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We had a circumstance where we needed to record lots of calls on demand, and store them on a server. We brought in several vendors and they were all very expensive and none offered exactly what we wanted.
In a nutshell, I am using audix-rec and a Asterisk server to catch the recordings.
I fully documented the configuration. Keep in mind, I purchased a dedicated server and a 8-port fxo card, but my documentation should work for other types of hardware.
Hardware Used
o HP Proliant DL360G5 $4,000
o XEON 5150 2.66GHZ
o 4GB PC2-4300 (2 x 2)
o Slimline CD-RW
o 4 x 146GB 10K SAS 2.5 Hot Plug
o P400I RAID SAS 256MB PCIE
o Battery backed write cache upgrade
o 700W Redundant Power Supply
o Digium X400M-FXO Pci-e $675 (purchased from o Digium AEX808B
Software Used
o Trixbox 2.4.2.0 CE Edition
Trixbox Installation Procedure
1. Boot off the CD and take all the defaults - setting the root password, time zone, and keyboard type appropriately
2. At the “trixbox1 login:” box
a. type “root” and hit enter
b. type the root password and hit Enter
3. Type “vi /etc/grub.conf” (this will rid the “zaptel failed to load” errors at startup) This fix is documented here: a. Hit the Insert key
b. Use # to comment out:
#title trixbox (2.6.18-53.1.4.el5PAE)
#root (hd0,0)
#kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5PAE ro root=LABEL=/1 acpi=off
#initrd /initrd-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5PAE.img
c. Hit the “Esc” key
d. Hit the “:” key
e. Type “wq” and hit Enter
4. Type “shutdown now –r”
5. Watch the system come up and you should see all the Zaptel services start OK
6. If you don’t use dhcp and need to setup networking:
a. Type “netconfig” and setup networking appropriately
b. Type “service network restart”
7. Check status of the card:
a. Type “asterisk –r”
b. Type “zap show status” You should see the “Wildcard AEX800 Board 1”
8. From a web browser on another pc, type in a. In the upper right click the “User mode switch” button
b. Username is “maint” and the password is “password”
9. Click “Extensions”
a. Click Submit
b. Set “User Extension” to “8000”
c. Set “Ring Time” to “1”
d. Set Voicemail “Status” to “Enabled”
e. Set “Voicemail Password” to “12345”
f. Click “Submit”
10. Click “Trunks”
a. Click “Trunk ZAP/g0”
b. Set “Maximum channels” to “1”
c. Set “Dial Rules” to “9NXXXXXX”
d. Click “Submit Changes”
e. Click “Apply Configuration Changes”
f. Click “Continue with Reload”
11. Click “Inbound Routes:
a. Click the radio button for “Voicemail” and set it to “<8000> (no-msg)”
b. Click Submit
c. Click “OK” to the “Leaving the DID Number…” dialogue box
12. Click “Apply Configuration Changes” at the top denoted in the orange bar
a. Click “Continue with reload”
13. Go back to the server console
a. Type “asterisk –r”
b. Type “zap show channels” (If you just see the pseudo channel, proceed to next step
c. Type “exit”
d. Type “genzaptelconf” and hit Enter
e. Type “service asterisk restart”
f. Type “asterisk –r”
g. Type “zap show channels”
i. Now you should see all 8 channels
h. Type “Exit”
14. Go back to the web browser
a. Go to b. Click the Asterisk/Config Edit button
c. Click “zapata.conf” and rem out “echotraining=800” by changing it to “#echotraining=800” (if I don’t do this, when I call the Asterisk I hear dead silence)
d. Click “Update”
e. Click “/etc/asterisk
i. Click “vm_general.inc”
ii. Rem out “maxmessage=180” with “#maxmessage=180”
iii. Set “minmessage=3” to “minmessage=15”
iv. Rem out “maxsilence=5” with “#maxsilence=5”
v. Type in “maxmsg=9999” (this will allow 9,999 messages in the Inbox)
vi. Click “Update”
vii. Click “Re-Read Configs”
15. To make the recording start sooner, shorten the voicemail introduction greeting:
a. Install freeware WinSCP on your Windows box and setup appropriately
b. Browse to “/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/”
c. Rename “vm-intro.wav” to “vm-intro-bak.wav”
d. Move “1.wav” from “/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/digits” to “/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/”
e. Rename “1.wav” to “vm-intro.wav”
16. Change the recording format from wav to gsm to save hard drive space
a. Click Asterisk/Config Edit from the web gui
b. Click vm_general.inc
c. Rem out the “format=wav49|wav” with “#format=wav49|wav”
d. Create the line “format=gsm”
e. Click “Update”
f. Click “Re-Read Configs”
17. Set-up the Avaya
a. Create an analog extension and plug it into any of the slots on the FXO card that you installed in the Asterisk server.
