mod_managed — Mono / .NET CLR Scripting

mod_managed embeds the Mono JIT runtime (or the Microsoft Common Language Runtime when built with _MANAGED) directly into FreeSWITCH, allowing operators to write dialplan applications and API commands in any Common Language Infrastructure language — C#, F#, VB.NET, or compatible script files — without restarting the switch. The native layer is in src/mod/languages/mod_managed; most of the logic lives in the companion managed assembly FreeSWITCH.Managed.dll.

Reach for this module when your team prefers the .NET ecosystem, needs to share business logic between FreeSWITCH and other .NET services, or wants the live-reload behaviour that comes from dropping a new .dll or script file into the managed/ directory while the switch is running.

Loading the Module

mod_managed is not in the vanilla default load set. It does not appear anywhere in conf/vanilla/autoload_configs/modules.conf.xml (commented-out or otherwise). To load it, add the entry below and restart, or use load from the fs_cli.

<load module="mod_managed"/>

freeswitch@> load mod_managed

The module requires that FreeSWITCH.Managed.dll be present in the FreeSWITCH modules directory (installed alongside mod_managed.so). Build the module with Mono development headers available so that pkg-config mono-2 resolves correctly.

Configuration

mod_managed has no mod_managed.conf.xml. There is no shipped configuration file and none is consulted at load time. All configuration is implicit:

• Plugin directory: {modules_dir}/managed/ — the loader scans every file in this directory at startup and watches it for changes at runtime.
• Shadow copy directory: {modules_dir}/managed/shadow/ — if this directory already exists at load time, the loader deletes and re-creates it; it is used by the .NET AppDomain shadow-copy mechanism to stage assemblies.
• Per-plugin config: a .config file alongside a .dll or .exe (e.g. MyPlugin.dll.config) is read as the AppDomain configuration for that plugin's isolated domain. Editing this .config file while the switch is running triggers an automatic reload of the associated plugin.
• Per-plugin reference directory: {modules_dir}/managed/<modulename>/ — for a plugin file named <modulename>.<ext>, this directory is added to the plugin's AppDomain PrivateBinPath (alongside managed itself), so private dependency assemblies can be kept in a per-plugin subdirectory rather than the shared managed/ directory.

Dialplan Applications

Application	Purpose	Arguments
managed	Run a .NET IAppPlugin implementation (or script) on an active channel	<plugin-name> [<args>]

<plugin-name> is either the fully-qualified type name (Namespace.ClassName) or the short class name (ClassName) for compiled assemblies, or the filename (e.g. Demo.csx) for script files.

The loader recognizes compiled assemblies by the .dll extension and dispatches the following extensions to the script plugin manager (compiled on the fly via the CodeDOM providers): .csx (C#), .fsx (F#), .vbx (VB.NET), .jsx (JScript), and .exe. A file whose extension is none of these is ignored.

<action application="managed" data="AppDemo"/>
<action application="managed" data="MyCompany.IVR.WelcomeApp some-argument"/>
<action application="managed" data="Demo.csx"/>

The application supports SAF_SUPPORT_NOMEDIA, meaning it can be invoked on media-free (bypass-media) channels.

API Commands

Command	Purpose	Syntax
managed	Execute a .NET IApiPlugin synchronously (blocking)	managed <plugin-name> [<args>]
managedrun	Execute a .NET IApiPlugin asynchronously in the background (ExecuteBackground)	managedrun <plugin-name> [<args>]
managedreload	Force-reload a specific file from the managed/ directory	managedreload <filename-or-path>
managedlist	Write the currently loaded APIs and Apps to the stream (or log)	managedlist

freeswitch@> managed ApiDemo hello-world
freeswitch@> managedrun ApiDemo background-job
freeswitch@> managedreload MyPlugin.dll
freeswitch@> managedlist

managedreload accepts either a bare filename (resolved relative to the managed/ directory) or an absolute path. The loader also watches the managed/ directory automatically and reloads files when they change, unless the plugin sets PluginOptions.NoAutoReload.

Dependencies

mod_managed requires the Mono runtime (package mono-devel / libmono-dev) to be installed before building. The build system links against mono-2 via pkg-config. On Windows, the module can alternatively be compiled with the Microsoft CLR (_MANAGED preprocessor flag), which removes the Mono dependency.

On Linux, the build also requires SWIG to regenerate freeswitch_wrap.cxx and managed/swig.cs when the FreeSWITCH core API changes (run make reswig). The pre-generated files shipped in the tree are used by default.

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See also

• Chapter 28: Scripting Integration

Source: src/mod/languages/mod_managed