Monday, July 30, 2007

Review - Google Web Accelerator


Web accelerators are great , if and when they work. I have seen some of the best and this one seems to lack texture to their latex of solutions. Since I built my own, I wanted to see if it would preform any better across a couple of different types of Internet connections.

Sad to say the program had allot of overhead and ate a good percentage of CPU power which stalled the browser, so any 'acceleration'(saved 2 seconds) was completely ruined by the 5 second freeze. Turned ap off, and T1 speeds resumed. Seemed this test was too much for our older tester box, which meant 35 % of our clients could not even run the ap.

Site Link =- http://webaccelerator.google.com/
Main Company Link =- http:/www.google.com

Always happy to test any new Google device or project. Sad the Google Web Accelerator is not meant for anything under a gig of CPU speed which limits another large portion of the Internet especially the dialup portion of the globe.

Test Platforms:

Linux - Not Available
Mac - Not Available
Windows XP or 2K+

Will Update on industry standard 2.4 GHZ PC on T1 versus dialup , both with and without GWA running. See future reviews.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Trixbox 1.2.3 to 2.0 Upgrade Review

For such a a solid package so far the results have not been kind the the upgrade. Error after error, including development core needed, Zaptel manually compiled and more. So far I do NOT recommend the upgrade remotely. I see many issues , especially since the upgrade contained 368 programs and their dependencies, more than I expected.

I personally recommend always backing up your data and config files, and them do the update on a test bed. 2.0.2 upgraded without any issues, while 1.2.3 has nothing but. Seems one had a much more limited core base, so you have to install all kinds of rmps' or upgrades.

Can it be done without issues? So far the 4 or 5 links on google say no. All report all kinds of issues. After reading the upgrade details, I see where most would reboot and then issues would mound, since no modules come preloaded. Once you add your modules you can restore your previous services and routes, with few changes. Again backup your stuff.

value - medium to high - based on risk and changes
learning curve - extreem
alternative solution: download ISO and upgrade onsite

Have a CD packed with every package you need downloaded all at one time, at your finger tips, makes the install much smoother. Can you mangle your PBX ? Definetly. I run both servers and see 1.2.3 machines still functioning perfect for a local private phoner system deployable over the Internet, with software , time, more time, and patience.

Is it worth it ? 1000 percent. I love the new interface and more packages and options. I was able to hook the system into our prerecorded shows and demo our gabcast station.

Review - OpenFire

Server application with IM to SIP capability, is what the web site claims. Let's see if this beast can run on CentOS box preloaded with Asterisk. Our goal here is to work on allowing instant messaging over IP to any SIP account anywhere in the world. Instant messaging is growing and our group want to see it incorporated into an Asterisk based solution.

CentOS - Link
Asterisk - Link
OpenFire - Link

Our recent review of TrixBox stands.
Softphones - works well
Sipura 1000 - works well

Always remember to upgrade your server to its most current version without
adding a bunch of beta software. Beta means beta. Stable means runs without
crashing every few seconds or rebooting, or core dumping every day or two.

More coming soon !

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Software Review - TrixBox. 2.0.2





Well after Trixbox was recently purchased we new the system would be semi overhauled, and that it did. Some features worked good. Install CD is sweet, and simple, just the way it always should be.

Trixbox 2.0.2
OS - CentOS
686 / 64 bit AMD
UFW SCSI
512 megs ram
1.8 GHZ CPU

Install up went very smooth. Upgrade on the other hand needs WORK, in my opinion. The GUI admin interface is great except when upgrading modules. It hangs and freezes for what seemed like hours, and finally gave details, that YUM was able to do faster and all at once. Each application from what I see , operated its functions yes, but the admin GUI freezing on updates, made it hard to evaluate what was happening at that point. Simply killed the install or upgrade proccesses, and box was back to normal. Did loose my interface for a little as well, so the version still have a ways to go, in my opinion.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

CentOS - Webmin - Usermin - Spam Assassin Combo


Finished Product - CentOS running Webmin/Usermin and Spam Assassin creating a simple spam solution with a simple graphical interface. Cost : 0$/Free - 4+ HOURS - based on connection speed for downloads, software updates and speed. Can handle easy 4 GIG plus of mail a day with 2.4 GHZ CPU with 512 megs of ram, loaded onto a 60 gig ide drive.

Download CentOS
Boot & Install
Once installation completed:
login as root
yum install -y webmin
Login to webmin
Click on usermin
Follow instruction to add.
When completed :
click servers
click SpamAssassin Mail Filter
If not installed, follow instructions.
Once installed, your up and running.
Log into usermin
Your SpamAssassin Mail Filter is embedded into each server email account.

Simple solution. Recommend installing firewall and firewall rules
to reduce attacks to your system. Seen allot of attacks on the net
and recommend protection for every server on the Internet.