ViciBox v.4.0 RC1

[Kumba]

Here is the RC1 Release:
http://download.vicidial.com/iso/vicibo ... .0.RC1.iso
http://download.vicidial.com/iso/vicibo ... .0.RC1.md5
http://download.vicidial.com/iso/vicibo ... reload.iso
http://download.vicidial.com/iso/vicibo ... reload.md5
http://download.vicidial.com/iso/vicibo ... .0.RC1.iso
http://download.vicidial.com/iso/vicibo ... .0.RC1.md5
http://download.vicidial.com/iso/vicibo ... reload.iso
http://download.vicidial.com/iso/vicibo ... reload.md5


It's got a few known issues that I've listed below:
- Wanpipe Voicetime driver is broken. Email Sangoma and ask them when they will support DAHDI v.2.6
- Wanpipe v.3.5.28 driver should be working but needs to be verified, if anyone like writing RPM/OBS let me know!
- OpenSuSE v.12.1 has a bug in it where the screen will look funky after the initial install, simply reboot and it's fine.
- No easy menu-driven way to edit the internal 'vicibox' table yet, it's on the to-do list.
- Might need to disable ACPI on some BIOS due to a kernel bug that wasn't fixed until v.3.2
- MUST install and set-up the database first. Installer will not let you continue otherwise
- If you have an archive server, install it before you install any telephony servers to get those settings pulled in
- Still need to do iteration testing on some of the expert mode options, most notably being the Slave MySQL install option
- OpenSuSE v.12.1 live-install partitioner is flaky compared to 11.3, might have to check the partition table when installing
- 64-bit version is in the works as we speak, should be out by the weekend (I hope!)
- Writing updated documentation as we speak, I really hate it, with a passion!
- Probably other things I am forgetting, but ohh well, we will find them soon enough, welcome to open-source!


Major enhancements in ViciBox v.4.0 over ViciBox v.3.1:
- PERL-based 'vicibox-install' that does smart things during the install, preventing a broken install (or trying to)
- Creates a 'vicibox' table that holds cluster configuration information used by the installer for automating configuration settings
- Automatically scans for Sangoma Voicetime or Amfeltec VoiceSync module during installation and enables them
- Installer now handle the ViciDial 'install.pl' itself, simplifying the install and making things much cleaner to look at
- Integrated the archive setup into the 'vicibox-install' program, and the corresponding 'vicibox' table for autoconfiguration
- Update to newer versions in the software stack (see below), translation is better hardware and software support
- The [home] and [end] key actually move the cursor back and forth now (WOW! Why was this never enabled from OpenSuSE?!?!?!)
- Set 'pico -w' as the default system editor, it's more friendly to those who are uninitiated in 'vim'
- consolidated the old 'vicibox-express' program into the 'vicibox-install' program, added the --express flag for enabling it (See below)
- MegaCli is included for LSI cards (If there is a similar program for Adaptec and the like, let me know!)
- Added 'audiostore.conf' to apache2 that the installer modifies to allow the audio store file listing without enabling it globally
- General overhaul of installed packages to try and slim the size down, let me know if I missed your favorite XYZ program
- Server specs are auto-detected and the large MySQL or Apache configurations are enabled on stand-alone servers with adequate resources
- Attempts to find your internal RFC1918 IP address to use for the ViciDial configuration, prompts if it can't find one
- Connect to the internet to discover what the external IP address is and populated that in the server entry and sip.conf (great for those behind routers!)
- Allows you to specify a specific SVN version to install, or to install the head version (Only available when installing as DB or in 'legacy' mode)
- There is no more branch installation option, ViciBox is designed to work 100% from SVN now (It really is best)
- 'nomodeset' is default when you hit F3 at the boot menu when booting from the CD and select "Text Mode"


This to be added as part of a version upgrade (in order of current priority):
- Finish the 'restore' option for vicibox-install
- Create a 'vicibox-edit' to allow a simple way to edit the 'vicibox' table, or creating the table on older installs from the database and populating it
- Add an option to randomize passwords as part of the standard back-end installer (The vicidial conf_secret and server passwords are already randomized)
- create a 'vicibox-update' program that will update the DB Schema and prompt for updating the cron and conf files with the defaults (if you customized them, then you get to upgrade those by hand)
- Some kind of support for fail2ban and the xtables-GeoIP plugin allowing someone in the 'expert' installer to add further security enhancements
- A little abstraction to the installer so that it can be a little more generic and potentially distributed as a tarball, although the ViciBox distro is quite heavily seeded with files that are OpenSuSE specific, maybe this will be sponsored since it has minimal benefit outside of 'ViciBox'.


