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Raspberry Pi One-Minute Wonder: A Turnkey and Truly Incredible PBX for XiVO

Monday, August 29, 2016 / 1 Comment on Raspberry Pi One-Minute Wonder: A Turnkey and Truly Incredible PBX for XiVO


Hard to believe it’s been 4½ years since the introduction of the original Raspberry Pi®. We love half-birthdays, and we’ve got a blockbuster gift for you today as we celebrate the fact that almost 10 million RasPi’s have been shipped. Yes, our love affair with the Raspberry Pi lives on. The sensational Raspberry Pi 3 sports a 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU with ten times the performance of the original Raspberry Pi. Of particular interest to the VoIP community will be the RasPi 3’s integrated 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1 hardware. And, of course, the RasPi 3 retains its compatibility with the Raspberry Pi 1 and 2. Did we mention it’s still just $35? Because we like to celebrate half birthdays, too, we’re pleased to introduce a brand new Incredible PBX™ for XiVO image for the Raspberry Pi 3 featuring Raspbian 8, the latest release of Asterisk® 13, and XiVO. This one installs in under a minute. And, yes, it’s still FREE with pure open source GPL code.

Special Thanks. First things first. We want to extend our extra special thanks to Iris-Network for their awesome Raspivo – XiVO build. Without it and their repositories, none of this would have been possible.

Raspberry Pi 3 Performance. Gone are the days of worrying about Raspberry Pi performance. Both the user interface and call quality now match what you’d expect to find on a $300-$500 VoIP server. For best results, we recommend 32GB Class 10 microSD cards which now are plentiful at the $10 price point.1

Raspberry Pi 3 Shopping List. Before you can install Incredible PBX for XiVO, you’ll need a compatible Raspberry Pi 3 platform. Here’s the short list that, when coupled with the Incredible PBX image, turns today’s adventure into kid’s play:

  • $35* Raspberry Pi 3 from MCM or Newark or Amazon
  • $10 Power Adapter (2.5 amps minimum!)
  • $10 32GB microSDHC Class 10 card (Don’t use SanDisk Ultra!)
  • £12.95 Pibow 3 case or $7.50 Official RasPi 3 case

    • About That Asterisk. We write about Asterisk® regularly, but the asterisk we’re talking about is the one accompanying the $35* price tag for the Raspberry Pi 3. Yes, that’s the advertised price. And, no, if you want one quickly, you may pay a bit more. Right now you can snag one on Amazon for $35.99 with two-day Prime shipping. We’re assuming you already own a USB keyboard and an HDMI-compatible monitor. If so, today’s going rate for all of our recommended pieces is under $65, not bad for a fully-equipped, quad-core computer. Did we mention that Incredible PBX for XiVO is FREE with NoGotchas!

    Incredible PBX Feature Set. Where to begin? Let’s start with the Alphabet Stew: IAX, SIP, SMS, FAX, SRTP, and OAuth functionality. Voice Recognition and Text-to-Speech VoIP application support using Festival and Google. Free calling with Google Voice, Simonics SIP gateway, or RingPlus cellular service. And all of your Nerd Vittles favorites: AsteriDex, Click-to-Dial, News, Weather, Reminders, and even an Alarm Clock. Plus hundreds of features that typically are found in commercial PBXs: Conferencing, IVRs and AutoAttendants, Simultaneous Ringing on your Smartphone, Email Delivery of Voicemail, Voicemail Blasting, Automatic Backups, High Availability Support, Automatic Phone Setups, and much more…

    Incredible PBX Network Security Model. Most phone calls cost money. Unlike many of the other "free" VoIP solutions, our most important criteria for VoIP is rock-solid security. If your free server ends up costing you thousands of dollars in phone bills due to fraud, it isn’t free at all. Once you plug in that network cable, you’ve painted a bullseye on your checkbook.

    No single network security system can protect you against zero-day vulnerabilities that no one has ever seen. Deploying multiple layers of security is not only smart, it’s essential with today’s Internet topology. It works much like the Bundle of Sticks from Aesop’s Fables. The more sticks there are in your bundle, the more difficult it is to break them apart. If a vulnerability suddenly appears in the Linux kernel, or in Asterisk, or in your web server, or in your favorite web GUI, you can continue to sleep well knowing that other layers of security have your back. No one else in the telecommunications industry has anything close. You can’t hack what you can’t see, and the Incredible PBX automatically configures a WhiteList as part of the one-minute setup. And it’s all open source GPL code that you can share with anybody and everybody unlike the so-called "freeware" products. Freeware with Asterisks is anything but free!

    Do your part and do your homework. Comparison shop as if your phone bill matters! 😉 Incredible PBX provides:

    1. Preconfigured IPtables Linux Firewall
    2. Preconfigured Travelin’ Man 3 WhiteLists
    3. Randomized Port Knocker for Remote Access
    4. Fail2Ban Log Monitoring for SSH, Apache, Asterisk
    5. Randomized Ultra-Secure Passwords
    6. Automatic Update Utility for Security & Bug Fixes
    7. Asterisk Manager Lockdown to localhost
    8. Security Alerts via the PIAF Forum

    Incredible PBX for XiVO Installation & Setup Tutorial

    Here’s everything need to know about installation and setup of Incredible PBX for XiVO. "Automatic" means you just watch.

    1. Download and unzip Incredible PBX for XiVO image from SourceForge (includes GV OAuth support)
    2. Transfer Incredible PBX image to microSD card
    3. Boot Raspberry Pi from new microSD card
    4. Login to RasPi console as root:password to initialize your server (Automatic) and expand image to match SD card
    5. Reboot after writing down your server IP address (Automatic)
    6. Login via SSH as root:password to set up passwords (You Pick ’em) & configure firewall (Automatic)
    7. Enjoy!

    Running Incredible PBX for XiVO on the Raspberry Pi

    The standard XiVO boot procedure will begin once you insert your microSD card into the Raspberry Pi 3 and apply power. Within a short time, you’ll get the familiar Linux login prompt. Login as root with a password of password.

    Once you log in, a startup script will briefly configure a few things and then advise you that it’s time to reboot. Write down the IP address provided because for Phase 2 of the setup, we need to use SSH or Putty on the desktop that you will actually be using to manage your server. The reason for this is that Incredible PBX automatically creates a whitelist of IP addresses that the firewall will allow to access your server. If the IP address isn’t in your whitelist, you may lock yourself out except from the RasPi’s console window.

    Once the console window shows that your server has rebooted by displaying the Linux login prompt, switch to SSH or Putty and login as root using the IP address you wrote down. You’ll then be prompted to change your root password for Linux as well as your root password for XiVO GUI access using a web browser. You’ll also need to set a PIN that will be used to authorize access to extension 123 to schedule Telephone Reminders on your server. This completes the configuration. You’ll get a final screen showing the credentials for the preconfigured extension 701 as well as a reminder that your PortKnocker credentials are stored in /root/knock.FAQ in the event you ever lock yourself out of your machine. It’s a good idea to leave this screen displayed while you install and configure a softphone since you can cut-and-paste your extension 701 credentials without having to type anything.

    Once you complete the SIP softphone setup below, you can return to the SSH window and press ENTER to finish the install. The Incredible PBX Automatic Update Utility will run, and then you will be presented with the pbxstatus display. You can access the Asterisk CLI by typing: asterisk -rvvvvvvvvvv. Exit from the CLI by typing quit. As mentioned previously, always shut down your server gracefully by typing halt. When prompted for the hostname, type xivo. Once the shutdown procedure finishes, it’s safe to disconnect the power cord from your Raspberry Pi.

    Beginning with the September 1 release, many of the log files have been disabled to help prolong the life of microSD cards since XiVO tends to be very chatty. If you are running an earlier release, you can follow this tutorial to disable most logging on your Raspberry Pi.

    Enabling WiFi on the Raspberry Pi 3

    With the Raspberry Pi 3, wi-fi hardware is included. The next step is configuring it to connect to your WiFi router. Simply open /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf with nano and (1) edit the SSID name and password fields to authorize access to your local, password-protected WiFi router as well as any open WiFi network. (2) Also update the country code for your WiFi region, e.g. country=US. Then (3) save your changes: Ctrl-X, Y, then press ENTER.

    network={
 ssid="YourSSID"
 psk="YourSSIDpassword"
 key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
 scan_ssid=1
 priority=5
}

network={
 key_mgmt=NONE
 priority=1
}

    Next, enable automatic startup of the wlan0 network interface:

    sed -i 's|#allow-hotplug wlan0|allow-hotplug wlan0|' /etc/network/interfaces

    Finally, stop and restart the wlan0 interface, count to 15, and check pbxstatus to decipher the added private IP address for your WiFi connection:

    ifdown wlan0
ifup wlan0
pbxstatus

    If you want to run your Raspberry Pi exclusively off the WiFi connection going forward, simply unplug the network cable from your RasPi and reboot your server.

    Choosing a SIP Softphone for Incredible PBX for XiVO

    Softphones tend to be a matter of taste for most folks so we’ll keep our suggestions to a minimum. On the Windows platform, it’s hard to go wrong with X-Lite. It works out of the box by simply plugging in the IP address of your server and your SIP username and password. It also happens to be free. The only downside is that X-Lite has a nasty habit of embedding time bombs in their free software so you may have to reinstall it from time to time. If you know what you’re doing Zoiper is another alternative but be advised that it doesn’t work out of the box on servers behind NAT-based routers.

    On the Mac platform, our favorite free softphone is Telephone. It’s a barebones SIP client that just works. As with X-Lite, you plug in your server’s IP address and SIP credentials, and you’re in business.

    On the Linux or Solaris platforms, we assume that you know what you’re doing and that you are perfectly capable of choosing and installing a SIP phone that meets your requirements.

    Incredible PBX Application Quick Start Guide

    We’ve finished the basic Incredible PBX for XiVO setup. You now have a functioning PBX with dozens of applications for Asterisk that work out of the box. It’s probably a good idea to spend a little time getting acquainted with Incredible PBX for XiVO before you add trunks to communicate with the outside world.

    Here’s a handy cheat sheet for some of the Incredible PBX applications that have been installed or are available as add-ons. There’s also a link for more information. This remains a work-in-progress so expect more applications in coming weeks.

    How To Make Easily Compressed Backups of Incredible PBX

    MicroSD cards WILL wear out especially on XiVO servers with lots of activity. So it’s important to make regular backups of your media so you don’t get surprised when things come unglued down the road. After considerable discussion on the PIAF Forum, here’s the collective wisdom.

    You’ll need another machine (such as a Mac or Linux box) on which to plug in the microSD card in order to make a backup image of it since you can’t back up a card that is actually providing the live platform for your PBX. The recommended methodology goes like this. Before shutting down your PBX and removing the microSD card to make the backup, convert all of the unused space on the card to zeros so that the unused space can be easily compressed when you create the backup image. You do this by issuing the following command after logging into the Linux CLI as root on your RasPi 3. Be sure to do it during a period of inactivity on your PBX as it is processor intensive. Then halt the machine and remove the microSD card.

    xivo-service stop
cat /dev/zero > wipe.it ; rm wipe.it
halt

    Insert the card into an SD card slot on the machine you will use to make the backup image and issue the following commands after deciphering the correct device name for your card (/dev/disk4 in this example) using the df utility:

    sudo df -h
sudo dd bs=1m if=/dev/disk4 | gzip -c > incrediblepbx-xivo.img.gz
sudo sync
sudo diskutil eject /dev/disk4s1
echo "It's safe to remove the microSD card now."

    Now return the microSD card to your Raspberry Pi 3 and boot. Store your backups in a safe place!

    Configuring Trunks and Routes with Incredible PBX for XiVO

    The next step in your XiVO adventure is connecting your PBX to the outside world so that you can make and receive phone calls from anywhere in the world. For this you’ll need one or more trunks. Unlike the Ma Bell world, there’s no reason to put all your eggs in one basket. You can use one or more trunk providers for incoming calls with separate phone numbers for each. And you can use one or more trunk providers for outgoing calls and save money on calls to certain countries by choosing the best provider for where you want to call. And, of course, if you live in the United States, you can set up one or more Google Voice trunks and make calls to the U.S. and Canada for free. We’ve written a number of tutorials to make it easy to set up these trunks.

    To get started, point a web browser to the IP address of your PBX. Login as root with the XiVO GUI password you set up above. If you ever forget your password, you can run /root/admin-pw-change to reconfigure it.

    XIVO Trunk Implementation Tutorials

    Once you’ve added one or more trunks, you’ll need to tell XiVO how to route outgoing and incoming calls. Here are our step-by-step tutorials on setting up Outbound Calling Routes and Incoming Call Routes:

    XIVO Call Routing Tutorials

    Enabling Bluetooth & Proximity Detection on the Raspberry Pi


    Where To Go Next with Incredible PBX for XiVO

    Now you’re ready to explore. We recommend you pick up here in our Incredible PBX for XiVO tutorial. And be sure to check out the Last Minute Fixes that didn’t make it into the current build. Enjoy the ride!

    Originally published: Monday, August 29, 2016



    Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.

     

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    The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.

    VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
     

    Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
     

    Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…

    1. Many of our purchase links refer users to Amazon when we find their prices are competitive for the recommended products. Nerd Vittles receives a small referral fee from Amazon to help cover the costs of our blog. We never recommend particular products solely to generate Amazon commissions. However, when pricing is comparable or availability is favorable, we support Amazon because Amazon supports us. [↩]
    2. Vitelity is a platinum sponsor of Nerd Vittles, and they also happen to be the best in the business. You’ll find a discount coupon to get a great deal on a DID and 4-channel trunk toward the end of this article. [↩]

    The Sensational Raspberry Pi 3 Featuring Incredible PBX GUI with Raspbian 8 Jessie

    Saturday, March 26, 2016 / 13 Comments on The Sensational Raspberry Pi 3 Featuring Incredible PBX GUI with Raspbian 8 Jessie


    [iframe-popup id="3″]
    Hard to believe it’s been four years since the introduction of the original Raspberry Pi®. Over eight million RasPi’s have been shipped. To celebrate its fourth birthday, Eben Upton has done it again. Meet the sensational Raspberry Pi 3 sporting a 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU with ten times the performance of the original Raspberry Pi. Of particular interest to the VoIP community will be the RasPi 3’s integrated 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1 hardware. And, of course, the RasPi 3 retains its compatibility with the Raspberry Pi 1 and 2. Did we mention it’s still just $35? Because we like to celebrate birthdays, too, we’re pleased to introduce a brand new Incredible PBX™ image for the Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 featuring Raspbian 8 and the latest release of Asterisk® 13. Unlike previous builds, this one installs in under a minute. Yes, it’s still FREE and features pure open source GPL code. No Gotchas!

