Category: Tech Help

Help with different tech tasks

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

Anti-Virus: Remote Scanning

A nice tool to use online is the free virus scanning that most anti-virus companies offer as a way to give you a reason to buy their program. The problem for them is when you determine you have a virus the removal aspect of their anti-virus program that you would have to buy is pointless.

If you have a virus and even if you have spyware on your Windows operating system, you may as well start over by backing up important data, formatting your hard drive and install Windows. Yes, start over.

Here are the online scanners in the order I recommend them.

  1. Free Virus Scan – from Kaspersky has a lot of options and doesn’t require that you use Internet Explorer which is good for the people who are no longer on the Microsoft bandwagon and tired of being attacked with all IEs vulnerabilities.
  2. HouceCall – from TrendMirco is a good scanner than doesn’t require that you use Internet Explorer either. There are only 2 options so you have less of a chance to making the wrong choice when you scan your computer.
  3. ESET Online Scanner – from ESET requires the use of Internet Explorer or you have to download a small client program to run the scan utility. If you are going to buy a active/traditional anti-virus program I recommend you pay for the NOD Anti-virus 4 for $40/year or $60/2-years from ESET.

Remote Desktop Sharing

There are a lot of services and software that will allow you to share your desktop with one or more people so you can have a meeting, show a demonstration and generally share your computer desktop.

All listed are free to use:

  1. acrobat.com – from Adobe is a good service to share your desktop and have a meeting online with one or more people.
  2. dimdim.com – from DimDim is free and open source. If you want to run their software on your own server you can do that too.
  3. skype.com – from Skype now has a remote desktop sharing feature in their popular VoIP software. Download the 4.1 beta version for Windows and the latest version for OS X.

The above options are not the same as remote access to your desktop. The difference between remote sharing and remote access is needing to have someone on the other computer giving you permission to sign on. Where remote access software just runs waiting for you to connect to that computer anytime you want.

With the above options available it is difficult to realize how companies like Webex, FuzeMeeting and GoToMyPC/Meeting/Webinar/Assist stay viable businesses.

I will probably give quick tutorials on how to use the remote sharing features at a later time so check back often.