How to install (the short version):

Phase 1:
1) Boot from CD
2) Press F3 and select "Text Mode"
3) Let CD boot, might have to hit enter at the end to get the login prompt, user: root pass: vicidial
4) Type 'os-install'
5) The partitioner got flaky in 12.1, so you might need to check it to make sure you get a clean layout, adjust as necessary
6) Reboot


Phase 1.5:
1) System boots, enter the unique hostname of this server. IT SHOULD NOT BE THE SAME AS THE OTHER SERVERS!!!!!
2) Enter the non-privileged user if you want it
3) Once the system is done, you might need to hit enter to get a Login prompt, against this is an OpenSuSE first-boot bug
4) Login as root and password vicidial
5) Optionally, 'zypper up' if you want to pull in any updated packages prior to the reboot
6) type 'reboot' so that the system reboots and the fonts on the screen aren't garbage, again an OpenSuSE bug from first-boot


Phase 2:
1) Login as 'root' with password 'vicidial'
2) type 'vicibox-express' to install an express vicibox, or type vicibox-install for all the options
3) Follow the on-screen prompts, they will guide you where you want to go


You can type 'vicibox-install --help' to get a list of options available to you. They are as follows
--debug = Goes into debug mode, gives a bunch of output useful primarily for debugging things that go wrong
--express = Do the ViciBox Express install. The actual 'vicibox-express' script just passes this flag to the vicibox-install program
--legacy = Enable legacy mode, however if the installer connects to a database and does not see a 'vicibox' table, it enables it anyways
--restore = Restore the current system to the information supplied from the vicibox table, Planned but does nothing *currently*, but it will eventually!


The standard installer is pretty basic. It's designed to get things running with a minimal amount of user input and knowledge. Suitable for people who just want things to work without really getting too far away from a text-book scenario install. The default non-expert install options are as follows:
- HTML Redirect page enabled
- No MySQL Slave Server
- No phpMyAdmin install
- Settings use defaults as much as possible with minimal prompting

All the fun stuff comes into play when the "expert" mode is enabled. You can enable or disable and edit almost all portions of the install such as DB names, users, passwords, locations, HTML Redirect installed, phpMyAdmin installed, MySQL Slave server set-up, etc. Be careful you don't get lost in the details. If you don't know if you need to change any of the above, then you probably don't. The non-expert or 'standard' install options were selected to have the best mix of convenience and reasonable security. It should be noted that lack of adequate network security is not covered by the installer in any way shape or form. In other words, if you tell the installer to disable the firewall, and proceed to put your database on a public IP, there is nothing to preventing you from doing that. Read these forums and start your own threads if you have questions about the best way to implement ViciDial or ViciBox! There is more then enough talent here to arm you with enough knowledge to get the job done.


Current RC1 software stack:
OpenSuSE v.12.1 32-bit PAE / 64-bit
Kernel v.3.1.10
Asterisk v.1.4.44-vici (It went EOL, so sad, 1.8 in testing)
DAHDI v.2.6.0.1
Wanpipe v.3.5.28 (Needs to be verified working)
Wanpipe VoiceSync v.1.0.15 (Broken, call Sangoma and ask when they will make it work with DAHDI v.2.6!)
VoiceSync v.1.3.0.1 (Verified working! Thank you Amfeltec for pulling it out of thin air!)
LibPRI v.1.4.12
OpenR2 v.1.3.2
MySQL v.5.5.25 (Needs to be tested at high load, any takers?)
PHP v.5.3.8 w/Eaccelerator v.0.9.6.1
Apache v.2.2.21
PERL v.5.14.1


On a side-note, I already have ViciBox v.5.0-beta built on OpenSuSE v.12.2 but it has one glaring issue: Plymouth! Evidently they decided that we all need pretty start-up and shut-down screens. This results in the start-up splash screen coming up and just sitting there till you hit CTRL-ALT-F1. Maybe that can become a feature instead of a bug.