b. Add the feature button “audix-rec” on the phone you want to record from and set the extension equal to the analog extension you created in step a.
18. Record
a. Call the number, press the “audix-rec” button after the call is connected.
i. Note – You should hear a beep from the Avaya after about 5 seconds to confirm that the call is being recorded. You can change this feature on the Avaya by doing a “change system feature” and on Page 6 you can set the “Recording Delay Timer” to “0” and you can make the “Ready Indication Tone” audible to the “initiator,” “all,” or “none.”
b. To end the recording, hang up or hit the “audix-rec” button again.
19. Play/Retrieve the Recordings
a. From the web browser go to Asterisk/FreePBX/Recordings OR b. Enter the Login (the extension number you created in Step 9) and the Password (the Voicemail password you created in Step 9) e.g. Login=8000 Password=12345
c. Note – You may get a red error, follow the steps in the error – click “Settings,” then make sure the “Audio Format” is set to “Smallest Download (.gsm)” and then click “Update,” now click “Voicemail” and you will see your voicemails, click “Play” to play them. If they don’t play properly, you will need to install Apple Quicktime, because it plays .gsm files. Sometimes the Play window will hang, just close and try to play again.
Tips
Type “asterisk –r –vvvvv” to see everything that is happening in the background
Use Freeware Putty to SSH into the machine
Use Freeware WinSCP to manage the file system
The voicemails are stored at /var/spool/asterisk/voicemail/device/8000/INBOX
To resample wav files: sox foo-in.wav -r 8000 -c 1 -s -w foo-out.wav resample
In a nutshell, I am using audix-rec and a Asterisk server to catch the recordings.
I fully documented the configuration. Keep in mind, I purchased a dedicated server and a 8-port fxo card, but my documentation should work for other types of hardware.
Hardware Used
o HP Proliant DL360G5 $4,000
o XEON 5150 2.66GHZ
o 4GB PC2-4300 (2 x 2)
o Slimline CD-RW
o 4 x 146GB 10K SAS 2.5 Hot Plug
o P400I RAID SAS 256MB PCIE
o Battery backed write cache upgrade
o 700W Redundant Power Supply
o Digium X400M-FXO Pci-e $675 (purchased from o Digium AEX808B
Software Used
o Trixbox 2.4.2.0 CE Edition
Trixbox Installation Procedure
1. Boot off the CD and take all the defaults - setting the root password, time zone, and keyboard type appropriately
2. At the “trixbox1 login:” box
a. type “root” and hit enter
b. type the root password and hit Enter
3. Type “vi /etc/grub.conf” (this will rid the “zaptel failed to load” errors at startup) This fix is documented here: a. Hit the Insert key
b. Use # to comment out:
#title trixbox (2.6.18-53.1.4.el5PAE)
#root (hd0,0)
#kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5PAE ro root=LABEL=/1 acpi=off
#initrd /initrd-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5PAE.img
c. Hit the “Esc” key
d. Hit the “:” key
e. Type “wq” and hit Enter
4. Type “shutdown now –r”
5. Watch the system come up and you should see all the Zaptel services start OK
6. If you don’t use dhcp and need to setup networking:
a. Type “netconfig” and setup networking appropriately
b. Type “service network restart”
7. Check status of the card:
a. Type “asterisk –r”
b. Type “zap show status” You should see the “Wildcard AEX800 Board 1”
8. From a web browser on another pc, type in a. In the upper right click the “User mode switch” button
b. Username is “maint” and the password is “password”
9. Click “Extensions”
a. Click Submit
b. Set “User Extension” to “8000”
c. Set “Ring Time” to “1”
d. Set Voicemail “Status” to “Enabled”
e. Set “Voicemail Password” to “12345”
f. Click “Submit”
10. Click “Trunks”
a. Click “Trunk ZAP/g0”
b. Set “Maximum channels” to “1”
c. Set “Dial Rules” to “9NXXXXXX”
d. Click “Submit Changes”
