SUPPORT
ASR Installation FAQ: Linux
The following FAQ has been designed for installation of Standard Edition speech recognition engine for Linux.
1. What do I need to install VASRE?
You need one or more computers on which a GNU/Linux distribution is installed, and a network connection is available. For a small speech application with a limited number of ports, one computer would be enough for your speech recognition needs. You should install the VASRE packages, and purchase the licenses to launch the system.
2. What is the VASRE Resource Manager?
The Resource Manager (RM) is the control tower of the VASRE system. It manages license information, monitors server status, and assigns a new client session to the least busy server.
3. What is the VASRE Server?
The server is a software unit dedicated to speech or DTMF recognition. As one server process may handle multiple client sessions, you must launch one server process per computer. If you wish to set up a distributed VASRE system over multiple computers, make sure their hardware specifications are identical or comparable at least. The RM decides the least busy server process based on the number of client sessions handled by server processes, regardless of the specifications of the computer hosting the server processes.
4. What are the centralized and distributed VASRE systems?
The centralized VASRE system comprises one computer hosting a pair of resource manager and server processes, while the distributed VASRE system has two or more computers each of which hosts a separate server process. For the distributed VASRE system, you should decide on which computer the RM process resides. You may start multiple RM processes over the same number of computers for higher reliability.
5. What are the computer specifications required for VASRE?
To launch a server process, you should install the server package on a computer with
6. What GNU/Linux distributions VASRE supports?
VASRE supports Debian, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, SUSE Linux Enterprise, CentOS, RedHat Enterprise. Other distributions will be covered soon.
7. What are the components of the installation package?
The VASRE package comprises eight components:
8. Is there any package dependency?
The following packages have a dependency to the shared-object package:
9. What packages should I install?
If you are not sure, install all the packages. However, by installing the packages you really need, you can save system resources and make VASRE easy to maintain,
On a computer hosting the centralized VASRE system, install the language, shared-object, tool, RM, and server packages. For the distributed VASRE system, install the language and server packages on all the computers. Install the RM package on the computers that will launch the RM process.
Optionally, you could install the client API package, if you wanted to develop your own client applications. Install the MRCP server or Asterisk plug-in packages if necessary.
10. What formats of the installation files are available?
The installation files are provided in two formats: .deb and .rpm.
11. What do the names of installation files represent?
The package file names are as follows:
vasre-tools-2.3.0.CentOS.53-x86_64.rpm
For the same platform, the file name of the VASRE plug-in package for Asterisk 1.6.2 would be
vasre-ast-1.6.2-plugin-2.3.0.CentOS.53-x86_64.rpm
12. How can I install libicu?
For a certain distribution, the library libicu required for some VASRE packages might be unavailable in the repository. If this is the case, refer to the following link to install RPMforge:
http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories/RPMForge#head-20e1f65f19ccf2f5fbf5adb30dbaf5ea963a64ae-2
After installing RPMforge, run yum install libicu.
13. Where should I copy the license files to?
You should copy the license files to the /opt/Vestec/license/ directory of the computer on which the RM is installed.
14. I started the RM, but an error message shows up. What should I do?
The RM did not start for some reason. To track the reason for the error, check the content of the RM log file /var/log/Vestec/vasre/vasre-rm.log. Most RM errors are related to the license files. Make sure valid license files exist under the /opt/Vestec/license/ directory.
15. I started the server, but an error message shows up. What should I do?
The server did not start for some reason. To track the reason for the error, check the content of the server log file, /var/log/Vestec/vasre/vasre-server.log. This error occurs when the IP address and port of the RM are wrongly specified in the server configuration file, /etc/Vestec/vasre/vasre-server-config.xml. If you have installed Language components other than US English, and have not modified the language element in the RM configuration file accordingly, the server will fail to start. The path name of the RM configuration file is /etc/Vestec/vasre/vasre-rm-config.xml.
16. I ran the RM, but an error message shows up saying “There is no instance running!!” What does this mean?
You may not run the RM directly. Use the /etc/init.d/vasre-rm script to start or stop the RM. The same rule is applied to the server.
17. I started the RM and server. Is there any way to check whether they are actually running?
Enter the following command in the shell terminal:
/etc/init.d/vasre-rm status
To check the status of the server process, enter the following command:
/etc/init.d/vasre-server status
You can also check the contents of the RM and server log files, or try the sample client applications: ConsoleApp and SAP. See the Installation Guide for details.
You need one or more computers on which a GNU/Linux distribution is installed, and a network connection is available. For a small speech application with a limited number of ports, one computer would be enough for your speech recognition needs. You should install the VASRE packages, and purchase the licenses to launch the system.
2. What is the VASRE Resource Manager?
The Resource Manager (RM) is the control tower of the VASRE system. It manages license information, monitors server status, and assigns a new client session to the least busy server.
