SMS server using CentOS, kannel and playsms

On this page I will describe the way I went trough to configure an sms gateway using a laptop, huawei modem, falcom A2D-1 or the option Globetrotter hardware using the open source software kannel & playsms.

The main goal of this project was related to the scouting movement in Belgium I'm active. We wanted to interrogate all of our members who were on a start weekend of the next scouting year. To do this we had the idea to use the sms communication channel. This because almost every youngster has the possibility to send sms messages without a big effort.

To achieve this I searched on the internet and found the playsms software. Using this software you can easily add an interactive flow to communicate with people using sms. We used the sms quiz where we added some questions with keywords were people could answer to and we replied with a next question.
As mobile provider we choose for Mobile Vikings a belgium operator with an open-mind. They were very helpfull when I contacted them to see if they could monitor some mobile traffic for my sim.

But before this software can handle your sms messages they have to be captured and received using a SIM card and pushed to the software. This step in the whole process can be done by kannel.

Process using CentOS 6.3 minimal installation

Install some required dependency packages:

# yum install gcc libxml2-devel mysql-server wvdial vim

Looking for the modem:

# wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf
Found a modem on **/dev/ttyUSB0**

Minicom

Before starting configuring the services which were going to communicate with the modem I wanted to make sure I could send text messages with it. To check that functionality I installed the minicom serial communication program:

# yum install minicom
# minicom

In this terminal you can control the modem using AT commands. A nice tutorial about those commands is available on qualityguru.
Steps for entering the PIN.

AT+CPIN=XXXX
OK
AT+CPIN?
+CPIN: READY
OK

Checking if the SMS center is configured:

AT+CSCA?
+CSCA: "+32XXXXXXXXX",145
OK

If not configured, configure it by:

AT+CSCA="+32XXXXXXXXX"
OK

The steps for sending a text message:

AT+CMGF=1
OK
AT+CMGS="+32XXXXXXXXX"
> This is the text message.
> (CTRL-Z)
+CMGS: XX
OK

If you received the message on your phone its working obviously and we can start configuring kannel.
If not, check the troubleshoot page of qualityguru for some common mistakes.

Kannel

At the moment of writing this post the last stable version is 1.4.3. Using CentOS 6.4 you can install kannel from the epel repository:

# yum install kannel

Or you can choose to compile it from source:

# wget http://www.kannel.org/download/1.4.3/gateway-1.4.3.tar.gz
# tar zxvf gateway-1.4.3.tar.gz -C /usr/local/src/
# cd /usr/local/src/gateway-1.4.3/
# mkdir -p /etc/kannel
# ./configure --prefix=/etc/kannel
# make
# make install

I installed the kannel service from the repository and created a symlink from /etc/kannel.conf to the /etc/kannel/kannel.conf so the playsms service could read the configuration afterwards:

# mkdir /etc/kannel/
# ln -s /etc/kannel.conf /etc/kannel/kannel.conf

Once you configured your device you start kannel by starting the kannel service:

# service kannel start

If everything went well you can see that there are 2 services started:

# ps aux | grep kannel
kannel    9611  1.9  0.1 750424  6684 ?        Sl   13:14   2:37 /usr/sbin/bearerbox /etc/kannel.conf
kannel    9636  0.0  0.1 674228  4676 ?        Sl   13:14   0:00 /usr/sbin/smsbox /etc/kannel.conf

In the /var/log/kannel/kannel.log file you can follow the state of the kannel service. I struggled a bit with this to find out the reset string for the modems I used. By searching the internet you can find the particular string for your device.

