Gregory A. Lussier

This is a complete tutorial on how to install CentOS 5.4 and then Asterisk and MySQL on any computer. I will soon be posting a template virtual machine in the form of a torrent file

Note: you can install Putty and SSH into your CentOS box once it’s installed. You will then be able to copy and paste lines easily from the code boxes below.

1. Download CentOS 5.4 i386 from http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/5/isos/i386/
2. Install CentOS 5.4
   1. Boot from the CD or DVD.
   2. Type

      linux text

   3. Press Enter.
   4. Move to skip using TAB key and press Enter. This step will prevent your computer to test the media. You can test it if you want but it’s quite long.
   5. Press Enter on the OK button.
   6. Choose the language and keyboard and press OK.
   7. Choose Yes and press OK.
   8. Choose “Remove all Linux partitions on this drive and create default layout” and press “OK”.
   9. Confirm by clicking on Yes.
   10. Don’t review the partitioning layout.
   11. Press Yes to configure your ethernet adapter.
   12. Enable IPv4 by going down to IPv4 using the arrow key and press spacebar to select it.
   13. Click OK.
   14. Click OK for both DHCP and DNS.
   15. Choose your time zone.
   16. Type a password you’ll remember.
   17. Press OK.
   18. Unselect GNOME (don’t select anything).
   19. Press OK.
   20. Press OK for the log.
   21. Wait for the package installation.
   22. Eject the media and press Reboot.
3. Post-installation steps
   1. Select “Firewall Configuration” and then press “Run tool”.
   2. Disable the security level and select Disabled for SELinux. (Note that it’s only suitable for a hobby system)
   3. Press OK.
   4. Press Exit.
   5. Login using user “root” and the password you chose during the installation
4. Install Webmin

   1. cd /root
      wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/webadmin/webmin/1.500/webmin-1.500-1.noarch.rpm?use_mirror=iweb
      rpm -i webmin-1.500-1.noarch.rpm

5. Update and upgrade the install

   1. yum -y upgrade

   2. Reboot the computer.

   3. yum -y update

   4. Reboot the computer.

   5. yum -y update

   6. Make sure to repeat the update step until no more updates appear.
6. Download and install Asterisk

   1. yum -y install kernel-devel kernel-xen-devel gcc gcc-c++ libtermcap-devel ncurses-devel doxygen curl-devel newt-devel
      yum -y install unixODBC unixODBC-devel libtool-ltdl libtool-ltdl-devel mysql-connector-odbc
      yum -y install mysql mysql-devel mysql-server
      chkconfig mysqld on
      service mysqld start
      yum -y install php-mysql php-mbstring php-mcrypt
      chkconfig httpd on
      service httpd start
      vim /etc/odbcinst.ini # replace 'Driver=/usr/lib/libmyodbc.so' with 'Drive=/usr/lib/libmyodbc3.so' and uncomment the whole MySQL part.
      cd /var/www/html
      wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/phpmyadmin/phpMyAdmin/2.11.10/phpMyAdmin-2.11.10-all-languages.tar.gz?use_mirror=iweb
      tar -zxvf phpMyAdmin-2.11.10-all-languages.tar.gz
      rm phpMyAdmin-2.11.10-all-languages.tar.gz # press Y and Enter
      mv phpMyAdmin-2.11.10-all-languages phpmyadmin
      cd /usr/src
      mkdir asterisk
      cd asterisk
      wget http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/asterisk-1.6.2.4.tar.gz
      wget http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/asterisk-addons-1.6.2-current.tar.gz
      tar -zxvf asterisk-1.6.2.4.tar.gz
      tar -zxvf asterisk-addons-1.6.2-current.tar.gz
      mv asterisk-1.6.2.4 asterisk
      mv asterisk-addons-1.6.2.0 asterisk-addons
      rm asterisk-1.6.2.4.tar.gz
      rm asterisk-addons-1.6.2-current.tar.gz
      cd asterisk
      make clean
      ./configure --disable-xmldoc
      make menuselect
      make
      make install
      make samples
      make config
      chkconfig asterisk on
      service asterisk start
      asterisk -vvvvvvvvc
      cd ..
      cd asterisk-addons
      make clean
      ./configure
      make menuselect
      make
      make install
      make samples
      vim /etc/asterisk/cdr_mysql.conf
      # Modify this file according to your
      # MySql configuration. Use PhpMyAdmin
      # for the most straight forward
      # installation.
      #
      [global]
      hostname=localhost
      dbname=asterisk
      table=cdr
      password=MYPASS
      user=astrealtime
      port=3306
      sock=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
      userfield=1
      #
      vim /etc/asterisk/res_mysql.conf
      #
      [general]
      dbhost = localhost
      dbname = asterisk
      dbuser = astrealtime
      dbpass = MYPASS
      dbport = 3306
      dbsock = /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
      #
      vim /etc/asterisk/extconfig.conf
      # uncomment and modify the following:
      queues => mysql,general,queues
      queue_members => mysql,general,queue_members
      sippeers => mysql,general,sip
      sipusers => mysql,general,sip
      voicemail => mysql,general,voicemail_users
      #
      vim /etc/odbc.ini
      [astrealtime]
      Description     = Asterisk realtime and other FUNC_ODBC access
      Driver          = MySQL
      Socket          = /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
      Server          = localhost
      User            = astrealtime
      Pass            = MYPASS
      Database        = asterisk
      Option          = 3
      #
      vim /etc/asterisk/res_odbc.conf
      #
      ; Environment variables
      [ENV] 
       
