Kamailio v5.3 - Install Guide

Guide to install Kamailio SIP Server v5.3 (stable) from Git repository.

For more about Kamailio Project visit: kamailio.org.

Main author:
   Daniel-Constantin Mierla

Support: <sr-users@lists.kamailio.org>

Overview

This is a step by step tutorial about how to install and maintain Kamailio SIP server version 5.3.x using the sources downloaded from GIT repository - the choice for those willing to write code for Kamailio or to try the new features to be released in the future with the next major stable version.

This document focuses on Kamailio v5.3.x with MySQL support, using a Debian stable system.

Prerequisites

To be able to follow the guidelines from this document you need root access.

The following packages are required before proceeding to the next steps.

Important Note: starting with version 4.3.0, Kamailio uses the directory /var/run/kamailio/ for creating FIFO and UnixSocket control files. You may have to complete the section related to installation of init.d script for creating /var/run/kamailio even if you plan to start Kamailio manually from command line. The alternative is to set different paths via parameters of jsonrpcs and ctl modules.

Note: g++ compiler is needed for couple of modules that link to C++ libraries, such as app_sqlang, phonenum or ndb_cassandra.

MySQL Or MariaDB Server

To complete all the steps in this tutorial, it is required to have a MySQL or MariaDB server installed. Consult the documentation of MySQL or MariaDB server for Debian for a proper installation.

For testing purposes, it can just be done with apt-get install mysql-server or apt-get install default-mysql-server. During or after installation you may have to complete some configuration steps, such as setting the password for mysql root user or initialize the database system.

Getting Sources From GIT

First of all, you have to create a directory on the file system where the sources will be stored.

  mkdir -p /usr/local/src/kamailio-5.3
  cd /usr/local/src/kamailio-5.3

Download the sources from GIT using the following commands.

  git clone --depth 1 --no-single-branch https://github.com/kamailio/kamailio kamailio
  cd kamailio
  git checkout -b 5.3 origin/5.3

Note: if your git client version does not support --no-single-branch command line parameter, then just remove it.

Tuning Makefiles

The first step is to generate build config files.

  make cfg

Next step is to enable the MySQL module. Edit modules.lst file:

  nano -w src/modules.lst
  # or
  vim src/modules.lst

Add db_mysql to the variable include_modules.

include_modules= db_mysql

Save the modules.lst and exit.

NOTE: this is one mechanism to enable modules which are not compiled by default, such as lcr, dialplan, presence -- add the modules to include_modules variable inside the modules.lst file, like:

include_modules= db_mysql dialplan

Alternative is to set include_modules variable with the list of extra modules to be included for compilation when building Makefile cfg:

make include_modules="db_mysql dialplan" cfg

NOTE: If you want to install everything in one directory (so you can delete all installed files at once), say /usr/local/kamailio-5.3, then set PREFIX variable to the install path in make cfg ... command:

make PREFIX="/usr/local/kamailio-5.3" include_modules="db_mysql dialplan" cfg

More hints about Makefile system at:

Compile Kamailio

Once you added the mysql module to the list of enabled modules, you can compile Kamailio:

  make all

You can get full compile flags output using:

  make Q=0 all

Install Kamailio

When the compilation is ready, install Kamailio with the following command:

  make install

What And Where Was Installed

The binaries and executable scripts were installed in:

  /usr/local/sbin

These are:

To be able to use the binaries from command line, make sure that /usr/local/sbin is set in PATH environment variable. You can check that with echo $PATH. If not and you are using bash, open /root/.bash_profile and at the end add:

  PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/sbin
  export PATH

Kamailio modules are installed in:

  /usr/local/lib/kamailio/modules/

Note: On 64 bit systems, /usr/local/lib64 may be used.

The documentation and readme files are installed in:

  /usr/local/share/doc/kamailio/

The man pages are installed in:

  /usr/local/share/man/man5/
  /usr/local/share/man/man8/

The configuration file was installed in:

  /usr/local/etc/kamailio/kamailio.cfg

NOTE:: In case you set the PREFIX variable in make cfg ... command, then replace /usr/local in all paths above with the value of PREFIX in order to locate the files installed.

