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asterisk (8)							    asterisk (8)

NAME
     asterisk - All-purpose telephony server.

SYNOPSIS
     asterisk [-BcdfFghiImnpqRtTvVW] [-C file] [-e memory] [-G group] [-L
	      loadaverage] [-M value] [-U user] [-s socket-file]
	      asterisk -r [-v] [-d] [-x command]
	      asterisk -R [-v] [-d] [-x command]

DESCRIPTION
     asterisk  is a full-featured telephony server which provides Private Branch
     eXchange (PBX), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Automated Call  Distribu-
     tion  (ACD),  Voice over IP (VoIP) gatewaying, Conferencing, and a plethora
     of other telephony applications to a broad range of telephony  devices  in-
     cluding  packet  voice  (SIP, IAX2, H.323, Unistim) devices (both endpoints
     and proxies), as well as traditional TDM hardware including  T1,  E1,  ISDN
     PRI, GR-303, RBS, Loopstart, Groundstart, ISDN BRI and many more.

     At start, Asterisk reads the /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf main configuration
     file and locates the rest of the configuration files from the configuration
     in that file. The -C option specifies an alternate main configuration file.
     Virtually	all  aspects  of the operation of asterisk's configuration files
     can be found in the sample configuration files. The format for those  files
     is generally beyond the scope of this man page.

     When  running  with -c, -r or -R options, Asterisk supplies a powerful com-
     mand line, including command completion, which may be used to monitors  its
     status,  perform  a  variety of administrative actions and even explore the
     applications that are currently loaded into the system.

     Asterisk is a trademark of Digium, Inc.

OPTIONS
     Running Asterisk starts the asterisk daemon (optionally running it  in  the
     foreground).  However  running it with -r or -R connects to an existing As-
     terisk instance through a remote console.

     -B     Force the background of the terminal to be black, in order for  ter-
	    minal colors to show up properly. Equivalent to forceblackbackground
	    = yes in asterisk.conf. See also -n and -W.

     -C file
	    Use  file  as  master  configuration  file	instead  of the default,
	    /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf

     -c     Provide a control console on the calling terminal.	The  console  is
	    similar to the remote console provided by -r. Specifying this option
	    implies  -f and will cause asterisk to no longer fork or detach from
	    the controlling terminal. Equivalent to  console  =  yes  in  aster-
	    isk.conf.

     -d     Enable  extra  debugging statements. This parameter may be used sev-
	    eral times, and each increases the debug level. Equivalent to  debug
	    =  num in asterisk.conf to explicitly set the initian debug level to
	    num. When given at startup, this option also implies  -f  (no  fork-
	    ing).  However  when connecting to an existing Asterisk instance (-r
	    or -R), it may only increase the debug level.

     -e memory
	    Limit the generation of new channels when the amount of free  memory
	    has decreased to under memory megabytes.  Equivalent to minmemfree =
	    memory in asterisk.conf.

     -f     Do	not fork or detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any pre-
	    ceding specification of -F on the command line.  Equivalent  to  no-
	    fork = yes in asterisk.conf.  See also -c.

     -F     Always fork and detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any pre-
	    ceding specification of -f on the command line.  May also be used to
	    prevent  -d  and  -v to imply no forking. Equivalent to alwaysfork =
	    yes in asterisk.conf.

     -g     Remove resource limit on core size, thus forcing  Asterisk	to  dump
	    core  in the unlikely event of a segmentation fault or abort signal.
	    NOTE: in some cases this may be  incompatible  with  the  -U  or  -G
	    flags.

     -G group
	    Run as group group instead of the calling group. NOTE: this requires
	    substantial  work to be sure that Asterisk's environment has permis-
	    sion to write the files required for its operation, including  logs,
	    its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.

     -h     Provide brief summary of command line arguments and terminate.

     -i     Prompt  user to intialize any encrypted private keys for IAX2 secure
	    authentication during startup.