For example the option one I found on enterprisemobiletoday.com by try & error in the minicom terminal.
I used different sorts of hardware and listed the specific kannel.conf files here under per device.
In the first phase I used a huawei USB dongle:

#CORE
group = core
admin-port = 13000
admin-password = #PASSWORD
status-password = #PASSWORD
log-file = "/var/log/kannel/kannel.log"
log-level = 0
access-log = "/var/log/kannel/access.log"
smsbox-port = 13001
store-type = file
store-location = "/var/log/kannel/kannel.store"*

#SMSC MODEM GSM
group = smsc
smsc = at
connect-allow-ip = 127.0.0.1
port = 13013
host = "localhost"
smsc-id = Huawei
modemtype = Huawei
device = /dev/ttyUSB0
speed = 9600
sms-center = "+32486000005"
my-number = "+324XXXXXXXX"
pin = XXXX

group = modems
id = huawei
name = huawei
detect-string = "huawei"
init-string = "AT+CNMI=2,1,0,0,0;+CMEE=1"

#SMSBOX SETUP
group = smsbox
bearerbox-host = 127.0.0.1
bearerbox-port = 130X01
sendsms-port = 13131
sendsms-chars = "0123456789+"
global-sender = 00324XXXXXXXX
log-file = "/var/log/kannel/smsbox.log"
log-level = 0
access-log = "/var/log/kannel/access.log"

#SEND-SMS USERS
group = sendsms-user
username = #USERNAME
password = #PASSWORD
user-allow-ip = "\*.\*.\*.\*"

#SMS SERVICE
group = sms-service
keyword = default
accept-x-kannel-headers = true
#accepted-smsc = Huawei
accepted-smsc = at2
max-messages = 0
assume-plain-text = true
catch-all = true

get-url = "http://localhost/playsms/index.php?app=call&cat=gateway&plugin=kannel&access=geturl&t=%t&q=%q&a=%a"

During the event was in the possession of a falcom A2D-1 gateway which was connected from serial to usb:

group = core
admin-port = 13000
admin-password = playsms
log-file = "/var/log/kannel/kannel.log"
log-level = 0
access-log = "/var/log/kannel/access.log"
smsbox-port = 13001
store-type = file
store-location = "/var/log/kannel/kannel.store"*

group = smsc
smsc = at
modemtype = falcom
device = /dev/ttyUSB0
my-number = "+324XXXXXXXX"
sms-center = "+32486000005"
pin = XXXX

group = modems
id = falcom
name = "Falcom"
detect-string = "Falcom"
reset-string = "AT+CFUN=1"

#SMSBOX SETUP
group = smsbox
bearerbox-host = localhost
sendsms-port = 13131
log-file = "/var/log/kannel/smsbox.log"
log-level = 0
access-log = "/var/log/kannel/access.log"

#SEND-SMS USERS
group = sendsms-user
username = #USER
password = #PASSWORD

#SMS SERVICE
group = sms-service
keyword = default
accept-x-kannel-headers = true
max-messages = 0
assume-plain-text = true
catch-all = true

get-url = "http://127.0.0.1:2080/playsms/index.php?app=call&cat=gateway&plugin=kannel&access=geturl&t=%t&q=%q&a=%a"

After the event I had to give back the falcom and got my hands on an option globetrotter HSPDA card connected on a pcmci slot of the laptop I configured as CentOS server:

#CORE
group = core
admin-port = 13000
admin-password = playsms
status-password = playsms
log-file = /var/log/kannel/kannel.log
log-level = 0
access-log = /var/log/kannel/access.log
smsbox-port = 13001
store-type = file
store-location = /var/log/kannel/kannel.store

#SMSC MODEM GSM
group = smsc
smsc = at
connect-allow-ip = 127.0.0.1
port = 13013
host = “localhost”
smsc-id = Option
modemtype = Option
device = /dev/ttyUSB0
speed = 9600
sms-center = "32486000005"
my-number = "324XXXXXXXX"
pin = XXXX

# If modemtype=auto, try everyone and defaults to this one
group = modems
id = generic
name = "Generic Modem"
reset-string = "AT&F"

#SMSBOX SETUP
group = smsbox
bearerbox-host = 127.0.0.1
bearerbox-port = 13001
sendsms-port = 13131
sendsms-chars = “0123456789+”
global-sender = 0032485550261
log-file = “/var/log/kannel/smsbox.log”
log-level = 0
access-log = “/var/log/kannel/access.log”

#SEND-SMS USERS
group = sendsms-user
username = playsms
password = playsms

#SMS SERVICE
group = sms-service
keyword = default
accept-x-kannel-headers = true
accepted-smsc = at
max-messages = 0
assume-plain-text = true
catch-all = true

Web service

For the playsms service we need to have a webserver configured. You can use every webserver you want, I tried with xampp and lighttpd.

