Configure A VVX 400

Step by Step Simple Setup on a Polycom VVX 400 phone.

  1. Press Home button.
  2. Use D-pad below Home button to select Settings.
  3. Dial 2 and enter password (default=456), press “Enter” soft-key.
  4. Then dial 1, 5, 5 on the dial pad.
  5. Press “Yes” soft-key.
  6. After reboot press “Cancel” soft-key while you see “Starting Application”.
  7. Hold down simultaneously 1, 3, 5 on the dial pad.
  8. You will be prompted to enter the phone password which is the phone’s MAC address which is on the under side of the phone.
  9. Use the Numeric and capital Alpha characters (not lower case alpha characters.
  10. The phone will reboot again and we will now need to find the IP address of the phone.
  11. Press the Home button after reboot and choose Settings option with D-pad again as in step 2 above.
  12. Then dial 4, 2, 1 on the dial pad.
  13. Make note of the full IP address to be used in bowser to access web interface of phone from your computer
  14. When in front of computer open browser and type in the IP address in the address bar.
  15. Click on Simple Setup in the top Polycom menu bar.
  16. Expand the SIP Server menu and type in the server address you received from your service provider or IT department. They will give you the correct port number and it is usually 5060.
  17. Expand the SIP Line Identification menu and type Display Name, Address, Authentic User ID as the extension of your phone.
  18. Type the password provided by your service provider or IT department.
  19. Last is the label that can probably be anything you want but to keep it consistent keep it the same as the Display Name.
  20. Press the “Save” button at the very bottom of the Polycom web interface and you are ALL FINISHED!

Install Webmin in CentOS

Install Webmin and configure Linux firewall to allow access.
Have your server started already. I am using a terminal window to remotely login to the CentOS server.

Have your server started already. I am using a terminal window to remotely login to the CentOS server.

# yum -y install wget perl.

Next jump out to http://webmin.com/download.html. The link is in the video notes. Right click on the RPM link download and click “Copy link address”

# cd /tmp
# wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin-1.710-1.noarch.rpm
# rpm -ivh webmin-1*
# vi /etc/sysconfig/iptables
[in vi]
—Arrow down to the beginning of the long line that opens port 22
press Shift+A to enter edit mode to the end of that line and press enter to start a new line and enter the line to open port 10000 to access the Webmin interface.

-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp –dport 10000 -j ACCEPT

Press Shift + Z, Shift + Z to save and close file

# service iptables restart

Then get out to a browser window and type the IP address of your server plus :10000 enter to see the webmin login page.

# yum -y update

Install CentOS and setup Network

Run through on how to install CentOS and setup network to prepare for use on the local network.

Have your server started already.

Command list for Network configuration:
# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
[in vi]
Arrow to BOOTPROTO
Shift + A
Delete ‘dhcp’
Replace with ‘static’
Press Enter
IPADDR=192.168.1.5
Enter for new line
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
Enter for new line
NETWORK=192.168.1.0
Arrow up to ONBOOT
Change ‘no’ to ‘yes’
Press Escape
Press Shift + Z, Shift + Z

# vi /etc/sysconfig/network
[in vi]
Arrow down to H in hostname
Press Shift + a
Press Enter
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
Press Escape
Press Shift + Z, Shift + Z

#vi /etc/resolv.conf
[in vi]
Press ‘i’ to enter edit mode
search local domain
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 208.67.222.222
Press Shift + Z, Shift + Z

# ping yahoo.com
[to stop ping] Crtl + Z

Remote Desktop Access

There are a variety of ways to connect to your computer when you’re not at home or in the office. There is only one easy way to do this for free and a lot of more complicated ways to do it for free. If you don’t mind paying $20 per month you can go to a couple dozen companies for this sort of service and they make it easy for that monthly fee.

This is a free list of options with the most simple at the top of the list:

  1. logmein.com – from LogMeIn where you can find a variety of remote services including a free version that is the only free option I know about that is simple to use. Even though you won’t see the ‘Free’ option right away you will as you are going through the process of installing their software on your computer.
  2. Remote Desktop – from Microsoft is built-in to all Windows professional class versions of Windows. If you have Windows pro or business you are part of the way there. Then you need to enable port forwarding on your router to your computer. Default Port to forward: 3389
  3. RealVNC – UltraVNC – TightVNC are all basically the same open source software that will work similar to Logmein but requires the same port forwarding on your router as the Remote Desktop. Default Port to forward: 5900

Click Here for a video on how to setup VNC and a router.

Complete Backup by Imaging

My favorite backups are disk images. By taking a complete image of your hard drive you can be sure all your data and programs are saved.

The downside is you need a lot of storage to keep these images. Since hard drives are relatively inexpensive get an external hard drive to keep your backup images.

  1. Ghost 14 – from Symantec is the one I use the most even though there seem to be a lot of preferred options to Ghost from Symantec.
  2. True Image – from Acronis seems to be the preferred program and tool for imaging disks.
  3. Reflect – from Macrium has a free edition that is good but doesn’t have the bells and whistles of the other two.

Ghost and True Image are a very good value for well under $100. The most expensive part of any backup scheme is the storage. Get your hard drive, download the software and get backed up!

Click Here for the video on how use use Ghost14 without install.