e. Click “Apply Configuration Changes”
f. Click “Continue with Reload”
11. Click “Inbound Routes:
a. Click the radio button for “Voicemail” and set it to “<8000> (no-msg)”
b. Click Submit
c. Click “OK” to the “Leaving the DID Number…” dialogue box
12. Click “Apply Configuration Changes” at the top denoted in the orange bar
a. Click “Continue with reload”
13. Go back to the server console
a. Type “asterisk –r”
b. Type “zap show channels” (If you just see the pseudo channel, proceed to next step
c. Type “exit”
d. Type “genzaptelconf” and hit Enter
e. Type “service asterisk restart”
f. Type “asterisk –r”
g. Type “zap show channels”
i. Now you should see all 8 channels
h. Type “Exit”
14. Go back to the web browser
a. Go to b. Click the Asterisk/Config Edit button
c. Click “zapata.conf” and rem out “echotraining=800” by changing it to “#echotraining=800” (if I don’t do this, when I call the Asterisk I hear dead silence)
d. Click “Update”
e. Click “/etc/asterisk
i. Click “vm_general.inc”
ii. Rem out “maxmessage=180” with “#maxmessage=180”
iii. Set “minmessage=3” to “minmessage=15”
iv. Rem out “maxsilence=5” with “#maxsilence=5”
v. Type in “maxmsg=9999” (this will allow 9,999 messages in the Inbox)
vi. Click “Update”
vii. Click “Re-Read Configs”
15. To make the recording start sooner, shorten the voicemail introduction greeting:
a. Install freeware WinSCP on your Windows box and setup appropriately
b. Browse to “/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/”
c. Rename “vm-intro.wav” to “vm-intro-bak.wav”
d. Move “1.wav” from “/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/digits” to “/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/”
e. Rename “1.wav” to “vm-intro.wav”
16. Change the recording format from wav to gsm to save hard drive space
a. Click Asterisk/Config Edit from the web gui
b. Click vm_general.inc
c. Rem out the “format=wav49|wav” with “#format=wav49|wav”
d. Create the line “format=gsm”
e. Click “Update”
f. Click “Re-Read Configs”
17. Set-up the Avaya
a. Create an analog extension and plug it into any of the slots on the FXO card that you installed in the Asterisk server.
b. Add the feature button “audix-rec” on the phone you want to record from and set the extension equal to the analog extension you created in step a.
18. Record
a. Call the number, press the “audix-rec” button after the call is connected.
i. Note – You should hear a beep from the Avaya after about 5 seconds to confirm that the call is being recorded. You can change this feature on the Avaya by doing a “change system feature” and on Page 6 you can set the “Recording Delay Timer” to “0” and you can make the “Ready Indication Tone” audible to the “initiator,” “all,” or “none.”
b. To end the recording, hang up or hit the “audix-rec” button again.
19. Play/Retrieve the Recordings
a. From the web browser go to Asterisk/FreePBX/Recordings OR b. Enter the Login (the extension number you created in Step 9) and the Password (the Voicemail password you created in Step 9) e.g. Login=8000 Password=12345
c. Note – You may get a red error, follow the steps in the error – click “Settings,” then make sure the “Audio Format” is set to “Smallest Download (.gsm)” and then click “Update,” now click “Voicemail” and you will see your voicemails, click “Play” to play them. If they don’t play properly, you will need to install Apple Quicktime, because it plays .gsm files. Sometimes the Play window will hang, just close and try to play again.
Tips
Type “asterisk –r –vvvvv” to see everything that is happening in the background
Use Freeware Putty to SSH into the machine
Use Freeware WinSCP to manage the file system
The voicemails are stored at /var/spool/asterisk/voicemail/device/8000/INBOX
To resample wav files: sox foo-in.wav -r 8000 -c 1 -s -w foo-out.wav resample
