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Asterisk AMI CoreStatus and CoreSettings: separate status from settings

Use the two core-query actions as correlated, node-specific evidence without turning a successful response into proof of call health, configuration ownership or capacity.

Reviewed 2026-10-30Asterisk branch-23-generated CoreStatus and CoreSettings references, branch-22-generated references for the same actions, and official AMI syntax, v2 and permission documentation reviewed October 16, 2026; installed branch and maintenance release, server identity, manager transport, account, ACL, read and write classes, action availability, returned fields, clock, restart and reload history, configured limits, runtime load, channels and downstream collector behavior remain deployment specific; no PBX, manager configuration, account, credential, socket, session, request, response, status value, setting, process, channel, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or testedAdvancedDocumentation based · not lab tested

Name the server and manager session before the query

Record the intended Asterisk node, running branch and maintenance release, manager listener and protected transport, manager username, session identity and collection time. Establish authentication and user-scoped action visibility before treating a response as evidence from the expected PBX.

A reachable manager socket or successful Login does not prove that the client reached the intended node, that these actions are visible to the account or that later data belongs to the same connection.

Send the documented action with a unique ActionID

The generated references define Action: CoreStatus and Action: CoreSettings; each accepts an optional ActionID that is returned for transaction correlation. Use a new, non-secret identifier for each request, terminate the AMI message with a blank line and retain the complete response frame.

Do not infer which request a response belongs to from arrival order alone when a client pipelines actions or shares a connection. Keep reconnects as new sessions and do not reuse late responses from a closed connection.

Ask CoreStatus only for core status evidence

Asterisk describes CoreStatus as a query for PBX core status variables. Treat its response as a point-in-time statement from one running core. Preserve the returned field names and values exactly as supplied by the installed release rather than forcing them into a schema copied from another branch.

Core status is not a call-quality test, SIP registration inventory, channel census, configuration diff or root-cause explanation. Correlate any restart or reload interpretation with the selected node, clock and independent service evidence.

Ask CoreSettings only for reported core settings

Asterisk describes CoreSettings as a query for PBX core settings such as version information. Preserve the whole response and distinguish a reported setting or limit from current usage, effective module behavior and the source file or automation that owns it.

A value returned by the action does not prove spare capacity, successful reload, healthy trunks or that a configuration-management system would reproduce the same state after restart.

Compare snapshots without erasing their boundaries

Attach server identity, session identity, action, ActionID, request time, response time and collector version to every snapshot. Compare like with like: same action, node and maintenance context. Preserve absent fields and newly added fields instead of silently substituting defaults.

The AMI v2 specification allows fields to be added to existing messages. Parsers should accept additional fields, retain the raw frame and alert separately on missing required evidence, malformed messages, unexpected values and transport loss.

Corroborate the operational question at its owning boundary

Use user-scoped command inventory and manager permissions to explain action availability. Use server-side process, configuration-lifecycle, logging, channel, SIP and call-path evidence for the operational question itself. Keep collection read-only and narrowly authorized.

Accept the integration only when it can identify the right node, correlate both actions independently, preserve complete responses and state what neither response proves. No PBX, manager configuration, account, socket, response, core value, channel, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested for this guide.

Record runtime identity alongside core settings

The crash and backtrace guide adds executable, module, process, signal, dump and symbol evidence to the runtime snapshot.

Add process and build identity to memory evidence

The memory-growth guide binds runtime status to the exact executable, modules, PID, uptime and measurement interval.

Bind thread evidence to one running process

The deadlock-evidence guide records PID, executable, uptime, build options and incident timestamps with each snapshot.

Bind lifecycle events to one process

The restart diagnostic aligns CoreStatus, PID, uptime, Shutdown and FullyBooted with one change window.

Sources & applicability

Primary references for the technical details above. Operational examples and planning checklists are VoIP.info editorial guidance.

Examples require adaptation to your topology. No live PBX or hardware testing is claimed.