      ; Connections
      [astrealtime]
      enabled => yes
      dsn => astrealtime
      username => astrealtime
      password => MYPASS
      pre-connect => yes
      idlecheck => 3600
      #

7. MySQL: Import the following file into PhpMyAdmin using the SQL or Import function.

1. Plug the USB drive.
2. Open a command prompt (Start Menu, All Programs, Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as Adminstrator).
3. Type in the following commands:

   DISKPART
   LIST DISK 
   SELECT DISK 1
   CLEAN
   CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
   SELECT PARTITION 1
   ACTIVE
   FORMAT FS=NTFS
   ASSIGN
   EXIT

   After the LIST DISK command, locate the number of your USB drive and use it in the SELECT DISK command.

   1. Insert the Windows 7 installation disk in the DVD reader or mount it using whatever software you like (Daemon Tools Lite, Alcohol 120%, etc.)
   2. Supposing D: is the letter of the drive where Windows 7 is mounted, and H: is the letter of your USB drive:

      D: CD BOOT
      CD BOOT
      BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H:

   3. Drag and drop the content of the Windows 7 Installation DVD in the USB drive.
   4. You are ready to install Windows 7 using the bootable USB drive you just created.

Adobe Reader’s the most common and known PDF reader but it’s 335 MB and the new versions tend to eat RAM to support intensive overloaded graphic interface. I recently discovered a small open source PDF reader for Windows. It’s amazingly small (1.4 MB) and does nothing more than reading PDFs. I personally use it as my main PDF previewer, and use Adobe Acrobat for editing and other manipulations. You can get it on its official site Sumatra PDF viewer.

I had a laptop with no optical media drive and needed to install Windows XP. Windows Vista and 7 are built in with handy features to create bootable USB drive installations, but not Windows XP. I found this great tool Win Setup from USB (4.4 mb direct download .exe) to do so. Read the rest of this entry »

I have seen more infected computers during the holidays than all year long. People are on the Internet clicking everywhere and downloading malware. The most popular kind of malware seems to be the fake antiviruses: Windows Defender Suite, Antivirus Live, etc. Fortunatly, a lot of people face the same problem and post solutions on how to get rid of them. Let me give you a hint on what to download and run if it happens to you.

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Finally, these are the Packet Tracer files I have done for the third CCNA Cisco Network Academy Class.
Packet Tracers
I will soon be publishing my own CCNA overview guide. Stay tuned to get a link to a free PDF of its BETA version.

Versions
• Sun VirtualBox Graphical User Interface
  Version 3.0.12 r54655
• CentOS 5.4 i386

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Later this week, some websites announced a Firefox plugin to give Facebook users the ability to dislike posts. As Facebook users know, the “Like” button is working since about a year and has really been useful in case a user wants to “Like” a post, but without commenting it. I gave the Firefox plugin a chance, knowing there were great chances it was crap, poorly secured, and sending confidential data to a third-party server, like most of the Facebook apps, but unlike most of the plugins from Mozilla.

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If you are a full-time post-secondary student and pay a montly fee for your bank account, you should read this carefully. Let’s review the major banks free accounts for students in Canada.

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RSS Bandit gives you the opportunity to read your favourite RSS feeds in an Outlook-like software. You can read the latest news as if they were emails. The best part of it is that you can synchronize RSS Bandit with your online RSS aggregator (NewsGator or Google Reader). These online applications are quite useful if you want to read your news from one computer to another. Read the rest of this entry »