    07/01/2019 NEWS FLASH: Just released Incredible PBX LITE for the Raspberry Pi 2, 3, and 4 featuring Raspbian 10 Buster. Tutorial here.

    Raspberry Pi 3 Performance. Gone are the days of worrying about Raspberry Pi performance. Both the user interface and call quality now match what you’d expect to find on a $300-$500 VoIP server. Even with a Raspberry Pi 2, we have detected no performance degradation thanks to the latest Raspbian 8 OS and a virtually flawless Asterisk 13 platform. For best results, we recommend 32GB Class 10 microSD cards which now are plentiful at the $10 price point.1

    Raspberry Pi 3 Shopping List. Before you can install Incredible PBX, you’ll need a compatible Raspberry Pi 3 platform. Here’s the short list:

  • $35* Raspberry Pi 3 from MCM or Newark or Amazon
  • $10 Power Adapter (2.5 amps minimum!)
  • $9 32GB microSDHC Class 10 card
  • £12.95 Rainbow Pibow case or $9.50 Official RasPi case

    • About That Asterisk. We write about Asterisk® regularly, but the asterisk we’re talking about is the one accompanying the $35* price tag for the Raspberry Pi 3. Yes, that’s the advertised price. And, no, if you want one this year, you’re not going to pay that. There are the marked up shipping prices, the bundled add-on’s that you don’t need or want, and the must-have accessories like a power adapter. We’re assuming you already own a USB keyboard and an HDMI-compatible monitor. If so, just plan on $100 and consider yourself lucky if you get all the pieces for less. Our order from Pimoroni in the U.K. with a case and 3-day shipping was £59.36 or $82.95 U.S. Our order from MCM for just the RasPi 3 with shipping was $46.99.

    Incredible PBX Feature Set. Where to begin? Let’s start with the Alphabet Stew: IAX, SIP, GVSIP, SMS, and SRTP functionality. Voice Recognition and Text-to-Speech VoIP application support using FLITE, GoogleTTS, and PicoTTS. Free calling with Google Voice, Simonics SIP gateway, or RingPlus cellular service. And all of your Nerd Vittles favorites: Fax, AsteriDex, Click-to-Dial, News, Weather, Reminders, and Wakeup Calls. Plus hundreds of features that typically are found in commercial PBXs: Conferencing, IVRs and AutoAttendants, Email Delivery of Voicemail, Voicemail Blasting, and more…

    10-Layer Network Security Model. Most phone calls cost money. Unlike many of the other "free" VoIP solutions, our most important criteria for VoIP is rock-solid security. If your free server ends up costing you thousands of dollars in phone bills due to fraud, it isn’t free at all. Once you plug in that network cable, you’ve painted a bullseye on your checkbook.

    No single network security system can protect you against zero-day vulnerabilities that no one has ever seen. Deploying multiple layers of security is not only smart, it’s essential with today’s Internet topology. It works much like the Bundle of Sticks from Aesop’s Fables. The more sticks there are in your bundle, the more difficult it is to break them apart. If a vulnerability suddenly appears in the Linux kernel, or in Asterisk, or in Apache, or in your favorite web GUI, you can continue to sleep well knowing that other layers of security have your back. No one else in the telecommunications industry has anything close. Ours is all open source GPL code so we would encourage everyone to get on board and do their part to make the Internet a safer place!

    Do your part and do your homework. Comparison shop as if your phone bill matters! 😉 Incredible PBX provides:

    1. Preconfigured IPtables Linux Firewall
    2. Preconfigured Travelin’ Man 3 WhiteLists
    3. Randomized Port Knocker for Remote Access
    4. TM4 WhiteListing by Telephone (optional)
    5. Fail2Ban Log Monitoring for SSH, Apache, Asterisk
    6. Randomized Ultra-Secure Passwords
    7. Automatic Update Utility for Security & Bug Fixes
    8. Asterisk Manager Lockdown to localhost
    9. Apache htaccess Security for Vulnerable Web Apps
    10. Security Alerts via RSS Feeds in Kennonsoft and Incredible PBX GUIs

    Installation Tutorial. Here’s everything need to know about installation and setup. "Automatic" means you just watch.

    1. Download and unzip Incredible PBX image from SourceForge (with or without GV OAuth support)
    2. Transfer Incredible PBX image to microSD card
    3. Boot Raspberry Pi from new microSD card
    4. Login to RasPi console as pi:raspberry to initialize your server (Automatic)
    5. Reboot after writing down your server IP address (Automatic)
    6. Login via SSH as root:password to randomize passwords & configure firewall (Automatic)
    7. Optionally, install Incredible Fax: /root/incrediblefax13_raspi3.sh (Credentials: admin:password)
    8. Enjoy!

    Configuring Trunks with Incredible PBX

    Before you can actually make and receive calls, you’ll need to add one or more VoIP trunks with providers, create extensions for your phones, and add inbound and outbound routes that link your extensions to your trunks. Here’s how a PBX works. Phones connect to extensions. Extensions connect to outbound routes that direct calls to specific trunks, a.k.a. commercial providers that complete your outbound calls to any phone in the world. Coming the other way, incoming calls are directed to your phone number, otherwise known as a DID. DIDs are assigned by providers and you register your trunks using credentials handed out by these providers. Incoming calls are routed to your DIDs which use inbound routes telling the PBX how to direct the calls internally. A call could go to an extension to ring a phone, or it could go to a group of extensions known as a ring group to ring a group of phones. It could also go to a conference that joins multiple people into a single call. Finally, it could be routed to an IVR or AutoAttendant providing a list of options from which callers could choose by pressing various keys on their phone.

    We’ve done most of the prep work for you with Incredible PBX. We’ve set up an Extension to which you can connect a SIP phone or softphone. We’ve set up an Inbound Route that, by default, sends all incoming calls to a Demo IVR. And we’ve built a dozen trunks for some of the best providers in the business. Sign up with the ones you prefer, plug in your credentials, and you’re good to go.

    Unlike traditional telephone service, you need not and probably should not put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to telephone providers. In order to connect to Plain Old Telephones, you still need at least one provider. But there is nothing wrong with having several. And a provider that handles an outbound call (termination) need not be the same one that handles an incoming call (origination) and provides your phone number (DID). We cannot recommend Vitelity highly enough, and it’s not just because they have financially supported our projects for almost a decade. They’re as good as VoIP providers get, and we use lots of them. If you’re lucky enough to live in the U.S., you’d be crazy not to set up a Google Voice account. It’s free as are all phone calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. The remaining preconfigured providers included in Incredible PBX are equally good, and we’ve used and continue to use almost all of them. So pick a few and sign up. You only pay for the calls you make with each provider so you have little to lose by choosing several. The PIAF Forum includes dozens of recommendations on VoIP providers if you want additional information.

    With the preconfigured trunks in Incredible PBX, all you need are your credentials for each provider and the domain name of their server. Log into Incredible PBX GUI Administration as admin using a browser. From the System Status menu, click Connectivity -> Trunks. Click on each provider you have chosen and fill in your credentials including the host entry. Be sure to uncheck the Disable Trunk checkbox! Fill in the appropriate information for the Register String. Save your settings by clicking Submit Changes. Then click the red Apply Config button.

    Configuring a Softphone for Incredible PBX

    We’re in the home stretch now. You can connect virtually any kind of telephone to your new PBX. Plain Old Phones require an analog telephone adapter (ATA) which can be a separate board in your computer from a company such as Digium. Or it can be a standalone SIP device such as ObiHai’s OBi100 or OBi110 (if you have a phone line from Ma Bell to hook up as well). SIP phones can be connected directly so long as they have an IP address. These could be hardware devices or software devices such as the YateClient softphone. We’ll start with a free one today so you can begin making calls. You can find dozens of recommendations for hardware-based SIP phones both on Nerd Vittles and the PIAF Forum when you’re ready to get serious about VoIP telephony.

    We recommend YateClient which is free. Download it from here. Run YateClient once you’ve installed it and enter the credentials for the 701 extension on Incredible PBX. You’ll need the IP address of your server plus your extension 701 password. Choose Applications _> Extensions -> 701 and write down your SIP/IAX Password. You can also find it in /root/passwords.FAQ. Fill in the blanks using the IP address of your Server, 701 for your Username, and whatever Password you assigned to the extension when you installed Incredible PBX. Click OK to save your entries.

    Once you are registered to extension 701, close the Account window. Then click on YATE’s Telephony Tab and place some test calls to the numerous apps that are preconfigured on Incredible PBX. Dial a few of these to get started:

    DEMO - Apps Demo
    123 - Reminders
    947 - Weather by ZIP Code
    951 - Yahoo News
    *61 - Time of Day
    TODAY - Today in History

    If you are a Mac user, another great no-frills softphone is Telephone. Just download and install it from the Mac App Store.

    Configuring Google Voice

    If you want to use Google Voice, you’ll need a dedicated Google Voice account to support Incredible PBX. The more obscure the username (with some embedded numbers), the better off you will be. This will keep folks from bombarding you with unsolicited Gtalk chat messages, and who knows what nefarious scheme will be discovered using Google messaging six months from now. So keep this account a secret!

    IMPORTANT: Do NOT under any circumstances take Google’s bait to switch from Google Chat to Hangouts, or you will forever lose the ability to use Google Chat with Incredible PBX. Also be sure to enable the Google Chat option as one of your phone destinations in Settings, Voice Setting, Phones. That’s the destination we need for The Incredible PBX to work its magic! Otherwise, all inbound and outbound calls will fail. Good News! You’re in luck. Google has apparently had a change of heart on discontinuing Google Chat support so it’s enabled by default in all new Google Voice accounts. Once you’ve created a Gmail and Google Voice account, go to Google Voice Settings and click on the Calls tab. Make sure your settings match these:

    • Call Screening – OFF
    • Call Presentation – OFF
    • Caller ID (In) – Display Caller’s Number
    • Caller ID (Out) – Don’t Change Anything
    • Do Not Disturb – OFF
    • Call Options (Enable Recording) – OFF
    • Global Spam Filtering – ON

    Click Save Changes once you’ve adjusted your settings. Under the Voicemail tab, plug in your email address so you get notified of new voicemails. Down the road, receipt of a Google Voice voicemail will be a big hint that something has come unglued on your PBX.

    One final word of caution is in order regardless of your choice of providers: Do NOT use special characters in any provider passwords, or nothing will work!

    Now you’re ready to configure your Google Voice account in Incredible PBX. You can do it from within the Incredible PBX GUI by choosing Connectivity -> Google Voice. How you enter your credentials depends upon whether you have chosen the Incredible PBX image with OAuth 2 support. For a complete Google Voice OAuth tutorial, follow steps 8-10 in this Nerd Vittles tutorial. Once you’ve entered your credentials, you MUST restart Asterisk from the command line, or Google Voice calls will fail.

    If you have trouble getting Google Voice to work (especially if you have previously used your Google Voice account from a different IP address), try this Google Voice Reset Procedure. It usually fixes connectivity problems. If it still doesn’t work, enable Less Secure Apps using this Google tool.

    If you have difficulty finding the Google Chat option after setting up a new Google Voice account, follow this tutorial.

    Another option is to use an inexpensive SIP Gateway to Google Voice. The Simonics trunk in the Incredible PBX GUI is preconfigured for this purpose. All you’ll need is your Google Voice credentials. Get started with this tutorial.

    Adding Speech Recognition Support to Incredible PBX

    To support many of our applications, Incredible PBX has included Google’s speech recognition service for years. These applications include Weather Reports by City (949), AsteriDex Voice Dialing by Name (411), and Wolfram Alpha for Asterisk (4747), all of which use Lefteris Zafiris’ terrific speech-recog AGI script. Unfortunately (for some), Google now has tightened up the terms of use for their free speech recognition service. Now you can only use it for "personal and development use." If you meet those criteria, keep reading. Here’s how to activate speech recognition on Incredible PBX. Don’t skip any steps!

    To use Wolfram Alpha by phone, you first must obtain a free Wolfram Alpha APP-ID. Then issue the following command replacing APP-ID with your actual ID. Do NOT change the yourID portion of the command: 

    sed -i "s|yourID|APP-ID|" /var/lib/asterisk/agi-bin/4747

    Now you’re ready to try out the speech recognition apps. Dial 949 and say the name of a city and state/province/country to get a current weather forecast from Yahoo. Dial 411 and say "American Airlines" to be connected to American.

    To access Wolfram Alpha by phone, dial 4747 and enter your query, e.g. "What planes are overhead." Read the Nerd Vittles tutorial for additional examples and tips.

    Enabling WiFi on the Raspberry Pi

    With the Raspberry Pi 3, wi-fi hardware is included. With the Raspberry Pi 2, you’ll need to add an inexpensive wifi dongle. The next step is connecting to your WiFi router. Simply open /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf with your favorite editor and insert the following code using the actual SSID name and password to access your local, password-protected WiFi router or any open WiFi network:

    network={
 ssid="YourSSID"
 psk="YourSSIDpassword"
 key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
 scan_ssid=1
 priority=5
}

network={
 key_mgmt=NONE
 priority=1
}

    Finally, stop and restart the wlan0 interface, count to 15, and check the status of your server to decipher the new IP address for your WiFi connection:

    ifdown wlan0
ifup wlan0
pbxstatus

    If you want to run your Raspberry Pi exclusively off the WiFi connection, simply unplug the network cable from your RasPi and reboot your server.

    UPDATE: There still is a quirk with the wireless LAN driver on the Raspberry Pi 3. The problem has to do with the default power management of the wlan0 interface which results in it being powered off after very brief periods of inactivity. Special thanks to Matt Gemmell for this fix. Just cut-and-paste the lines below into a terminal window, and you’ll be good to go.

