Installing trixbox CE 2.6

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Source Book ISBN 9978-1-847192-99-8 Publisher Packt Publishing Author(s) Kerry Garrison

[edit] Download the ISO image

The trixbox CE software comes as an ISO image, which is file that is a complete image of a CD-ROM. You can download the current software by going to http://www.trixbox.org/downloads. The ISO image file is going to be about 670 megabytes.

[edit] Burning the CD

Most CD-ROM burning software can burn the ISO image to a blank CD; the thing to make sure of is that you don't simply burn the ISO file onto the disc like any other file you would copy when doing a backup. If you don't burn the file onto the CD as an image, it won't work properly. If you don't have any CD-ROM burning software, we will walk through the process of burning the image using the free program called CDBurnerXP, which is available for download at http://cdburnerxp.se. When you first run CDBurnerXP, you will need to click on the Create Data CD/DVD button.

When the next screen comes up, go to the File menu and select Burn disc from ISO file....

Once the process completes you will have a bootable CD that you can use to install trixbox CE onto your target machine.

[edit] Preparing for installation

You will need a computer onto which you are going to use to install trixbox CE. The installation process will format the hard drives and install a new operating system and all of the trixbox CE software.

Depending on your system you may either be able to hit a specific key to boot off the CD or you may have to go into the system's BIOS menus to set the computer to boot off of the CD. Refer to the manual for your motherboard for instructions on how to boot from the CD-ROM drive.

[edit] Installing trixbox CE

We are finally ready to go, we have the trixbox CE CD in the drive; now all you need to do is fire up the computer and boot off the CD. We will now walk through the installation screens and look at the different installation options. When the first screen comes up, you can usually just hit the Enter key to proceed with a normal installation. If you hit the F2 key, you will get a screen of advanced functions. Some of these advanced functions that you should know are the following:

• default mediacheck: Using this command will run a media check during the installation process that checks the CD media against a checksum on the CD to make sure your download and burn worked properly. If you have problems installing the trixbox CE software, you should try rebooting and using this command.
• sataraid: If you have two SATA drives connected to your system you can use this command to automatically configure software mirroring between the two drives to ensure that your system can survive a hard drive failure.
• sataraidstore: This command will install trixbox CE onto a 20GB partition and format the rest of the system as a single partition that is mounted as /store. This is used to set up a trixbox CE system as a phone system as well as a file server.
• advanced: If you are familiar with Linux and want to set up your own drive partitioning then you can use this command to have more control over your trixbox CE installation.

For now, let's just hit the Enter key to begin the installation process.

The second screen that comes up will ask us which default language for the operating system we want to use.

Moving right along, the next screen will prompt you to set the time zone for your system. Generally speaking, you can use the UTC option as this will account for daylight savings time. However, if you are using dual boot into another operating system like DOS or Windows, this can cause time issues for the other operating system.

The final screen in the install process will prompt you to select a password. This password is used to log-in to the console or through SSH as root. Don't forget this password or you will have to wait till the end of the tutorial to learn how to reset a lost root password.

After entering a password for the root account, the rest of the installation process will begin. Depending on the speed of your system, this installation process will take between 10 and 20 minutes. When the installation process is complete, the system will reboot and be waiting at the login prompt.

Once you log in, the system will show you the IP address that was assigned to your system from your DHCP server. If you need to change to a static IP address, you can browse to the URL shown on your screen and use the Network Configuration module to configure your network, or you can run the system-config-network command to set up your networking.

[edit] Basic system configuration

Now is a good time to look at a few tools we can use to do some basic system configuration. (PBX configuration will be covered in the next tutorial.) For many installations you are actually ready to begin setting up the PBX functionality at this point. If your system is on a public IP address, is in a DMZ, or has any ports forwarded to it from the public Internet, you will want to keep your system up-to-date with the latest security updates. Regardless of what you may have heard, there are always vulnerabilities being found in different components and you need to make sure your system is secured against these issues.

[edit] Updating trixbox CE from the command line

As we dig into the trixbox CE dashboard we will see how we can use the Package Manager to update our system. Since we are currently sitting in front of the machine and logged into the console, this is a good time to learn about how to upgrade your system from the command line in case something ever goes wrong with the Package Manager and you need to do an update manually.

[edit] Getting all yummy with it

The maintainers of CentOS keep several repositories of packages to make it simple to install and upgrade packages. Fonality maintains repositories that are specific to the trixbox CE code base. Using the yum command will allow you to do quick updates to all aspects of your system with one command:yum update

Running the command will give you some output such as the following:

[trixbox1.localdomain ~]# yum update

• Dependencies Resolved

php-pear 406 k

• Transaction Summary

Total download size: 549 k Is this ok [y/N]:

[edit] trixbox CE command-line tools

For a list of available trixbox CE command-line tools, use the help-trixbox command. This command will give you the following output:

[trixbox1.localdomain ~]# help-trixbox
trixbox - HELP

In later tutorials we will look at these commands in more detail as we learn about phone provisioning and securing our server.