Continue your research

Guide · Current Asterisk interface documentation reviewed September 30, 2026; implementation must be checked against the installed branch and integration library

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Guide · Asterisk branch-23-generated Login, Challenge, Logoff and Events references, branch-22-generated Login reference, and official AMI syntax, v2, permission and network-security documentation reviewed October 16, 2026; installed branch and maintenance release, listener and transport, manager.conf ownership, username, secret rotation, ACL, read and write classes, login event mask, connection lifetime, client timeout, reconnect policy and downstream operations remain deployment specific; no PBX, manager configuration, credential, ACL, socket, manager session, request, response, event, channel, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk AMI session authentication, Login, Logoff and Challenge

Keep manager identity, authentication exchange, transport protection, event mask, permissions and session lifetime as separate AMI evidence.

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Asterisk AMI command inventory and permission evidence

Use ListCommands and the administrator CLI to distinguish the actions visible to one manager user from the actions registered by the running Asterisk instance.

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Asterisk configuration lifecycle: source, reload, restart and proof

Trace one change from its supported configuration owner through generated input, loaded runtime state, activation scope, call evidence and rollback.

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Guide · Current Asterisk CLI, logging, PJSIP troubleshooting and call-identifier documentation reviewed September 30, 2026; CLI commands are not shell commands; no PBX, trace, call or media tested

Asterisk CLI and PJSIP logging for one failed call

Bind one failed call to the loaded PJSIP objects, dialplan decision and short signaling trace, then prove diagnostic cleanup.

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Guide · Operational guidance; Asterisk 22 / FreePBX 17 where applicable

Least privilege for PBX users and integrations

Separate the right to register, place calls, administer the PBX and read sensitive data.

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Troubleshooting · Asterisk branch-23-generated CoreStatus and CoreSettings references, branch-22-generated references for the same actions, and official AMI syntax, v2 and permission documentation reviewed October 16, 2026; installed branch and maintenance release, server identity, manager transport, account, ACL, read and write classes, action availability, returned fields, clock, restart and reload history, configured limits, runtime load, channels and downstream collector behavior remain deployment specific; no PBX, manager configuration, account, credential, socket, session, request, response, status value, setting, process, channel, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk AMI core status or settings is missing, stale or wrong

Trace one core query through node identity, session, framing, action visibility, response correlation, parser behavior and the independent evidence that owns the disputed value.

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Guide · Current Asterisk backtrace, logging, issue-report, debugging-CLI and Menuselect documentation was reviewed October 29, 2026; installed branch, packaging, executable, modules, debug symbols, build flags, service manager, kernel core policy, filesystem capacity, crash signal, core file, stack frames, locks, logs, packet capture, reproduction, production impact, root cause, fix and support response remain deployment-specific; no Asterisk host, FreePBX system, binary, module, debug-symbol package, kernel setting, core dump, backtrace, log, packet, crash, deadlock, live call or support case was inspected or tested

Asterisk crash, core dump and backtrace evidence

Prepare, capture, preserve, inspect and share Asterisk crash or deadlock evidence without assuming a core file is complete, symbols match or the root cause is known.

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Troubleshooting · Current Asterisk backtrace, logging, issue-report, debugging-CLI and Menuselect documentation was reviewed October 29, 2026; installed branch, packaging, executable, modules, debug symbols, build flags, service manager, kernel core policy, filesystem capacity, crash signal, core file, stack frames, locks, logs, packet capture, reproduction, production impact, root cause, fix and support response remain deployment-specific; no Asterisk host, FreePBX system, binary, module, debug-symbol package, kernel setting, core dump, backtrace, log, packet, crash, deadlock, live call or support case was inspected or tested

Asterisk core dump is missing or the backtrace is incomplete

Find the first evidence gap across incident identity, dump policy, matching binaries and modules, debug symbols, report generation, thread coverage, logs and secure escalation.

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Guide · Current official Asterisk memory-leak, MALLOC_DEBUG, reference-count, logging, issue-guideline, Menuselect and log-security documentation was reviewed October 29, 2026; installed branch, packaging, compiler flags, allocator, module set, process accounting, workload, baseline, observation interval, mmlog, reference log, logger output, Valgrind run, performance impact, reproduction, causal finding, correction and support response remain deployment-specific; no Asterisk host, FreePBX system, binary, module, compiler flag, process, allocation, reference, log, call, memory-growth event, leak, corruption, crash, fix or support case was inspected or tested

Asterisk memory-growth evidence: MALLOC_DEBUG, mmlog and reference counts

Investigate rising Asterisk memory without treating one process counter, allocation snapshot, mmlog entry or reference record as proof of a leak or root cause.