[Kumba]

Updated post to include the 64-bit RC1 build and preloads for both flavors.


As far as the flaky partitioner goes in OpenSuSE v.12.1, you can simply run this command to clear out the partition table and MBR of the drive prior to running os-install in Phase 1:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1


CAUTION! CAUTION! The above command will WIPE OUT YOUR HARD-DRIVE! DO NOT run the above command on a server you want to stay running! It will cause it to completely destroy all data you have on that server!

SDA = First SATA/SCSI/USB drive attached to the system. Most of the time this will be all you need. But for the record, SDB = Second device, SDC = third device, and so on. If you are using IDE devices then they will be attached as HDA, HDB, etc. The third letter signifies the drive number as attached to the system.

[DomeDan]

- OpenSuSE v.12.1 has a bug in it where the screen will look funky after the initial install, simply reboot and it's fine.
is it this bug https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726653 ?
please post the links to the bugs you mention, its interesting reading.

- Set 'pico -w' as the default system editor, it's more friendly to those who are uninitiated in 'vim'
damn, now I need to set my favorite text-editor by hand ^^ but yeah its a good decision, I can imagine the frustration when non vim users tries to edit a file


Good work Kumba!

[Kumba]

- OpenSuSE v.12.1 has a bug in it where the screen will look funky after the initial install, simply reboot and it's fine.
is it this bug https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726653 ?
please post the links to the bugs you mention, its interesting reading.

You will see it. After you do the install, and it boots from the hard-drive for the first time and does it's hostname and autoconfiguration stuff, log in and type 'yast'. It will look similar to the screenshot in this post: http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get- ... grade.html

By the way, that is an on-again/off-again problem that OpenSuSE has had for a while. That post above is from 2009. Once you reboot everything is happy so obviously they aren't worried about it. From as best I can figure out it's some sort of buffer/font corruption, where UTF8 style fonts are trying to be displayed on a regular terminal or something. Has to do with the YAST processes that run during first-boot before the login prompt is up. Like I said, a simple reboot and everything is happy.

The same issue happens if you download the official OpenSuSE v.12.2 ISO so like I said, an OpenSuSE bug that they aren't too concerned about it. Just annoying.

- Set 'pico -w' as the default system editor, it's more friendly to those who are uninitiated in 'vim'
damn, now I need to set my favorite text-editor by hand ^^ but yeah its a good decision, I can imagine the frustration when non vim users tries to edit a file

Good work Kumba!

The original suggestion was to use nano, but that doesn't read numpads properly across putty. Pico does all that and with ease, just had to pass it the -w option for disable word-wrapping. Just edit /etc/bash.bashrc.local and put in your favorite editor or delete it to go back to the OpenSuSE default which is vim I believe. In fact I just saw that the file was named bash.bashrc.download in the 64-bit version by Chrome when I uploaded it, so I've already found my first bug to fix. Relatively minor fix though. If that's all I find I won't even bother with an RC2 for it.

[bryan.kewl]

is it possible or planned down the road to create an installer which users can run on installed openSUSE 12.x? also

On a side-note, I already have ViciBox v.5.0-beta built on OpenSuSE v.12.2

are we at a race with google chrome aswell?

[Kumba]

is it possible or planned down the road to create an installer which users can run on installed openSUSE 12.x?

It's on the list, but fairly low priority. I mentioned it above in doing some OS Abstraction. There is not an immediate use for me so it will be when I have spare time.

also

On a side-note, I already have ViciBox v.5.0-beta built on OpenSuSE v.12.2

are we at a race with google chrome aswell?

Not sure what this means, so I don't know. I would like to have 12.2 ViciBox built and tested so that when it becomes time to release it there is no rush. Also gives me lots of time to fine-tune things as quite a bit has changed.

