Ever wanted a phone system in your house that you could play around with? Well, I'll show you how to get one setup in a hurry with VirtualBox. The easiest way to install FreePBX is to download and install the FreePBX Distro. This includes everything needed for a fully-functioning FreePBX system, including the operating system. Click on the link below to download FreePBX Distro. The download is an ISO file containing everything you need. Installed FreePBX on VirtualBox keeps reinstalling. So I installed VirtualBox on my spare Win 10 laptop that went well but when after installing FreePBX and going through the entire install process, FreePBX shows 'install complete reboot' when I reboot it goes back to the install screen. Now that you’ve got VirtualBox installed, let’s create a new virtual machine! To do this: 1.Click ‘New’. 2.Type in a name for your new virtual machine. I usually use something like “FreePBX Beta 2.11.63-3”. This way I know exactly which version of FreePBX I’m running in this virtual machine.

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Business and residences alike have turned to VoIP for a multitude of reasons, such as cost effective communication capabilities and the rich feature sets included with most systems. Though many will select hosted services in the cloud, it is very possible to create your own modern day phone system without a strong knowledge of communication technology and a little patience.

In this FreePBX tutorial, we will walk you through the steps necessary to install, setup and configure a powerful IP PBX phone system. The system's design is such that it runs on top of a dedicated Linux machine but does not require a well-versed technician to setup the system. This type of solution can save your business a significant sum of money on your phone bills.

Why FreePBX?

Linux can appear very intimidating as not all distributions offer a stock GUI component, thus requiring the user to interact with the system via the command line. Though FreePBX itself is not graphical in nature, an intuitive web management console is packaged in the software making it accessible for a broad range of users.

Since the distribution includes all the necessary server applications and an underlying operating system, installation is a breeze. After installation, another computer on the LAN is used to access it via a web browser to create all the necessary configurations for a functional calling solution, in a graphical environment.

FreePBX is a very powerful system, including far more features and settings than we can cover in a single article. By following the instructions in this guide, you will find how simple it is to create a basic solution that allows users to easily call other extensions on the network at no cost and inexpensively call external phone numbers, mobile devices and landlines via a wholesale VoIP provider (VoIP Innovations).

Hi, I moved a FreePBX distro (CentOS, Asterisk) to Virtualbox (4.2.18) on Windows 7. The transfer worked fine, but I am haveing some kind of Network issue. FreePBX has a static IP assigned. I can ping in and out and TCP connections work. But somehow there seems to be trouble with UDP. Some UDP traffic forwared does not reach the VM.

Preliminary Steps Before Installation

A dedicated machine is required to run the software - virtualization applications like VMware Workstation (and vSphere, for that matter) also work. If you do not have a specific machine to run the system, free applications like VirtualBox can be a good option. This article ONLY focuses on configuration of a dedicated machine.

Fortunately, only moderately powered hardware is needed so the computing component does not have to be expensive. I used an older system with a quad core AMD processor and 2GB of RAM that was originally built for XP Professional and created a 300GB partition from unused storage. My processor meets hardware pre-requisites but I technically only had half of the RAM required (2GB instead of 4GB). The preferred storage reserve for the system is 250GB, but this assumes use of call recordings and voicemails so it can vary quite substantially.

Ideally, this system should be the only OS that is utilized on the machine and it must always be running for your phone system to function. When installing the platform distribution, you will have the option to completely wipe the drive (which is recommended) or install it alongside another OS.

FreePBX Distro Install

In this guide, we will be using a FreePBX distro package that includes both a supported operating system (CentOS) and the main application. This package is free and available directly from Schmooze Com.

Figure 1: Pick a FreePBX Distro Package

By navigating to the FreePBX download, you will find the current distro's - keep in mind, these will change over time as new versions are released. Select Full ISO from the stable 64 bit option for the best performance. The USB IMG option will work as well but depending on your system, it may be more difficult to install.

You can burn the image natively with most operating systems but for Microsoft OS's prior to 7, you will need a 3rd party app like ImgBurn or UltraISO (beware of packaged Adware with some hosts!) These are all good options, regardless of native burning apps since disc recording speeds may be lowered for more accurate media.

Boot into the disc on the machine where you want to install the software. The first screen you see will ask you to select between an older or newer version of Asterisk and the method of installation as seen in figure 2.

Figure 2: Select Installation Method

Assuming you chose the stable version of the distro as earlier indicated, you should choose the newest version of Asterisk and the Full Install - Advanced option. Walk through the following steps to install the full system to your machine.

Configure TCP/IP - We will be using IPv4 for our setup. Keep the default options for both settings meaning DHCP for IPv4 and Automatic for IPv6.
Select location - Choose the closest city to your geographic location in your time zone.
Set password - This will be the password for the root user (named root) of the machine when logging on locally or via a terminal emulator like PuTTy.
Type of installation - You will see the following screen as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: Installation Location on Local Machine

It is recommended you use the whole hard drive as this is more secure and the machine must be up for the system to work. If you want to keep the existing system(s) on your machine, use the Shrink Current System. If a suitable chunk of unused space is already available, choose Use Free Space and select the desired space.

The system will proceed to install the software, reboot once then load up the welcome screen. Essentially everything you need to do from here will be done via a web browser so logging into the machine and poking around is not necessary, as this will likely do more harm than good, especially if unfamiliar with the command line for Linux.

FreePBX Setup

After the installation, you will be able to access the web management console from a browser on another machine within the LAN. Type the IP address of the machine into your browser to get started. The first page you see should look like the one shown below in figure 4.

Figure 4: Admin Setup

Enter the required information by creating an administrator name and password. For email to function properly, you will need to configure an SMTP connector. In a Windows server environment, an admin can easily create an account for such purposes in Microsoft Exchange. Using a 3rd party email such as Google is also possible but doing it ideally requires use of Google Apps for Work.

Figure 5: System Status Page

When navigating to the system via a web browser, you will land on a splash page with four main options. You will select FreePBX Administration for configuration. After logging in for the first time (and each subsequent time) you will land on the system status page as shown in figure 5.

Initial Setting Changes

Take a

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