Main author:
   Daniel-Constantin Mierla

Support: <sr-users@lists.sip-router.org>

This is a step by step tutorial about how to install and maintain Kamailio SIP server development version 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 devel (at this time it is the upcoming v4.0.0) with MySQL support, using a Debian unstable system.

Since version 4.0.0, Kamailio and SER are completely merged, no duplicated modules anymore. Default application name is kamailio.

The 3.x.x series offered the possibility to build Kamailio and SER from same source code, meaning that they were more or less same application, but there were some overlapping modules using different database table structures.

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.

• git client: apt-get install git-core - it is recommended to have a recent version, if your Linux distro has an old version, you can download newer one from: http://git-scm.com/
• gcc and g++ compilers: apt-get install gcc g++
• flex - apt-get install flex
• bison - apt-get install bison
• libmysqlclient-dev - apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev
• make - apt-get install make
• if you want to enable more modules, some of them require extra libraries:
  • libssl - apt-get install libssl-dev
  • libcurl - apt-get install libcurl4-openssl-dev
  • libxml2 - apt-get install libxml2-dev
  • libpcre3 - apt-get install libpcre3-dev

Important Note: starting with version 4.3.0, Kamailio uses the directory /var/run/kamailio/ for creating FIFO and UnixSocket control files. You 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 mi_fifo and ctl modules.

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-devel
  cd /usr/local/src/kamailio-devel

Download the sources from GIT using the following commands.

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

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

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

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.

Alternative is to set 'include_modules' variable to specify what 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-devel, then set PREFIX variable to the install path in 'make cfg …' command:

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

More hints about Makefile system at:

• http://sip-router.org/wiki/tutorials/makefile-system

NOTE: Previous release series 3.x.x used FLAVOUR mechanism to set the name of the application to kamailio. Starting with 4.0.0, the default is kamailio. From that version, if you want to build ser flavour, use FLAVOUR=ser in the make command to generate the build configs.

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

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

  make install

The binaries and executable scripts were installed in:

  /usr/local/sbin

These are:

• kamailio - Kamailio SIP server
• kamdbctl - script to create and manage the Databases
• kamctl - script to manage and control Kamailio SIP server
• kamcmd - CLI - command line tool to interface with Kamailio SIP server

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 (OpenSER) 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.

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.

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:

- kamailio - (with default password 'kamailiorw') - user which has full access rights to 'kamailio' database

- kamailioro - (with default password 'kamailioro') - user which has read-only access rights to 'kamailio' database

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

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.

The init.d script can be used to start/stop the Kamailio server in a nicer way. A sample of init.d script for Kamailio is provided at:

/usr/local/src/kamailio-devel/kamailio/pkg/kamailio/deb/debian/kamailio.init

Just copy the init file into the /etc/init.d/kamailio. Then change the permisions:

  chmod 755 /etc/init.d/kamailio 

then edit the file updating the $DAEMON and $CFGFILE values:

  DAEMON=/usr/local/sbin/kamailio
  CFGFILE=/usr/local/etc/kamailio/kamailio.cfg

You need also setup a configuration file in the /etc/default/ directory. This file can be found at:

  /usr/local/src/kamailio-devel/pkg/kamailio/debian/kamailio.default

You need to rename the file to 'kamailio' after you've copied it. Then edit this file and set RUN_KAMAILIO=yes. Edit the other options at your convenience.

Create the directory for pid file:

mkdir -p /var/run/kamailio

Default setting is to run Kamailio as user “kamailio” and group “kamailio”. For that you need to create the user:

adduser --quiet --system --group --disabled-password \
        --shell /bin/false --gecos "Kamailio" \
        --home /var/run/kamailio kamailio

# set ownership to /var/run/kamailio
chown kamailio:kamailio /var/run/kamailio

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

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

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> <email>'. (or try without the email)

kamctl add test testpasswd test@mysipserver.com

If you are asked for SIP_DOMAIN environment variable do one of the following option.

  1.
  export SIP_DOMAIN=mysipserver.com

  2.
  edit '/root/.kamctlrc' and add:
  SIP_DOMAIN=mysipserver.com

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

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

Now you have the latest Kamailio devel running on your system.

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

Module: sip-router
Branch: master

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