    WARNING: Run pbxstatus first. If the top line shows Raspberry Pi 3, the following WiFi patch is already installed.

    echo "options 8192cu rtw_power_mgnt=0 rtw_enusbss=0 rtw_ips_mode=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/8192cu.conf
sed -i '/exit 0/d' /etc/rc.local
echo "sleep 10" >> /etc/rc.local
echo "iwconfig wlan0 power off" >> /etc/rc.local
echo "exit 0" >> /etc/rc.local
echo "[Unit]" > /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "Description=Turn off wlan power management" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "After=suspend.target" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "[Service]" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "Type=simple" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "ExecStartPre= /bin/sleep 10" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "ExecStart= /sbin/iwconfig wlan0 power off" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "[Install]" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
echo "WantedBy=suspend.target" >> /etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
systemctl enable root-resume
reboot

    After rebooting, if you issue the iwconfig wlan0 command, it should show: Power Management:off.

    Update: Lessons Learned for Raspberry Pi 3 Road Warriors

    As with all new devices, you learn some things as you go along. So we’re providing an update to our original article to offer a couple of additional tips and tricks for those that want to travel with a RasPi…

    Alternative Power Sources. If you’re like us, you have a number of devices around the house or office that all require 5V power adapters of various amperages. The Raspberry Pi has traditionally been one of the most temperamental when it came to power adapters and, with the Raspberry Pi 3, the developers specifically mention a 2.5 amp minimum. If you travel and want to take devices such as the Raspberry Pi with you, the last thing you want to do is approach airport security with a bunch of wires hanging out of your carry-on bag. Well, there’s good news. The Anker device shown in the Amazon ad in the right column of Nerd Vittles can supply power to 6 devices including a Raspberry Pi 3. And we’ve given the RasPi a healthy workout with no adverse effects.

    Deciphering the RasPi IP Address. As we mentioned, we travel a lot so obtaining a DHCP address for your RasPi in WiFi mode is not always the easiest thing to accomplish. If your smartphone supports tethering, that’s the easiest way to get connectivity on the road. A better way is to stick a WiFi HotSpot in your luggage and it, too, can be powered using the Anker device. See our recent article for WiFi HotSpot choices. Regardless of which option you choose, it will require some planning to use your RasPi sans monitor and keyboard. First, you need to preconfigure /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf with the SSID of the device you’ll be using to hand out DHCP addresses. You’ll note from the discussion above that each entry in this file has a priority with higher numbers having higher priority. The way we typically do this is to assign our home network as the highest priority. Below that, we set up credentials for our MiFi Hotspot, then our smartphones, and finally open networks. So it looks like this:

    • Home Network – 6
    • MiFi HotSpot – 5
    • Android phone – 4
    • iPhone (AT&T) – 3
    • Open Network – 1

    Keep in mind that the Incredible PBX firewall probably will block you from accessing the RasPi from a computer on the public network. So you also must connect your computer to the same private WiFi network because private LAN addresses are whitelisted in the firewall by default.

    Once you have connectivity for your RasPi and your laptop, the other wrinkle is figuring out the IP address of the Raspberry Pi. Our recommended approach goes like this. First, configure SendMail on the RasPi to use a Gmail account that you own as an SMTP smarthost to send emails. That should work almost anywhere you go. Second, modify /etc/rc.local to automatically send you an email with the IP address and SSID of your wireless network whenever the RasPi boots. Again, this takes some advance planning because you need to set all of this up and test it before you go on the road.

    Here are the steps to modify SendMail to use an existing Gmail account as a SmartHost. Log into your RasPi as root and issue the following commands:

    cd /etc/mail
hostname -f > genericsdomain
touch genericstable
makemap -r hash genericstable.db < genericstable
mv sendmail.mc sendmail.mc.original
wget http://nerdvittles.dreamhosters.com/pbxinaflash/source/sendmail/sendmail.mc.gmail
cp sendmail.mc.gmail sendmail.mc
mkdir -p auth
chmod 700 auth
cd auth
echo AuthInfo:smtp.gmail.com \"U:smmsp\" \"I:user_id\" \"P:password\" \"M:PLAIN\" > client-info
echo AuthInfo:smtp.gmail.com:587 \"U:smmsp\" \"I:user_id\" \"P:password\" \"M:PLAIN\" >> client-info
echo AuthInfo:smtp.gmail.com:465 \"U:smmsp\" \"I:user_id\" \"P:password\" \"M:PLAIN\" >> client-info
nano -w client-info

    When the nano editor opens the client-info file, change the 3 user_id entries to your Gmail account name without @gmail.com and change the 3 password entries to your actual Gmail password. Save the file: Ctrl-X, Y, then ENTER.

    Now issue the following commands. In the last step, press ENTER to accept all of the default prompts:

    chmod 600 client-info
makemap -r hash client-info.db < client-info
cd ..
make
sed -i 's|sendmail-cf|sendmail\/cf' /etc/mail/sendmail.mc
sed -i 's|sendmail-cf|sendmail\/cf|' /etc/mail/sendmail.mc
sed -i 's|sendmail-cf|sendmail\/cf|' /etc/mail/Makefile
sed -i 's|sendmail-cf|sendmail\/cf|' /etc/mail/sendmail.cf
sed -i 's|sendmail-cf|sendmail\/cf|' /etc/mail/databases
sed -i 's|sendmail-cf|sendmail\/cf|' /etc/mail/sendmail.mc.gmail
sed -i 's|sendmail-cf|sendmail\/cf|' /etc/mail/sendmail.cf.errors
sendmailconfig

    Next, edit /etc/hosts and /etc/hostname. Change the raspberypi3 entries to: raspberrypi3.incrediblepbx.com.

    Finally, stop and restart SendMail and then send yourself a test message. Be sure to check your spam folder!

    /etc/init.d/sendmail stop
/etc/init.d/sendmail start
apt-get install mailutils -y
echo "test" | mail -s testmessage yourname@yourdomain.com

    The last step is to add these commands to /etc/rc.local to send you an email with your IP address and SSID whenever the RasPi is rebooted. Insert the following commands just above the exit 0 line at the end of the file. Use an email address to which you have access on the road!

    ESSID=`iwconfig | grep ESSID | tail -1 | cut -f 9 -d " "`
echo "IP address: $(hostname -I) on $ESSID" | mail -s "RaspberryPi3 IP Address" yourname@yourdomain.com

    Enabling Bluetooth on the Raspberry Pi


    Incredible Fax Returns for the Raspberry Pi


    Mastering the Incredible PBX Feature Set

    Now would be a good time to explore the Incredible PBX applications. Continue reading there. If you have questions, join the PBX in a Flash Forums and take advantage of our awesome collection of gurus. There's an expert available on virtually any topic, and the price is right. As with Incredible PBX, it's absolutely free. Enjoy!

    Originally published: Monday, March 7, 2016  Updated: Saturday, March 26, 2016

    Support Issues. With any application as sophisticated as this one, you're bound to have questions. Blog comments are a difficult place to address support issues although we welcome general comments about our articles and software. If you have particular support issues, we encourage you to get actively involved in the PBX in a Flash Forum. It's the best Asterisk tech support site in the business, and it's all free! Please have a look and post your support questions there. Unlike some forums, the PIAF Forum is extremely friendly and is supported by literally hundreds of Asterisk gurus and thousands of users just like you. You won't have to wait long for an answer to your question.


    Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.

     

    Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors


    FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.

    BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.

    The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.

    VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
     

    Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
     

    Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest...

    1. Many of our purchase links refer users to Amazon when we find their prices are competitive for the recommended products. Nerd Vittles receives a small referral fee from Amazon to help cover the costs of our blog. We never recommend particular products solely to generate Amazon commissions. However, when pricing is comparable or availability is favorable, we support Amazon because Amazon supports us. [↩]

    The Best of Both Worlds: Taking Incredible PBX from the Cloud to the Ocean

    Thursday, March 17, 2016

    We’ve spent a good bit of time documenting a dirt cheap way to learn about VoIP in the Cloud with our Incredible PBX offering using a $10.50 virtual machine at CloudAtCost. Is it production ready? Probably not. But we’re reminded of the old saying that pizza is a lot like sex: "When it’s good, it’s really good. And, when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good." That pretty much sums up CloudAtCost. And it’s not like a one-time investment for the cost of a pizza lunch is going to break the bank.

    Today we turn our attention to a more reliable, long term Cloud solution with a fresh look at Incredible PBX with Digital Ocean. This setup runs about $5 a month after a free $10 trial using our referral link. If you continue to use the service, it also generates a little revenue for Nerd Vittles to keep the lights on.

    It’s been about two years since we first introduced the Digital Ocean platform. Back then, it was the experimental platform. But a lot has changed, and it’s all for the better. First, you get a Cloud Server on which you can create virtually any Linux platform you like including CentOS, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, and more. Second, you get your choice of seven datacenters all around the world: New York, San Francisco, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Singapore. Third, you get enormous scalability. You can start with the $5/month flavor with 512MB of RAM and a single CPU, 20GB of SSD storage, and 1TB of bandwidth. As your requirements grow and with a couple clicks, you can scale up through 8 multiples of capacity to a whopping 64GB of RAM with 20 CPUs, 640GB of storage, and 9TB of bandwidth for less than a dollar an hour. Just make a Snapshot of any off-line Droplet, and then use that Snapshot as the image for your new server in lieu of a Linux Distribution.

    For our purposes today and for home and SOHO business users, the $5/month Digital Ocean platform is a perfect fit for both the CentOS 6.7 and Ubuntu 14.04 flavors of Incredible PBX. Once you’ve created your Digital Ocean Droplet with your choice of operating system, the Incredible PBX install procedure takes about 25 minutes. This includes the time necessary to compile and install the latest release of Asterisk® 13 from source code. When you’re finished, you’ll have a rock-solid PBX that is fully secured using the Linux firewall. For out-of-the-gate security, no other PBX comes close… at any price. Incredible PBX is and always will be pure open source GPL code and, of course, it’s FREE!

    Creating Your First Digital Ocean Droplet

    CentOS 6.7 remains our Gold Standard of Linux operating systems. We’ll start there and walk you through the Incredible PBX install procedure. Begin by signing up for a Digital Ocean account and creating a 512MB $5 droplet in your choice of data centers. Choose the CentOS 6.7 x32 platform just to keep things simple, and pick a hostname such as centos.incrediblepbx.com. It doesn’t matter if it is not resolvable, but it does need to be in FQDN format.

    By the way, you only pay for the time your droplet actually exists so build several and play for a couple hours. Your total cost will be about 5¢. And, as we noted, your first $10 of server charges are actually free. So you have nothing to lose by experimenting. If you make a mistake, delete your droplet and start over. No big deal. Once your droplet has been created, Digital Ocean will send you an email with your root user credentials and the IP address of your new server. Login with SSH or Putty, and you’ll be prompted to immediately change your root password. Make it secure… as if your bank account depended upon it. 😉

    Installing Incredible PBX 13 for CentOS 6.7

    Now we’re ready to begin the Incredible PBX install. It’s a two-step procedure. First, we’ll get CentOS up to date and reboot. Then we’ll kick off the actual install. Just cut-and-paste the following commands while logged into your droplet as root:

    setenforce 0
yum -y upgrade --skip-broken
yum -y install net-tools nano wget tar
reboot

    Once your server reboots, login again as root and cut-and-paste the following commands. Take a 30-minute break while the installer does its thing. If you’re one that likes to watch, don’t worry if you see some error messages. They all get sorted out before the installation finishes.

    cd /root
wget http://incrediblepbx.com/incrediblepbx13-12.2-centos.tar.gz
tar zxvf incrediblepbx*
./create-swapfile-DO
./IncrediblePBX*
reboot

    Let’s login to your server one more time to get the latest Incredible PBX updates and set up your passwords and time zone. Then you’ll be ready to handle future server admin using your browser:

    Make your root password very secure: passwd
Create admin password for GUI access: /root/admin-pw-change
Create admin password for web apps: htpasswd /etc/pbx/wwwpasswd admin
Set your correct time zone: /root/timezone-setup
Make a copy of your Knock codes: cat /root/knock.FAQ
Review current info about your server: status OR pbxstatus (depends on release)

    If you want to add fax support to your PBX, we’ve got one more installer to run, and you’ll be all set. Just run the following command and press the ENTER key each time you are prompted for input (about 21 times):

    cd /root
./incrediblefax11.sh

    Success!

    It’s a GUI, GUI World Out There

    Most management of Incredible PBX will be handled using your favorite browser and one of two GUIs: the Kennonsoft menu which appears when you access the IP address of your server using a browser AND the Incredible GUI which is available on the Admin page of the Kennonsoft menu.

    Choose Incredible GUI Administration from the Admin menu of the Kennonsoft GUI (shown above) by clicking on User to switch. The default username is admin and the password is what you set in the preceding step. Now edit extension 701 so you can decipher or change the randomized passwords that was assigned to the 701 extension and its voicemail account: Applications -> Extensions -> 701.

    Setting Up a Soft Phone to Use with Incredible PBX

    Now you’re ready to set up a telephone so that you can play with Incredible PBX. We recommend YateClient which is free. Download it from here. Run YateClient once you’ve installed it and enter the credentials for the 701 extension on Incredible PBX. You’ll need the IP address of your server plus your extension
    701 password. Choose Settings -> Accounts and click the New button. Fill in the blanks using the IP address of your server, 701 for your account name, and whatever password you created for the extension. Click OK.

    Once you are registered to extension 701, close the Account window. Then click on YATE’s Telephony Tab and place some test calls to the numerous apps that are preconfigured on Incredible PBX. Dial a few of these to get started:


    DEMO - Allison's IVR Demo
    947 - Weather by ZIP Code
    951 - Yahoo News
    *61 - Time of Day
    *68 - Wakeup Call
    TODAY - Today in History

    Now you’re ready to connect to the telephones in the rest of the world. If you live in the U.S., the easiest way (at least for now) is to set up a free Google Voice account. Google has threatened to shut this down but as this is written, it still works. An update supporting Google Voice OAUTH 2 authentication is available here with a complete tutorial. Just start at step #1b. A better long-term solution is to choose several SIP providers and set up redundant trunks for your incoming and outbound calls. The PIAF Forum includes dozens of recommendations to get you started. You’ll also find an incredible deal from our platinum sponsor, Vitelity, at the end of this article.

