7. Quick installation guide

The asterBoard™ Quick installation Guide:

Tutorials to install the asterBoard™ on AsteriskNOW or FreePBX can be found here.

To start the installation you need to know that the asterBoard™ is working as a Flash Applet inside an Internet Browser, the Applet can be installed on any Webserver you like, or on the Asterisk Machine.

The Applet connects to the Manager interface available on the Asterisk machine and handles the calls. Because of the security restrictions of the Flash Player you need to install the Flash Security Daemon on your Asterisk, we offer the source code here to ensure these restrictions are handled properly.

If you need any support please use our Forum.

If you are using Debian Etch, please install, all needed packages from the ZaKoTel Software Repository.

The asterBoard™ needs 3 steps for the installation:

The installation of the Flash Security Deamon on your Asterisk Machine
The configuration to enable the Flash Applet to access the Asterisk Manager Interface
Installation and configuration of the Flash Applet itself

Step 1:
Download the Flash Security Daemon from the Download Page and install the flash security daemon on your asterisk server, if you using Debian Etch, you can install the package from the ZaKoTel Software Repository, we have also a Binary what you can find here, if you are using some other distribution compile the FSD from Source on your Asterisk Server:

Code:

# mkdir -p /usr/src/fsd
# cd /usr/src/fsd
# wget http://download.astertools.com/opensource/fsd/fsd-0.0.1.tar.bz2
# tar -xjf fsd-0.0.1.tar.bz2
# cd fsd-0.0.1
# make clean
# make all
# make install

now edit the user and group in /etc/fsd/fsd.conf ("proc_user=" and "proc_group=") and set these parameters to the values you would like to run the daemon as and please set the domain where the applet is loaded from:

File /etc/fsd/fsd.conf:

...
proc_user =
proc_group =
...

File /etc/fsd/fsd.conf:

access =

you can start the fsd from the command line:

Code:

# fsd &

detailed informations can be found here and inside the /etc/fsd/fsd.conf file.

Step 2.

Now let's set up a new authority in your Asterisk configuration so that the Flash Applet can connect to the Manager Interface. Edit /etc/asterisk/manager.conf on your Asterisk Server and add a new authority:

File /etc/asterisk/manager.conf:

[asterboard]
secret = asterboard
deny = 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0
permit = 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0
read = all
write = all

please set "permit" to your network and subnet mask, if you leave it as in the sample above, everyone can access. Be sure that in section: [general] the manager interface is enabled and the port is set to 5038

File /etc/asterisk/manager.conf:

[general]
enabled=yes
port=5038
...

Step 3.

Download the asterBoard™ Package from the Download Page and copy the unzipped files and directories to a new directory of your webserver where you have:

Packages needed on your webserver:

apache 2.x
php5
mysql server
mysql module for php5

this can be your Asterisk Server or some other webserver

Create a new table on your mysql server through phpmyadmin or the mysql command line interface

Create mysql table:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `ab_layout` (
  `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `sn` varchar(255) collate utf8_general_ci NOT NULL,
  `layoutdata` blob NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_general_ci;

this table will hold the layout information of the asterBoard™, if you do not setup this table, the asterBoard™ will work, but it does not remember the layout when it is launched the next time.

Now let's go to the config.xml in the root of the asterBoard™ directory and start the configuration of the <astman>, a detailed description can be found here

<host>: the IP address where the the asterisk is running
<port>: same setting as in manager.conf
<user>: the user of the /etc/asterisk/manager.conf (between the [ ] in our example above [asterboard])
<secret>: the secret of the entry in /etc/asterisk/manager.conf
<internal_context>: the context from /etc/asterisk/extensions.conf where all phones are registered in
<astdb_div_dbfamily>: if you do not set forwards or diversions inside your dialplan you can leave it like it is
<astdb_div_dbsection>: if you do not set forwards or diversions inside your dialplan you can leave it like it is
<zap_unknown_cid>: same as you can find in /etc/asterisk/zapata.conf: nocid=
<zap_suppressed_cid>: same as you can find in /etc/asterisk/zapata.conf: withheldcid=
<queue_members_dbfamily>: do not change, change only when you have changed the /etc/asterisk/queues.conf
<queue_members_dbkey>: do not change, change only when you have changed the /etc/asterisk/queues.conf

Edit: /www/amfphp/services/asterboard/config.php
change the host, user and password of your mysql server.

Edit: /www/amfphp/services/asterboard/WebAPI.php
go to the php function "getPhoneBook", here you can tell the web API where your phonebook.xml is located OR edit the function to create an XML stream that looks like the original phonebook.xml file. A reference can be found here. For a quick test of the asterboard leave it like it is and edit the phonebook.xml in the asterboard directory of your webserver manul with a couple of your phones, queues and meeting rooms.

OPTIONAL:

Edit: /www/amfphp/services/asterboard/WebAPI.php
go to function "getNameForPhonenumber" and write a function that returns a real name for the incoming number. When a call comes into the asterisk, the asterBoard sends the number of the caller to this function and if the function returns a name, the name will be displayed on the incomming call inside the asterBoard™.

Now navigate a browser to the url where you have unzipped the files and start the asterBoard™ by opening the index.html

Detailed Instructions can be found on: http://www.astertools.com/documentation/asterboard or in /doc/index.html of the downloaded files

please let us know on which distribution you are running the asterBoard™ we are happy to support you on our Forum.