System information

15. Save your changes and your module configuration is done. Your system is ready
to configure your dialplan and channels.
Distribution Installation
Because Asterisk relies so heavily on having priority access to the CPU, it is essential
that you install Asterisk onto a server without any graphical interface, such as the X
Windowing system (Gnome, KDE, etc.). Both CentOS and Ubuntu ship a GUI-free
distribution designed for server usage. We will cover instructions for both distributions.
CentOS Server
CentOS means “Community Enterprise Operating System,” and it is based on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux (RHEL). For more information about what CentOS is and its history,
see http://www.centos.org.
You will need to download an ISO from the CentOS website, located at http://mirror
.centos.org/centos/5/isos/. Select either the i386 or x86_64 directory for 32-bit or 64-bit
hardware, respectively. You will then be presented with a list of mirrors that appear to
be close to you physically. Choose one of the mirrors, and you will be presented with
a list of files to download. Likely you will want the first available selection, which is the
first ISO file of a set. You will only need the first ISO file of the set as we’ll be installing
additional software with yum.
Once you’ve downloaded the ISO file, burn it to a CD or DVD and start the installation
process. If you’re installing into a virtual machine (which we don’t recommend for
production use,
‖
but can be a great way to test out Asterisk), you should be able to
mount the ISO file directly and install from there.
Base system installation
Upon booting from the CD, type linux text and then press Enter
.
#
At this point the text installation interface will start. You will be asked whether you
want to test the media. These instructions assume you’ve already done so, and therefore
can skip that step.
CentOS will then welcome you to the installation. Press Enter to continue.
‖ Actually, some people have great success running Asterisk inside virtual machines. It does depend what you’re
planning on using it for though, as you’ll have limited access to hardware, for example.
#You should test the media the first time you are using that particular CD/DVD.
Distribution Installation | 35