    Configuring Google Voice

    If you want to use Google Voice, you’ll need a dedicated Google Voice account to support Incredible PBX. If you want to use the inbound fax capabilities of Incredible Fax, then you’ll need an additional Google Voice line that can be routed to the FAX custom destination using the GUI. The more obscure the username (with some embedded numbers), the better off you will be. This will keep folks from bombarding you with unsolicited Gtalk chat messages, and who knows what nefarious scheme will be discovered using Google messaging six months from now. So keep this account a secret!

    We’ve tested this extensively using an existing Gmail account, and inbound calling is just not reliable. The reason seems to be that Google always chooses Gmail chat as the inbound call destination if there are multiple registrations from the same IP address. So, be reasonable. Do it our way! Set up a dedicated Gmail and Google Voice account, and use it exclusively with Incredible PBX. It’s free at least through 2013. Google Voice no longer is by invitation only so, if you’re in the U.S. or have a friend that is, head over to the Google Voice site and register.

    You must choose a telephone number (aka DID) for your new account, or Google Voice calling will not work… in either direction. Google used to permit outbound Gtalk calls using a fake CallerID, but that obviously led to abuse so it’s over! You also have to tie your Google Voice account to at least one working phone number as part of the initial setup process. Your cellphone number will work just fine. Don’t skip this step either. Just enter the provided 2-digit confirmation code when you tell Google to place the test call to the phone number you entered. Once the number is registered, you can disable it if you’d like in Settings, Voice Setting, Phones. But…

    IMPORTANT: Be sure to enable the Google Chat option as one of your phone destinations in Settings, Voice Setting, Phones. That’s the destination we need for The Incredible PBX to work its magic! Otherwise, all inbound and outbound calls will fail. If you don’t see this option, you may need to call up Gmail and enable Google Chat there first. Then go back to the Google Voice Settings.

    While you’re still in Google Voice Settings, click on the Calls tab. Make sure your settings match these:

    • Call Screening – OFF
    • Call Presentation – OFF
    • Caller ID (In) – Display Caller’s Number
    • Caller ID (Out) – Don’t Change Anything
    • Do Not Disturb – OFF
    • Call Options (Enable Recording) – OFF
    • Global Spam Filtering – ON

    Click Save Changes once you adjust your settings. Under the Voicemail tab, plug in your email address so you get notified of new voicemails. Down the road, receipt of a Google Voice voicemail will be a big hint that something has come unglued on your PBX.

    One final word of caution is in order regardless of your choice of providers: Do NOT use special characters in any provider passwords, or nothing will work!

    Now you’re ready to set up your Google Voice trunk in the GUI. After logging in with your browser, click the Connectivity tab and choose Google Voice/Motif. To Add a new Google Voice account, just fill out the form. Do NOT check the third box or incoming calls will never ring!

    IMPORTANT LAST STEP: Google Voice will not work unless you restart Asterisk from the Linux command line at this juncture. Using SSH, log into your server as root and issue the following command: amportal restart.

    If you have trouble getting Google Voice to work (especially if you have previously used your Google Voice account from a different IP address), try this Google Voice Reset Procedure. It usually fixes connectivity problems. If it still doesn’t work, enable Less Secure Apps using this Google tool.

    Troubleshooting Audio and DTMF Problems

    You can avoid one-way audio on calls and touchtones that don’t work with these simple settings in the GUI: Settings -> Asterisk SIP Settings. Just plug in your public IP address and your private IP subnet. Then set ULAW as the only Audio Codec.

    A Few Words about the Incredible PBX Security Model for CentOS

    Incredible PBX for CentOS joins our previous Ubuntu build as our most secure turnkey PBX implementation. As configured, it is protected by both Fail2Ban and a hardened configuration of the IPtables Linux firewall. The latest release also includes Port Knocker for simple, secure access from any remote computer or smartphone. You can get up to speed on how the technology works by reading the Nerd Vittles tutorial. Your Port Knocker credentials are stored in /root/knock.FAQ together with activation instructions for your server and mobile devices. The NeoRouter VPN client also is included for rock-solid, secure connectivity to remote users. Read our previous tutorial for setup instructions. As configured, nobody can access your PBX without your credentials AND an IP address that is either on your private network or that matches the IP address of your server or the PC from which you installed Incredible PBX. You can whitelist additional IP addresses by running the command-line utility /root/add-ip. You can remove whitelisted IP addresses by running /root/del-acct. Incredible PBX is preconfigured to let you connect to many of the leading SIP hosting providers without additional firewall tweaking. We always recommend you also add an extra layer of protection by running your server behind a hardware-based firewall with no Internet port exposure, but that’s your call. And it’s your phone bill. 😉

    The IPtables firewall is a complex piece of software. If you need assistance with configuring it, visit the PIAF Forum for some friendly assistance.

    Incredible Backup and Restore

    We’re also pleased to offer our latest backup and restore utilities for Incredible PBX. Running /root/incrediblebackup will create a backup image of your server in /tmp. This backup image then can be copied to any other medium desired for storage. To restore it to another Incredible PBX server, simply copy the image to a server running Asterisk 13 and the same version of the Incredible PBX GUI. Then run /root/incrediblerestore. Doesn’t get much simpler than that.

    Incredible PBX Automatic Update Utility

    Every time you log into your server as root, Incredible PBX will ping the IncrediblePBX.com web site to determine whether one or more updates are available to bring your server up to current specs. We recommend you log in at least once a week just in case some new security vulnerability should come along.

    In the meantime, we encourage you to sign up for an account on the PIAF Forum and join the discussion. In addition to providing first-class, free support, we think you’ll enjoy the camaraderie.

    Originally published: Thursday, March 17, 2016

    Support Issues. With any application as sophisticated as this one, you’re bound to have questions. Blog comments are a terrible place to handle support issues although we welcome general comments about our articles and software. If you have particular support issues, we encourage you to get actively involved in the PBX in a Flash Forums. It’s the best Asterisk tech support site in the business, and it’s all free! Please have a look and post your support questions there. Unlike some forums, ours is extremely friendly and is supported by literally hundreds of Asterisk gurus and thousands of users just like you. You won’t have to wait long for an answer to your question.




    Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.

     

    Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors


    FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.

    BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.

    The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.

    VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
     

    Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
     

    Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…

    Gotcha-Free PBX: GIT-R-Done with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI (CentOS)

    Monday, April 20, 2015 / 4 Comments on Gotcha-Free PBX: GIT-R-Done with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI (CentOS)


    [iframe-popup id="4″]
    For the die-hard developers out there, we are pleased to introduce a new version of Incredible PBX™ for Asterisk-GUI that uses GIT repos to build both Asterisk® and Asterisk-GUI with the same feature set of applications as our previous releases. You still get a Gotcha-Free PBX with pure and honest open source GPL code. No patent, trademark, or copyright minefields to trip you up. But this time around you’ll have an Asterisk platform that can be updated in seconds by running a simple upgrade script: upgrade-asterisk-to-current. Special thanks to Matt Jordan & Co. for the new GIT implementation. And our extra special thanks to Denver sports cartoonist, Drew Litton, for letting us share his GIT-R-DONE creation as well.

    This time around you’ll need a 64-bit CentOS 6.5/6.6 base platform. When you complete the 30-minute install procedure, you’ll have the very latest version of Asterisk 11 and Asterisk-GUI. Both are compiled from source on your hardware platform to maximize performance. The end result is the VoIP Trifecta… better, cheaper, and faster.

    Since the early Windows® days, we haven’t been big fans of GUI-only interfaces. Let’s face it. Some things can be configured more efficiently with less chance for error using other tools. Incredible PBX takes advantage of this hybrid technology by offering the best of all worlds. Administrators can use a GUI where it makes sense and use a text editor or simple web form where it doesn’t. There’s no MySQL middleware to obfuscate your Asterisk settings. So you can configure 8 VoIP trunks from 8 great providers in under 5 minutes. And there’s so much more…

    Target Audience: Home or SOHO/SBO in need of a turnkey, Gotcha-Free PBX Development Platform

    Default Configuration: Asterisk 11 with enhanced Asterisk-GUI, Kennonsoft GUI, and NANPA dialplan

    Platform: 64-bit CentOS 6.5/6.6 running on Dedicated Server, Cloud-Based Server, or Virtual Machine

    Minimum Memory: 512MB

    Recommended Disk: 20GB+

    Default Trunks: Google Voice, CallCentric, DIDlogic, Future-Nine, IPcomms, Les.net, Vitelity, VoIP.ms1

    Feature Set: Fax, SMS messaging, VPN, Reminders, ConfBridge Conferencing, AsteriDex, Voicemail, Email, IVR, News, Weather, Voice Dialer, Wolfram Alpha, Today in History, TM3 Firewall WhiteList, Speed Dialer, iNUM and SIP URI (free) worldwide calling, OpenCNAM CallerID lookups, DISA, Call Forwarding, CSV CDRs

    Administrator Utilities: Incredible Backup/Restore, Automatic Updater, Asterisk Upgrader, phpMyAdmin, Timezone Config, Plug-and-Play Trunk Configurator, WebMin, External IP Setup, Firewall WhiteList Tools

    Getting Started with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI (GIT Edition)

    Here’s a quick overview of the installation and setup process for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI:

    1. Choose a Hardware Platform – Dedicated PC, Cloud, or Virtual Machine
    2. Install Linux – 64-bit CentOS 6.5 or Scientific Linux Minimal ISO
    3. Download and Install Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI
    4. Install Incredible Fax for Asterisk-GUI (optional)
    5. Set Up Passwords for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI
    6. Configure Trunks with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI
    7. Connect a Softphone to Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    1. Choose a Platform for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI works equally well on dedicated hardware or a virtual machine. Just be sure you’ve met the minimum requirements outlined above and that you have a sufficiently robust Internet connection to support 100Kb of download and upload bandwidth for each simultaneous call you wish to handle with your new PBX.

    For Dedicated Hardware, we recommend an Atom-based PC of recent vintage with at least a 30GB drive and 4GB of RAM. That will take care of an office with 10-20 extensions and a half dozen or more simultaneous calls if you have the Internet bandwidth to support it.

    For Cloud-Based Implementations, this time around we recommend Digital Ocean because the GIT edition is designed to be a development platform with bleeding edge Asterisk 11 code.

    For Virtual Machine Installs, we recommend Oracle’s VirtualBox platform which runs atop almost any operating system including Windows, Macs, Linux, and Solaris. Here’s a link to our original VirtualBox tutorial to get you started. We suggest allocating 1GB of RAM and at least a 20GB disk image to your virtual machine for best performance.

    2. Install a Linux Flavor for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    To be clear, we plan to support many Linux flavors other than RedHat. But Rome wasn’t built in a day so hang in there. We’re flippin’ burgers as fast as we can. For today, you’ll need a 64-bit version of CentOS or Scientific Linux 6.5/6.6. On some platforms, you install 6.5. After the initial update and upgrade steps, you’ll end up with 6.6. There are many flavors of CentOS and Scientific Linux. For Incredible PBX, a minimal install is all you need.

    With dedicated hardware, begin by downloading the 64-bit CentOS 6.6 minimal ISO. Boot your server with the ISO, and begin the install. Here are the simplest installation steps:

    Choose Language and Click Continue
    Click: Install Destination (do not change anything!)
    Click: Done
    Click: Network & Hostname
    Click: ON
    Click: Done
    Click: Begin Installation
    Click: Root Password: password, password, Click Done twice
    Wait for Minimal Software Install and Setup to finish
    Click: Reboot

    With most cloud-based providers, you simply choose the CentOS 6.5 platform in creating your initial image. 512MB of RAM is plenty so long as you have a swap file. Within a minute or two, you’re ready to boot up the server.

    For VirtualBox, download the Scientific Linux 6.6 minimal install .ova image from SourceForge. Then double-click on the image to load it into VirtualBox. Enable Audio and configure Network with Bridge Adapter in Settings. Then start the virtual machine. Default password for root is password.

    With VirtualBox, you can skip this step. For everyone else, log into your server as root and issue the following commands to put the basic pieces in place and to reconfigure your Ethernet port as eth0. On some platforms, some of the commands may generate errors. Don’t worry about it! Just make a note of your IP address so you can log back in with SSH from a desktop computer to begin the Incredible PBX install.

    For CentOS/Scientific Linux 6.5 minimal install:

    setenforce 0
yum -y upgrade
yum -y install net-tools nano wget
ifconfig
sed -i 's|quiet|quiet net.ifnames=0 biosdevdame=0|' /etc/default/grub
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
wget http://incrediblepbx.com/update-kernel-devel
chmod +x update-kernel-devel
./update-kernel-devel
reboot

    For CentOS/Scientific Linux 6.6 minimal install:

    setenforce 0
yum -y upgrade
yum -y install net-tools nano wget
ifconfig
reboot

    3. Install GIT-R-Done Edition of Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    cd /root
yum -y install wget
wget http://incrediblepbx.com/incrediblepbx11gui-git.tar.gz
tar zxvf incrediblepbx11gui-git.tar.gz
#./create-swapfile-DO  #add this step for Digital Ocean droplets
rm -f incrediblepbx11gui-git.tar.gz
sed -i 's|pbxinaflash.com|incrediblepbx.com|' IncrediblePBX11-GUI-git.sh
./IncrediblePBX11-GUI-git.sh
./IncrediblePBX11-GUI-git.sh

    4. Install Incredible Fax for Asterisk-GUI (optional)

    Administrators have been trying to stomp out faxing for at least two decades. Here’s a hint. It ain’t gonna happen. So go with the flow and add Gotcha-Free Faxing to your server. It’ll be there when you need it. And sooner or later, you’ll need it. This install script is simple enough for any monkey to complete. Run the script and enter the email address for delivery of your faxes. Then, if you’re in the U.S. or Canada, press the Enter key to accept every default entry during the HylaFax and AvantFax installation steps. For other countries, read the prompts and answer accordingly. When the installation finishes, reboot your server to bring faxing on line. Be sure to change your AvantFax admin password. By default, it is password. You can use the script included in the /root folder: avantfax-pw-change. REMINDER: Don’t forget to reboot your server!

    cd /root
./incrediblefax11-GUI.sh
./avantfax-pw-change
reboot

    Troubleshooting: If your IAXmodems don’t display with a green IDLE notation in the AvantFax GUI, you may need to restart them once more. After a second reboot, all should be well. The restart command is /root/iaxmodem-restart.