[edit] Using the web interface

Our systems are up and running and now it's time to get into the web interface and start seeing exactly what our system is capable of doing. To get started we need to use a different machine than the one onto which we installed trixbox CE because it does not have a desktop system or web browser installed on it.

From the trixbox CE system you installed, once you log in as 'root' with the password you created during the installation, the system will display the IP address to use to access the web interface.

Welcome to trixbox CE

• For access to the trixbox web GUI use this URL

eth0 http://192.168.5.250

• For help on trixbox commands you can use from this

command shell type help-trixbox.

[trixbox1.localdomain ~]#

[edit] User mode

The first screen you will get is the User Mode screen. Since the tools here are designed for regular users there is no password required to access this system although some passwords are required in some of the individual tools themselves.

[edit] Asterisk Recording Interface (ARI)

The ARI module is a web interface used by users for web access to voicemail and recordings. A user logs into ARI with their extension and voicemail password.

The most common function of ARI is simply to allow users to check their voicemails and recordings. Users who are used to older versions will appreciate some of the newer features that are now available, such as being able to modify their phone settings and adjust certain Follow Me functions if the administrator has set it up for them.

Using trixbox CE 2.4 and higher, a new feature has been added called the VmX Locator. If the VmX Locator is enabled by the administrator for the user, then a new menu for this will appear within the ARI interface.

[edit] Web MeetMe (MeetMe)

As we saw earlier, Web MeetMe is a powerful conference-room management system. With the ability to schedule conferences and manage conferences that are in session, the new Web MeetMe takes conference-room management to a new level.

Unfortunately the user database does not tie into the other databases in the system, so if you want to create users to have access to this control, you have to create them within Web MeetMe.

To actually use the conference rooms requires some setup within the PBX Configuration tool that we will set up when we talk more about conference rooms. To use Web MeetMe you will need to log on with one of the two pre-configured accounts:

• Admin Access Username: wmm@localhost Password: wmmpw
• Standard user Username: tim@localhost Password: 1234

During a conference call you can see a list of participants and selectively kick them from the conference or mute them if needed.

[edit] Flash Operator Panel (FOP)

The Flash Operator Panel gets its name because it was written in Flash. FOP is designed as a receptionist tool to help manage calls within the company. What works really well in a receptionist setup is to have FOP running full screen on a second monitor so the receptionist always has instant access to the screen.

The following list describes the different status states that buttons can be in:

• Red: Channel is currently busy (has a call on it)
• Green: Channel is currently available (no call on it)
• Flashing: Channel has an incoming call ringing on it
• All Ovals Flashing: FOP has lost connection to the server

If there is current activity on a channel, you can hover the mouse cursor over that button to get additional details for that call.

If you try to perform any actions within FOP, a dialog box will appear asking for a password. The default password for FOP in trixbox CE is passw0rd (that's a zero, not an 'o'). Once you have entered the password you can perform the following functions:

• Hangup a channel double-click the colored dot on the button
• Transfer a call drag the phone icon on a talking button to another button
• Originate calls drag the phone icon from one available button to another available button
• Barge in on a call drag the phone icon from one available button to a bridged/busy one

[edit] Admin mode

To switch to Admin Mode click on the switch link in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Clicking on the link will bring up a dialog box asking for a login and password. Use the following credentials to log into the Admin section:

• Login: maint
• Password: password

[edit] System Status

The first screen you get is the System Status display; this screen will give you a snapshot of the current health of your system. On the left side of the screen is the status of common server processes that should be running on your system. Unless you have installed the HUDLite Server, it will show up as N/A (Not Available). Down the middle of the screen you will see the Network Usage box; if you start seeing errors or dropped packets then you may be having a network problem that needs to be looked at.

The only time to really be concerned here is if the Disk Swap graph starts to show usage this means you have run out of physical RAM and the system is swapping out to disk. This disk swapping can affect call quality.

At the bottom of the status stack is the Mounted Filesystems box. This graph will monitor the available and used disk space of each partition in your system.

In the right-hand column is information about the status of Asterisk and associated connections; the following list will help explain what each of the monitors is really showing you:

• System Uptime: This will tell you how long the system has been running since the last time it was restarted. This is helpful to see if the system has been restarted without you knowing about it.
• Active Channels: The Active Channels monitor tells you how many calls are currently in progress on both IAX and SIP trunks.
• Current Registrations: When you are using an ITSP for your phone service, the system will need to register with the provider. This monitor will show you if you have current registrations that are active.
• SIP Peers: When using SIP phones and ATAs, these devices act as Peers to the phone system. The Peers monitor will show you the status of SIP devices that are configured for the system.
• IAX2 Peers: Just like SIP Peers, IAX Peers shows the status of IAX devices that are configured for the system.