[ZoVoS]

Just wanted to give a thumbs up for the RC1, only issue that I can see is that the CRON password etc are still not randomly generated. Its not your job to secure people's boxes but with a little lack of foresight somebody could use cron 1234 and have phpmyadmin installed causing quite a gaping hole in their security.

Apart from that its great. Things look very promising for the future.

[Kumba]

Just wanted to give a thumbs up for the RC1, only issue that I can see is that the CRON password etc are still not randomly generated. Its not your job to secure people's boxes but with a little lack of foresight somebody could use cron 1234 and have phpmyadmin installed causing quite a gaping hole in their security.

phpMyAdmin is not installed by default. You have to enable it in the expert mode. So someone has to go out of their way to make the system insecure. In the same expert mode setup, you have the option of specifying the default connection info or entering your own.

There is an item on the feature list to ask them if they want to randomize passwords. I will eventually get to it but as it stands right now you have to go out of your way to purposely create a vulnerability in the install.


On a side note, it looks like Sangoma Wanpipe is going to be getting kicked off of Opensuse Build Service. Evidently they do not like the precompiled libs and binaries in the source. It is against their policy of only distributing pure OSI/OSS software. Yay...

so now I am debating on setting up my own OpenSuSE build service for wanpipe, or just creating a bash script that compiles wanpipe if you need it. That second option would add a ton of bloat to the installer or require that you have internet connectivity. The first option is uncharted territory for me as I have never maintained my own build system. Blah. I really hate drivers.

[DomeDan]

I vote for a bash script that compiles wanpipe.
And I would also like to see a random passwords generated, and maybe a way to reset the passwords...
I hope to see some code for the --restore option

btw, problem in vicibox-install build 120913-2020
"$dbhVD = DBI->connect(" is not executed before trying to do a sql-query regarding archive-server question when using this options:

Code: Select all

vicibox4:~ # vicibox-install --debug


ViciBox v.4.0 Installer


----- DEBUG Enabled -----

Restore mode activated
Hostname : vicibox4
Default Database : asterisk
Default DB User : cron
Default DB Pass : 1234
Default DB Custom User : custom
Default DB Custom Pass : custom1234
Default DB Port : 3306
Local IP address not found! Please enter the IP address to use for ViciDial on this machine
Local IP Address : 123.123.123.123
IP Address checks good: 123.123.123.123
External IP Address : 123.123.123.123
Number of CPU Cores: 1
System Ram in kBytes: 1012612

Build Version : 120831-1523
Admin Version : 2.6-375a
Local SVN Revision : 1858
Head SVN Revision : 1859

The installer will ask questions based upon the role that this server is
to provide for the ViciBox Call Center Suite. You should have the database
and optionally archive servers setup prior to installing any other servers.
The installer will not run without there being a configured database! If this
server is to be the database then it must be installed before the archive server
Verify that all servers are connected to the same network and have connectivity
to each other before continuing. This installer will be destructive to the the
server if it is run.


Do you want to continue with the ViciBox install? [y/N] : y

Do you want to enable expert installation? [y/N] : y

Do you want to enable legacy install support? [y/N] : n

The Internal IP address found was 123.123.123.123.
Do you want to use this IP address for ViciDial? [Y/n] : y

Will this server be used as the Database? [y/N] : y
---> Will this be a Slave Databse? [y/N] : n
Do you want to use the default ViciDial DB settings? [Y/n] : y

Will this server be used as a Web server? [y/N] : y
---> Install Redirect Page? [y/N] : y
---> Install phpMyAdmin ? [y/N] : y

Will this server be used as a Telephony server? [y/N] : y

Will this server be used as an Archive server? [y/N] : y
Can't call method "prepare" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bin/vicibox-install line 1038, <STDIN> line 13.

/var/log/vicibox.log:
redirecting to systemctl

[KeithHBW]

Quick question. In what situation do you need the sangoma wanpipe?