    5. Initial Configuration of Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    Incredible PBX is installed with the preconfigured IPtables Linux firewall already in place. It implements WhiteList Security to limit server access to connected LANs, your server’s IP address, your desktop computer’s IP address, and a few of our favorite SIP providers. You can add additional entries to this WhiteList whenever you like using the add-ip and add-fqdn tools in /root. There’s also an Apache security layer for our web applications. And, of course, Asterisk-GUI has its own security methodology using Asterisk’s manager.conf. Finally, we randomize extension and DISA passwords as part of the initial install process. Out of the starting gate, you won’t find a more secure VoIP server implementation anywhere. After all, it’s your phone bill.

    Even with all of these layers of security, here are 10 Quick Steps to better safeguard your server. You only do this once, but failing to do it may lead to security issues you don’t want to have to deal with down the road. So DO IT NOW!

    First, log into your server as root with your root password and do the following:

    Make your root password very secure: passwd
    Set your correct time zone: ./timezone-setup
    Create admin password for web apps: htpasswd -b /etc/pbx/wwwpasswd admin newpassword
    Make a copy of your other passwords: cat passwords.FAQ
    Make a copy of your Knock codes: cat knock.FAQ
    Decipher IP address and other info about your server: status

    Second, log into your server as admin using a web browser pointed to your server’s IP address:

    Click USERS tab in Incredible PBX GUI
    Click Asterisk-GUI Administration
    Log in as user: admin with password: password
    Immediately change your admin password and login again

    Log in to Asterisk-GUI again with your new password. Expand the options available in the GUI:

    Options -> Advanced Options -> Show Advanced Options

    Last but not least, Incredible PBX includes an automatic update utility which downloads important updates whenever you log into your server as root. We recommend you log in once a week to keep your server current. Now would be a good time to log out and back into your server at the Linux command line to bring your server up to current specs.

    6. Configure Trunks with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    Now for the fun part. If this is your first VoIP adventure, be advised that this ain’t your grandma’s phone system. You need not and should not put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to telephone providers. In order to connect to Plain Old Telephones, you still need at least one provider. But there is nothing wrong with having several. And a provider that handles an outbound call (termination) need not be the same one that handles an incoming call (origination) and provides your phone number (DID). We cannot recommend Vitelity highly enough, and it’s not just because they have financially supported our projects for almost a decade. They’re as good as VoIP providers get, and we use lots of them. If you’re lucky enough to live in the U.S., you’d be crazy not to set up a Google Voice account. It’s free as are all phone calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. The remaining preconfigured providers included in Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI are equally good, and we’ve used and continue to use almost all of them. So pick a few and sign up. You only pay for the calls you make with each provider so you have little to lose by choosing several. The PIAF Forum includes dozens of recommendations on VoIP providers if you want additional information.

    With the preconfigured trunks in Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI, all you need are your credentials for each provider and the FQDN of their server. Log into Asterisk-GUI Administration as admin using a browser. From the System Status screen, click Incredible PBX Apps. Click on each provider you have chosen and fill in the blanks with your credentials. When you’ve saved all of your settings, log into your server as root via SSH and type: service asterisk restart or asterisk-restart. You can also issue the command in the Asterisk-GUI by choosing the Asterisk CLI tab2 in the left column. Doesn’t get any simpler!

    Update: It should be noted that Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI also supports Anveo Direct trunks; however, they are configured differently because of the way Anveo handles the calls. You’ll need the PIN provided by Anveo to set up your trunk, and Anveo supports CallerID spoofing so you can enter any CallerID number for the trunk that you are authorized to use. You’ll find the Anveo Direct setup link in the Incredible PBX Apps tab. To route an outgoing call through Anveo trunk, dial 2 + any desired 10-digit number.

    Here is the complete list of dialing prefixes and the trunks to which they are associated:

    • 1 – Google Voice
    • 2 – Anveo Direct
    • 3 – Future Nine
    • 4 – CallCentric
    • 5 – DIDlogic
    • 6 – IPcomms
    • 7 – Les.net
    • 8 – Vitelity
    • 9 – VoIP.ms

    For free iNUM calling worldwide, the following dialing prefixes are supported in conjunction with the last seven digits of any destination iNUM DID. Free iNUM DIDs for your own PBX are available from both of these providers as well.

    • 0XXXXXXX – CallCentric
    • 90XXXXXXX – VoIP.ms

    Finally, in addition to the native Asterisk motif implementation of Google Voice (covered below) which uses insecure authentication with Google Voice, we also support the new Simonics SIP gateway to Google Voice using OAUTH authentication. Just click this link for the installation script and tutorial.

    7. Configure a Softphone with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    We’re in the home stretch now. You can connect virtually any kind of telephone to your new Gotcha-Free PBX. Plain Old Phones require an analog telephone adapter (ATA) which can be a separate board in your computer from a company such as Digium. Or it can be a standalone SIP device such as ObiHai’s OBi100 or OBi110 (if you have a phone line from Ma Bell to hook up as well). SIP phones can be connected directly so long as they have an IP address. These could be hardware devices or software devices such as the YateClient softphone. We’ll start with a free one today so you can begin making calls. You can find dozens of recommendations for hardware-based SIP phones both on Nerd Vittles and the PIAF Forum when you’re ready to get serious about VoIP telephony.

    We recommend YateClient which is free. Download it from here. Run YateClient once you’ve installed it and enter the credentials for the 6002 extension on Incredible PBX. You’ll need the IP address of your server plus your extension 6002 password. Choose Users -> 6002 and write down your SIP/IAX Password. You can also find it in /root/passwords.FAQ. Fill in the blanks using the IP address of your server, 6002 for your account name, and whatever password is assigned to the extension. Click OK to save your entries.

    Once you are registered to extension 6002, close the Account window. Then click on YATE’s Telephony Tab and place some test calls to the numerous apps that are preconfigured on Incredible PBX. Dial a few of these to get started:

    7001 - IVR Demo
    123 - Reminders
    947 - Weather by ZIP Code
    951 - Yahoo News
    *61 - Time of Day
    TODAY - Today in History

    If you are a Mac user, another great no-frills softphone is Telephone. Just download and install it from the Mac App Store.

    Configuring Google Voice

    If you want to use Google Voice, you’ll need a dedicated Google Voice account to support Incredible PBX. The more obscure the username (with some embedded numbers), the better off you will be. This will keep folks from bombarding you with unsolicited Gtalk chat messages, and who knows what nefarious scheme will be discovered using Google messaging six months from now. So keep this account a secret!

    IMPORTANT: Be sure to enable the Google Chat option as one of your phone destinations in Settings, Voice Setting, Phones. That’s the destination we need for The Incredible PBX to work its magic! Otherwise, all inbound and outbound calls will fail.

    If you have difficulty finding the Google Chat option after setting up a new Google Voice account, follow this tutorial.

    Once you’ve created your Gmail and Google Voice accounts, go to Google Voice Settings and click on the Calls tab. Make sure your settings match these:

    • Call Screening – OFF
    • Call Presentation – OFF
    • Caller ID (In) – Display Caller’s Number
    • Caller ID (Out) – Don’t Change Anything
    • Do Not Disturb – OFF
    • Call Options (Enable Recording) – OFF
    • Global Spam Filtering – ON

    Click Save Changes once you’ve adjusted your settings. Under the Voicemail tab, plug in your email address so you get notified of new voicemails. Down the road, receipt of a Google Voice voicemail will be a big hint that something has come unglued on your PBX.

    One final word of caution is in order regardless of your choice of providers: Do NOT use special characters in any provider passwords, or nothing will work!

    Now you’re ready to configure your Google Voice account in Incredible PBX. You can do it from within Asterisk-GUI by choosing Google Voice within the Incredible PBX Apps tab. Once you entered your credentials, don’t forget to restart Asterisk, or Google Voice calls will fail. If you still have trouble placing or receiving calls, try these tips.

    OK, Smarty Pants: Show Me the Beef!

    We know what some of you are thinking. "What does a fast food worker really know about VoIP and Gotcha-Free PBXs?? Before I waste a bunch of time on this, show me the beef!" Fair enough. Sit by your phone and click the Call Me icon below. Type in a fake name and your real phone number. Click the Connect button, answer your phone when it rings, and press 1. You’ll be connected to the Incredible PBX IVR for Asterisk-GUI. Pick an option from the menu of choices and take the Incredible PBX apps for a spin on our dime… actually it’s Google’s dime. Everything you see and hear is part of what you get with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI including the ability to set up your own click-to-dial web interface exactly like this one. The demo just happens to be running on our Mac desktop instead of yours. So… what are you waiting for? Click away and try Incredible PBX for yourself. And, by the way, nobody besides the NSA and Google will be monitoring your call. 😉



    Nerd Vittles Demo IVR Options
    1 – Call by Name (say “Delta Airlines” or “American Airlines” to try it out)
    2 – MeetMe Conference (password is 1234)
    3 – Wolfram Alpha (say “What planes are overhead?”)
    4 – Lenny (The Telemarketer’s Worst Nightmare)
    5 – Today’s News Headlines
    6 – Weather Forecast (say the city and state, province, or country)
    7 – Today in History
    8 – Speak to a Real Person (or maybe just voicemail if we’re out)

    Homework Assignment: Mastering the Asterisk-GUI

    We’ll have more to say about the Incredible PBX applications next week. In the meantime, you have some homework. You need to learn all about Asterisk-GUI and how to make the best use of its powerful feature set. Here’s one word of warning. We mentioned that Incredible PBX was a hybrid system that combines some customized settings with the standard Asterisk-GUI interface. Before modifying existing settings for the default trunks, extensions, and default routes, take a look at the credentials* files in /etc/asterisk. If you modify any of these trunk entries or the Outgoing or Incoming Call Rules in Asterisk-GUI, you may break the Incredible PBX setup. So steer clear of that minefield until you know what you’re doing. Adding new extensions and additional trunks is perfectly fine and will not break anything.

    Rather than reinvent the wheel, we’ll point you to some excellent tutorials that already have been written. Start with Chapter 3 of Digium’s Asterisk Appliance™ Administrator Manual. Next, review Chapter 11 of The Asterisk Book (Second Edition). Finally, take a look at a couple of the tutorials that have been written by other companies that incorporated Asterisk-GUI into their hardware products, e.g. Yeastar’s MyPBX SOHO User Manual and Grandstream’s UCM6100 User Manual. Then check back with us next week for Chapter 2.

    In the meantime, if you have questions, join the PBX in a Flash Forums and take advantage of our awesome collection of gurus. There’s an expert available on virtually any topic, and the price is right. As with Incredible PBX, it’s absolutely free.

    We also are quickly building a collection of tutorials tailored specifically for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI:

    Enjoy your new Gotcha-Free PBX!

    Now Available: The Gotcha-Free Incredible PBX Application User’s Guide

    Originally published: Monday, April 20, 2015

    Support Issues. With any application as sophisticated as this one, you’re bound to have questions. Blog comments are a terrible place to handle support issues although we welcome general comments about our articles and software. If you have particular support issues, we encourage you to get actively involved in the PBX in a Flash Forums. It’s the best Asterisk tech support site in the business, and it’s all free! Please have a look and post your support questions there. Unlike some forums, ours is extremely friendly and is supported by literally hundreds of Asterisk gurus and thousands of users just like you. You won’t have to wait long for an answer to your question.


    Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.

     

    Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors


    FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.

    BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.

    The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.

    VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
     

    Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
     

    Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…

    1. Vitelity and Google provide financial support to Nerd Vittles and the Incredible PBX project. [↩]
    2. If, for some reason, the Asterisk CLI tab does not appear on your server, click Options -> Advanced Options -> Show Advanced Options. [↩]

    The Two Amigos Ride Again: Introducing Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    Tuesday, March 10, 2015 / 1 Comment on The Two Amigos Ride Again: Introducing Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    DEC. 7 NEWS FLASH: The Elastix project has been sold to 3CX. Elastix 4.0 and Elastix MT have been removed from production "due to a legal disagreement with another open source distribution."

    We began our Elastix® adventure last week with the Bleeding Edge and our introduction of Incredible PBX for Elastix MT, the promising new multi-tenant edition of Elastix. Unfortunately, for production use, Elastix 3.0 is not quite there yet. So this week we’re introducing Incredible PBX™ for Elastix 2.5, an incredibly stable telephony platform with a loyal following and dozens of add-on components to satisfy almost any requirement. Having not looked at Elastix in more than a year, we were pleasantly surprised to find a very current version of Asterisk® 11 as well as a stable, gotcha-free Elastix fork of FreePBX® 2.11. It’s amazing what can be accomplished with a single command: yum upgrade. If you know how to use FreePBX, then the Elastix GUI will be a walk in the park.

    We promised that 2015 would be the year of Gotcha-Free choices for the Asterisk platform, and today we deliver the third VoIP alternative with pure and honest GPL code minus the patent, trademark, and copyright minefields previously covered. Incredible PBX™ for Elastix 2.5 provides virtually the same feature set of applications for Asterisk as our previous releases. Just abide by the clear GPL licensing terms and copy, embellish, and redistribute to your heart’s content.

    What Incredible PBX brings to the Elastix 2.5 platform are several dozen (free) applications for Asterisk in addition to a rock-solid firewall with a preconfigured WhiteList of your favorite VoIP providers and private LAN addresses. With the Elastix 2.5 version, you also get a dozen preconfigured trunks and extensions plus a familiar GUI that we’ve all used for the better part of a decade. And it’s all bundled in a graphical user interface that integrates telephony, faxing, instant messaging, email, and calendaring in a single desktop application. We’re glad to be part of the family.

    Our deployment strategy remains consistent and straight-forward. Install a 64-bit bit version of Elastix 2.5 on the platform of your choice. Then run the Incredible PBX installer. In 5-10 minutes, you’re ready to roll. The installer first will bring Elastix 2.5 and CentOS up to current specs. Then it will work its magic and add an Incredible PBX tab to the existing Elastix 2.5 UI with all the bells and whistles to which you are accustomed. Text-to-speech applications, speech recognition, DISA, ODBC, SMS messaging, news, weather, conference bridge support, and a voice dialer are enabled out of the box.

