Asterisk agent channels

Agent Channel

chan_agent is a pseudo-channel for routing calls to an ACD agent, and is rarely if ever referenced from extensions.conf.

Asterisk Agents are defined in agents.conf, and activated via a special log-in procedure. This allows an agent to make themselves available to take queued calls by logging into a phone. The agent can later stop taking calls by logging off the phone.

As agents only make sense in an ACD configuration, they are normally defined as queue members inside
queues.conf, with no reference made to them from extensions.conf.

However, you can use agents to allow “following” of phone users. For example, you may have sales staff on multiple tables. Each user has their own agent number. You can configure your extensions.conf to call that agent no matter what phone they are using.

For example:
[default]
exten => _1X,1,Dial(Agent/${EXTEN},300,t)

If you pick up a handset and dial 13, it will find the agent number 13 and call the extension they are logged on to.