VICIdial from scratch on Alma Linux 8 with Asterisk 18

Here is a step-by-step installation guide for setting up VICIdial from scratch on Alma Linux 8 with Asterisk 18. This guide explains each point:

**Note**: This guide assumes you have a clean installation of Alma Linux 8 and that you have root or sudo privileges. Be sure to adapt the instructions to your specific environment.

1. Set the timezone to America/New_York:

    ```

    timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Kolkata

    ```

2. Update the system and install essential packages:

    ```

    yum check-update

    yum update -y

    yum -y install epel-release

    yum update -y

    yum install git -y

    yum install -y kernel*

    ```

3. Disable SELinux by editing the SELINUX configuration file and reboot:

    ```

    sed -i 's/SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=disabled/g' /etc/selinux/config

    reboot

    ```

4. Set the default editor to nano:

    ```

    echo "export EDITOR='nano'" >> /etc/bashrc

    chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.local

    systemctl enable rc-local

    systemctl start rc-local

    systemctl status rc-local

    ```

5. Install development tools, additional repositories, and required packages:

    ```

    yum groupinstall "Development Tools" -y

    yum -y install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm

    yum -y install http://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rpm

    yum -y install yum-utils

    dnf module enable php:remi-7.4 -y

    dnf -y install dnf-plugins-core

    dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools

    ```

6. Install PHP and various PHP modules, as well as other required packages:

    ```

    yum install -y php php-mcrypt php-cli php-gd php-curl php-mysql php-ldap php-zip php-fileinfo php-opcache wget unzip make patch gcc gcc-c++ subversion php php-devel php-gd gd-devel readline-devel php-mbstring php-mcrypt php-imap php-ldap php-mysql php-odbc php-pear php-xml php-xmlrpc curl curl-devel perl-libwww-perl ImageMagick libxml2 libxml2-devel httpd libpcap libpcap-devel libnet ncurses ncurses-devel screen kernel* mutt glibc.i686 certbot python3-certbot-apache mod_ssl openssl-devel newt-devel libxml2-devel kernel-devel sqlite-devel libuuid-devel sox sendmail lame-devel htop iftop perl-File-Which php-opcache libss7 mariadb-devel libss7* libopen*

    yum -y install sqlite-devel

    ```

7. Configure Apache to serve VICIdial recordings:

    ```

    nano /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

    ```

    Add the following lines to the configuration file:

    ```apache

    CustomLog /dev/null common

    Alias /RECORDINGS/MP3 "/var/spool/asterisk/monitorDONE/MP3/"

    <Directory "/var/spool/asterisk/monitorDONE/MP3/">

        Options Indexes MultiViews

        AllowOverride None

        Require all granted

    </Directory>

    ```

8. Configure PHP settings:

    ```

    nano /etc/php.ini

    ```

    Update the php.ini file with the following values:

    ```apache

    error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE

    memory_limit = 448M

    short_open_tag = On

    max_execution_time = 3330

    max_input_time = 3360

    post_max_size = 448M

    upload_max_filesize = 442M

    default_socket_timeout = 3360

    date.timezone = America/New_York

    ```

9. Restart the Apache web server to apply the changes:

    ```

    systemctl restart httpd

    ```

10. Install MariaDB and configure it:

    ```

    dnf install -y mariadb-server mariadb

    dnf -y install dnf-plugins-core

    dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools

    systemctl enable mariadb

    cp /etc/my.cnf /etc/my.cnf.original

    ```

    Create or edit the my.cnf file with the provided configuration.

11. Install Perl and Perl modules:

    ```

    yum install perl-CPAN -y

    yum install perl-YAML -y

    yum install perl-libwww-perl -y

    yum install perl-DBI -y

    yum install perl-DBD-MySQL -y

    yum install perl-GD -y

    ```

    Install various Perl modules using cpan and cpanm.

12. Install the Asterisk Perl module:

    ```

    cd /usr/src

    wget http://download.vicidial.com/required-apps/asterisk-perl-0.08.tar.gz

    tar xzf asterisk-perl-0.08.tar.gz

    cd asterisk-perl-0.08

    perl Makefile.PL

    make all

    make install

    ```

13. Install other required libraries and tools like Lame and Jansson.

14. Install Dahdi, LibPRI, and Asterisk. Configure and compile Asterisk with the required modules.

15. Set up MySQL users and databases for VICIdial.

16. Install VICIdial:

    ```

    mkdir /usr/src/astguiclient

    cd /usr/src/astguiclient

    svn checkout svn://svn.eflo.net:3690/agc_2-X/trunk

    cd trunk

    perl install.pl

    ```

17. Update area codes and IP settings as needed.

18. Configure `/etc/rc.local` and add various scripts for system maintenance and startup.

19. Schedule various cron jobs for VICIdial, database maintenance, and other tasks.

20. Reboot the system.

You can now access VICIdial through your web browser using the provided URLs.