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Update – Added some fixes and the like, the new iso can be found in the downloads section or just below.

*All passwords are set to ‘slighPCs‘ by default.

OpenGTSlive-0.0.1
11-16-2011

• added CentOS-6 abrt fix (bug ID 4993)
• added htop (commandline process viewer)
• added mytop (commandline MySQL process viewer configured to watch the ‘gts’ DB)
• added epel repo (for possible future dependency issues)
• added ‘boot to install’ methods
• removed extra OpenGTS files (files left under LIVE_ROOT)
• removed 10 second timed login
• re-added 10 second timed login (due to missing Language and Keyboard selection option)

OpenGTSlive-0.0.2
11-27-2011

• added fonts to display all languages properly
• added OpenGTS Language Selection menu
• fixed mytop for installed systems
• reconfigured auto-login timer to 3 minutes (more time for Language/Keyboard selection at login)
• symlinked OpenGTS logs to /var/log

  OpenGTSlive-0.0.3.iso (699.0 MiB, 483 hits)

• updated CentOS to 6.1 Final
• updated OpenGTS to v2.3.9
• reconfigured OpenGTS to run under the user ‘gts’
• hard drive install; add Firstboot user to sudoers by default
• hard drive install; disable screensaver lock by default
• added a very simple configuration GUI (via yad)

We have also added an update script (opengts_0.0.2_update.sh) in the Downloads section to update any previous LiveCD install…

*Apparently the mytop config file didn’t make it’s way over properly. To fix this issue, you can either copy the contents of gtsmytop.txt to the file ~/.mytop (the file will have to be created) or just run the following from a terminal (‘Applications’ > ‘System Tools’ > ‘Terminal’):

wget -O ~/.mytop http://www.nwitechsupport.com/download/69/

wget -O ~/update002.sh http://www.nwitechsupport.com/download/opengts/opengts_0.0.2_update.sh

su (enter your password)

sh update002.sh

This is somewhat of  follow-up for the OpenGTS script recently posted, but I figured it deserved it’s own post due to the information I wanted to provide.

You can download the CentOS 6 OpenGTS LiveCD from the downloads section, or just click here. We have aptly named this distro ‘OpenGTS Live’.

What is OpenGTS Live?

OpenGTS Live is a LiveCD running CentOS 6.0 Final with all of the necessary components to successfully operate OpenGTS, as well as phpMyAdmin for low-level OpenGTS database manipulation. This includes native Tomcat6 (v6.0.24), OpenJDK (v1.6.0.0), MySQL-server (v5.1.52), Apache2 (v2.2.15), and phpMyAdmin (v3.4.7) installed from the epel repo, as well as OpenGTS (v2.3.8). Ant (v1.7.1) is also installed to allow rebuilding of the webapps, in case you’d like to add your own custom edits.

The LiveCD is locked down via iptables (firewall) to only allow TCP port 8080 for tomcat (OpenGTS Web Interface), both TCP and UDP port 31000 for OpenDMTP communications (GPS data server transmissions), as well as TCP port 22 for shell access. Of course, to allow successfull communications between device(s) and server you’ll need to map all ports with the exception of ssh (port 22) from your router/firewall to the OpenGTS server.

Here is a run through:

1.) Download and burn the image to CD. While Windows 7 includes a native ISO burning utility, there are plenty of ISO to disk applications for all other flavors… you can refer to this post if you are on one of those other various versions (Windows XP, Vista, etc…).

2.) Insert and boot from the CD (either use the Function command for the boot menu or change the boot sequence from within BIOS).

3.) Login to the LiveCD (or wait 10 seconds to let the Auto Login take place).

4.) You should now have the system loaded. On the desktop you’ll notice two important icons labeled ‘OpenGTS Web Interface’ as well as ‘phpMyAdmin’. You can also find both shortcuts under ‘Applications’ > ‘Internet’ (top left-hand corner).

