Installing a binary distribution of Asterisk makes it easier to maintain your system.

Using the package

management tools that are included with your Linux distribution, you can install and update software
without manually managing dependencies (libraries and utilities on which applications rely). Currently
Asterisk is available for automated binary installation using the 'yum' utility on CentOS 5 Linux and for
RedHat Enterprise Linux 5.
The first step is to add the Asterisk yum repositories to your CentOS or RedHat system. This is done by
creating an entry in the yum configuration directory (/etc/yum.repos.d by default).
Use the text editor of your choice to create a new file named "centos-asterisk.repo" in the
"/etc/yum.repos.d" folder. Add the following text to the file:
[asterisk-tested]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Asterisk - Tested
baseurl=http://packages.asterisk.org/centos/$releasever/tested/$basearch/
enabled=0
gpgcheck=0
#gpgkey=http://packages.asterisk.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-Digium

[asterisk-current]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Asterisk - Current
baseurl=http://packages.asterisk.org/centos/$releasever/current/$basearch/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
#gpgkey=http://packages.asterisk.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-Digium

Save the new file and create another named "centos-digium.repo" and insert the following text:
[digium-tested]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Digium - Tested
baseurl=http://packages.digium.com/centos/$releasever/tested/$basearch/
enabled=0
gpgcheck=0
#gpgkey=http://packages.digium.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-Digium

[digium-current]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Digium - Current
baseurl=http://packages.digium.com/centos/$releasever/current/$basearch/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
#gpgkey=http://packages.digium.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-Digium

At this point your system has been updated to use the Asterisk and Digium repositories in addition to
the base CentOS repositories. You are now ready to install Asterisk. To star the installation, execute the
following at the Linux command line:
[root@localhost~]# yum install asterisk16 asterisk16-configs asterisk16-voicemail
dahdi-linux dahdi-tools libpri

The system will respond with something like:

[root@localhost yum.repos.d]# yum install asterisk16
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* base: mirror.5ninesolutions.com
* updates: centos.cogentcloud.com
* addons: mirrors.kernel.org
* extras: mirrors.usc.edu
Setting up Install Process
Parsing package install arguments
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package asterisk16.i386 0:1.6.0.15-1_centos5 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: asterisk16-voicemail = 1.6.0.15-1_centos5 for package:
asterisk16
--> Processing Dependency: asterisk16-core = 1.6.0.15-1_centos5 for package:
asterisk16
--> Processing Dependency: asterisk16-dahdi = 1.6.0.15-1_centos5 for package:
asterisk16
--> Processing Dependency: asterisk16-doc = 1.6.0.15 for package: asterisk16
--> Processing Dependency: asterisk-sounds-core-en-gsm for package: asterisk16
--> Running transaction check
---> Package asterisk16-voicemail.i386 0:1.6.0.15-1_centos5 set to be updated
---> Package asterisk16-doc.i386 0:1.6.0.15-1_centos5 set to be updated
---> Package asterisk-sounds-core-en-gsm.noarch 0:1.4.15-1_centos5 set to be
updated
---> Package asterisk16-dahdi.i386 0:1.6.0.15-1_centos5 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: libss7 for package: asterisk16-dahdi
--> Processing Dependency: dahdi-linux for package: asterisk16-dahdi
--> Processing Dependency: libpri for package: asterisk16-dahdi
--> Processing Dependency: dahdi-linux-kmod for package: asterisk16-dahdi
---> Package asterisk16-core.i386 0:1.6.0.15-1_centos5 set to be updated
--> Running transaction check
---> Package dahdi-linux.i386 0:2.2.0.2-1_centos5 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: dahdi-firmware for package: dahdi-linux
--> Processing Dependency: yum-kmod for package: dahdi-linux
---> Package libss7.i386 0:1.0.2-1_centos5 set to be updated
---> Package libpri.i386 0:1.4.10.1-1_centos5 set to be updated
---> Package kmod-dahdi-linux.i686 0:2.2.0.2-1_centos5.2.6.18_164.el5 set to be
installed
--> Processing Dependency: kernel-i686 = 2.6.18-164.el5 for package: kmod-dahdi-
linux
--> Running transaction check
---> Package yum-kmod.noarch 0:1.1.16-13.el5.centos set to be updated
---> Package kernel.i686 0:2.6.18-164.el5 set to be installed
---> Package dahdi-firmware.noarch 0:2.0.1-1_centos5 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: dahdi-firmware-oct6114-064 = 1.05.01 for package: dahdi-
firmware
--> Processing Dependency: dahdi-firmware-oct6114-128 = 1.05.01 for package: dahdi-
firmware
--> Processing Dependency: dahdi-firmware-tc400m = MR6.12 for package: dahdi-
firmware
--> Processing Dependency: dahdi-linux-fwload-vpmadt032-kmod for package: dahdi-
firmware
--> Running transaction check
---> Package dahdi-firmware-oct6114-128.noarch 0:1.05.01-1_centos5 set to be
updated
---> Package dahdi-firmware-oct6114-064.noarch 0:1.05.01-1_centos5 set to be
updated
---> Package dahdi-firmware-tc400m.noarch 0:MR6.12-1_centos5 set to be updated
---> Package kmod-dahdi-linux-fwload-vpmadt032.i686 0:2.2.0.2-
1_centos5.2.6.18_164.el5 set to be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