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Troubleshooting · Current official Asterisk memory-leak, MALLOC_DEBUG, reference-count, logging, issue-guideline, Menuselect and log-security documentation was reviewed October 29, 2026; installed branch, packaging, compiler flags, allocator, module set, process accounting, workload, baseline, observation interval, mmlog, reference log, logger output, Valgrind run, performance impact, reproduction, causal finding, correction and support response remain deployment-specific; no Asterisk host, FreePBX system, binary, module, compiler flag, process, allocation, reference, log, call, memory-growth event, leak, corruption, crash, fix or support case was inspected or tested

Asterisk memory grows, mmlog is missing or reference evidence is inconclusive

Find the first gap across process accounting, workload, instrumented build identity, mmlog generation, reference-log custody, bounded capture and causal escalation.

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Guide · Current official Asterisk CLI-debugging, backtrace, deadlock, issue-guideline, logging, Menuselect and log-security documentation was reviewed October 29, 2026; installed branch, packaging, compiler flags, symbols, executable, process, thread, lock, workload, taskprocessor state, debugger behavior, core-dump policy, logger output, reproduction, causal finding, correction and support response remain deployment-specific; the legacy deadlock page is explicitly scoped to Asterisk versions before 13.14.0 and 14.3.0 and is retained only for its version-labelled workflow; no Asterisk host, FreePBX system, binary, compiler flag, symbol, process, thread, lock, debugger session, core dump, backtrace, log, call, deadlock, fix or support case was inspected or tested

Asterisk deadlock evidence: DEBUG_THREADS, core show locks and all-thread backtraces

Investigate an apparently frozen Asterisk process without treating an unavailable CLI, one lock row, one thread stack or a forced core as proof of a deadlock or root cause.

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Troubleshooting · Current official Asterisk CLI-debugging, backtrace, deadlock, issue-guideline, logging, Menuselect and log-security documentation was reviewed October 29, 2026; installed branch, packaging, compiler flags, symbols, executable, process, thread, lock, workload, taskprocessor state, debugger behavior, core-dump policy, logger output, reproduction, causal finding, correction and support response remain deployment-specific; the legacy deadlock page is explicitly scoped to Asterisk versions before 13.14.0 and 14.3.0 and is retained only for its version-labelled workflow; no Asterisk host, FreePBX system, binary, compiler flag, symbol, process, thread, lock, debugger session, core dump, backtrace, log, call, deadlock, fix or support case was inspected or tested

Asterisk appears deadlocked, core show locks is missing or the backtrace is incomplete

Find the first gap across process state, workload, diagnostic build, lock snapshot, symbols, all-thread stacks, logging, artifact custody and safe restoration.

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Guide · Current official Asterisk stop-and-restart, running-process, FullyBooted, Shutdown, CoreStatus, process-directory, module-loading, logging, debug-collection and Reload documentation was reviewed October 30, 2026; installed branch, packaging, service manager, executable, process, control socket, PID file, active channels, admission path, shutdown request, module state, dependency readiness, logger output, traffic result, rollback and support response remain deployment-specific; no Asterisk host, FreePBX system, service manager, binary, process, socket, PID file, channel, call, module, event, log, restart, shutdown, readiness result, rollback or support case was inspected or tested

Asterisk stop and restart evidence: now, gracefully, when convenient, Shutdown and FullyBooted

Plan an Asterisk stop or restart without confusing command acceptance, call admission, channel drain, process exit, initialization completion, module readiness and ordinary-call restoration.

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Troubleshooting · Current official Asterisk stop-and-restart, running-process, FullyBooted, Shutdown, CoreStatus, process-directory, module-loading, logging, debug-collection and Reload documentation was reviewed October 30, 2026; installed branch, packaging, service manager, executable, process, control socket, PID file, active channels, admission path, shutdown request, module state, dependency readiness, logger output, traffic result, rollback and support response remain deployment-specific; no Asterisk host, FreePBX system, service manager, binary, process, socket, PID file, channel, call, module, event, log, restart, shutdown, readiness result, rollback or support case was inspected or tested

Asterisk graceful stop or restart keeps waiting, aborts or leaves readiness unclear

Find the first gap across command mode, channel admission, drain state, shutdown event, process replacement, module initialization, FullyBooted and ordinary-call restoration.

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