System information

we’ll just create a default music on hold class so that we have at a minimum some hold
music when placing callers on hold:
$ cd /etc/asterisk/
$ cat >> musiconhold.conf
; musiconhold.conf
[default]
mode=files
directory=moh
Ctrl + D
We’ve created a musiconhold.conf file and defined our [default] hold music class.
We’re also assuming you installed the hold music from the menuselect system; by de-
fault there is at least one music on hold package installed, so unless you disabled it,
you should have music in at least one format.
Additional information about musiconhold.conf can be found in the section “musicon-
hold.conf” on page 79.
make menuselect
menuselect is a text-based menu system in Asterisk used to configure which modules
to compile and install. The modules are what give Asterisk its power and functionality.
New modules are constantly being created.
In the installation sections, we conveniently skipped over using the menuselect system
in order to keep the instructions simple and straightforward. However, it is important
enough that we have given menuselect its own section.
In addition to specifying which modules to install, menuselect also allows you to set
flags that can aid in debugging issues (see Chapter 2), set optimization flags, choose
different sound prompt files and formats, and do various other nifty things.
Uses for menuselect
We would need a whole chapter in order to fully explore menuselect, and for the most
part you won’t need to make many changes to it. However, the following example will
give you an idea of how menuselect works, and is recommend for any installation.
By default Asterisk only installs the core sound prompt files, and only in GSM format.
Also, the three OpSound music on hold files available for download are only selected
in .wav format.
‡
‡ A good way to put the final touches on your new system is to install some appropriate sound files to be used
as music on hold. There are only three songs installed by default, and callers will quickly tire of listening to
the same three songs over and over again. We’ll discuss this more in “musiconhold.conf” on page 79.
Base Configuration | 59