===================================================================================
======
Package Arch Version
Size
===================================================================================
======
Installing:
asterisk16 i386 1.6.0.15-1_centos5
4.0 k
Installing for dependencies:
asterisk-sounds-core-en-gsm noarch 1.4.15-1_centos5
1.7 M
asterisk16-core i386 1.6.0.15-1_centos5
11 M
asterisk16-dahdi i386 1.6.0.15-1_centos5
837 k
asterisk16-doc i386 1.6.0.15-1_centos5
10 k
asterisk16-voicemail i386 1.6.0.15-1_centos5
264 k
dahdi-firmware noarch 2.0.1-1_centos5
1.9 k
dahdi-firmware-oct6114-064 noarch 1.05.01-1_centos5
165 k
dahdi-firmware-oct6114-128 noarch 1.05.01-1_centos5
166 k
dahdi-firmware-tc400m noarch MR6.12-1_centos5
1.7 M
dahdi-linux i386 2.2.0.2-1_centos5
3.3 k
kernel i686 2.6.18-164.el5
16 M
kmod-dahdi-linux i686 2.2.0.2-1_centos5.2.6.18_164.el5
3.4 M
kmod-dahdi-linux-fwload-vpmadt032 i686 2.2.0.2-1_centos5.2.6.18_164.el5
124 k
libpri i386 1.4.10.1-1_centos5
103 k
libss7 i386 1.0.2-1_centos5
63 k
yum-kmod noarch 1.1.16-13.el5.centos
17 k

Transaction Summary
===================================================================================
=====
Install 17 Package(s)
Update 0 Package(s)
Remove 0 Package(s)

Total download size: 35 M

Is this ok [y/N]:

Type "y" for "Yes," press the Enter key and relax for a few minutes
Downloading Packages:
(1/17): dahdi-firmware-2.0.1-1_centos5.noarch.rpm
| 1.9 kB 00:00
(2/17): dahdi-linux-2.2.0.2-1_centos5.i386.rpm
| 3.3 kB 00:00
(3/17): asterisk16-1.6.0.15-1_centos5.i386.rpm
| 4.0 kB 00:00
(4/17): asterisk16-doc-1.6.0.15-1_centos5.i386.rpm
| 10 kB 00:00
(5/17): yum-kmod-1.1.16-13.el5.centos.noarch.rpm
| 17 kB 00:00
(6/17): libss7-1.0.2-1_centos5.i386.rpm
| 63 kB 00:00
(7/17): libpri-1.4.10.1-1_centos5.i386.rpm
| 103 kB 00:00
(8/17): kmod-dahdi-linux-fwload-vpmadt032-2.2.0.2-1_centos5.2.6.18_164.el5.i686.rpm
| 124 kB 00:00
(9/17): dahdi-firmware-oct6114-064-1.05.01-1_centos5.noarch.rpm
| 165 kB 00:00
(10/17): dahdi-firmware-oct6114-128-1.05.01-1_centos5.noarch.rpm
| 166 kB 00:00
(11/17): asterisk16-voicemail-1.6.0.15-1_centos5.i386.rpm
| 264 kB 00:01
(12/17): asterisk16-dahdi-1.6.0.15-1_centos5.i386.rpm
| 837 kB 00:04
(13/17): dahdi-firmware-tc400m-MR6.12-1_centos5.noarch.rpm
| 1.7 MB 00:08
(14/17): asterisk-sounds-core-en-gsm-1.4.15-1_centos5.noarch.rpm
| 1.7 MB 00:08
(15/17): kmod-dahdi-linux-2.2.0.2-1_centos5.2.6.18_164.el5.i686.rpm
| 3.4 MB 00:17
(16/17): asterisk16-core-1.6.0.15-1_centos5.i386.rpm
| 11 MB 00:57
(17/17): kernel-2.6.18-164.el5.i686.rpm
| 16 MB 00:23
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Total 283
kB/s | 35 MB
02:06
warning: rpmts_HdrFromFdno: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID e8562897
Importing GPG key 0xE8562897 "CentOS-5 Key (CentOS 5 Official Signing Key) " from
/etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
Is this ok [y/N]:

Type the "y" key for "Yes" again, press the enter key, and wait just a few more minutes
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Installing : kernel [ 1/17]
Installing : asterisk16-core [ 2/17]
Installing : kmod-dahdi-linux [ 3/17]
Installing : asterisk16-doc [ 4/17]
Installing : kmod-dahdi-linux-fwload-vpmadt032 [ 5/17]
Installing : asterisk-sounds-core-en-gsm [ 6/17]
Installing : dahdi-firmware-oct6114-064 [ 7/17]
Installing : yum-kmod [ 8/17]
Installing : dahdi-firmware-tc400m [ 9/17]
Installing : dahdi-firmware-oct6114-128 [10/17]
Installing : asterisk16-voicemail [11/17]
Installing : libss7 [12/17]
 Installing : libpri [13/17]
Installing : dahdi-firmware [14/17]
Installing : dahdi-linux [15/17]
Installing : asterisk16-dahdi [16/17]
Installing : asterisk16 [17/17]

Installed: asterisk16.i386 0:1.6.0.15-1_centos5

Dependency Installed: asterisk16-core.i386 0:1.6.0.15-1_centos5 ...
Complete!
[root@localhost yum.repos.d]#

Congratulations, you now have a CentOS or RedHat system with a complete version of Asterisk
installed. Test out your new install by starting Asterisk:
[root@localhost yum.repos.d]# asterisk -vvvgci