Things to know before you start installing FreePBX
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Considerations for physical versus virtual?
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@NerdyDad said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
Considerations for physical versus virtual?
Yes, are you installing a PBX? Then virtual. It's a server like any other. If you need special hardware, consider doing it externally to the server or a passthrough to the VM. There is a possibility that you will have unique hardware that cannot handle virtualization - but you should consider not having that hardware if it forces you to violate decent good practices. Typically PBXs and phones are of some importance, so you want to treat the as such and that means virtual.
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@scottalanmiller said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
@NerdyDad said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
Considerations for physical versus virtual?
Yes, are you installing a PBX? Then virtual. It's a server like any other. If you need special hardware, consider doing it externally to the server or a passthrough to the VM. There is a possibility that you will have unique hardware that cannot handle virtualization - but you should consider not having that hardware if it forces you to violate decent good practices. Typically PBXs and phones are of some importance, so you want to treat the as such and that means virtual.
This is funny - While I do agree, what Scott says makes total sense, but how many SMBs have you known (I'm not asking Scott) that have ever had a redundant phone system? Also, pre server based PBX, they were hardware setups that were fairly robust. Of course now moving them to little more than a software platform that runs on commodity hardware, we need to consider the reliability of that hardware compared to our need for uptime and decide where we draw the line. With that said being that this is just software running on a commodity hardware, we shouldn't treat this any different than we do a Windows or Linux based server. Virtualize unless there is a specific thing preventing us from doing so.
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still need to type up point 4... but have to take the kids out.
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@Dashrender said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
This is funny - While I do agree, what Scott says makes total sense, but how many SMBs have you known (I'm not asking Scott) that have ever had a redundant phone system?
More importantly.... what difference does it make that you rarely see SMBs doing it? We aren't asking what SMBs who are failing to do IT well are doing, we are asking what we should do. And intentionally do something poorly because it is common to do it poorly is not good logic. Physical PBXs are both more expensive and more fragile. No upsides. SMBs have been easily mislead in the past, don't be those SMBs.
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@Dashrender said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
Also, pre server based PBX, they were hardware setups that were fairly robust.
"Fairly robust" is a relative term. The baseline of robustness is vastly higher today, those old PBXs are not robust in today's terminology. They were comparable to other technology of their day. They are laughably unexceptionable today. And their cost was always ridiculous.
Lots of things were done in the past that were acceptable then because there were not better options that should never be remotely considered today.
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@Dashrender said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
Of course now moving them to little more than a software platform that runs on commodity hardware...
That's all that they normally ever were. Just it wasn't exposed for you to put it on quality commodity hardware or have failover or recovery options.
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@scottalanmiller said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
@Dashrender said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
Of course now moving them to little more than a software platform that runs on commodity hardware...
That's all that they normally ever were. Just it wasn't exposed for you to put it on quality commodity hardware or have failover or recovery options.
This is why I did not even make a point for virtual or not. It will be virtual or you did something wrong.
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ok finally posted details for point 4.
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Would love to see how you provision phones using FreePBX without endpoint manager. Been searching the Wiki but all I have found involves their EPM.
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@bigbear said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
Would love to see how you provision phones using FreePBX without endpoint manager. Been searching the Wiki but all I have found involves their EPM.
that is on my to do here, but I posted this process within the last week for someone on this forum. let me try and find the thread.
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@bigbear I gave an example config in this thread specifically because you asked.
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Yeah that guy was an ass... lol
What folder on the server do you place the config files in for https?
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+1 on everything @JaredBusch . Not needed now but valuable for future!
@Dashrender ans @scottalanmiller currently we use one of these -
@bigbear said in Things to know before you start installing FreePBX:
Yeah that guy was an ass... lol
What folder on the server do you place the config files in for https?
it all goes in the /tftpboot folder. FreePBX handles that in the apache vhost config. port 1443 goes there.