[edit] Package Manager

The Package Manager is a web interface to the repositories that contain system updates and additional tools and utilities. At a glance you can see what packages are installed, which ones have updates, and which are available to install.

Just because there are new packages all the time does not mean you should always upgrade to the most recent version. For example, upgrading to a newer version of Zaptel may break certain PCI interface cards if their manufacturers have not released updated drivers yet.

[edit] PBX menu

Under the PBX menu are PBX configuration and reporting tools. These include:

• PBX Settings for managing all of the PBX-related configurations
• Gizmo5 tool for purchasing and managing Gizmo5 SIP trunks
• Config File Editor tool for editing configuration files
• PBX Status to provide detailed information about your trixbox installation
• Endpoint Manager to provision phones
• Bulk Extensions, which allows you to create large numbers of extensions by uploading a delimited text file
• CDR Report to see the system call logs

PBX Configuration

The PBX Configuration tool is the primary tool for managing the PBX functionality of the system. Using the PBX Configuration tool, we configure the extensions, trunks, call menus, and other aspects of the phone system.

Config File Editor

The Config File Editor tool is basically a simple web-based text editor. Using the Config Edit module we can edit configuration files that we may not have a tool within the trixbox dashboard to manage. We will use this tool throughout this tutorial to edit different files to fine-tune the system for our needs and to add features that aren't included by default in trixbox CE.

PBX Status

While the System Status display shows some basic information about your trixbox CE installation, the PBX Status module provides very detailed information that can help troubleshoot issues that you see on the System Status page.

Endpoint Manager

One of the things that really separate trixbox CE from other similar products is the Endpoint Manager. By using the Endpoint Manager you can easily set up supported phones by scanning the network to find available phones, and with only a few mouse clicks, the Endpoint Manager will create configuration files for each device.

CDR Reports

In order to view the calls that are placed into and out of the system, you can use the CDR Reports tool. If you have recorded calls you will also be able to click on a link to play back the recorded sound file.

[edit] System menu

The System menu utilities are designed to report and manage non-PBX functions such as settings at the operating system level. These modules include:

• System Info for advanced system information
• System Maint to restart asterisk, reboot the system, and disable statistics
• Network settings to allow you to change your IP address information on the system.

While there are only a few tools available by default, we will see in later sections of the tutorial that we can add additional tools to the menus. Some optional additional modules that can be installed later include modules that configure a DHCP server, monitor RAID arrays, and provide backup and restore functions.

System Info

The System Status page provides some good information on your system but the System Info modules provide some very detailed information about your processor, IDE devices, USB devices, SCSI devices, and system speed.

System Maint

Sometimes you may need to restart Asterisk or reboot the system or even shut it down for maintenance. Using the System Maint module you have access to all of these functions.

Network

Sometimes you will want to modify the network settings on the system, such as assigning a static IP address, changing the gateway settings, or setting the DNS servers. Using the Network module will allow you to make these changes without having to know all of the Linux command-line equivalents.

[edit] Settings menu

The Settings menu is the last of the Admin Mode menus and contains tools that control trixbox CE-related settings. The two settings packages that you will find here include:

• Repositories for selecting which set of files you would like the Package Manager to look in for updates and new modules
• Registration, which allows you to register your system with Fonality if you plan on purchasing paid support options from them

Repositories General Settings currently allows you to modify settings that are used for outbound SMTP mail relays. Another option on the System Maint page is a function to disable sending system statistics to Fonality. These system stats are anonymous and optional but Fonality does provide information about the types of equipment that is used on trixbox CE systems for manufacturers to help fund the trixbox CE development. No personal information, call logs, passwords, or voicemails are ever sent to Fonality. To see the actual list of commands that are run to create the stats that are sent, you can view the command file at /var/adm/bin/registry_commands.

There are several different trixbox CE repositories to choose from. By default the trixbox Stable repository is used, which will contain all of the standard modules and packages. Optionally, you can enable the Beta repository, which contains modules that are currently in beta test. If you really want to be adventurous you can enable the Development repository. The Development repository should never be used on a production machine unless instructed to do so by a developer to help you solve a specific problem you are having.

[edit] Additional References

• For instructions on Installing Trixbox, click here
• For instructions on Troubleshooting trixbox CE, click here

[edit] Source

The source of this content is Chapter 3: Installing trixbox CE 2.6 of trixbox CE 2.6 by Kerry Garrison (Packt Publishing, 2009).