    A Word of Caution. If you’re new to Incredible PBX, install a clean version of Elastix 2.5 with NO MODIFICATIONS before you begin the Incredible PBX install. All of the existing Elastix 2.5 setup will be modified as part of the Incredible PBX install, and these changes will wipe out any additions you’ve previously made to Elastix. So don’t make any! Once the Incredible PBX install is completed, you can make all the changes you wish in your Elastix configuration. The only major design change we’ve made is to rework the Elastix MySQL database tables into MyISAM format from InnoDB. This facilitates making future backups and restores of your server as well as providing the necessary platform to install current and future Incredible PBX components.

    Did We Mention Security? You also get a locked down, preconfigured IPtables Firewall WhiteList with all of the Travelin’ Man 3 tools plus the automatic update service to keep your server up to date and safe. There is a $20 voluntary annual license fee for the update service but, if you’d prefer to buy donuts, be our guest. But understand that voluntary is a two-way street. Running the update service costs us time and money and, when it ceases to be worthy of our time and financial investment, we reserve the right to discontinue the service down the road. The next time you log into your server after installing Incredible PBX, you’ll quickly appreciate why an automatic update service is important. We watch for and fix problems so you don’t have to.

    Target Audience: Small or Large Organization in need of a turnkey, Gotcha-Free PBX

    Default Configuration: Asterisk 11 with enhanced Elastix 2.5 GUI and Kennonsoft GUI

    Platform: CentOS 5.x running on Dedicated Server, Cloud-Based Server, or Virtual Machine

    Minimum Memory: 1024 MB

    Recommended Disk: 20 GB+

    Feature Set: Fax, SMS messaging, NeoRouter/PPTP VPN, Reminders, ConfBridge Conferencing, AsteriDex, Voicemail, Email, IVR, News, Weather, Voice Dialer, Wolfram Alpha, Today in History, TM3 Firewall WhiteList, Speed Dialer, iNUM and SIP URI (free) worldwide calling, DISA, Call Forwarding, Tailorable CDRs

    Administrator Utilities: Incredible Backup/Restore, Automatic Updater, phpMyAdmin, Timezone Config, WebMin, Admin Password Configurator, ODBC/MySQL Database Configurator, Firewall WhiteList Tools

    Getting Started with Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    Here’s a quick overview of the installation and setup process for Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5:

    1. Choose a Hardware Platform – Dedicated PC, Cloud Provider, or Virtual Machine
    2. Install Elastix 2.5 – 64-bit CentOS 5 platform
    3. Download and Install Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5
    4. Set Up Passwords for Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5
    5. Activate Trunks with Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5
    6. Connect a Softphone to Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5
    7. Configuring SMTP Mail with Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    1. Choose a Platform for Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5 works equally well on dedicated hardware, a cloud-based server, or a virtual machine. Just be sure you’ve met the minimum requirements outlined above and that you have a sufficiently robust Internet connection to support 100Kb of download and upload bandwidth for each simultaneous call you wish to handle with your new PBX.

    For Dedicated Hardware, we recommend at least an Atom-based PC of recent vintage with at least a 30GB drive and 4GB of RAM. That will take care of an office with 10-20 extensions and a half dozen or more simultaneous calls if you have the Internet bandwidth to support it.

    For Cloud-Based Servers, we recommend RentPBX, one of our financial supporters who also happens to size servers properly and restrict usage solely to VoIP. This avoids performance bottlenecks that cause problems with VoIP calls. Yes, we have a coupon code for you to get the $15/month rate: NOGOTCHAS. The new image to support Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5 should be available shortly.

    For Virtual Machine Installs, we recommend Oracle’s VirtualBox platform which runs atop almost any operating system including Windows, Macs, Linux, and Solaris. Here’s a link to our original VirtualBox tutorial to get you started. We suggest allocating 1GB of RAM and at least a 20GB disk image to your virtual machine for best performance. We actually used VirtualBox to build Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5.

    2. Install 64-bit Elastix 2.5 on Your Platform

    Begin by downloading the 64-bit Elastix 2.5 ISO. For dedicated hardware, burn the ISO image to a CD/DVD and boot your server with the Elastix 2.5 ISO to begin the install. Here are the simplest installation steps:

    Install or Upgrade in Graphical Mode by pressing ENTER
    Choose: Install Language
    Choose: Keyboard
    Choose: Initialize Drive and Erase ALL DATA
    Remove: All partitions on selected drive and YES you’re sure
    Modify: Partitioning Layout (No is fine)
    Configure: eth0 and disable IPv6 Support (unless required)
    Choose: Dynamic IP (DHCP) configuration
    Choose: Hostname Configuration Automatic
    Choose: Time Zone and Disable System Clock Uses UTC
    Set: Root Password (Make it Secure!)
    Wait for Reboot to Complete
    Set MySQL Password to: passw0rd (MANDATORY: with a zero!)
    Choose Elastix admin Password: minimum 10 alphanumeric characters with upper & lowercase

    For VirtualBox, create an Elastix 2.5 virtual machine of Linux (RedHat 64-bit) type by clicking New. Click Settings button. In System, enable I/O APIC and disable Hardware Clock in UTC Time. In Audio, enable Audio for your sound card. In Network, enable Bridged Adapter for Adapter 1. In Storage, click on Empty in the Storage Tree. Then click on the Disk icon to the right of CD/DVD Drive attributes. Choose the Elastix 2.5 ISO file that you downloaded. Click OK. Then start the virtual machine to begin the installation process. Follow the setup steps above to install Elastix 2.5 in your virtual machine.

    3. Download and Install Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    After completing the Elastix 2.5 install, log into your server as root using SSH or Putty from a desktop machine that you will use to manage your server. This is important with the Incredible PBX IPtables Firewall WhiteList so you don’t get locked out of your own server! Then issue the following commands to begin the Incredible PBX install. You’ll actually run the installer twice, once to upgrade CentOS and Elastix and a second time to install Incredible PBX.

    cd /root
wget http://incrediblepbx.com/incrediblepbx11elastix25.tar.gz
tar zxvf incrediblepbx11elastix25.tar.gz
rm -f incrediblepbx11elastix25.tar.gz
./IncrediblePBX11-Elastix25.sh
./IncrediblePBX11-Elastix25.sh

    4. Initial Configuration of Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    Incredible PBX is installed with the preconfigured IPtables Linux firewall already in place. It implements WhiteList Security to limit server access to connected LANs, your server’s IP address, your desktop computer’s IP address, and a few of our favorite SIP providers. You can add additional entries to this WhiteList whenever you like using the add-ip and add-fqdn tools in /root. There’s also an Apache security layer for our web applications. And, of course, Elastix 2.5 has its own security methodology. Finally, we randomize extension and DISA passwords as part of the initial install process. Out of the starting gate, you won’t find a more secure VoIP server implementation anywhere. After all, it’s your phone bill.

    Even with all of these layers of security, here are 6 Quick Steps to better safeguard your server. You only do this once, but failing to do it may lead to security issues you don’t want to have to deal with down the road. So DO IT NOW!

    First, log out and back into your server as root with your root password to get the latest updates. Then do the following:

    Make your root password very secure: passwd
    Set your correct time zone: ./timezone-setup
    Create admin password for web apps: htpasswd -b /etc/pbx/wwwpasswd admin newpassword
    Set MySQL and Elastix admin PW: ./admin-pw-change (MySQL PW MUST be passw0rd with zero)
    Make a copy of your other passwords: cat passwords.FAQ
    Decipher IP address and other info about your server: status

    Last but not least, Incredible PBX includes an automatic update utility which downloads important updates whenever you log into your server as root. We recommend you log in once a week to keep your server current. If you haven’t already done so, NOW would be a good time to log out and back into your server at the Linux command line to bring your server current.

    5. Activate Trunks with Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    For those migrating from another aggregation including PBX in a Flash, this should be familiar territory for you. Using a browser, log into Elastix 2.5 at the IP address of your server. Before you can actually make or receive calls outside your PBX, you’ll need at least one trunk. In the Elastix 2.5 GUI, click PBX -> Trunks. Once you have your credentials from a provider, choose a provider from the list of preconfigured trunks on the right or create a new one. If you’re using one of the preconfigured options, remember to enable the trunk after adding your desired CallerID and credentials. Then save your settings and reload your Asterisk dialplan. That’s it. You’re ready to go.

    6. Configure a Softphone with Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    Incredible PBX comes preconfigured with two extensions (701 and 702) that let you connect phones to your PBX. You can connect virtually any kind of telephone to your Elastix 2.5 PBX. Plain Old Phones require an analog telephone adapter (ATA) which can be a separate board in your computer from a company such as Digium. Or it can be a standalone SIP device such as ObiHai’s OBi100 or OBi110 (if you have a phone line from Ma Bell to hook up as well). SIP phones can be connected directly so long as they have an IP address. These could be hardware devices or software devices such as the YateClient softphone. We’ll start with a free one today so you can begin making calls. You can find dozens of recommendations for hardware-based SIP phones both on Nerd Vittles and the PIAF Forum when you’re ready to get serious about VoIP.

    We recommend YateClient which is free. Download it from here. Run YateClient once you’ve installed it and enter the credentials for the 701 extension on Incredible PBX. You’ll need the IP address of your server plus your extension 701 password. You can find them in /root/passwords.FAQ. Fill in the blanks using the IP address of your server, 701 for your account name, and whatever password is assigned to the extension. Here’s what your entries should look like. Click OK to save your entries.

    Once you are registered to extension 701, close the Account window. Then click on YATE’s Telephony Tab and place some test calls to the numerous apps that are preconfigured on Incredible PBX. Here are a few numbers to get you started:


    123 - Reminders
    947 - Weather by ZIP Code
    951 - Yahoo News
    222 - ODBC Lookup (try: 12345)
    DEMO - Allison's IVR Demo
    TODAY - Today in History

    6. Configuring SMTP Mail with Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    Outbound email support using Postfix is preconfigured with Elastix 2.5. You can test whether it’s actually working by issuing the following command using your destination email address after logging in as root:

    echo "test" | mail -s testmessage yourname@gmail.com

    If you don’t receive the email message within a minute or two and you’ve checked your spam folder, chances are your ISP is blocking downstream SMTP servers in an effort to combat spam. Comcast is one of the usual suspects. To enable outbound email service for delivery of voicemail and other email messages with a provider blocking downstream SMTP servers, you first need to obtain the SMTP domain of your ISP, e.g. smtp.comcrap.net. Next, edit /etc/postfix/main.cf and add your SmartHost entry [in brackets] to the line that begins like this: relayhost =. The line should look like this: relayhost = [smtp.comcrap.net]. Save your addition and restart Postfix: service postfix restart. Be sure to try another email test message after completing the SmartHost update. To use Gmail as your mail relay, see this tutorial.

    Configuring Google Voice

    We have included the Python implementation of gvoice in /root for those that want to experiment by making calls and sending SMS blasts the "old-fashioned" way. While Elastix does not directly support native Asterisk 11 Google Voice functionality, you now can use a SIP gateway to access Google Voice and make free calls in the U.S. and Canada.

    If you have difficulty finding the Google Chat option after setting up a new Google Voice account, follow this tutorial.

    Homework Assignment: Mastering Incredible PBX for Elastix 2.5

    We’ve put together a complete tutorial for the applications included in Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI. Most of it is fully applicable to Elastix 2.5 as well. That should be your next stop. Then you’ll be ready to tackle Elastix 2.5. Google is your friend. Do some exploring, and we’ll post links to great articles on this terrific platform as we discover them. Your suggestions are also welcomed!

    In the meantime, if you have questions, join the PBX in a Flash Forums and take advantage of our awesome collection of gurus. There’s an expert available on virtually any topic, and the price is right. As with Incredible PBX, it’s absolutely free. The same applies to the Elastix forum.

    And if all of that wasn’t enough, feast your eyes on the Elastix Add-Ons that are only a button click away:

    [gview file="http://nerdvittles.com/wp-content/ElastixAddOns.pdf"]

    Originally published: Tuesday, March 10, 2015

    Support Issues. With any application as sophisticated as this one, you’re bound to have questions. Blog comments are a terrible place to handle support issues although we welcome general comments about our articles and software. If you have particular support issues, we encourage you to get actively involved in the PBX in a Flash Forums. It’s the best Asterisk tech support site in the business, and it’s all free! Please have a look and post your support questions there. Unlike some forums, ours is extremely friendly and is supported by literally hundreds of Asterisk gurus and thousands of users just like you. You won’t have to wait long for an answer to your question.


    Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.

     

    Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors


    FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.

    BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.

    The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.

    VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
     

    Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
     

    Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…

    The Gotcha-Free PBX in the Cloud: Introducing Incredible PBX @ RentPBX.com

    Monday, February 23, 2015

    We continue the Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI adventure today with an open source alternative for which many have been clamoring, an affordable Cloud-based Asterisk® platform with a no-strings-attached graphical user interface. As if the $15 a month hosting plan weren’t enough, the icing on the cake is the quick 2-minute setup on your choice of a dozen servers throughout the U.S. as well as Canada and Europe. If you can find the Enter key on a keyboard, then you can handle the complexity of the RentPBX setup. When you’re finished, you’ll have a turnkey PBX featuring some of the finest open source software on the planet. The software is all free, subject only to the terms of the open source licenses.

    Target Audience: Home or SOHO/SBO in need of a turnkey, Gotcha-Free PBX in the Cloud

    Default Configuration: Asterisk 11 with enhanced Asterisk-GUI, Kennonsoft GUI, and NANPA dialplan

    Platform: CentOS 6.6 running on RentPBX Cloud-Based Server platform

    Memory: 385 MB with 415 MB swap

    Disk Size: 20 GB

    Default Trunks: Google Voice, CallCentric, DIDlogic, Future-Nine, IPcomms, Les.net, Vitelity, VoIP.ms1

    Feature Set: Fax, SMS messaging, VPN, Reminders, ConfBridge Conferencing, AsteriDex, Voicemail, IVR, Email, News, Weather, Voice Dialer, Wolfram Alpha, Today in History, TM3 Firewall WhiteList, Speed Dialer, iNUM and SIP URI (free) worldwide calling, OpenCNAM CallerID lookups, DISA, Call Forwarding, CSV CDRs

    Administrator Utilities: Incredible Backup/Restore, Automatic Updater, Asterisk Upgrader, phpMyAdmin, Timezone Config, Plug-and-Play Trunk Configurator, WebMin, External IP Setup, Firewall WhiteList Tools

    Getting Started with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI (Cloud Edition)

    Here’s a quick overview of the installation and setup process for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI @ RentPBX.com:

    1. Sign Up for Gotcha-Free PBX in the Cloud – Choose server location and await credentials
    2. Complete the Install of Incredible PBX and Incredible Fax
    3. Set Up Passwords for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI
    4. Configure Trunks with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI
    5. Connect a Softphone to Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    1. Sign Up for Gotcha-Free PBX in the Cloud at RentPBX.com

    Visit RentPBX.com and choose the PBX in a Flash builds and complete the following steps:

    When you begin the payment and checkout phase, enter your coupon code to take advantage of the $15/month discounted rate: NOGOTCHAS. Wait for the confirmation email with your server credentials and dedicated IP address.

