VoIP Telephony with Asterisk (Paperback)

~ Paul Mahler (Author) "Asterisk is a PBX and a lot more..." (more)
Key Phrases: dial plan, digital signaling rate, tftp directory, Feature Group, Red Hat, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

VoIP Telephony with Asterisk is the best-selling introduction to the leading open source PBX software. You'll learn how to provision telephony, install and compile Linux and Asterisk, and configure an Asterisk dial plan for both analog and SIP telephones. The book's 300 pages cover Cisco and snom telephones, Digium boards, faxing, voicemail, basic IVR and a variety of related topics.

About the Author

Paul Mahler is founder and Chief Technical Officer of Signate, a leading global provider of technical services for Asterisk and VoIP telephony, as well as the author of VoIP Telephony with Asterisk, the first comprehensive guide to Asterisk.

A specialist for three decades in the architecture and implementation of mission-critical business systems, Mahler's experience encompasses telephony, relational databases, and UML and model driven architectures. His clients have included Air Touch, AT&T, Pacific Bell, Verizon and Visa. He began his career as the founder of Horizon Software systems, the first software applications developer for the UNIX operating system.

He is the author of four other technical books on computer languages, relational database theory and practice, programming environments, and client-server technology. He has published a wide variety of computer articles, manuals and technical briefs.

Mahler has a BA, at honors, from the University of California at Berkeley in Philosophy of Science. He completed four years in the Ph.D. program of Bio-physics at U.C. Berkeley and the graduate program of Medical Information Sciences at U.C. San Francisco.

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Signate (July 2004)
• ISBN-10: 0975999206
• ISBN-13: 978-0975999202
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #344,128 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good reference for Asterisk, January 6, 2005

By	Nathan C. Smith (Des Moines, IA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a good attempt to hit the moving target that is Asterisk. I keep coming back to it and finding things to try and use. There is a lot of really good content and the Author does a good job of citing his sources too.
This book could do more for introducing the beginner to Asterisk - the concept of extensions in the dial plan is key to understanding Asterisk and it is a strange paradigm until you understand it. I wish this book had introduced it a little better.
Additionally, more dial plan and configuration file examples would have been a very helpful resource.
This book has been invaluable to me starting out with Asterisk. I would welcome updates and revisions as Asterisk expands.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disorganized, incomplete, July 4, 2005

By	D. Lewis (Oklahoma, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Reading some of the positive reviews about this book, it's hard to believe it's the same one I bought.

I have 15+ years experience in the IT field. Whenever I install a new technology, I like to go find the best book I can on the subject and just start reading. Paul Mahler's book is the only one I could find on Asterisk so it's the one I chose, :-) Reading it straight through wasn't too bad: there's a lot of information in there. That's why it gets 2 stars.

Here's why it doesn't get more than 2.

It's very disorganized. Some sections appear to just be dropped in at the end of unrelated chapters. Advanced coverage of some topics occurs early in the book, then later he goes back and covers some of the basics. You're left bewildered early on, then later it's "Oh! Well why didn't he tell me that FIRST??"

The index, while it appears good at a glance, leaves much to be desired. Want to read about the Playback command? The index tells you to go to page 100, where you will find a one line example of the syntax. No explanation of the command, no description. Fortunately, more info is available elsewhere in the book but good luck finding it in the index.

I was reading one section and I knew I'd read it before. I googled for it and, sure enough, found it verbatim in the wikipedia. Large portions of this book appear to have been copied verbatim from the wiki at voip-info.org. Perhaps he wrote a lot of that site as well, I don't know, but it does explain some of the disorganization. It's like he found a good tidbit on the wiki, cut it and pasted it in at the end of whatever chapter was convenient.

And the typos. Not a biggie, but sometimes it can be confusing when there are glaring typos in technical data. And, in this book, there are a number of them.

All in all, I really wish there was an alternative out there. But there isn't and if you're like me and you've got to have the manual handy for the new technology you're supporting, maybe you should buy Mahler's book. Frankly, you can find information quicker through google and the wiki. But if you have the time and want to read it straight through it can be helpful.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent intro to VOIP and the Asterisk PBX, November 7, 2004

By	Daryl D. Jones (Emerald Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the book that you need to get started with do-it-yourself VOIP using the open-source Asterisk PBX software. Mahler's book will help you learn VOIP basics and serve as a convenienct reference for setting up and maintaining Asterisk systems. Highly recommended.