When installing I have to change my IP to static before doing os-install... However my yast lan looks all messed up (example, like trying to read a binary)

[Kumba]

I vote for a bash script that compiles wanpipe.
And I would also like to see a random passwords generated, and maybe a way to reset the passwords...
I hope to see some code for the --restore option

btw, problem in vicibox-install build 120913-2020
"$dbhVD = DBI->connect(" is not executed before trying to do a sql-query regarding archive-server question when using this options:

Code: Select all

vicibox4:~ # vicibox-install --debug


ViciBox v.4.0 Installer


----- DEBUG Enabled -----

Restore mode activated
Hostname : vicibox4
Default Database : asterisk
Default DB User : cron
Default DB Pass : 1234
Default DB Custom User : custom
Default DB Custom Pass : custom1234
Default DB Port : 3306
Local IP address not found! Please enter the IP address to use for ViciDial on this machine
Local IP Address : 123.123.123.123
IP Address checks good: 123.123.123.123
External IP Address : 123.123.123.123
Number of CPU Cores: 1
System Ram in kBytes: 1012612

Build Version : 120831-1523
Admin Version : 2.6-375a
Local SVN Revision : 1858
Head SVN Revision : 1859

The installer will ask questions based upon the role that this server is
to provide for the ViciBox Call Center Suite. You should have the database
and optionally archive servers setup prior to installing any other servers.
The installer will not run without there being a configured database! If this
server is to be the database then it must be installed before the archive server
Verify that all servers are connected to the same network and have connectivity
to each other before continuing. This installer will be destructive to the the
server if it is run.


Do you want to continue with the ViciBox install? [y/N] : y

Do you want to enable expert installation? [y/N] : y

Do you want to enable legacy install support? [y/N] : n

The Internal IP address found was 123.123.123.123.
Do you want to use this IP address for ViciDial? [Y/n] : y

Will this server be used as the Database? [y/N] : y
---> Will this be a Slave Databse? [y/N] : n
Do you want to use the default ViciDial DB settings? [Y/n] : y

Will this server be used as a Web server? [y/N] : y
---> Install Redirect Page? [y/N] : y
---> Install phpMyAdmin ? [y/N] : y

Will this server be used as a Telephony server? [y/N] : y

Will this server be used as an Archive server? [y/N] : y
Can't call method "prepare" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bin/vicibox-install line 1038, <STDIN> line 13.

/var/log/vicibox.log:
redirecting to systemctl

Corrected. Will be in RC2 coming shortly, along with removal of wanpipe and a 'wanpipe-compile' script. Just change line 1034 in vicibox-install.pl to be as follows: if ($legacy==0 && $DB==0) {

Quick question. In what situation do you need the sangoma wanpipe?

When installing I have to change my IP to static before doing os-install... However my yast lan looks all messed up (example, like trying to read a binary)

What ISO are you using?

[KeithHBW]

ViciBox_Redux.x86_64-4.0.RC1

Basically I needed to statically set the IP before it attempts to pull down from opensuse, but I couldnt because yast lan looks messed up. I could submit my server specs. I was using text mode.

[Kumba]

Just reboot and the screen will be fine. You don't need to run os-install if you are using the preload, and the lan screen looks fine from the liveCD boot. The only time it gets messed up is after the first boot when it's installed on the hard-drive.

[bryan.kewl]

i know eaccelerator is faster compared with other accelerators/optimizers, but its not actively maintained. so i think you should try APC which is stable and actively maintained.

[Kumba]

eAccelerator works stably with ViciDial on the current build of PHP. APC is a new piece of software that would have to be extensively tested to verify that all things still works and that there are no compatibility issues. Considering that 4.0.0 has already been made GA, we will probably not be shifting any components of the software stack. In all likelihood, we will probably continue to use eaccelerator until there is a stability of compatibility issue. As it stands right now it is not compatible with PHP v.5.4 so that would pretty much force me to evaluate APC. They are currently working on 5.4 compatibility so chances are I will continue to stick with it. OpenSuSE v.12.2 is currently shipping PHP v.5.3.15

You can remove eaccelerator and install APC by doing the following:

1) zypper remove php5-eaccelerator
2) zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositori ... sions.repo
3) zypper in php5-apc

You will need to look at the APC default settings and apply whatever tuning is needed to make it work or work better for ViciDial.