Frustrated with Linux need help with Asterisk

Asterisk Asterisk Support
21

maxfiles;

I have suspected all along that Asterisk is trying to load and connect to the voip provider BEFORE it has access to the network, and it’s not able to and this is what is causing the problems… I think my last post may show that I am correct if I understand the rc.d stuff correctly.

As for my reluctance to install from source, it comes down to an inexperience with Linux, and a frustration with not being able to do anything from a graphical interface. I tried downloading the tar files, and could not place them in the usr/src dir because I wasnt logged in as root. I then tried going to terminal and do it and could not get the commands right…

I feel like everything I do on linux requires an hour of reading web pages foe every command I make, and there is not a single web page to read, you have to follow a link read, then follow another link, read some more and then follow another and so on and eventually you find a website written by someone like yourself who got frustrated with how many websites talk but have so little answers about problems…

I know I am far from the ideal person to be working on this project, and I even know my project won’t go into production with my own development, but I own a small company and cannot afford to be burned by hiring someone that can talk the talk but when you put them in front of a computer they end up having to learn just as much as I would have had to learn. And in todays world trust me for ever one resume you get that is accurately written you get a dozen that are bold faced lies about the persons skills.

I haven’t touched *nix since the mid 90s, and even then it was SCO, and all I needed to do was ftp my apps to it, and change their attribs so that they could be run by the end users…

I come from a DOS/Novell background, and linux has never been a necessity. I don’t know the ins and outs of the .conf files and init files and hell I can barely get in and out of vi. I don’t have years to learn all that crap, and I don’t have the ambitions to spend years learning Linux just so I can get a single app up and running.

The facts are simple, Linux is a solid OS, it is way more efficient than Windows, and way more stable, I will admit to this, but until simple configuration and installation tasks are made as simple in Windows it will not make it to a dominate OS in the market place. WHEN the Linux developers figure this small detail out then Linux will have a chance, but as long as it remains this ridiculously hard to do even the simplest of tasks it will continue to be frowned upon by people like me that make the decisions about what operating systems our companies operate on.

It’s just a royal shame that it’s the same users that built Linux into the solid platform that it is that are also responsible for holding it back and keeping Windows on the dominate portion of the desktops. Linux has come light years in the past 5 years when it comes to installation and setup. Thank GOD we don’t have to compile kernals for every piece of hardware anymore!!! But when it comes to working on anything other than the basics of word processor/spreadsheet and power points Linux still has light years to go :frowning: I pray that we get a new generation of developers that can actually understand this basic concept.

22

You don’t have networking enabled (a core OS configuration issue, not specifically an Asterisk one).

The “K” items stop the respective service and the “S” ones start it. For all “run-levels” you have stops for networking.

This is something that would normally be enabled during the OS installation (using tick boxes and GUI!). Although one could try chkconfig, I would suspect there are other TCP/IP related settings that haven’t be set, so I would look at the GUI configuration for networking first.

(I’m not sure why you were asked to provide information about the network service. Maybe it was as a control. But it certainly proved worth doing.)

23

david55;

I don’t understand what you mean? Networking on this computer is working because I am using it to access this site, and I am using it for development, and even after I re-start asterisk even it is able to access the network and the internet

24

I’m saying that it should look more like this (CentOS rather than RedHat branded):

[root@centos rc.d]# find . -name \*network ./rc0.d/K90network ./rc4.d/S10network ./rc6.d/K90network ./init.d/network ./rc1.d/K90network ./rc2.d/S10network ./rc5.d/S10network ./rc3.d/S10network

and that this scripts does:

[code]# description: Activates/Deactivates all network interfaces configured to \

start at boot time.[/code]

25

David;

I THINK that finally got me there… I have my extensions.conf screwed up right now, and I am at the office so I have to telnet to the machine to do any work, but my test just now makes it look like it’s good to go.

After your post, I did a quick search to see how to change the network startup via command line. I found out that I could use chkconfig network on so I telnetted to the machine and run that. It changed the rc.d files to exactly what you listed above.

I then reboot the server and asterisk started like always, but when I called one of my DID lines I got the message that “extension was rejected” which is because I have the extension file messed up. BUT this proves that Asterisk connected to the voip provider on reboot which is what I needed.

I’ll fix the extensions.conf file and I am confident that rebooting the server will now work!!!

26

I just confirmed that I am finally there on this problem!!! Simple one command line solution :frowning:

27

Dang! I was just about to tell you to check to be sure the network was set to start at boot time! Glad you figured it out.

One time I found my self involved in a suprisingly heated and completely useless conversation about operating systems. I was asked what was my favorite OS. My answer was and still is NONE OF THEM! I hate them all equally because they are buggy and not well documented! My CHOICE of OS is always the one that is best to accomplish what I want to accomplish. In some cases that is Windows, in others Linux, however, I’m finding Linux to be useful for more and more all the time.

Good luck with your Asterisk project.

28

I get asked all the time why I run 27 servers, and only two of them are Linux. Most people know that I could run the same load on 18 or so servers if they were all Linux.

