Posted: July 21st, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Asterisk VoIP, Linux, Tech | Tags: appointment, appointment reminder calls, asteris, call blasting, office reminder, ontime1405, ontime1405.com, voip, wake up call | 2 Comments »
A while back I had a meeting with a friend in Orlando, FL. He came up with the idea to provide an appointment reminder service to companies that would benefit from such a service. Doctor’s offices, Dentists, Mechanics, Repairmen, etc. I drew up the logistics of the program and began working on it in the fall of 2008. Since then we have had customers use the software to easily call their customers and remind them of appointments and also use the software for call blasting. Call blasting is a feature to call an unlimited amount of numbers and playback a message. Since I have experience in the Asterisk VoIP platform I programmed the system to allow for options and the customer to enter in input with their keypad.
www.ontime1405.com
The purpose of this article is to detail the logistics and share it with the Asterisk community.
Basic overview:
There are a few different ways to originate calls with Asterisk.
-From the Asterisk CLI directly with the “originate” command
-From the AMI (Asterisk Manager Interface)
-From .call files placed in /var/spool/asterisk/outgoing
I went with .call files because of a few reasons:
-I can generate all of the call files ahead of time because they are read based on the timestamp of the file (less load)
-It is straightforward and easy to follow, and also leaves behind the .call file that is archived after the call is finished
-Asterisk will parse and execute based on timestamp, so to burst 100 calls would require much less overhead than through AMI/CLI
There are some negative effects to the .call files too:
-Changes made need to remove and add another .call file (If the customer changes their appointment time after the file was generated)
-The lowest interval to generate calls is every minute, so we can burst to 400 calls/minute (also more difficult to throttle calls)
Now you know how the calls are originating on the system, let’s move on to the database and interface.
I hired someone to program the interface in AJAX and PHP. That way it is secure and saved a lot of time if I were to attempt it myself. The interface is very clean and easy to use for customers. They also have the ability to import 1,000 records at a time via CSV files. Feel free to demo the interface via the link on ontime1405.com for “Demo the Interface”.
The interface stores the call data in MySQL which is then scanned hourly to process and create all of the .call files according to their timestamp. We only care about the calls that will be made by the system in the next hour, so those are the only .call files that are generated. The script is a PHP script that connects to the database with the query of calls to be made, strips them down, then does a loop to create the .call file, set the timestamp based on the variable, then move the .call file to /var/spool/asterisk/outgoing.
The .call files include 1 custom variable that is comma-delimited so we can parse out the appointment time, AM/PM, and any other custom variables.
The other important lines in the .call file point to the context in the Asterisk dialplan that the customer’s announcement and options are defined.
Now you may ask yourself, It will be a pain to manually add customer’s options and dialplan for every sign up, right? It was at first, but I created several automated scripts to generate the dialplan for the customer and “dialplan reload” when complete.
The rest of the accounting/etc is accomplished via bash cleanup scripts that write to the database and provide reporting/etc.
The same system can be used for call-blasting to a large group of number for a survey, snow day announcement, marketing message.
Please let me know if you have any questions or advice/constructive-criticism for me regarding the program.
And feel free to try out the demo interface and hear a reminder call!
Cheers,
Gregg
Posted: January 10th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Linux, Tech | Tags: forwarding, linux remote, remote, remote access, remote forwarding, root, ssh | 2 Comments »
There have been many situations that I would like to have remote access to a Linux server, but I don’t have administration rights to the network the server resides on.
A few situations I’ve run in to:
1. A friend has a server and wants you to take a quick look (but no ports forwarded)
2. Customer has a server that you need to look at, but no remote access
3. You are working locally on a server but need to leave and access it later from another location
Requirements:
1. You need to have a publicly accessible Linux server with an SSH account (please don’t use root for this!)
2. Add a dumb user that has shell access but nothing else, don’t run any applications as this user (used for SSH only)
So in the case where you are physically at the server and need to get to it later, type:
ssh -N -f -R 19999:localhost:22 sshuser@4.4.4.4
The options make it so after you authenticate with the password the shell goes to the background.
4.4.4.4 needs to be replaced with your IP/Domain of the server you control
sshuser needs to be replaced with the dumb SSH user you setup earlier
Now when you get home, ssh to your 4.4.4.4 server. Then use the Remote forwarding to get back to the original server:
ssh -p19999 sshuser@127.0.0.1
You should now be on your remote server.
If you want to kill the connection, on your public server type:
ps -ef | grep ssh
Then you can:
kill -9
Remember when I said that you must create a dumb user earlier? This is in case you are in the situation where you must give the command to someone over email and have them execute it for you. That way you aren’t handing over root-level access to your server…ever.
Posted: January 4th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Asterisk VoIP, Linux, Mac, Tech | Tags: 2010, donation, new look, no more ads, resolutions | No Comments »
I decided to start off 2010 with a few changes:
1. Choose a new theme for the site…done
2. Remove Ads…done(With the exception of the sweet animation my buddy did)
3. I’m studying AGI scripting with Asterisk and want to share my findings along the way. I hope to have a lot of posts soon for you guys.