    2. Complete the Install of Incredible PBX and Incredible Fax

    Nothing tricky here. It’s a 2-minute setup process. Log into your server as root with your default password using SSH or Putty. Once you’re logged in, RentPBX will randomize all of your passwords for Incredible PBX. Next, you’ll be prompted for the email address to use for delivery of your faxes. Once entered, you’ll be prompted for various information to install HylaFax and AvantFax. Just press the Enter key at every prompt. In a couple minutes, your server will reboot to bring Incredible PBX and Incredible Fax on line. Log back into your server as root and let Incredible PBX run its Automatic Update Utility to bring your system current. That’s it. You now have a turnkey Asterisk® PBX that’s ready for configuration.

    3. Initial Configuration of Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    Incredible PBX is installed with the preconfigured IPtables Linux firewall already in place. It implements WhiteList Security to limit server access to your server’s IP address, your desktop computer’s IP address, and a few of our favorite SIP providers. You can add additional entries to this WhiteList whenever you like using the add-ip and add-fqdn tools in /root. There’s also an Apache security layer for web applications. And, of course, Asterisk-GUI has its own security methodology using Asterisk’s manager.conf. Finally, RentPBX randomized extension and DISA passwords as part of the initial setup process. Out of the starting gate, you won’t find a more secure VoIP server implementation anywhere. After all, it’s your phone bill.

    Even with all of these layers of security, here are 10 Quick Steps to better safeguard your server. You only do this once, but failing to do it may lead to security issues you don’t want to have to deal with down the road. So DO IT NOW!

    First, log into your server as root with your root password and do the following:

    Make your root password very secure: passwd
    Set your correct time zone: ./timezone-setup
    Create admin password for web apps: htpasswd -b /etc/pbx/wwwpasswd admin newpassword
    Make a copy of your other passwords: cat passwords.FAQ
    Make a copy of your Knock codes: cat knock.FAQ
    Decipher IP address and other info about your server: status

    Second, log into your server as admin using a web browser pointed to your server’s IP address:

    Click USERS tab in Incredible PBX GUI
    Click Asterisk-GUI Administration
    Log in as user: admin with password: password
    Immediately change your admin password

    Log in to Asterisk-GUI again with your new password. Expand the options available in the GUI (if required):

    Options -> Advanced Options -> Show Advanced Options

    Last but not least, Incredible PBX includes an automatic update utility which downloads important updates whenever you log into your server as root. We recommend you log in once a week to keep your server current.

    4. Configure Trunks with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    Now for the fun part. If this is your first VoIP adventure, be advised that this ain’t your grandma’s phone system. You need not and should not put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to telephone providers. In order to connect to Plain Old Telephones, you still need at least one provider. But there is nothing wrong with having several. And a provider that handles an outbound call (termination) need not be the same one that handles an incoming call (origination) and provides your phone number (DID). We cannot recommend Vitelity highly enough, and it’s not just because they have financially supported our projects for almost a decade. They’re as good as VoIP providers get, and we use lots of them. If you’re lucky enough to live in the U.S., you’d be crazy not to set up a Google Voice account. It’s free as are all phone calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. The remaining preconfigured providers included in Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI are equally good, and we’ve used and continue to use almost all of them. So pick a few and sign up. You only pay for the calls you make with each provider so you have little to lose by choosing several. The PIAF Forum includes dozens of recommendations on VoIP providers if you want additional information.

    With the preconfigured trunks in Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI, all you need are your credentials for each provider and the FQDN of their server. Log into Asterisk-GUI Administration as admin using a browser. From the System Status screen, click Incredible PBX Apps. Click on each provider you have chosen and fill in the blanks with your credentials. When you’ve saved all of your settings, log into your server as root via SSH and type: service asterisk restart or asterisk-restart. You can also issue the command in the Asterisk-GUI by choosing the Asterisk CLI tab2 in the left column. Doesn’t get any simpler!

    Update: It should be noted that Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI also supports Anveo Direct trunks; however, they are configured differently because of the way Anveo handles the calls. You’ll need the PIN provided by Anveo to set up your trunk, and Anveo supports CallerID spoofing so you can enter any CallerID number for the trunk that you are authorized to use. You’ll find the Anveo Direct setup link in the Incredible PBX Apps tab. To route an outgoing call through Anveo trunk, dial 2 + any desired 10-digit number.

    Here is the complete list of dialing prefixes and the trunks to which they are associated:

    • 1 – Google Voice
    • 2 – Anveo Direct
    • 3 – Future Nine
    • 4 – CallCentric
    • 5 – DIDlogic
    • 6 – IPcomms
    • 7 – Les.net
    • 8 – Vitelity
    • 9 – VoIP.ms

    For free iNUM calling worldwide, the following dialing prefixes are supported in conjunction with the last seven digits of any destination iNUM DID. Free iNUM DIDs for your own PBX are available from both of these providers as well.

    • 0XXXXXXX – CallCentric
    • 90XXXXXXX – VoIP.ms

    5. Configure a Softphone with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    We’re in the home stretch now. You can connect virtually any kind of telephone to your new Gotcha-Free PBX. Plain Old Phones require an analog telephone adapter (ATA). Because your server is actually in the RentPBX Cloud, a standalone SIP device is required. Good choices are ObiHai’s OBi100 or OBi110 (if you have a phone line from Ma Bell to hook up as well). SIP phones can be connected directly so long as they have an IP address. These could be hardware devices or software devices such as the YateClient softphone. We’ll start with a free one today so you can begin making calls. You can find dozens of recommendations for hardware-based SIP phones both on Nerd Vittles and the PIAF Forum when you’re ready to get serious about VoIP telephony. Don’t forget to WhiteList the IP address of each SIP phone you wish to connect using /root/add-ip or /root/add-fqdn.

    We recommend the YateClient softphone which is free. Download it from here. Run YateClient once you’ve installed it and enter the credentials for the 6002 extension on Incredible PBX. You’ll need the IP address of your server plus your extension 6002 password. Choose Users -> 6002 and write down your SIP/IAX Password. You can also find it in /root/passwords.FAQ. Fill in the blanks using the IP address of your server, 6002 for your account name, and whatever password is assigned to the extension. Click OK to save your entries.

    Once you are registered to extension 6002, close the Account window. Then click on YATE’s Telephony Tab and place some test calls to the numerous apps that are preconfigured on Incredible PBX. Dial a few of these to get started:

    7001 - IVR Demo
    123 - Reminders
    947 - Weather by ZIP Code
    951 - Yahoo News
    *61 - Time of Day
    TODAY - Today in History

    If you are a Mac user, another great no-frills softphone is Telephone. Just download and install it from the Mac App Store.

    Configuring Google Voice

    If you want to use Google Voice, you’ll need a dedicated Google Voice account to support Incredible PBX. The more obscure the username (with some embedded numbers), the better off you will be. This will keep folks from bombarding you with unsolicited Gtalk chat messages, and who knows what nefarious scheme will be discovered using Google messaging six months from now. So keep this account a secret!

    IMPORTANT: Do NOT under any circumstances take Google’s bait to switch from Google Chat to Hangouts, or you will forever lose the ability to use Google Chat with Incredible PBX. Also be sure to enable the Google Chat option as one of your phone destinations in Settings, Voice Setting, Phones. That’s the destination we need for The Incredible PBX to work its magic! Otherwise, all inbound and outbound calls will fail. Thus far, Google has apparently had a change of heart on discontinuing Google Chat support so it’s enabled by default in all new Google Voice accounts. Nothing free lasts forever so make some alternative arrangements before disaster strikes!

    Once you’ve created a Gmail and Google Voice account, go to Google Voice Settings and click on the Calls tab. Make sure your settings match these:

    • Call Screening – OFF
    • Call Presentation – OFF
    • Caller ID (In) – Display Caller’s Number
    • Caller ID (Out) – Don’t Change Anything
    • Do Not Disturb – OFF
    • Call Options (Enable Recording) – OFF
    • Global Spam Filtering – ON

    Click Save Changes once you’ve adjusted your settings. Under the Voicemail tab, plug in your email address so you get notified of new voicemails. Down the road, receipt of a Google Voice voicemail will be a big hint that something has come unglued on your PBX.

    One final word of caution is in order regardless of your choice of providers: Do NOT use special characters in any provider passwords, or nothing will work!

    Now you’re ready to configure your Google Voice account in Incredible PBX. You can do it from within Asterisk-GUI by choosing Google Voice within the Incredible PBX Apps tab. Once you’ve entered your credentials, don’t forget to restart Asterisk, or Google Voice calls will fail. If you still have trouble placing or receiving calls, follow these tips.

    OK, Smarty Pants: Show Me the Beef!

    We know what some of you are thinking. "What does a fast food worker really know about VoIP and Gotcha-Free PBXs?? Before I waste a bunch of time on this, show me the beef!" Fair enough. Sit by your phone and click the Call Me icon below. Type in a fake name and your real phone number. Click the Connect button, answer your phone when it rings, and press 1. You’ll be connected to the Incredible PBX IVR for Asterisk-GUI. Pick an option from the menu of choices and take the Incredible PBX apps for a spin on our dime… actually it’s Google’s dime. Everything you see and hear is part of what you get with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI including the ability to set up your own click-to-dial web interface exactly like this one. The demo just happens to be running on our Mac desktop. So… what are you waiting for? Click away and try Incredible PBX for yourself. And, by the way, nobody besides the NSA and Google will be monitoring your call. 😉



    Nerd Vittles Demo IVR Options3
    1 – Call by Name (say “Delta Airlines” or “American Airlines” to try it out)
    2 – MeetMe Conference (password is 1234)
    3 – Wolfram Alpha (say “What planes are overhead?”)
    4 – Lenny (The Telemarketer’s Worst Nightmare)
    5 – Today’s News Headlines
    6 – Weather Forecast (say the city and state, province, or country)
    7 – Today in History
    8 – Speak to a Real Person (or maybe just voicemail if we’re out)

    Homework Assignment: Mastering the Incredible Apps and Asterisk-GUI

    Just Released: The Gotcha-Free Incredible PBX Application User’s Guide

    Your next stop should be a careful reading of the new Incredible PBX Application User’s Guide. It documents the 31 apps for Asterisk that are included with your new PBX. You also need to learn all you can about Asterisk-GUI and how to make the best use of its powerful feature set. Here’s one word of warning. We mentioned that Incredible PBX was a hybrid system that combines some customized settings with the standard Asterisk-GUI interface. Before modifying existing settings for the default trunks, extensions, and default routes, take a look at the credentials* files in /etc/asterisk. If you modify any of these trunk entries or the Outgoing or Incoming Call Rules in Asterisk-GUI, you may break the Incredible PBX setup. So steer clear of that minefield until you know what you’re doing. Adding new extensions and additional trunks is perfectly fine and will not break anything.

    Rather than reinvent the wheel, we’ll point you to some excellent tutorials that already have been written. Start with Chapter 3 of Digium’s Asterisk Appliance™ Administrator Manual. Next, review Chapter 11 of The Asterisk Book (Second Edition). Finally, take a look at a couple of the tutorials that have been written by other companies that incorporated Asterisk-GUI into their hardware products, e.g. Yeastar’s MyPBX SOHO User Manual and Grandstream’s UCM6100 User Manual.

    In the meantime, if you have questions, join the PBX in a Flash Forums and take advantage of our awesome collection of gurus. There’s an expert available on virtually any topic, and the price is right. As with Incredible PBX, it’s absolutely free.

    We also are quickly building a collection of tutorials tailored specifically for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI:

    Enjoy your new Gotcha-Free PBX in the Cloud!

    Don’t forget to List Yourself in Directory Assistance so everyone can find you by dialing 411. Add your new number to the Do Not Call Registry to block telemarketing calls. Or call 888-382-1222 from your new number.

    Originally published: Monday, February 23, 2015

    Support Issues. With any application as sophisticated as this one, you’re bound to have questions. Blog comments are a terrible place to handle support issues although we welcome general comments about our articles and software. If you have particular support issues, we encourage you to get actively involved in the PBX in a Flash Forums. It’s the best Asterisk tech support site in the business, and it’s all free! Please have a look and post your support questions there. Unlike some forums, ours is extremely friendly and is supported by literally hundreds of Asterisk gurus and thousands of users just like you. You won’t have to wait long for an answer to your question.


    Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.

     

    Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors


    FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.

    BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.

    The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.

    VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
     

    Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
     

    Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…

    1. Vitelity, Google, and RentPBX provide financial support to Nerd Vittles and the Incredible PBX project. [↩]
    2. If, for some reason, the Asterisk CLI tab does not appear on your server, click Options -> Advanced Options -> Show Advanced Options. [↩]
    3. Allison is available to record custom voice prompts with the same quality as this one. [↩]

    Where to Begin: A Comparison of Open Source Features in Asterisk Aggregations

    Tuesday, February 17, 2015 / 1 Comment on Where to Begin: A Comparison of Open Source Features in Asterisk Aggregations

    [purehtml id=19]

    We receive frequent inquiries requesting that we document the feature set in the open source Asterisk® distributions that Nerd Vittles writes about each week. So today we’re pleased to provide a Feature Matrix that we will attempt to keep current as we move forward. Just bookmark this page, and you can check back periodically to get a quick thumbnail sketch of what each of these distributions currently supports.1 A chart, of course, doesn’t tell the whole story. But it’s a good starting point.

    Not covered this week are the Asterisk aggregations that are either non-GPL code or are produced by organizations whose primary focus is the sale of commercial hardware and/or software. But don’t despair. Nerd Vittles is weeks away from announcing a commercial solution with some surprises that may encourage non-hobbyists to reevaluate your options and to take a fresh look at commercial alternatives, some of which may soon be free. So… hold on to your checkbook a bit longer!