During the event I used with the xampp web service because it was working after all by following the howto of kasrut.

After the event was finished I migrated to lighttpd mainly because I already had some other applications running on that service.

Xampp

# wget http://nchc.dl.sourceforge.net/project/xampp/XAMPP%20Linux/1.7.4/xampp-linux-1.7.4.tar.gz
# tar zxvf xampp-linux-1.7.4.tar.gz -C /opt/
# cd /opt/lampp
# ./lampp start

Lighttpd

For the installation of lighttpd I refer to a clear tutorial on howtoforge

playsms

playsms is a free and open-source gateway. I used this software to configure a big quiz to set up a cool and trendy communication flow between people and our scouting movement.

I used the git repository to easily update my instance to the newest releases:

# cd /usr/local/src/
# git clone git@github.com:antonraharja/playSMS.git
# cd playSMS/

Creation of the necessary directories and copy the web files to the webserver directory

# mkdir -p /var/www/html/playsms /var/spool/playsms /var/log/playsms /var/lib/playsms
# cp -r usr/local/src/playSMS/web/* /var/www/html/playsms/

Creation of a mysql db and user:

# mysql -u root -p
# Enter password:


# mysql> create database playsms;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

# mysql> grant usage on *.* to USER@localhost identified by ‘PASSWORD’;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

# mysql> grant all privileges on playsms.* to USER@localhost ;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

# mysql> quit

# msql -u root -p playsms < /usr/local/src/playSMS/db/playsms.sql

Next step is to configure the playsms web service. Therefore follow those steps:

# cd /var/www/html/playsms
# cp config-dist.php config.php

Edit this config.php file to your own needs.

Now we configured the parameters we can start to install the services:

# mkdir -p /etc/default /usr/local/bin
# cp /usr/local/src/playSMS/daemon/linux/etc/playsms /etc/default/
# cp /usr/local/src/playSMS/daemon/linux/bin/* /usr/local/bin/
# vim /etc/default/playsms # edit the paths to your environment ones

I've used rc.local to start the service at boot:

# vim /etc/rc.d/rc.local

and put /usr/local/bin/playsmsd_start at the end of that file

Next I configured 2 new aliases in my ~/.bashrc to easily start and stop the service:

alias playsms-start='/usr/local/bin/playsmsd_start'
alias playsms-stop='/usr/local/bin/playsmsd_stop'

By re-logging in you can start the service by:

# playsms-start

And check if the necessary services are started:

# ps aux | grep playsms
root      7735  0.0  0.0 103236   868 pts/4    S+   15:52   0:00 grep playsms
root     21845  0.0  0.0 106312  1660 pts/4    S    12:25   0:06 /bin/bash ./playsmsd /var/www/html/playsms
root     21847  0.0  0.0 106184  1536 pts/4    S    12:25   0:05 /bin/bash ./sendsmsd /var/www/html/playsms

Finally you can browse http://<your web server IP>/playsms/ and login using

username: admin password: admin

Where you need to configure kannel in the menu: Gateway > Manage Kannel > kannel (Inactive) (click here to activate) and adopt the parameters to the ones you configured in kannel.conf

After filling in your preferences you should be able to send and receive messages through this nifty web console.

(TIP: Using twice the same keyword for a quiz resulted in the fact that only this word is needed to send to the sms server to start the interactivity)

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