A2Billing 1.4 Software

[jroper]

Dear all

A2Billing version 1.4 is shortly to be released.

A2Billing is often used in conjunction with PBX in a Flash to provide either special application services, Multi-tennant operations, or as a value add reseller, you can use it to terminate minutes and to deliver DID and enjoy a revenue stream from your customers.

PBX in a Flash and A2Billing have been used to provide the PBX in a Flash Voip service, and has received some good reports in terms of quality and reliability which reflects well on both A2Billing and PiaF.

If you have got your hands dirty with Tony's write up on adventures in A2Billing, you may be interested in getting involved in testing and playing with the latest version of A2Billing.

I've written some howto installation instructions here:-

http://forum.asterisk2billing.org/viewtopic.php?t=5010

We'd really appreciate your help to test and debug this latest version.

Joe

 

[bucasia]

Hi Joe,

Here are my (rough!) notes for installing the new callback daemon on CentOS 5.2. It wasn't PIAF system so the paths might be a bit different but hopefully they make sense. There are also a few bit's in there for removing the old daemon. Let me know if the instructions don't make sense!

I've done a bit of testing with 1.4 and found a few strange things - mainly due to field validation I think. I'll go figure out how to check if they've been reported and report them if not.

Matt

cd /usr/src/a2billing-14/trunk/addons

yum install python-setuptools.noarch
yum install MySQL-python
(can't remeber where these came from offhand - could have been rpmforge)

cd /tmp
wget http://superb-west.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/sqlalchemy/SQLAlchemy-0.4.8.tar.gz
tar xvfz SQLAlchemy-0.4.8.tar.gz
cd SQLAlchemy-0.4.8
python setup.py install

service a2billing-callback-daemon stop
chkconfig --del a2billing-callback-daemon

rm -rf /var/lib/asterisk/a2billing/callback-daemon/*
rm /etc/init.d/a2billing-callback-daemon

cd /usr/src/a2billing-14/trunk/CallBack/callback-daemon-py
cp callback_daemon/a2b-callback-daemon.rc /etc/init.d/a2b-callback-daemon
chmod +x /etc/init.d/a2b-callback-daemon

cp dist/callback_daemon-1.0.prod-r1528.tar.gz /tmp
cd /tmp
tar xvfz callback_daemon-1.0.prod-r1528.tar.gz
cd callback_daemon-1.0.prod-r1528

python setup.py build
python setup.py bdist_egg
easy_install dist/callback_daemon-1.0.prod_r1528-py2.4.egg

chkconfig --add a2b-callback-daemon
service start a2b-callback-daemon
chkconfig a2b-callback-daemon on

 

[jroper]

Thanks for that, Ill get it tested and add it to the notes.

Cheers

Joe

 

[Bruce]

Hello jroper,

Is the installation tutorial valid for stable version 1.4.1 as well?

While trying your instructions, I am not clear on the install_db.sh part. What should be the fields entered? Should they match whatever is in the a2billing.conf or can it be anything?

I did what you noted and I am getting the following error (This when install_db.sh is run):



Install A2Billing DataBase
-----------------------------

Enter Database Name :
a2billing_dbname
Enter Hostname :
localhost
Enter UserName :
root
Enter Password :
passw0rd
mysql --user=root --password=passw0rd --host=localhost a2billing_dbname
ERROR 1049 (42000): Unknown database 'a2billing_dbname'
root@pbx:/usr/src/a2billing_v14/DataBase/mysql-5.x $


Thanks in advance.

 

[jroper]

Hi

The database install script installs the database, and that will need to match whatever you put into /etc/a2billing.conf

If you open and inspect the script, it should show you how it works.

Joe

 

[bucasia]

That's the default root mysql password in PIAF so that's probably correct unless you've changed it.

You need 'mya2billing' for the database name I think.

 

[manugmedia]

Hi Joe,
Good work, i have installed A2B 1.4 in an old box i had which i must say is working flawlessly without any issues. I want to install it now onto my test server which have PIAF and A2B 1.3 installed.
Is it possible to upgrade from 1.3 to 1.4 without messing things up or i have to do a clean reinstall?

Thanks

 

[jroper]

Hi

Elements of a2billing require php 5.2, e.g. the dashboard, and for fault-finding, php profiler.