3. What is the VASRE Server?
The server is a software unit dedicated to speech or DTMF recognition. As one server process may handle multiple client sessions, you must launch one server process per computer. If you wish to set up a distributed VASRE system over multiple computers, make sure their hardware specifications are identical or comparable at least. The RM decides the least busy server process based on the number of client sessions handled by server processes, regardless of the specifications of the computer hosting the server processes.
4. What are the centralized and distributed VASRE systems?
The centralized VASRE system comprises one computer hosting a pair of resource manager and server processes, while the distributed VASRE system has two or more computers each of which hosts a separate server process. For the distributed VASRE system, you should decide on which computer the RM process resides. You may start multiple RM processes over the same number of computers for higher reliability.
5. What are the computer specifications required for VASRE?
To launch a server process, you should install the server package on a computer with
- Intel Celeron 430 @ 1.80GHz, AMD Sempron 140, or better processor,
- 1GB or more RAM,
- and 1GB or more of free hard disk space for installation and verification.
6. What GNU/Linux distributions VASRE supports?
VASRE supports Debian, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, SUSE Linux Enterprise, CentOS, RedHat Enterprise. Other distributions will be covered soon.
7. What are the components of the installation package?
The VASRE package comprises eight components:
- Language package(s)
- Shared-object package
- Tool package: Install this package to prepare grammars, and test the RM and server with sample applications.
- RM package: Install this package to launch the RM.
- Server package: Install this package to launch the server.
- Client API package: Install this package to develop client applications.
- MRCP server package: Install this package to use VASRE for MRCP platforms or Asterisk.
- Asterisk plug-in package: Install this package to integrate VASRE with Asterisk.
8. Is there any package dependency?
The following packages have a dependency to the shared-object package:
- The tool package
- The client API package
- The Asterisk plug-in package
- The MRCP server package
9. What packages should I install?
If you are not sure, install all the packages. However, by installing the packages you really need, you can save system resources and make VASRE easy to maintain,
On a computer hosting the centralized VASRE system, install the language, shared-object, tool, RM, and server packages. For the distributed VASRE system, install the language and server packages on all the computers. Install the RM package on the computers that will launch the RM process.
Optionally, you could install the client API package, if you wanted to develop your own client applications. Install the MRCP server or Asterisk plug-in packages if necessary.
10. What formats of the installation files are available?
The installation files are provided in two formats: .deb and .rpm.
11. What do the names of installation files represent?
The package file names are as follows:
- Language package: vasre-lang-langid-version
- Shared-object package: vasre-so-version-arch
- Tool package: vasre-tools-version-arch
- RM package: vasre-rm-version-arch
- Server package: vasre-server-version-arch
- Client API package: vasre-client-api-version-arch
- Asterisk plug-in package: vasre-ast-astver-plugin-version-arch
- MRCP server package: vasre-mrcp-version-arch
vasre-tools-2.3.0.CentOS.53-x86_64.rpm
For the same platform, the file name of the VASRE plug-in package for Asterisk 1.6.2 would be
vasre-ast-1.6.2-plugin-2.3.0.CentOS.53-x86_64.rpm
12. How can I install libicu?
For a certain distribution, the library libicu required for some VASRE packages might be unavailable in the repository. If this is the case, refer to the following link to install RPMforge:
http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories/RPMForge#head-20e1f65f19ccf2f5fbf5adb30dbaf5ea963a64ae-2
After installing RPMforge, run yum install libicu.
13. Where should I copy the license files to?
You should copy the license files to the /opt/Vestec/license/ directory of the computer on which the RM is installed.
14. I started the RM, but an error message shows up. What should I do?
The RM did not start for some reason. To track the reason for the error, check the content of the RM log file /var/log/Vestec/vasre/vasre-rm.log. Most RM errors are related to the license files. Make sure valid license files exist under the /opt/Vestec/license/ directory.
15. I started the server, but an error message shows up. What should I do?
The server did not start for some reason. To track the reason for the error, check the content of the server log file, /var/log/Vestec/vasre/vasre-server.log. This error occurs when the IP address and port of the RM are wrongly specified in the server configuration file, /etc/Vestec/vasre/vasre-server-config.xml. If you have installed Language components other than US English, and have not modified the language element in the RM configuration file accordingly, the server will fail to start. The path name of the RM configuration file is /etc/Vestec/vasre/vasre-rm-config.xml.
16. I ran the RM, but an error message shows up saying “There is no instance running!!” What does this mean?
You may not run the RM directly. Use the /etc/init.d/vasre-rm script to start or stop the RM. The same rule is applied to the server.
17. I started the RM and server. Is there any way to check whether they are actually running?
Enter the following command in the shell terminal:
/etc/init.d/vasre-rm status
To check the status of the server process, enter the following command:
/etc/init.d/vasre-server status
You can also check the contents of the RM and server log files, or try the sample client applications: ConsoleApp and SAP. See the Installation Guide for details.