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Asterisk AMI AbsoluteTimeout fires early, late or on the wrong channel

Find the first divergence across action availability, channel identity, time units, timer policy, T and h dialplan handling, request events and final hangup.

Reviewed 2026-10-25Current branch-23-generated, Asterisk 22 and Certified Asterisk 22.8 AbsoluteTimeout action references, the current TIMEOUT function, special-extension, HangupRequest, SoftHangupRequest, Hangup and AMI v2 references were reviewed October 25, 2026; installed release, manager permission, live channel identity, timer origin and replacement behavior, dialplan ownership, bridge topology, endpoint signaling and downstream workflow remain deployment-specific; no PBX, manager session, action, timer, dialplan, channel, bridge, event stream, endpoint, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or testedAdvancedDocumentation based · not lab tested

Freeze one timer request and symptom

Record node, release, manager identity, ActionID, Channel, Uniqueid, Linkedid, bridge peers, channel creation time, action time, timeout value and unit, raw response, observed request and hangup events, context, extension, priority and synchronized timestamps.

Classify the symptom as unknown or denied action, wrong or vanished channel, early termination, late termination, no termination, wrong dialplan path, other leg surviving unexpectedly or final event missing. Do not combine several calls into one timeline.

Confirm availability, permission and channel lifetime first

Check the running AMI action inventory, installed branch and manager write authority. Resolve the channel again immediately before sending the action and require the same Uniqueid; a reused channel label, transferred leg, Local-channel optimization or completed call invalidates a stale target.

An unknown action, denied request or missing channel is not a timer-precision defect. Keep least privilege and do not substitute broad CLI command authority for a missing action permission.

Normalize seconds and competing timeout owners

AbsoluteTimeout documents seconds. Compare that field with the dialplan TIMEOUT(absolute), Dial or Originate timing, queue, bridge, endpoint, carrier and application limits without assuming they share units or start points. Record which component ended the channel first.

The action page does not specify a remaining-time query or replacement semantics. If multiple writers set a lifetime, preserve their order and raw values, then reproduce only on a disposable call rather than guessing from the final duration.

Trace T, h and handler execution in the loaded dialplan

Inspect the exact context loaded for the target channel. Uppercase T handles absolute-timeout expiry, lowercase t handles response timeout, and h performs cleanup after hangup. Reconcile generated FreePBX ownership before editing Asterisk files directly.

A correct timeout can appear late when cleanup blocks, or appear absent when the expected T extension is not in the channel's context. Preserve NewExten and hangup-handler events where available, but do not treat missing filtered events as proof that code did not run.

Correlate request events with final Hangup

Match HangupRequest or SoftHangupRequest and final Hangup by exact Uniqueid, not caller ID or Linkedid alone. Preserve cause, cause text, technology cause and event-filter state. A request can precede cleanup; final disposal is the later channel boundary.

Then inspect every bridge peer. Ending the timed channel does not guarantee that a transferred, masqueraded, Local or other linked leg ended, and a surviving peer does not prove the timer missed its target.

Retest one bounded correction and stop

Correct only the first demonstrated cause: target identity, permission, unit conversion, competing writer, dialplan ownership, event visibility or blocking cleanup. Retest one disposable call with synchronized clocks and a safe timeout, then compare the same evidence tuple.

Do not shorten active production calls, loop timer actions or claim precision from one wall-clock observation. No PBX, manager action, timer, dialplan, channel, bridge, event stream, endpoint, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested.

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 branch-23-generated, Asterisk 22 and Certified Asterisk 22.8 AbsoluteTimeout action references, the current TIMEOUT function, special-extension, HangupRequest, SoftHangupRequest, Hangup and AMI v2 references were reviewed October 25, 2026; installed release, manager permission, live channel identity, timer origin and replacement behavior, dialplan ownership, bridge topology, endpoint signaling and downstream workflow remain deployment-specific; no PBX, manager session, action, timer, dialplan, channel, bridge, event stream, endpoint, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk AMI AbsoluteTimeout: timer, channel and hangup evidence

Set a channel lifetime limit without confusing action acknowledgement, timer expiry, dialplan handling, hangup requests or the final channel outcome.

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

Asterisk AMI, ARI and AGI: choose the control boundary

Separate management events, synchronous dialplan work and application-owned call control before exposing an integration.

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Guide · Asterisk branch-23-generated and branch-22-generated ListCommands references plus official AMI syntax, v2 specification, manager-command, change/versioning, permission, module-loader and network-security documentation reviewed October 16, 2026; installed branch and maintenance release, build, package and module set, manager user, read and write authorizations, session mask, action registration, request framing, parameters, target objects, response, related events and service outcome remain deployment specific; no PBX, module, package, manager user, manager session, request, response, event, configuration file, channel, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

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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Guide · Current Asterisk Latest API CHANNEL_EXISTS, CHANNELS and CHANNEL references, CLI channel-operation and Local-channel optimization documentation, AMI CoreShowChannels surfaces and the upstream func_channel implementation were reviewed October 19, 2026. The generated API pages reported branch 23; installed branch, loaded modules, channel drivers, names, unique IDs, linked IDs, Local optimization, permissions, timing and call outcomes remain deployment specific. No PBX, module, dialplan, channel, bridge, manager session, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk channel inventory, identity and lifetime

Treat a channel list as a changing observation, distinguish name from unique identity, and revalidate the exact leg before an authorized operation.