Centos does not come with 5.2, and I have no idea of the effect of 5.2 on PiaF.

a 1.3.4 database can be upgraded to 1.4.1 by applying the database scripts in order.

When you do this, backup the 1.3.4 database.

Joe

 

[manugmedia]

Thanks Joe, will try and post the results.

 

[bucasia]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the info on the requirements for PHP 5.2.

It's a shame that it's needed for certain parts of a2billing 1.4 as neither compiling your own or using RPMs from 'unofficial' sources is that desirable.

From what I've tested, apart from the Dashboard, it appears to work OK with PHP 5.1.

For anyone interested here's a routine for compiling PHP 5.2 for use with A2Billing 1.4.1. An obvious warning though - this has the potential to serious break your box!

Matt

service httpd stop
yum remove php-common

yum install curl-devel freetype-devel libc-client libc-client-devel \
libjpeg-devel libmcrypt-devel libpng-devel libtool-ltdl-devel libxml2-devel \
mysql-devel gd-devel libmhash-devel bzip2-devel gmp-devel readline-devel libxslt-devel httpd-devel

cd /usr/src

wget http://uk2.php.net/get/php-5.2.10.tar.gz/from/this/mirror

tar xvfz php-5.2.10.tar.gz

cd php-5.2.10

./configure --prefix=/usr --with-mysql --with-mysqli=/usr/bin/mysql_config \
--with-gd --with-jpeg-dir=/usr/lib --with-png-dir=/usr/lib --with-zlib \
--with-freetype-dir=/usr  --with-curl --enable-mbstring --with-mcrypt=/usr \
--with-mhash=/usr --with-libxml-dir=/usr --enable-soap --enable-zip --with-imap \
--with-kerberos --with-imap-ssl --enable-pcntl --with-mcrypt --with-gettext \
--enable-fastcgi --with-openssl --with-bz2 --enable-force-cgi-redirect --enable-calendar \
--enable-dbase --enable-exif --enable-ftp --with-gmp --with-pdo-mysql --with-readline \
--enable-shmop --enable-sockets --enable-sysvmsg --enable-sysvsem --enable-sysvshm --enable-wddx \
--with-xsl --with-apxs2

make

make install

rm -f /usr/lib/php/.channels/pear.php.net.reg
rm -f /usr/lib/php/.channels/pecl.php.net.reg

pear channel-update pear.php.net
pear install DB
pear install --alldeps SOAP-0.9.4

cp php.ini-recommended /usr/lib/php.ini

ln -s /usr/lib/php.ini /etc/php.ini

vi /etc/php.ini -
  date.timezone = Europe/London
  upload_max_filesize = 20M  

echo "
AddHandler php5-script .php
AddType text/html .php
DirectoryIndex index.php
LimitRequestBody 20000000
" >> /etc/httpd/conf.d/php.conf

service httpd start

 

[krzykat]

Joe, what about the new PIAF that is still in beta that has Centos 5.3 ??

 

[wardmundy]

There's something to be said for developers using the standard CentOS environment that virtually every Asterisk aggregation now employs... especially if you want those folks to use your application. We would not recommend changing the PHP environment on PBX in a Flash systems.

 

[jroper]

Hi

A2Billing is developed for a number of Linux environments, and when these design decisions were made over 12 months ago, it was expected that the major OS distributors would have moved to PHP 5.2, after all, php 5.2 was released in late 2006, so I think this was a reasonable decision to make. Most other distributions I work with do include PHP 5.2.

I've not tested php 5.2 on PBX in a Flash in a production environment, that's all I'm saying and without that check, I am hesitant to recommend an upgrade.

I know that my original Concordiax product which was re-branded and given to PBX in a Flash has no problems being upgraded, and I have more than one A2Billing install based on Concordiax, that has been upgraded through the versions all he way to PHP 5.2 and A2Billing 1.4.1

However, as Ward has recommended not upgrading PBX in a Flash to PHP 5.2, which although having been out for the best part of three years, then he probably has a very good justification for this advice, and it would be wise to heed it.


Joe

 

[wardmundy]

The justification is that the CentOS development team doesn't support it, and we use CentOS. Simple as that. If it's been out three years and the CentOS development team still doesn't support it, that speaks volumes.

We have a bleeding edge build for those that don't mind... the blood. :deathb: