concentrates the right amount in the right areas. Is the book, however, a comprehensive treatment of Asterisk or AsteriskNOW? No. And it doesn't claim to be. But, concerning the promise of getting you up in minutes, it actually delivers. After that, you're still not abandoned; it gives you dozens of jumping off points to continue your your experience with Asterisk and at the same time have some fun. Again, the book will tell you what hardware you'll need, and once you have it, THEN you will be able to get started in minutes.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Misleading, Out of date, Riddled with networking inaccuracies,
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This review is from: AsteriskNOW (Paperback)
Yeah, I read the tease chapter on Digium's AsteriskNOW site and thought, O.K. Sounds good!
Boy was I wrong!!! The book is written with diagrams of a custom AsteriskNOW installer, but Digium releases AsteriskNOW with a new CentOS install GUI that is NOT in the book. Ergo all the writing and diagrams are useless. Not the authors fault, the book is old an outdated due to Digium's cavalier attitude. Note: Digium do NOT promote a useless book! AsteriskNOW [the book] is a step by step process of a NON EXISTENT GUI.....VERY MISLEADING! To add insult to injury and already a waste of money, this VERY THIN 1/2 inch book is embedded with TONS of promos for companies to gain profit. Where is the HOW TO in that? Speaking of HOW-TO, his I.P. address/networking knowledge is thinner than the book! Also his references to URL's are erred. Such as his reference to Free World Dial-up [...]....NOPE....NON EXISTENT!!! The CentOS install expects DHCP to be present to configure. In the authors favor he is absolutely right about NOT to use DHCP. Digium has literally neutered the functionality that this book MAY have once been useful. Getting it to configure is NOT for the novice. If you REALLY want to learn the In's and outs of a great Open Source product...Asterisk PBX, my suggestion is to ALWAYS go with THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS....O'Reilly publishing. The one I recommend is "Asterisk - The Future Of Telephony" ISBN:0-596-00962-3 This way one will understand how Asterisk PBX works WITHOUT the "Browser FAD" crutch! Asterisk: The Future of Telephony is FAR superior WITHOUT paid commercial advertising and THREE times thicker, chocked full of how to REALLY make Asterisk the center piece of your VoIPing endeavors. AsteriskNOW? The book...Useless for AsteriskNOW, the LAMPA based software is a crock!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good introduction and basics for asteris,
By
This review is from: AsteriskNOW (Paperback)
The book is a very good introduction for anybody new to Asterisk. It provides good details on what Asterisk is and is not and why one should consider it to not.
Walking through the basis and how to get it installed and the basic configurations is a good start for new user. I had already installed asterisknow and connected mine to a Linksys SPA3102. There is very little new I did learn from the book. There are some basic that I was not absolutely clear that I now fully appreciate. The book is overall very well written and provides good details for entry level users. Advanced users may not get too much new knowledge out of this but it is never the less a pleasurable book to read and worth reading. I would recommend this book to anbody interested by asterisk but if you look at detailed and advanced features this is not what you are looking for
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Inside This Book
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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