FYI XIVO first look

[ErikU]

I am in the process of deciding what to do about an old PIAF install that supports my small business (15 extensions, 4 calls max, two tenants, Polycom endpoints). This ancient install has been mostly working ok, but I have been having some issues lately and think I would be better served by just replacing the whole thing to move to modern hardware and a modern build.

I installed Xivo to a Rasperry Pi 3 to test and have a couple early thoughts...

1. This seems like a really solid and nice Asterisk front end. I like where it is going, and how it is actively updated and supported.

2. I do miss the freepbx modules. For example, the Superfecta caller ID lookup is a must have. Not sure what to do about caller id lookup now.

3. The lack of an IVR gui is probably a show-stopper. I read Wards take on this, and with all due respect (seriously, his community and platform support is amazing and much appreciated), I totally disagree with his take on this. It strikes me as marketing mumbo-jumbo to cover for a serious hole in design. While I could waste hours hacking together an IVR, I don't want to, and I certainly couldn't imagine training a less technical person in making this happen.

With that said, I've only been playing with this for a day or so. I may have some more comments to add, and I'm sure I will be enlightened by more experienced users.

-Erik

 

[briankelly63]

http://nerdvittles.com/?p=18112

also I think they are working on the IVR piece.

 

[wardmundy]

Yes, an IVR component is on the way. Still not sure why it is easier to type an extension number in a GUI than it is in a script. But the question will be moot soon anyway.

 

[Jack Miller]

With Ward's tutorial, creating an IVR in XiVO is so easy that I could do it. Hired a voice and we're done

GUI? don't need it.

 

[ErikU]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot and am looking forward to the ivr gui.

-Erik

 

[Sylvain Boily]

Hello, yes we've heard you about IVR, please keep in touch and be patient

 

[ErikU]

Is that a P46 Mirage or Meridian?

 

[markieb]

That's awesome news!
I'm watching with baited breath myself. This can not come soon enough!
I've been praying daily for these last missing pieces to be included into XIVO as well.

The only things stopping me from making a final decision to adopt XIVO as my install of choice to replace my ageing PIAF server is IVR, CDR & Superfecta.
These are game changers for me as they are critical components I can't do without, and though I dabble with the odd "small" change or modification, scripting is not one of my strengths.

 

[ou812]

I would also like to see better CDR reports.

Gary

 

[Yahdie]

Setting up multiple IVRs is painless using Ward's Tutorial, I think that some sort of customer facing CDR would be a better use of time IMHO

 

[Yahdie]

Oh, and a script to import DIDs from csv unless I have overlooked that.....my next XiVO build has 100+ DIDs....

 

[wardmundy]

Oh, and a script to import DIDs from csv unless I have overlooked that.....my next XiVO build has 100+ DIDs....

I haven't actually tried this, but it should be fairly easy to do yourself. The trunk settings are stored in the usersip table of the asterisk database in PostGreSQL. So all you will need to do is clone an existing trunk once you know the setup. To get that far, try this and experiment with id number until you get the record you want. In the latest XiVO Snapshot, there are 13 or 14 of them if I recall correctly:

export PGPASSWORD='proformatique'; psql -P pager=off -U asterisk -d asterisk --expanded -c "SELECT * from usersip where id=4"

This will spit out a list of the field entries needed:

id                  | 4
name                | yourvoipmsID_xivo-master
type                | friend
username            | yourvoipmsID_xivo-master
secret              | yourpassword
md5secret           |
context             | from-extern
language            | en_US
accountcode         |
amaflags            | default
allowtransfer       |
fromuser            |
fromdomain          |
subscribemwi        | 0
buggymwi            |
call-limit          | 0
callerid            | 8431234567
fullname            |
cid_number          |
maxcallbitrate      |
insecure            | port,invite
nat                 | force_rport,comedia
promiscredir        |
usereqphone         |
videosupport        |
trustrpid           | 1
sendrpid            | yes
allowsubscribe      |
allowoverlap        |
dtmfmode            | rfc2833
rfc2833compensate   |
qualify             | yes
g726nonstandard     |
disallow            | all
allow               | ulaw,alaw,gsm
autoframing         |
mohinterpret        |
useclientcode       |
progressinband      |
t38pt_udptl         |
t38pt_usertpsource  |
rtptimeout          |
rtpholdtimeout      |
rtpkeepalive        |
deny                |
permit              |
defaultip           |
host                | atlanta.voip.ms
port                | 5060
regexten            |
subscribecontext    |
fullcontact         |
vmexten             |
callingpres         |
ipaddr              |
regseconds          | 0
regserver           |
lastms              |
parkinglot          |
protocol            | sip
category            | trunk
outboundproxy       |
transport           | udp
remotesecret        |
directmedia         |
callcounter         |
busylevel           |
ignoresdpversion    |
session-timers      |
session-expires     |
session-minse       |
session-refresher   |
callbackextension   |
timert1             |
timerb              |
qualifyfreq         |
contactpermit       |
contactdeny         |
unsolicited_mailbox |
use_q850_reason     |
encryption          |
snom_aoc_enabled    |
maxforwards         |
disallowed_methods  |
textsupport         |
commented           | 0
options             | {}

Once you have that information, you can build your CSV file using the only pieces that change, e.g. name, username, secret, and callerid. Then write a little script to read the entries and add records to the usersip table.

 

[wardmundy]

Update: Looks like there's a bit more to it, e.g. trunkfeatures table. I'll put this on my list to discuss with @Sylvain Boily when he visits next month. I'm sure there's a way to do it with the XiVO API. I just don't know how yet.

 

[wardmundy]

Update2: And some providers send all the calls from all the DIDs into your PBX using a single provider registration. In this case, all you really need to do is clone the incoming routes by adding records to incall and dialaction.

 

[Yahdie]

The ideal situation would be to have a tool to do a mass import of DIDs from csv pointed at specific destinations

 

[wardmundy]

The ideal situation would be to have a tool to do a mass import of DIDs from csv pointed at specific destinations

Agreed.

 

[Sylvain Boily]

It already exist. Have you try this? http://documentation.xivo.io/en/stable/administration/users/csv_import.html

There is also rest API for incoming calls, so it's easy to write a tool to help you.

 

[ou812]

There is a lot of talk about how we can use API to do things on the XiVO server, I'm sure there is a lot of people like me who do not know how to use this, besides a written doc which is usually over our heads is there a working API that we can actually use and try to use it as a learning tool to try to understand what it is and how it works,

Gary.

 

[Sylvain Boily]

Have you try api.xivo.io?
If you know python we have all clients library to use it. I have some very simple examples on my gist.
For example to change dnd or forwards: https://gist.github.com/sboily/e3e6b1c2efda85a1255f

 

[TechnicalJohn]

HOLY CRACKERS!!
I was looking into this very subject because I have a 6 year old PIAF, 200 extensions, that needs a major upgrade. As several others mentioned, my initial thoughts about migrating were not very encouraging given some missing "features" in the gui... But reviewing the API, I see that I have a ton of features at my fingertips, just not visible from the surface! And kudos for using python!

I've already got a test VM set up in virtualbox and will be working out my migration scenarios...