JUST RELEASED: Visit the Incredible PBX Wiki
Today we’re finishing up the Phone Genie for Asterisk® project by introducing version 2.0. For those that missed the original article last month, you might want to start there. Phone Genie for Asterisk is an all-purpose web utility that lets you reconfigure virtually anything and everything on your Asterisk system on the fly using an incredibly powerful HTML command language that you can master in a matter of minutes. All you’ll need is a web browser including most cellphone web browsers as well. And, of course, it’s free just like version 1.0.
What Phone Genie 1.0 provided was a web interface to the complete Asterisk Manager API. With version 2.0, you now get HTTPS secure web access as well as a web interface to both the Asterisk Command Line Interface (CLI) and the Linux command prompt with bash command and script support as well. And all this power is accessible using nothing more than simple web requests. As in the original version, Phone Genie 2.0 also provides complete control over Asterisk’s internal database: dbget to query the Asterisk internal database, dbput to add and update information in the database, dbdel to delete records from the database, and dbshow to display all or a subset of the Asterisk database contents.
Do you have to be a whiz kid to use the Phone Genie? Not at all. In fact, all you really need to do is download the application into the default web directory on your Asterisk, TrixBox, or Asterisk@Home web server, and keep reading. We’ve tested Phone Genie with versions of Asterisk@Home dating back to 2.8, and it should work with all the latest TrixBox releases as well.
Security Warning. Phone Genie 2.0 includes two password schemes to protect your Asterisk system from intrusion and/or destruction. Without secure passwords, Phone Genie is about as dangerous a tool as you can imagine. Anything and everything on your Asterisk server can be destroyed by anyone who gains access to Phone Genie with the administrator password. If you’re not going to change the default password, you might as well put your Asterisk server on your front curb.
Installation. To download the new software and for the complete write-up on installation and security setup as well as examples of all the web commands supported by Phone Genie 2.0, visit our Best of Nerd Vittles site. While you’re there, take a look around. There are loads of new Asterisk goodies that are free for the taking. There’s also a new Best of Nerd Vittles RSS Feed to keep you up to date on additions and changes on the site. Enjoy!
Nerd Vittles Demo Hot Line (courtesy of les.net). You now can take a number of Nerd Vittles projects for a test drive… by phone! The current demos include (1) MailCall for Asterisk with password 1111 (retrieve your email by phone), (2) NewsClips for Asterisk (latest news headlines in dozens of categories), (3) Weather Forecasts by U.S. Airport Code, and (4) Weather Forecasts by U.S. ZIP Code. You’re not prompted for #4 yet, but it does work! Just call our number (shown in the left margin) and take any or all of them for a spin. The sound quality may not be perfect due to performance limitations of our ancient Intel 386 demo machine. But the price is right.
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