### Two modes: Static and Realtime

The ARA realtime mode is used to dynamically load and update objects. This mode is used in the SIP and IAX2 channels, as well as in the voicemail system. For SIP and IAX2 this is similar to the v1.0 MYSQL_FRIENDS functionality. With the ARA, we now support many more databases for dynamic configuration of phones.

The ARA static mode is used to load configuration files. For the Asterisk modules that read configurations, there's no difference between a static file in the file system, like extensions.conf, and a configuration loaded from a database.

You just have to always make sure the var_metric values are properly set and ordered as you expect in your database server if you're using the static mode with ARA (either sequentially or with the same var_metric value for everybody).

If you have an option that depends on another one in a given configuration file (i.e, 'musiconhold' depending on 'agent' from agents.conf) but their var_metric are not sequential you'll probably get default values being assigned for those options instead of the desired ones. You can still use the same var_metric for all entries in your DB, just make sure the entries are recorded in an order that does not break the option dependency.

That doesn't happen when you use a static file in the file system. Although this might be interpreted as a bug or limitation, it is not.