Overview

Asterisk comes with a database that is used internally and made available for Asterisk programmers and administrators to use as they see fit.

Asterisk versions up to 1.8 used the Berkeley DB, and in version 10 the project moved to the SQLite3 database. You can read about database migration between those major versions in the section SQLite3 astdb back-end.

Purpose of the internal database¶

The database really has two purposes:

1. Asterisk uses it to store information that needs to persist between reloads/restarts. Various modules use it for this purpose automatically.
2. Users can use it to store arbitrary data. This is done using a variety of dialplan applications and functions such as:
   • Functions:
     • DB
     • DB_DELETE
     • DB_EXISTS
     • DB_KEYS
   • Application: DBdeltree

The functions and applications for Asterisk 11 are linked above, but you should look at the documentation for the version you have deployed.

Database commands on the CLI¶

Sub-commands under the command "database" allow a variety of functions to be performed on or with the database.

\*CLI> core show help database
database del -- Removes database key/value
database deltree -- Removes database keytree/values
database get -- Gets database value
database put -- Adds/updates database value
database query -- Run a user-specified query on the astdb
database show -- Shows database contents
database showkey -- Shows database contents