Create MySQL Database

To create the MySQL database, you have to use the database setup script. First edit kamctlrc file to set the database server type:

  nano -w /usr/local/etc/kamailio/kamctlrc

Locate DBENGINE variable and set it to MYSQL:

DBENGINE=MYSQL

You can change other values in kamctlrc file, at least it is recommended to change the default passwords for the users to be created to connect to database.

Note that the existing line with DBENGINE or other attributes may be commented, uncomment by removing the # character at the beginning of the line.

Once you are done updating kamctlrc file, run the script to create the database used by Kamailio:

  /usr/local/sbin/kamdbctl create

You can call this script without any parameter to get some help for the usage. You will be asked for the domain name Kamailio is going to serve (e.g., mysipserver.com) and the password of the root MySQL user. The script will create a database named kamailio containing the tables required by Kamailio. You can change the default settings in the kamctlrc file mentioned above.

The script will add two users in MySQL:

IMPORTANT: do change the passwords for these two users to something different that the default values that come with sources.

Edit Configuration File

To fit your requirements for the VoIP platform, you have to edit the configuration file.

  /usr/local/etc/kamailio/kamailio.cfg

Follow the instruction in the comments to enable usage of MySQL. Basically you have to add several lines at the top of config file, like:

#!define WITH_MYSQL
#!define WITH_AUTH
#!define WITH_USRLOCDB

If you changed the password for the kamailio user of MySQL, you have to update the value for db_url parameters.

You can browse kamailio.cfg online on GIT repository.

Running Kamailio

There are couple of variants for starting/stopping/restarting Kamailio, the recommended ones being via init.d script or systemd unit, a matter of what the Debian OS is configured to use.

Init.d Script

To install the init.d script, run in Kamailio source code directory:

make install-initd-debian

Follow any instructions that may be printed by the above commad.

Then you can start/stop Kamailio using the following commands:

  /etc/init.d/kamailio start
  /etc/init.d/kamailio stop

Systemd Unit

To install the systemd unit, run in Kamailio source code directory:

make install-systemd-debian

Follow any instructions that may be printed by the above commad.

Then you can start/stop Kamailio using the following commands:

  systemctl start kamailio
  systemctl stop kamailio

Kamctl

You may need to edit edit /usr/local/etc/kamailio/kamctlrc and set the PID_FILE and STARTOPTIONS attributes.

The you can use:

kamctl start
kamctl stop

Command Line

Kamailio can be started from command line by executing the binary with specific parameters. For example:

/usr/local/sbin/kamailio -P /var/run/kamailio/kamailio.pid -m 128 -M 12

killall kamailio
# or
kill -TERM $(cat /var/run/kamailio/kamailio.pid)

Ready To Rock

Now everything is in place. You can start the VoIP service, creating new accounts and setting the phones.

A new account can be added using kamctl tool via:

  kamctl add username password

If SIP_DOMAIN was not set in kamctlrc file do one of the following option.

  export SIP_DOMAIN=mysipserver.com
  kamctl add username password

  SIP_DOMAIN=mysipserver.com

and then run again kamctl add ... as above.

  kamctl add username@mysipserver.com password

Instead of mysipserver.com it has to be given the real domain for the SIP service or the IP address of Kamailio.

Maintenance

The maintenance process is very simple right now. You have to be user root and execute following commands:

  cd /usr/local/src/kamailio-5.3/kamailio
  git pull origin
  make all
  make install
  /etc/init.d/kamailio restart

Now you have the latest Kamailio v5.3.x running on your system.

When To Update

Notification about GIT commits are sent to the mailing list: sr-dev@lists.kamailio.org. Each commit notification contains the reference to the branch where the commit has been done. If the commit message contains the lines:

Module: kamailio
Branch: 5.3

then an update has been made to Kamailio 5.3 version and it will be available to the public GIT in no time.

Support

Questions about how to use Kamailio and the content of kamailio.cfg can be addressed via email to:

More documentation resources can be found at:

Contributions

Anyone is welcome to contribute to this document. It is recommended to make a pull request via:

This version of the document is in GIT branch master.

Errors and other issues can be reported via the tracker at: