Perhaps the most important skill required to troubleshoot is reading the log files. Like other Linux services, asterisk writes the logs in /var/log/asterisk

To enable a full log you should edit the /etc/asterisk/logger.conf and uncomment the full line. Afterwards you must run this command to apply changes:

# asterisk -rx “logger reload”

Here are examples of tracing in logs:

1. cat /var/log/asterisk/full | grep ERROR
2. cat /var/log/asterisk/full.1 | grep 9878 | grep “some text”
3. cat /var/log/asterisk/full|grep “user-callerid: “|grep 9899 > /var/log/asterisk/9899.log
4. cat /var/log/asterisk/full.1| grep “[22435]” > 9864.log
5. tail /var/log/asterisk/full | tee log_exmpl.txt
   

If you want to test your extension from Asterisk CLI you can use the “originate” command:

Example: asterisk -rx “originate SIP/1007 application Playback hello-world”

After this 1007 will ring and hello-world will be played.

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