Asterisk::LCR - Least Cost Routing for Asterisk
Asterisk::LCR is an open-source, Perl-based collection of tools to help you manage efficiently multiple VoIP providers with your Asterisk installation.
It attempts to be sort of clean, simple and well documented.
Speaking of documentation, it's probably best if you go read http://ykoz.net/intl/lcr/ since I maintain it there.
Once Asterisk::LCR is installed, you need to write a configuration file.
$] cat /etc/asterisk-lcr.cfg # Asterisk::LCR supports pluggable storage backend, so it's possible # to write MySQL or other storage backend mechanisms one day. [storage] package = Asterisk::LCR::Storage::DiskBlob.pm # Asterisk::LCR supports pluggable rates comparing backend, so you # could write one which simulates costs against actual traffic for # example. [comparer] package = Asterisk::LCR::Comparer::XERAND currency = eur # Asterisk::LCR supports pluggable dialing strategies. Currently there is # 'MinCost' which tries the absolutely cheapest route, and 'MinTime' which # tries the $n cheapest providers simultaneously. [dialer] package = Asterisk::LCR::Dialer::MinCost locale = fr # Finally, you need to define which providers rates you want to import. [import:voipjet] package = Asterisk::LCR::Importer::VoIPJet dial = us IAX2/login@voipjet/REPLACEME [import:nufone] package = Asterisk::LCR::Importer::NuFone dial = us IAX2/login@NuFone/REPLACEME
Let's examine the few sections of this configuration file:
There needs to be a configuration section named [comparer], which defines what comparing strategy to use.
[comparer] package = Asterisk::LCR::Comparer::XERAND currency = eur
You can switch comparing strategies using the 'package' attribute. At the moment of this writing there are only two packages:
You can write you own comparer modules by subclassing the Asterisk::LCR::Comparer package.
Compares rates without paying attentions to details like currency, connection charge or per minute billing.
Pretty dumb, but useful to see how things work and for debugging.
Compares rates by converting currency using XE's website.
Then, compares, say, a 30/6 with a 1/1 rate by running a simulation of how much it would actually cost with calls of random value between 0 and 200 seconds.
You can choose between two strategies:
This strategy minimizes cost by trying from cheapest to most expensive provider for any given route, in the limit of 3 providers.
[dialer] package = Asterisk::LCR::Dialer::MinCost locale = fr limit = 3
This strategy minimizes PDD (Post-Dialing-Delay) by trying dialing out the 3 cheapest providers at the same time.
ATTENTION: ALL import sections must be named [import:<something>] and ALL of them must have a unique name.
These modules are used to import / download rates from various providers. The following modules are available.
Import module for VoIPJet.
[import:voipjet] package = Asterisk::LCR::Importer::VoIPJet dial = us IAX2/login@voipjet/REPLACEME
Note the 'dial' parameter which is a dial template. In this example, 'us' indicate that VoIPJet uses US style dialing and IAX2/login@voipjet/REPLACEME is a dial template which needs to be replaced with your own login. REPLACEME is automagically replaced with the right "stuff" when the dialplan is generated.
This dial template assumes that voipjet's peer definition is placed under [voipjet] in iax.conf.
Supported providers:
Providers! Send a mail to jhiver@ykoz.net to arrange for your rates to be readily importable into Asterisk::LCR.
First you need to create a working directory in which you will use the LCR tools.
mkdir /tmp/lcrstuff
Once you have written your configuration file, you can do three things:
cd /tmp/lcr asterisk-lcr-import
This will import all the providers you have defined in the [provider:something] sections and write them onto disk in a canonical format.
cd /tmp/lcr asterisk-lcr-build
This will generate a <prefix> => [ list of sorted rates ] tree from the rates which you have imported.
cd /tmp/lcr asterisk-lcr-dialplan >/etc/asterisk/lcr-dialplan.conf
This will generate an optimized dialplan which you can cut and paste (or more likely include) in your Asterisk's dialplan.
Asterisk::LCR is capable of generating dialplans which implement your local dialing conventions.
Locales are located in text files which can be found in this distribution under ./lib/Asterisk/LCR/Locale/
At the time of this writing there are two implemented translation tables: us.txt (for US-style dialing) and fr.txt (for France + overseas departments dialing).
Feel free to submit your own translations tables to me! I will add them in the distribution.
US Locale translation tables:
"011" "" # International prefixes are removed "1" "1" # If it start with a '1', then it's all good
FR Locale translation tables:
The remains of what used to be the 'French Empire' make things a little more complicated...
# local prefix <tab> global number replacement "00" "" # international prefix is replaced by nothing, i.e 0044X. => 44X. "0262" "262262" # These prefixes are for overseas department, which within France are "0692" "262692" # dialed as a national number but have separate country codes at the "0590" "590590" # international telephony level "0690" "590690" "0594" "594594" "0694" "594694" "0596" "596596" "0696" "596696" "0" "33" # 0X. => 0033X.
Copyright 2006 - Jean-Michel Hiver - All Rights Reserved Asterisk::LCR is under the GPL license. See the LICENSE file for details. Mailing list: not yet. Someone fancy setting one up for me? Contact: jhiver@ykoz.net
1 POD Error
The following errors were encountered while parsing the POD:
Non-ASCII character seen before =encoding in 'rates ]'. Assuming UTF-8
To install Asterisk::LCR, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm Asterisk::LCR
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install Asterisk::LCR
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.