Distribute Asterisk Events using XMPP PubSub

On occasion it is desirable to distribute device state (e.g. BLF) and message waiting indication (MWI) events between Asterisk servers. This can be accomplished by utilizing XMPP PubSub events and a common XMPP server. The Asterisk XMPP clients are configured via either jabber.conf or xmpp.conf .

Note: AstLinux 1.1.3 or later is required

Snippet - Asterisk jabber.conf or xmpp.conf on Local Server1

[general]
;debug=yes
;autoprune=yes
autoregister=yes
;collection_nodes=yes
pubsub_autocreate=yes

[asterisk]
type=client
serverhost=localhost  ; ie. asterisk.mydomain.tld
pubsub_node=pubsub.asterisk.mydomain.tld
username=server1@asterisk.mydomain.tld
secret=password
;priority=1
;port=5222
usetls=yes
usesasl=yes
buddy=server2@asterisk.mydomain.tld
distribute_events=yes

XMPP server configuration on Local Server1

The AstLinux Web Interface is used for configuration, click on Configure XMPP

Network tab → Network Services:

Specify the matching DNS hostname for your local server1…

Define the PubSub options…

Tip -> More Info: XMPP Server Configuration

Tip -> The firewall on the XMPP Server1 box must allow TCP port 5222 for Server2 to connect.

Snippet - extensions.conf on Local Server1

; DEVICE_STATE hint example
[blf]
exten => 24,hint,SIP/24

Snippet - Asterisk jabber.conf or xmpp.conf on Remote Server2

[general]
;debug=yes
;autoprune=yes
autoregister=yes
;collection_nodes=yes
pubsub_autocreate=yes

[asterisk]
type=client
serverhost=asterisk.mydomain.tld
pubsub_node=pubsub.asterisk.mydomain.tld
username=server2@asterisk.mydomain.tld
secret=password
;priority=1
;port=5222
usetls=yes
usesasl=yes
buddy=server1@asterisk.mydomain.tld
distribute_events=yes

Snippet - extensions.conf on Remote Server2

; DEVICE_STATE hint example
[blf_server1]
exten => 1024,hint,SIP/24

Note -> Only the device state (INUSE, NOT_INUSE, RINGING) of “SIP/24” is distributed, not the hintname (e.g. “1024”) or the context (e.g. “blf_server1”). You can name the hint and context as you want on Server2.

Now you can simply create a BLF key on a phone on Server2 for “1024” to monitor the device state of “SIP/24” of Server1. For getting local BLF keys to work, several other parameters in sip.conf and extensions.conf may be needed. The same applies to distributed device states. Here you'll find only the differences.

The Message Waiting Indication (MWI) events are also distributed across servers. For the above example you just need to add this to a phone in your sip.conf:

mailbox=24

as if it were a local mailbox. You will either need different mailbox numbers on each side or different voicemail contexts, if you want to use the MWI feature. You can check the MWI status in the Asterisk CLI with:

event dump cache MWI