     -I     Enable internal timing if DAHDI timing is  available.   The  default
	    behaviour is that outbound packets are phase locked to inbound pack-
	    ets.  Enabling  this switch causes them to be locked to the internal
	    DAHDI timer instead.

     -L loadaverage
	    Limits the maximum load average before rejecting new calls. This can
	    be useful to prevent a system from being brought down by terminating
	    too many simultaneous calls.

     -m     Temporarily mutes output to the console and logs. To return to  nor-
	    mal, use logger mute.

     -M value
	    Limits  the maximum number of calls to the specified value. This can
	    be useful to prevent a system from being brought down by terminating
	    too many simultaneous calls.

     -n     Disable ANSI colors even on terminals capable  of  displaying  them.
	    This  option  can be used only at startup (e.g. not with remote con-
	    sole).

     -p     If supported by the operating system (and executing  as  root),  at-
	    tempt  to  run  with realtime priority for increased performance and
	    responsiveness within the Asterisk process, at the expense of  other
	    programs running on the same machine.

	    Note:  astcanary  will  run concurrently with asterisk. If astcanary
	    stops running or is  killed,  asterisk  will  slow	down  to  normal
	    process priority, to avoid locking up the machine.

     -q     Reduce  default console output when running in conjunction with con-
	    sole mode (-c).

     -r     Instead of running a new Asterisk process, attempt to connect  to  a
	    running  Asterisk  process	and provide a console interface for con-
	    trolling it.

     -R     Much like -r. Instead of running a new Asterisk process, attempt  to
	    connect  to  a running Asterisk process and provide a console inter-
	    face for controlling it. Additionally, if connection to the Asterisk
	    process is lost, attempt to reconnect for as long as 30 seconds.

     -s socket file name
	    In combination with -r, connect directly  to  a  specified	Asterisk
	    server socket.

     -t     When  recording files, write them first into a temporary holding di-
	    rectory, then move them into the final location when done.

     -T     Add timestamp to all non-command related output going to the console
	    when running with verbose and/or logging to the console.

     -U user
	    Run as user user instead of the calling user.  NOTE:  this	requires
	    substantial  work to be sure that Asterisk's environment has permis-
	    sion to write the files required for its operation, including  logs,
	    its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.

     -v     Increase  the level of verboseness on the console. The more times -v
	    is specified, the more verbose the output is.  Specifying  this  op-
	    tion  implies -f and will cause asterisk to no longer fork or detach
	    from the controlling terminal.  This option may also be used in con-
	    junction with -r and -R.

	    Note: This always sets the verbose level in  the  asterisk	process,
	    even  if  it is running in the background. This will affect the size
	    of your log files.

     -V     Display version information and exit immediately.

     -W     Display colored terminal text as if the  background  were  white  or
	    otherwise light in color. Normally, terminal text is displayed as if
	    the background were black or otherwise dark in color.

     -x command
	    Connect  to  a  running  Asterisk process and execute a command on a
	    command line, passing any output through to standard  out  and  then
	    terminating when the command execution completes. Implies -r when -R
	    is not explicitly supplied.

     -X     Enables  executing	of  includes  via  #exec directive inside aster-
	    isk.conf.

EXAMPLES
     asterisk - Begin Asterisk as a daemon

     asterisk -vvvgc - Run on controlling terminal

     asterisk -rx "core show channels" - Display channels on running server

BUGS
     Bug reports and feature requests may be filed at  https://github.com/aster-
     isk/asterisk/issues/

SEE ALSO
     https://www.asterisk.org - The Asterisk Home Page

     http://www.asteriskdocs.org - The Asterisk Documentation Project

     https://docs.asterisk.org - The Asterisk documentation

     https://www.digium.com/ - Asterisk is sponsored by Digium

AUTHOR
     Mark Spencer <markster@digium.com>

     Countless other contributors, see CREDITS with distribution for more infor-
     mation.

asterisk Trunk			   2011-02-08			    asterisk (8)

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