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Guide · Current Asterisk branch-23-generated CoreShowChannelMap, CoreShowChannelMapComplete, CoreShowChannels, CoreShowChannel, CoreShowChannelsComplete, Status, StatusComplete, Newchannel and Rename references plus the branch 22 map action and completion event reviewed October 16, 2026; installed branch, loaded actions and events, manager permissions, session ordering, channel names, stable identifiers, bridge membership, variables, signaling and media remain deployment specific; no PBX, AMI session, manager user, permission, channel, bridge, variable, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk AMI channel snapshots and connected maps

Choose CoreShowChannels, CoreShowChannelMap or Status deliberately, preserve list boundaries, and correlate mutable channel, linked and bridge identities without treating a snapshot as a final call result.

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Guide · Current Asterisk branch-23-generated Events, Filter, WaitEvent, Login and Ping action references, matching branch-22 Events, Filter and WaitEvent references, the official AMI event-filtering guide and Manager TCP/IP API reviewed October 16, 2026; installed branch, manager user permissions, login mask, static and dynamic filters, connection type, event queue, client parser, reconnect behavior, action concurrency, downstream storage and call activity remain deployment specific; no PBX, AMI session, manager user, permission, configuration file, socket, HTTP session, event queue, channel, bridge, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk AMI event delivery, filters and WaitEvent

Trace event delivery through manager read permissions, login and Events masks, configured and session filters, TCP or HTTP transport, WaitEvent queueing and client processing without treating silence as a failed PBX.

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Guide · Current Asterisk branch-23-generated and branch 22 Dial references, pre-dial-handler guidance, hangup-cause guidance, HANGUPCAUSE_KEYS and CHANNEL references reviewed October 15, 2026; installed branch, channel driver, loaded dialplan, endpoint, contact set, signaling, causes, bridge, media and caller treatment remain deployment specific; no host, module, dialplan, channel, endpoint, trunk, packet, bridge, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk Dial: outbound legs, status, timing and continuation evidence

Follow one Dial invocation through created channels, provisional events, answer, bridge, return status and post-call continuation without collapsing per-leg evidence into one result.

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Guide · Current Asterisk branch-23-generated HANGUPCAUSE, HANGUPCAUSE_KEYS, HangupCauseClear, Dial and CHANNEL references plus the project mapping table reviewed October 6, 2026; exact behavior still depends on the installed Asterisk branch, channel driver, dialplan and call path

Asterisk hangup causes: preserve each called-channel result

Interpret Dial status, per-channel technology causes, translated Asterisk causes and hangup source without collapsing parallel or sequential call attempts into one reason.

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Guide · Asterisk hangup-handler, CHANNEL, AMI event, hangup-cause and Return documentation reviewed October 12, 2026; exact events and channel behavior remain dependent on the installed Asterisk branch, modules, dialplan, channel technology and observer permissions, and no PBX, dialplan, channel, handler stack, event, record, endpoint, call or teardown path was inspected or tested

Asterisk hangup handlers: channel stack, order and teardown evidence

Attach bounded hangup subroutines to the correct channel, preserve LIFO stack order and prove push, pop, run and final hangup separately.

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Troubleshooting · Current Asterisk branch-23-generated Events, Filter, WaitEvent, Login and Ping action references, matching branch-22 Events, Filter and WaitEvent references, the official AMI event-filtering guide and Manager TCP/IP API reviewed October 16, 2026; installed branch, manager user permissions, login mask, static and dynamic filters, connection type, event queue, client parser, reconnect behavior, action concurrency, downstream storage and call activity remain deployment specific; no PBX, AMI session, manager user, permission, configuration file, socket, HTTP session, event queue, channel, bridge, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk AMI events are missing, filtered, delayed or duplicated

Locate the first divergence among manager permissions, the per-session event mask, configured and dynamic filters, HTTP WaitEvent queueing, TCP reads, reconnects, parsing and downstream deduplication.

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Troubleshooting · Current Asterisk Latest API CHANNEL_EXISTS, CHANNELS and CHANNEL references, CLI channel-operation and Local-channel optimization documentation, AMI CoreShowChannels surfaces and the upstream func_channel implementation were reviewed October 19, 2026. The generated API pages reported branch 23; installed branch, loaded modules, channel drivers, names, unique IDs, linked IDs, Local optimization, permissions, timing and call outcomes remain deployment specific. No PBX, module, dialplan, channel, bridge, manager session, packet, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk channel exists, then disappears or maps to the wrong call

Freeze one observation window, distinguish channel name, Uniqueid and Linkedid, then locate creation, rename, Local optimization, bridge change or hangup.

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Troubleshooting · Current Asterisk branch-23-generated and branch 22 Dial references, pre-dial-handler guidance, hangup-cause guidance, HANGUPCAUSE_KEYS and CHANNEL references reviewed October 15, 2026; installed branch, channel driver, loaded dialplan, endpoint, contact set, signaling, causes, bridge, media and caller treatment remain deployment specific; no host, module, dialplan, channel, endpoint, trunk, packet, bridge, media stream or live call was inspected or tested

Asterisk Dial returns early, reports the wrong status or never answers

Find the first divergence among loaded dial string, outbound-channel creation, progress, final response, answer, bridge, application result and continuation.

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