-B     Force the background of the terminal to be  black,  in  order  for  terminal  colors  to  show  up
       properly. Equivalent to forceblackbackground = yes in asterisk.conf. See also -n and -W.

-C file
       Use file as master configuration file instead of the default, /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf

-c     Provide  a  control  console on the calling terminal. The console is similar to the remote console
       provided by -r. Specifying this option implies -f and will cause asterisk to  no  longer  fork  or
       detach from the controlling terminal. Equivalent to console = yes in asterisk.conf.

-d     Enable  extra  debugging  statements. This parameter may be used several times, and each increases
       the debug level. Equivalent to debug = num in asterisk.conf to explicitly set  the  initian  debug
       level  to  num.  When  given  at  startup,  this option also implies -f (no forking). However when
       connecting to an existing Asterisk instance (-r or -R), it may only increase the debug level.

-e memory
       Limit the generation of new channels when the amount of free memory has decreased to under  memory
       megabytes.  Equivalent to minmemfree = memory in asterisk.conf.

-f     Do  not  fork  or detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any preceding specification of -F on
       the command line.  Equivalent to nofork = yes in asterisk.conf.  See also -c.

-F     Always fork and detach from controlling terminal. Overrides any preceding specification of  -f  on
       the  command  line.   May  also  be  used  to prevent -d and -v to imply no forking. Equivalent to
       alwaysfork = yes in asterisk.conf.

-g     Remove resource limit on core size, thus forcing Asterisk to dump core in the unlikely event of  a
       segmentation  fault  or abort signal.  NOTE: in some cases this may be incompatible with the -U or
       -G flags.

-G group
       Run as group group instead of the calling group. NOTE: this requires substantial work to  be  sure
       that  Asterisk's  environment  has  permission  to  write  the  files  required for its operation,
       including logs, its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.

-h     Provide brief summary of command line arguments and terminate.

-i     Prompt user to intialize any encrypted private keys for IAX2 secure authentication during startup.

-I     Enable internal timing if DAHDI timing is available.   The  default  behaviour  is  that  outbound
       packets  are phase locked to inbound packets. Enabling this switch causes them to be locked to the
       internal DAHDI timer instead.

-L loadaverage
       Limits the maximum load average before rejecting new calls. This can be useful to prevent a system
       from being brought down by terminating too many simultaneous calls.

-m     Temporarily mutes output to the console and logs. To return to normal, use logger mute.

-M value
       Limits  the maximum number of calls to the specified value. This can be useful to prevent a system
       from being brought down by terminating too many simultaneous calls.

-n     Disable ANSI colors even on terminals capable of displaying them.

-p     If supported by the operating system (and  executing  as  root),  attempt  to  run  with  realtime
       priority  for increased performance and responsiveness within the Asterisk process, at the expense
       of other programs running on the same machine.

       Note: astcanary will run concurrently with asterisk. If astcanary  stops  running  or  is  killed,
       asterisk will slow down to normal process priority, to avoid locking up the machine.

-q     Reduce default console output when running in conjunction with console mode (-c).

-r     Instead  of  running  a new Asterisk process, attempt to connect to a running Asterisk process and
       provide a console interface for controlling it.

-R     Much like -r. Instead of running a new Asterisk process, attempt to connect to a running  Asterisk
       process  and  provide  a  console interface for controlling it. Additionally, if connection to the
       Asterisk process is lost, attempt to reconnect for as long as 30 seconds.

-s socket file name
       In combination with -r, connect directly to a specified Asterisk server socket.

-t     When recording files, write them first into a temporary holding directory, then move them into the
       final location when done.

-T     Add  timestamp  to  all  non-command related output going to the console when running with verbose
       and/or logging to the console.

-U user
       Run as user user instead of the calling user. NOTE: this requires substantial work to be sure that
       Asterisk's  environment  has  permission  to write the files required for its operation, including
       logs, its comm socket, the asterisk database, etc.

-v     Increase the level of verboseness on the console. The more times -v is specified, the more verbose
       the  output  is.   Specifying  this option implies -f and will cause asterisk to no longer fork or
       detach from the controlling terminal.  This option may also be used in conjunction with -r and -R.

       Note: This always sets the verbose level in the asterisk process, even if it  is  running  in  the
       background. This will affect the size of your log files.

-V     Display version information and exit immediately.

-W     Display  colored  terminal  text  as  if  the  background  were white or otherwise light in color.
       Normally, terminal text is displayed as if the background were black or otherwise dark in color.

-x command
       Connect to a running Asterisk process and execute a command on a command line, passing any  output
       through to standard out and then terminating when the command execution completes. Implies -r when
       -R is not explicitly supplied.

-X     Enables executing of includes via #exec directive.  This can be useful if You  want  to  do  #exec
       inside asterisk.conf