My answer has always been simply that there is no such thing as free, and the hidden costs of Linux far exceed the cost savings. It’s getting better every day, but it’s still got a ways to go. The bigginings of this thread only go to prove it.

Linux is more secure, more stable, and better suited for the web hosting that I do. The problem is with it’s support. Linux Admins cost about 30-50% more annually, they get less work done for the same hours, and god forbid you find a problem that they cannot fix because it will take hours if not days to find the answers…

I can buy a ton of servers and rack space for the difference is cost and productivity. But as I said it is getting better day by day. I was totally shocked when I played with Fedora 8 a few years ago. I bought the book, downloaded the CD’s an when I got ready to install it I was fully prepared to spend all day figuring out what steps I needed to do to build the boot disks, then make the settings for compiling the kernal etc… I nearly fell out of my seat when the CD booted Fedora Live and all my hardware was found for me and I was able to play within minutes…

But that project ended up running on Windows and SQL Server when I spent the next 4 weeks trying to debug stupid issues like this one. I finally gave up on doing google searches and finding half comments refering to my problem, but then giving a link to another thread for the solution that linked to another thread and so on…

Just like this problem, one person asking me to run a couple commands and giving the feedback lead to a second showing me what the feedback should look like and a quick search for the right parameters and I had the problem fixed… Funny thing all along I was saying it was acting like Asterisk was loading before the network drivers were loaded… :frowning:(

Oh well, there is no real alternative to Linux for this project other than to not expand my business in this direction so I guess all the gripping in the world about the current state of things is nothing more than wasted key strokes because in the end I am going to have to learn either way…

29

So I like skipped half of the back and forth (/sit; /eat popcorn) however I will share my thoughts and points. I am also someone with a Microsoft, like from back when DOS was IBM PC-DOS, but like you I was pulled into learning more about Linux. For my own needs I was tired of paying an arm and a leg for my Windows based call center software and moving to Linux changed a lot of those lost costs.

I had installed CentOS and Ubuntu more times that I can count for my Asterisk testing, and every time I get close to the prefect installation; perhaps next I will learn how to use extentions.conf! I am still having problems with my lastest build, but I think its because I bought a old cheap Digium card off eBay.

My point and advice, take a step back and adjust the negitive mindset then get to work on re-install whatever flavor of Linux you and downloading the Asterisk source files and build one mean system. Your posts remind me of ones I did back in the Novell NetWare days when I started testing Windows NT 3.5.

“Asterisk The Future of Telephony” is a great book to help with the install and the general how to.

30

I’m a little confused. I am not negative towards Linux at all, in fact just the opposite. What I am negative towards is how Support is handled for Linux as well as the other Open Source stuff…

I actually bought the book Asterisk The Future of Telephony, as well as many others. And as for this thread, the problem never was Asterisk, nor was it Linux, but as I stated in my first post, I knew the problem was my lack of knowledge.

I struggle with Linux every step of the way, its a constant 3 steps forward and two steps back dance for me and Linux no matter what it is I am doing. It’s getting better with every release of Linux.

I just wish that there was a way to get simple, instructions on the most basic of things. I wish that I didn’t get told “go to this link” only to find “this link” to be a half explanation and a link to another site with another half explanation and so on.

Read back through this thread, you will see exactly what I am talking about. I clearly stated both what my problem was, and what I thought was going on. It took several posts of people telling me to go to blah blah site… Finally a couple of good instructions and a solution…

31

The main problem as I see from this thread is your level with Linux. I mean - at least when I install Linux - first problem I am solving is network. And of course I could hardly imagine that your instance missed starting of net services.
Support for Linux is very strange, at least according my experience. There are distributions like Gentoo - with almost perfect explanation of installation, steps etc. But Gentoo is nightmare if you are alone and have no experience at all, or your iron is old and slow. It requires compilation of everything and this is slow and complicated process. But once you spent enough time there - then you will know much much more about cores of Linux.
There are distros like Ubuntu - and you can get really good answers to most of your questions. But again - at least some small experience is necessary and of course some questions have no answers.
And of course you could hire somebody to help you. If you have ssh to your server - you could use remote access. But if you are not sure what is ssh - then you will need somebody in place.
When I started with Asterisk (4 years ago) I was not alone. And my friend had some basic knowledge of Linux. And we spent few months before we got stable working system.

32

I agree that my problem is lack of experience with Linux. I started off saying just that, because I knew it would be a basic problem…

This problem still doesn’t make sense to me, but the solution worked which is all I care about. The system had network access and worked fine. I could ssh to the machine after rebooting, and could access the inernet and everything… But Asterisk could not access the net at boot…

I’m sure it has to do with some way that Linux loads the drivers and all, and it makes no sense to be because I don’t know this process, but oh well… now it work.

As for stability, since fixing this issue Fedora has been rock solid for me, and not a single problem with Asterisk or Fedora since. I’m sure I probably have a few security holes open but I expected that. When this goes beyond playing I will hire someone that knows what they are doing… And when this goes to production it will be put there by someone who knows what they are doing…