Setup FreePBX

To get started we need to make the following configuration changes. All commands need to be run as root. Run the following command to switch to the root user:

sudo -i

Copy and paste the following into your terminal and hit enter:

cat <<EOF > /etc/odbcinst.ini
[MySQL]
Description = ODBC for MySQL (MariaDB)
Driver = /usr/local/lib/libmaodbc.so
FileUsage = 1
EOF

Then copy and paste the following into your terminal and hit enter:

cat <<EOF > /etc/odbc.ini
[MySQL-asteriskcdrdb]
Description = MySQL connection to ‘asteriskcdrdb’ database
Driver = MySQL
Server = localhost
Database = asteriskcdrdb
Port = 3306
Socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
EOF

Then run the following commands to start the setup:

cd /usr/src

wget http://mirror.freepbx.org/modules/packages/freepbx/freepbx-15.0-latest.tgz

tar vxfz freepbx-15.0-latest.tgz

rm -f freepbx-15.0-latest.tgz

touch /etc/asterisk/{modules,cdr}.conf

cd freepbx

./start_asterisk start

./install -n

You should see the following message, if it has been successful:

Next we need to install Postfix, so we can configure your email alerts:

apt-get install postfix

Instructions on configuring SMTP alerts take a look at the following guide:

https://wiki.freepbx.org/display/PPS/Setup+Postfix+Manually

Access the GUI

Once the above has been configured, you are now ready to login.  Get the IP address of your VM and paste into your browser and you should see the following. Setup a new admin account to login:

Once you have logged in, perform the following steps:

• Click Apply Config on the top right corner when completed loading.
• Goto Admin manu click Module Admin.
• Click Check online.
• Click Download all.
• Click Process.
• Goto bottom click Confirm. Now you see all package start download and install.
• Click Return.
• Finally click Apply Config on the top right corner.

Now enjoy your FreePBX server. 

FreePBX Ports

You will need to make sure that if you have any firewalls in your environment (security groups) that the required ports are open. For a full list check the following link:

https://wiki.freepbx.org/display/PPS/Ports+used+on+your+PBX

To setup AWS firewall rules refer to – AWS Security Groups

To setup Azure firewall rules refer to – Azure Network Security Groups

To setup Google GCP firewall rules refer to – Creating GCP Firewalls

Documentation / Support

For documentation on how to start using FreePBX, take a look at their official documentation:

https://wiki.freepbx.org/display/FPG/Configuring+Your+PBX

Disclaimer: This solution is built using FreePBX. FreePBX is a registered trademark of Sangoma Technologies Inc and is licensed under the GPL. No warrantee of any kind, express or implied, is included with this software. Use at your risk, responsibility for damages (if any) to anyone resulting from the use of this software rest entirely with the user. The author is not responsible for any damage that its use could cause.