Recording Calls with Asterisk

[cannibalflea]

Hi all,

I haven't actually set up my SheevaPlug with the PlugPBX image yet. My SheevaPlug will be here on Monday, but I wanted to get a head start and ask a couple of questions from the experts so I can hit the ground running. I'm a newbie to the world of Asterisk and freePBX. I'm trying to setup a phone recording system (for calling support lines and stuff like that) and I've found that Asterisk is capable of doing this sort of thing. I'm wondering if the PlugPBX includes the necessary components to enable this feature? If not, could you point me to documentation so I can enable this myself.

The other thing that I'm concerned about is storage of the audio files. I was thinking about getting a larger SD card and creating two partitions, one for the PlugPBX setup and one for storage. Is this okay or do I need to use a USB thumb drive? What is the largest SD Card that people have successfully used with SheevaPlug?

My current setup is using a windows based PBX and recording system, but this requires that I keep a windows computer on all the time, using a lot of power. I've got an SPA3102 gateway that allows me to answer and record calls coming from a landline. I'm hoping I could use the same equipment with PlugPBX and have a low power, always-on system.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Bests,
Al

[PlugPBX Admin]

Call recording works, voicemail etc yes.

You can modify the system however you want, use a USB Mass storage device, or record to the spare space on your 4 GIG SD card that hosts the system, create alternate mount points jus where voice recordings are saved, or even use a NFS/Samba mount point to a network server - or store them local and have a daily cron task move files aged more than one day off the system onto a network server.

Endless possibilities, the only limitation is your imagination and skills

After all. Its unix.

[cannibalflea]

Thanks Greg.

This is great. I've been able to get things working even though I'm not really a linux user. Just to report, I was able to use a Lexar 8GB Platinum II SDHC card to work. The only problem I'm having is with the console but from what I've read here that is something that would be fixed later. I'm trying to find some time to sit down and actually go through installing each of the components one by one as per your tutorial on a spare SD card. Should be fun.

Again thanks for all your work.

Bests,
Al

[PlugPBX Admin]

Serial console is fixed with newer linux kernels, its been confirmed.

You could apt-get install a newer linux kernel. You'll break DAHDI and hence loose the MeetMe conference room feature, but otherwise it'll work fine. Its on the todo list for next release.