4. I hope to have bi-monthly updates to the site at a minimum. Topics include but are not limited to: Asterisk, AGI, PHP, Linux, and anything else I find interesting. 2010 is going to be the year of knowledge.
5. I put a link on the right column, and I’m only going to say it once. If you want to buy me a beer, or contribute to my escapades with a small donation. Then I will smile knowing that someone appreciated the info enough to help me out.
Posted: April 27th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Asterisk VoIP, Linux, Tech, Uncategorized | Tags: asterisk backup, Asterisk VoIP, at backup asterisk, atd, automated asterisk backup, automated backup, automatic ftp connection, backup asterisk, backup asterisk files, backup asterisk script, backup etc/asterisk, bash, centos, connect ftp bash, cron, cron backup, cron backup asterisk, ftp bash, gz, gz asterisk, interactive backup, Linux, safe1405, tar, tar asterisk, voip | 6 Comments »
Summary:
Safe1405 is a bash script that will backup the popular Asterisk directories and place them in a tar.gz file. The script can be used in 1 of 2 modes.
The first mode is interactive, with a menu to choose:
- Backup Everything (/etc/asterisk, Voicemail, Recordings, Sounds)
- Just VM
- Just Recordings
- Just Sounds
After the file is created, it will prompt to upload to a remote FTP server.
The second mode is silent, and is best suited for automated execution via cron or at.
Just enable the UNATTENDED and PUT_FTP variables by setting them to “1″. You can directly edit the paths to each directory if yours are non-standard.
The script can be directly downloaded here: Safe1405 Download Link
Code:
#!/bin/bash
# Safe1405
# Author: Gregg Hansen - www.thiscoolsite.com
# Safely tar and gzip Asterisk files
# Version 1.0 20090427
#-Backs up all important Asterisk files - Tar/Gz
#-Choose the file name, or Date by default
#-GUI-like. Able to be silent for cron, or interactive
#EDIT the below ABSOLUTE paths to match your directory structure:
VAR_LIB="/var/lib/asterisk"
ETC_AST="/etc/asterisk"
VM="/var/spool/asterisk/voicemail"
MON="/var/spool/asterisk/monitor"
#Date Var
FILEDATE="$(date +%Y%m%d)"
#Your ServerName
#Filename is FILEDATE-SERVERNAME.tar.gz
SERVERNAME="Chicago-Ast01"
#Enable unattended mode/Remote FTP put (useful for Cron):
# Backup of /etc/asterisk ONLY (default)
# 1 = On, 0 = Off
UNATTENDED="0"
PUT_FTP="0"
#FTP Credentials
FTP_IP="127.0.0.1"
FTP_USER="admin"
FTP_PASS="secret"
###--START CODE---###
### Interactive Mode Functions ###
prompt()
{
cat <<EOF
Safe1405 Backup
1) Everything
2) /etc/asterisk
3) Voicemail
4) Recordings
5) Sounds
Q) Quit
EOF
echo -n "Prompt> "
read INPUT
case $INPUT in
1) everything;;
2) etc-ast;;
3) vm;;
4) recordings;;
5) sounds;;
q) exit;;
Q) exit;;
esac
}
everything()
{
FILENAME="$FILEDATE-$SERVERNAME-FULL.tar.gz"
tar cfvz $FILENAME $ETC_AST $VM $MON $VAR_LIB
ftpprompt
}
etc-ast()
{
FILENAME="$FILEDATE-$SERVERNAME-ETC_AST.tar.gz"
tar cfvz $FILENAME $ETC_AST
ftpprompt
}
vm()
{
FILENAME="$FILEDATE-$SERVERNAME-VM.tar.gz"
tar cfvz $FILENAME $VM
ftpprompt
}
recordings()
{
FILENAME="$FILEDATE-$SERVERNAME-REC.tar.gz"
tar cfvz $FILENAME $MON
ftpprompt
}
sounds()
{
FILENAME="$FILEDATE-$SERVERNAME-SOUNDS.tar.gz"
tar cfvz $FILENAME $VAR_LIB
ftpprompt
}
ftpprompt()
{
echo -en "Upload $FILENAME to FTP? (y or n) "
read INPUT
if [ "$INPUT" == "y" ]; then
quietftp
fi
}
### Unattended Mode Functions ###
silent()
{
tar cfvz $FILEDATE-$SERVERNAME-ETC-AST.tar.gz $ETC_AST ##Uncomment##$VM #$MON #$VAR_LIB
FILENAME="$FILEDATE-$SERVERNAME-ETC-AST.tar.gz"
}
quietftp()
{
ftp -ivn <<EOF
open $FTP_IP
user $FTP_USER $FTP_PASS
binary
put $FILENAME
bye
EOF
}
#### Start Program Flow ###
clear
#Unattended Function Call(s)
if [ "$UNATTENDED" == "1" ]; then
silent
if [ "$PUT_FTP" == "1" ]; then
quietftp
exit
fi
exit
fi
#Interactive Function Calls
prompt
exit
###–END CODE—###
Leave a comment if you have questions/suggestions or would like help setting up the script.
