G729 licenses invalidated after cluster failover

The most likely cause is that you have incorrectly configured synchronization between your peers; you are mistakenly synchronizing the G729 license files which is causing Asterisk to refuse them. First, take a look at the Asterisk (full) log to look for G729 related errors on startup – you will likely see one relating to a hardware change.

Digium stores the G729 license files in the directory /var/lib/asterisk/licenses. Be sure that this directory is excluded from HAAst synchronization. If you are synchronizing a parent directory then you must exclude this directory; for example:


; Asterisk support
elastix-astsupport/description=Asterisk support
elastix-astsupport/type=directory
elastix-astsupport/directory=/var/lib/asterisk
elastix-astsupport/excludepattern=lost+found | licenses
elastix-astsupport/interval=3600
elastix-astsupport/compression=9
elastix-astsupport/debug=off
elastix-astsupport/postsynccondition=never
elastix-astsupport/recurse=true

Alternatively, some companies choose to use open source G729 codec implementations which are not encumbered by Digium’s licensing, as outlined on web sites like this http://asterisk.hosting.lv/ . Many people don’t realize that the g.729 compression algorithm is not protected by copyright (expired patent was held by Intel), though Digium’s implementation is patented (and the fee is for licensing their implementation). Please note that you should check with your own legal counsel to determine if the open source G729 codec can be used in your jurisdiction without requiring royalty payments.