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.

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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Comment this page to get a Google Wave Invitation Nomination. I have more invites left to give away.

UPDATE: NEW INVITATIONS AVAILABLE, put a link to gregoryalussier.com on your website and post a comment on the following post to get an invitation.

Keepass is an open-source password manager that supports AES and Twofish encryption algorithms. Even if you would use all the computers in the world to attack one database, it would take longer than the age of the universe to decrypt it. SHA-256 is used to protect your password. No attacks have been known yet against it. No installation is required, you can export your passwords to files to print them, you can keep history of passwords, generate passwords, search for them, and much more.

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If you are systems administrator and have P3s lying around, got a peek of Citrix/MSTS, thought you could buy terminals to replace PCs for some users who don’t need much CPU power to perform their mail reading and Excel spreadsheets edits, look no further and use your old PCs. Read the rest of this entry »