During the developer's conference call yesterday evening, it was decided that we finally should release the much-awaited Asterisk 2.0 Stable release, also called "codename AAFJ".
This relaese is based on the "hidden" cvs that has been in operation for six months by a group of core development members in the Asterisk.org open source project, under the leadership of Brian K. East, who will maintain the stable code base for the 2.0 CVS tree and releases.
-"It's awsome", says Brian, "but the new features I'm adding to 2.0.1 stable will be even more spectacular. Follow me to the future!"
Among the new features in Asterisk 2.0 is
* APBX - A fully pluggable PBX architecture ----------------------------------------- The APBX framework makes everything in Asterisk 2.0 hot-pluggable and dynamic, including the PBX itself. With this framework, Asterisk 2.0 will be able to be the host system for almost anything, including the famous Apache.org web server, the SipFoundry SIPx PBX and a Java Runtime Engine. Rumours has it that one developer actually ported the Erlang runtime and executed an Ericsson AXE switch within Asterisk. "With an embedded web server, we can finally start working on a decent user interface model" says Kram Spencer, the original developer of Asterisk.
* DBRAGI - The Database Remote procedure call AGI subsystem ---------------------------------------------------------- The DBRAGI subsystem makes it possible to move the dial plan processing to stored procedures in databases. With Asterisk 1.2, the ARA (Asterisk Realtime Architecture) took a first step towards a better database integration. With 2.0, the project actually runs most of the PBX within an Oracle (TM) database, making Asterisk carrier grade.
* XIAX - The New Inter-Asterisk Protocol -------------------------------------- With Asterisk 2.0, the project also launches the next generation of the IAX protocol. This is a huge update of the rather oldfashioned IAX protocol engine. - XML based messages All messages in XIAX is based on XML. This makes the protocol more robust, since all messages are checked for correct syntax with an external DTD and XML parser. All voice frames are encoded in BASE64 and checked with an S/MIME signature, which makes the XIAX protocol the most secure VoIP protocol in the known universe. - Full DNS NAPTR/SRV support To add to the robustness of the protocol, all communication is done with full DNS service names. For each packet in the data stream, there's full redundancy based on DNS lookups. "The recommendation for XIAX is to define at least five XIAX servers per phone number, and let DNS route the XIAX packets. No packet will get lost, due to the stability and simpleness of the DNS system." says Kram. "Using IP numbers did not gives us this functionality." - Strong TCP/SSL support The new XIAX protocol also supports TCP with SSL encapsulation. "TCP is much easier for the firewall to handle and with strong SSL encryption. With IAX2 we could bypass every NAT device. With XIAX over SSL on the HTTP port, we can traverse any firewall too." says Steve Xintaro, the main architect of XIAX.
* New source code structure - C# and .net ---------------------------------------- Asterisk 2.0 was moved to a Microsoft platform due to the demand for higher stability and a more secure foundation. Therefore, the code was quickly moved to C# on the .net platform. This gives Asterisk a lot of new features, including being fully integrated with Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Active Directory. "With all the user data stored in Active Directory, we finally have the user under full control. Users can dial in to the PBX to change their Windows password. We can also implement single-sign-on based on DTMF from a cell phone or WiFi phone." says Kelvin Reming. "The C# language gives us much more modern code. And I'm so happy to get rid of the stupid-looking arctic bird, an ugly animal that that couldn't even fly."
* New user-support system: SmartyList (TM) ---------------------------------------- In order to solve the problem with the asterisk-users mailing list that was the main support channel for old Asterisk versions, the Asterisk 2 team also constructed the SmartyList auto-support system, that will automatically analyze all input and sort it out on one of twenty different lists. Eighteen of these are automatically handled by auto-responders, that point to the proper Wiki page, developer or line of code. "Users doesn't seem to read the available documentation before sending e-mails, so now we streamlined the process, giving them the oppurtunity to send even more e-mails." The SmartyList server is hosted on a 500 KB cable link in Brians basement, making it easier for the source code maintainer to stay in touch with the user base.
* Removed features ---------------- To clean up the product, a lot of functionality was removed. Among them are the SIP protocol driver that never could be implemented correctly anyway. "We kept improving stuff according to the specs all the time, but at the same time they changed the specs so it was impossible to sort out how to do it." says Ulle Jansson, the driving force behind the old SIP channel. Ulle is now working solely with XIAX channel usability.
Asterisk 2.0 is immediately available on SourceForge and for purchase from Dogium, inc in a Carrier-grade version that also includes SS7, MegaCO and X.25 support.
Have a nice friday, enjoy 2.0! The Asterisk 2.0 Developer Team
/O ;-) _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