5.) Let’s start by double clicking the ‘OpenGTS Web Interface’ icon on the desktop. You’ll be prompted to login. The Account: is ‘admin’ and the Password: is ‘slighPCs’, leave the User: field blank. Click on ‘Administration’ > ‘Vehicle Admin’ and you’ll notice the user ‘test01′. This ID was specifically setup for the Android application ‘GPS2OpenGTS_free’ for testing purposes.

6.) Now we’ll take a look at ‘phpMyAdmin’. You can open the interface from the desktop icon or via ‘Applications’ > ‘Internet’ > ‘phpMyAdmin’. The Username: is ‘root’ and the Password: is ‘slighPCs’ (the same credentials for MySQL). The OpenGTS database was defaultly named ‘gts’.

That about sums it up!

There will be a follow-up post to run through the install process as soon as time permits.

If anyone has any suggestions, questions, or comments please let us know!

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Recently we have become involved in a project that I figured I’d share with the community as it seems there are numerous build requests on freelancer.com as well as many other ‘rent-a-guru’ sites… and as always, this is our contribution back to the AWSOME world of Open Source!

Our goal was to build, but of course, an Open Source GPS (Global Positioning System) Tracking System to be used with Android devices.

Doing little research yielded that there was no better route than OpenGTS… it’s been around for ages, implemented in over 90+ countries, has an enormous list of compatible devices, functionality that seems limitless, scalability, etc… Needless to say, we found our match.

Next came the core build/implementation phase to provide an environment for development. This was the part that was lacking without some background in Java, MySQL, Tomcat, and Linux in general…

Searching provided numerous ‘good’ posts on the subject, and the documentation on GeoTelematic Solutions website was helpful as well, but there was nothing that just “worked” out-of-the-box. Hence, the reason for this article.

To begin, we started with a fresh install of CentOS 6 “Minimal Desktop”, the DVD iso came from from the official CentOS mirror, have a look here for the full locations list.

During the install you were requested to enter a ‘root’ password, you will need this password to run the script as sudo has not been setup for the user created during the initial start-up. When you reach the login you’ll notice your created user in a list above ‘other…’. Click on ‘other’ and type root as the username, then enter the password you created during the install. You will receive a warning about running under the ‘root’ account. You can dismiss this and even put a check in the box ‘…don’t show this again…’.

Here is where the hard part becomes simple… To install OpenGTS all you need to do is open a terminal window ‘Applications > System Tools > Terminal’. Then execute the following command:

mkdir ~/files; cd ~/files; wget http://www.nwitechsupport.com/download/opengts/opengts_cos6_r2a.sh

You just told Linux to create the directory ‘files’ under your home directory which is currently ‘/root’, move to that directory and download the Installer Script.

Next we’ll want to run the script by executing the following command:

sh opengts_cos6_r2a.sh

After the script completes you should have a fully functional OpenGTS system… problem is that you’ll need a way for your devices to communicate back to the system to track their locations. This will require some network environment information as you’ll need to open port 8080 TCP for tomcat (access to the web interface), as well as port 31000 TCP and UDP (to allow the OpenDMTP protocol through) and then pass the connection to your newly installed OpenGTS server.

How to go about these steps are dependent upon a number of factors within your environment including your Firewall/Router, Internet WAN IP (DHCP or Static), and LAN IP of the OpenGTS server.

You can acquire your LAN IP via the terminal with the command:

ifconfig

If you plan on keeping the install around, I would recommend setting a static IP, or better yet, set an IP via the DHCP server and lock it down by the MAC address… depending on your environment, of course.

You can acquire your WAN IP via any MYIP website such as our own here.

The firewall/router is going to depend on your specific firewall/router, as stated… and there are just too many to list. To narrow down your efforts search for ‘Port Mapping” or ‘Pinhole’ with regard to your specific device.

If you have a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) address on the WAN side, as many subscribers do. You’ll want to look into Dynamic DNS as a permanent solution. We provide Dynamic DNS to our own client base, it’s just not been released to the public (formally)… if you’d like to be added send us a request and we’ll set up an account for you.

Bare in mind that the script provided is a crude BASH script, and we take no responsibility for any issues or damages this may cause. Just covering our own there. If you have any problems, questions, etc… Let us know.