-Gregg
Posted: March 30th, 2009 | Author: jwiltse | Filed under: Linux, Mac, Tech | Tags: apple, centos, centos on mac, debian, debian mac, grub, install centos mac, install centos mac mini, Linux, linux on a mac, linux on mac, linux on new mac mini, Mac, mac mini, single boot, single boot linux new mac mini | 3 Comments »
See IMPORTANT NOTES section below… there’s currently a catch with rebooting….
If you find a fix for the reboot issue, please leave a comment (that will email me)..
Special thanks to Victor Costan http://blog.costan.us
Step 1 – Get your linux on the HD
-Power On / Insert Linux Install Disk With Kernel 2.6.26 or higher / Power Off
-Power On / Wait 4 Seconds / Hold “c” key to boot from DVD drive
-I couldn’t get linux to work after deleting the EFI partition, so don’t.
-Get to your distro’s partitioning utility and delete the main MAC partition
-After deleting the big partition, create your linux partitions
-If you delete the EFI partition on accident, the Leopard install will fix it
-Direct the installer to put GRUB on the first sector of your /boot partition
-Install whatever other options you want and let installer run
-Remove Linux Install Disk / Insert MAC OSX Install Disk / Reboot
Step 2 – Tell MAC‘s Open Firmware What To Do
-Power On / Wait 4 Seconds / Hold “c” key to boot from DVD drive
-Get to “Terminal” under “Utilities” on MAC Installation Setup
-Type the following command to determine how your /boot partition was identified
diskutil list
-Type the following command to set that partition as bootable (mine was disk0s2)
bless –device /dev/disk0s2 –setboot –legacy –verbose
IMPORTANT NOTES
-After these steps, linux will boots fine but when trying to reload it will hangs (more likely the shutdown process hangs). It appears to require a hard reset at this time…bummer.
-Earlier Kernels (Such as 2.6.18 in Centos 5.2 and lower) may install successfully but do not properly load drivers for all the hardware once installed.
WINDOWS KEYBOARD NOTES
Hold “c” key to boot from DVD drive
Hold “F12″ key to eject the DVD drive
Hold “ALT” to emulate the option key (not used in this procedure)
SOURCES
Debian Success Documented here (by Thomas Glanzmann): http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0903.1/01828.html
Discussion and bless command from Veiho in Ubuntuforums : http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-493393.html
Status on reload problem being worked by ubuntu developers: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux
Posted: February 26th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Linux, Tech | Tags: cracker, dont be hacked, encrypt, hacker, Linux, poison dns, public wifi, safe browsing, shell, ssh, ssh tunnel, tuennel web traffic, tunnel web browsing, windows | No Comments »
Whenever you are on a Public WiFi connection, you need to have your traffic encrypted so no one can snoop on what you are doing or poison your DNS/etc. Since every wireless packet is broadcast over the open-air, anyone can snoop in on your traffic. Unencrypted sessions can be captured and your precious passwords grabbed by the evil ‘Cracker’ (Cracker=Bad Hacker). I briefly discussed this in a previous post when I was in Japan, but it’s time to provide a detailed howto because too many people are getting taken advantage of.
Prerequisites:
A linux box that you have public access to and a valid username
Windows, Linux, or Mac as your OS for the client machine
Windows:
1. Download PuTTY and save the .exe to your desktop
2. Make sure you have Firefox installed
3. Open PuTTY
4. Type in the address or hostname of your public Linux server that you have access to
5. Expand the +SSH option in the left-pane of the PuTTY program
6. Click on ‘Tunnels’
7. Type in 8888 for the Source port
8. Click on the ‘Dynamic’ radio button below
9. Click Add
10. Make sure it looks like my screenshot
11. Click on ‘Open’ and connect to your Linux server
12. Log in with your user and password
13. Once logged in, minimize your PuTTY Session and switch to Firefox
14. In Firefox: Click on ‘Tools’ at the top, then Options
15. Click on the Advanced tab
16. Click on the Network sub-tab
17. Click on Settings
18. Click the ‘Manual Proxy Configuration’ radio button
19. The line that says ‘SOCKS Host’ put ‘localhost’ and port ’8888′, SOCKS V5 below
20. Click OK
Now all of your TCP web traffic will run through the encrypted SSH tunnel to your Linux server, then go out to the internet. Lets take it one step further and have your DNS lookups sent through the tunnel too. 
In Firefox:
1. In the address bar, type: ‘about:config’ and hit enter (don’t include the ticks)
2. Hit OK, I know what I’m doing on the prompt
3. Search for DNS in the top field and click on the line that reads:
network.proxy.socks_remote_dns until it is set to ‘TRUE’
4. Type in ‘whatismyip.com’ in the address bar and see if it shows the IP of your Linux server’s Public IP and not the Public IP of the network you are currently on. If you really want to see the magic happening, open up wireshark and watch the packets go by as you browse the web. All SSH packets with the exception of UDP.
If you have any questions or help, leave a comment and I will assist.
Happy (Safe) Browsing!
–Gregg