System information

Name Purpose Popularity/Status
func_sprintf Performs string format functions similar to C function of same name Useful
func_srv Perform SRV lookups in the dialplan Useful
func_strings Includes over a dozen string manipulation functions Useful
func_sysinfo Gets system information such as RAM, swap, load average, etc. Useful
func_timeout Gets/sets timeouts on channel Useful
func_uri Converts strings to URI-safe encoding Useful
func_version Returns Asterisk version information Usable
func_vmcount Returns count of messages in a voicemail folder for a particular user Useful
func_volume Sets volume on a channel Useful
PBX Modules
The PBX modules are peripheral modules that provide enhanced control and configu-
ration mechanisms. For example, pbx_config is the module that loads the traditional
Asterisk dialplan. The currently available PBX modules are listed in Table 2-9.
Table 2-9. PBX modules
Name Purpose Popularity/Status
pbx_ael Asterisk Extension Logic (AEL) offers a dialplan scripting language that looks like a
modern programming language.
Usable
a
pbx_config This is the traditional, and most popular, dialplan language for Asterisk. Without
this module, Asterisk cannot read extensions.conf.
Useful
pbx_dundi Performs data lookups on remote Asterisk systems. Useful
pbx_loopback Performs something similar to a dialplan include, but in a deprecated manner. Insignificant
b
pbx_lua Allows creation of a dialplan using the Lua scripting language. Useful
pbx_realtime Provides functionality related to the Asterisk Realtime Architecture. Useful
pbx_spool Provides outgoing spool support relating to Asterisk call files. Useful
a
We have not found too many people using AEL. We suspect this is because most developers will tend to use AGI/AMI if they do not want
to use traditional dialplans.
b
We’ve never heard of this being used in production.
Resource Modules
Resource
modules integrate Asterisk with external resources. For example, res_odbc
allows Asterisk to interoperate with ODBC database connections. The currently avail-
able resource modules are listed in Table 2-10.
Modules | 21
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