    All of the Asterisk aggregations we’re covering today have several things in common. First, all of the products rely upon industry-standard operating system platforms including CentOS, Scientific Linux, Ubuntu, and Raspbian. Each has an enormous user base and technical support team to assure that your operating system remains stable, secure, and non-proprietary for the life of your PBX. All of today’s products also support open source, non-proprietary, and free fax solutions with installers customized to the various platforms. Unlike other alternatives, all of these aggregations compile Asterisk and the graphical user interface used to manage your PBX as part of the install process. That means your compiled code is tailored to your particular hardware, and the source code is always installed on your server to simplify the task of making changes or enhancements to the default install without spending hours scouring the Internet to track down dependencies and missing source components. Try finding 3-year-old source code of some of the other distributions (as the GPL requires), and you’ll appreciate our SourceForge repository which goes back almost 5 years. Last but not least, all of these aggregations support Google Voice directly with free calling and free faxing throughout the U.S. and Canada in just minutes.

    Once you’ve identified the feature set that best meets your needs, the next step is finding a tutorial to get you started. Look no further than Nerd Vittles for step-by-step instructions tailored to your specific platform whether it’s dedicated hardware, a virtual machine, or a Cloud-based platform. You won’t find an equivalent resource anywhere else. And, of course, the most user-friendly forum on the planet stands ready to help should you ever hit a snag.

    Originally published: Tuesday, February 17, 2015


    Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.

     

    Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors


    FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.

    BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.

    The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.

    VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
     

    Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
     

    Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…

    1. Our special thanks to Captain Anonymous for the terrific code that made an HTML layout of this feature comparison chart possible. [↩]
    2. RentPBX is a Platinum Sponsor of the PBX in a Flash project. Install PIAF in the Cloud for $15/mo. with Coupon Code: PIAF2015 [↩]

    The Gotcha-Free PBX: Raspberry Pi 2, Meet Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI ❤

    Monday, February 9, 2015 / 10 Comments on The Gotcha-Free PBX: Raspberry Pi 2, Meet Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI ❤


    [iframe-popup id="3″]
    NOTICE: This version is no longer supported because Digium® has discontinued support of Asterisk-GUI. Check out our latest fully-supported offerings featuring pure open source GPL code: Incredible PBX GUI for Asterisk 11 and Incredible PBX GUI for Asterisk 13.

    OK. The Raspberry Pi 2 may not quite rival the Raspberry Pi supercomputer built at Boise State, but it’s getting closer. The supercomputer that included 32 Raspberry Pi’s a year ago can now be built with about 5 Raspberry Pi 2’s. While the footprint may look the same as the $35 Raspberry Pi that you knew and loved two years ago, the RasPi² sports a 900MHz ARMv7 quad core processor with a full gig of RAM under the hood. And even though the Raspberry Pi 2 may be camera-shy, there’s a good reason. It’s a screamer! Early testing indicates a six-fold increase in performance even though it still looks much the same. What hasn’t changed is the price. It’s still $35 in the U.S. if you can find one. We couldn’t wait so we headed to the Pimoroni Shop in the U.K. to order ours with a Pibow case. Shipped within hours, and we got it in 2 days!

    Do we have a Valentine’s Treat for you! Today we’re pleased to introduce the all-new Raspberry Pi edition of Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI featuring the just-released Raspberry Pi 2 and the just-released Asterisk® 11.16. And, not to worry, if you ever get tired of running your own PBX (and we don’t think you will), Micro$oft announced last week that you’re going to get a free version of Windows 10 for the Raspberry Pi 2 later this year.

    Last week we released a tutorial covering all of the new Gotcha Free PBX applications, and that guide applies to today’s Raspberry Pi 2 release as well. That’s the beauty of the new Incredible PBX modular design. And, speaking of design, we don’t build Incredible PBX servers with an included operating system any longer so we’ll walk you through getting the Raspberry Pi 2 squared away with the latest and greatest version of Raspbian before we actually install Incredible PBX.

    Target Audience: Home or SOHO/SBO in need of a turnkey, Gotcha-Free PBX

    Default Configuration: Asterisk 11 with enhanced Asterisk-GUI, Kennonsoft GUI, and NANPA dialplan

    Platform: Raspbian 7 running on a Raspberry Pi 2

    Standard Memory: 1024MB

    Recommended Disk: 16GB+

    Default Trunks: Google Voice, CallCentric, DIDlogic, Future-Nine, IPcomms, Les.net, Vitelity, VoIP.ms1

    Feature Set: SMS messaging, VPN, Reminders, ConfBridge Conferencing, AsteriDex, Voicemail, Email, IVR, News, Weather, Voice Dialer, Wolfram Alpha, Today in History, TM3 Firewall WhiteList, Speed Dialer, iNUM and SIP URI (free) worldwide calling, OpenCNAM CallerID lookups, DISA, Call Forwarding, CSV CDRs

    Administrator Utilities: Incredible Backup/Restore, Automatic Updater, Asterisk Upgrader, phpMyAdmin, Timezone Config, Plug-and-Play Trunk Configurator, WebMin, External IP Setup, Firewall WhiteList Tools

    Getting Started with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI (RasPi 2 Edition)

    Here’s a quick overview of the installation and setup process for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI:

    1. Install Linux for Raspberry Pi 2 – Install Raspbian 7 Platform
    2. Configure Raspbian 7 – Optimize Raspbian 7 for Incredible PBX
    3. Download and Install Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI
    4. Install Incredible Fax for Asterisk-GUI (optional)
    5. Set Up Passwords for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI
    6. Configure Trunks with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI
    7. Connect a Softphone to Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    1. Install Raspbian 7 Platform for Raspberry Pi 2

    For those with Raspberry Pi experience, this is the same drill you’ve performed a dozen times before. For newbies, here’s the procedure. You’ll need a microSD card of at least 8GB, and we strongly recommend a 16GB or 32GB Type 10 card for Incredible PBX. We’ve tested both the SanDisk and Transcend cards, and they work great.

    Begin by downloading the very latest RASPBIAN image from RaspberryPi.org to your desktop. After you’ve unzipped the image, you need to get it moved to your microSD card. RaspberryPi.org has excellent tutorials that will walk you through the process using a Linux, Mac, or Windows desktop platform. Don’t forget to unmount the card before removing it!

    Once you have your microSD card ready to go, plug it into the slot on the back of the Raspberry Pi 2 and then plug in the power cord. On your attached monitor, you can follow the boot up process. When the login prompt appears, log in as user pi with the password raspberry.

    2. Optimizing Raspbian 7 for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    The first time you boot up your Raspberry Pi 2 with Raspbian 7, it will run the raspi-config script. This allows you to make a number of changes to your Raspberry Pi environment to maximize performance. Let’s take advantage of it.

    Option 1. Expand the File System to fill your SD card. Otherwise, there’s insufficient disk space to complete the install.

    Option 3. Enable Boot to Desktop (top selection). No Linux GUI please!

    Option 8. Change your Hostname under A2 to incrediblepi2.

    Tab to the Finish option and press ENTER. Then choose Reboot and YES.

    After the reboot, log back in as pi:raspberry and set a very secure root password: sudo passwd root. Decipher your IP address so that you can log in as root via SSH: ifconfig.

    We recommend completing the install by logging in as root using a desktop computer via SSH or Putty (for Windows). This gives you the ability to scroll back up and find errors if something happens to come unglued during the install process.

    3. Install Incredible PBX on Your Raspberry Pi 2

    Adding Incredible PBX to the Raspberry Pi 2 is easy. To restate the obvious, your server needs a reliable Internet connection to proceed. Using SSH (or Putty on a Windows machine), log into your Raspberry Pi 2 as root at the IP address you deciphered in the ifconfig step at the end of the Raspbian install procedure above.

    IMPORTANT: Before you begin the Incredible PBX install, expand your console window to at least 80×27, or the Asterisk compilation step may fail. If you’re in doubt about the window dimensions, just maximize the window to full-screen during the install process.

    Now let’s begin the Incredible PBX install. After logging in as root, issue the following commands. The install takes less than an hour and runs unattended so there’s no need to watch unless you’re curious how sausage is made. Remember, we compile all of the major components for Incredible PBX as part of the build process. And you can review the open source GPL2 script to see how it’s done if you have an interest or wish to embellish. It’s Gotcha-Free code so go for it and share your discoveries. After all, that’s what open source is all about!

    cd /root
wget http://incrediblepbx.com/incrediblepbx11guiPi.tar.gz
tar zxvf incrediblepbx11guiPi.tar.gz
rm -f incrediblepbx11guiPi.tar.gz
./IncrediblePBX11Pi-GUI.sh

    4. Install Incredible Fax for Asterisk-GUI (optional)

    Administrators have been trying to stomp out faxing for at least two decades. Here’s a hint. It ain’t gonna happen. So go with the flow and add Gotcha-Free Faxing to your server. It’ll be there when you need it. And sooner or later, you’ll need it. This install script is simple enough for any monkey to complete. Run the script and enter the email address for delivery of your faxes. Then, if you’re in the U.S. or Canada, press the Enter key to accept every default entry during the HylaFax and AvantFax installation steps. For other countries, read the prompts and answer accordingly. When the installation finishes, reboot your server to bring faxing on line. Be sure to change your AvantFax admin password by logging in to AvantFax from the Incredible PBX GUI. By default, the admin password is password. You can also use the script included in the /root folder: avantfax-pw-change. REMINDER: Don’t forget to reboot your server!

    cd /root
./incrediblefax11-GUI.sh

    Outgoing faxes using standard document attachments can be created using the AvantFax GUI. The faxes will be sent out using your default outbound dial rules. For example, a 10-digit number will be sent using the default Google Voice trunk unless you haven’t configured it. Then the next configured trunk will be used. You can add a dial prefix in sending a fax with AvantFax to force the call out a particular trunk.

    Incoming faxes will be delivered to the email address you specified when installing Incredible Fax; however, incoming faxes will be ignored until you configure a destination DID to accept the faxes. In the /etc/asterisk directory, edit extensions.conf. As noted, a dedicated DID is required to support incoming faxes! Find the desired incoming fax context which will be of the form: DID_TRUNKNAME_default, e.g. DID_GoogleVoice_default. Toward the end of the context, there will be several destination options for incoming calls to this DID. It looks like this:

    ;exten = _.,n,Gosub(macro-dumpvars,s,1())  ; in case you ever want to look at all of the Asterisk variables on the CLI
;exten = _.,n,Goto(default,6001,1)         ; routes incoming call to extension 6001
;exten = _.,n,Goto(ringroups-custom-1,s,1) ; routes incoming call to Ring Group #1
;exten = _.,n,Goto(voicemenu-custom-2,s,1) ; routes incoming call to Nerd Vittles Demo IVR
 exten = _.,n,Goto(voicemenu-custom-1,s,1)  ; routes incoming call to Stealth AutoAttendant and then to Ring Group #1

    Comment out the destination entry that is not already commented out. Then add the following line just below that entry:

    exten = _.,n,Goto(ext-fax,in_fax,1)

    Now save the file and reload your Asterisk dialplan: asterisk-reload.

    5. Initial Configuration of Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    Incredible PBX is installed with the preconfigured IPtables Linux firewall already in place. It implements WhiteList Security to limit server access to connected LANs, your server’s IP address, your desktop computer’s IP address, and a few of our favorite SIP providers. You can add additional entries to this WhiteList whenever you like using the add-ip and add-fqdn tools in /root. There’s also an Apache security layer for our web applications. And, of course, Asterisk-GUI has its own security methodology using Asterisk’s manager.conf. Finally, we randomize extension and DISA passwords as part of the initial install process. Out of the starting gate, you won’t find a more secure VoIP server implementation anywhere. After all, it’s your phone bill.

    Even with all of these layers of security, here are 10 Quick Steps to better safeguard your server. You only do this once, but failing to do it may lead to security issues you don’t want to have to deal with down the road. So DO IT NOW!

    First, log into your server as root with your root password and do the following:

    Make your root password very secure: passwd
    Set your correct time zone: ./timezone-setup
    Restart Asterisk: asterisk-restart
    Create admin password for web apps: htpasswd -b /etc/pbx/wwwpasswd admin newpassword
    Make a copy of your other passwords: cat passwords.FAQ
    Make a copy of your Knock codes: cat knock.FAQ
    Decipher IP address and other info about your server: status

    Second, log into your server as admin using a web browser pointed to your server’s IP address:

    Click USERS tab in Incredible PBX GUI
    Click Asterisk-GUI Administration
    Log in as user: admin with password: password
    Immediately change your admin password and login again

    Log in to Asterisk-GUI again with your new password. Expand the options available in the GUI:

    Options -> Advanced Options -> Show Advanced Options

    Last but not least, Incredible PBX includes an automatic update utility which downloads important updates whenever you log into your server as root. We recommend you log in once a week to keep your server current. Now would be a good time to log out and back into your server at the Linux command line to bring your Raspberry Pi 2 up to current specs.

    6. Configure Trunks with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    Now for the fun part. If this is your first VoIP adventure, be advised that this ain’t your grandma’s phone system. You need not and should not put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to telephone providers. In order to connect to Plain Old Telephones, you still need at least one provider. But there is nothing wrong with having several. And a provider that handles an outbound call (termination) need not be the same one that handles an incoming call (origination) and provides your phone number (DID). We cannot recommend Vitelity highly enough, and it’s not just because they have financially supported our projects for almost a decade. They’re as good as VoIP providers get, and we use lots of them. If you’re lucky enough to live in the U.S., you’d be crazy not to set up a Google Voice account. It’s free as are all phone calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. The remaining preconfigured providers included in Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI are equally good, and we’ve used and continue to use almost all of them. So pick a few and sign up. You only pay for the calls you make with each provider so you have little to lose by choosing several. The PIAF Forum includes dozens of recommendations on VoIP providers if you want additional information.

    With the preconfigured trunks in Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI, all you need are your credentials for each provider and the FQDN of their server. Log into Asterisk-GUI Administration as admin using a browser. From the System Status screen, click Incredible PBX Apps. Click on each provider you have chosen and fill in the blanks with your credentials. When you’ve saved all of your settings, log into your server as root via SSH and type: service asterisk restart or asterisk-restart. You can also issue the command in the Asterisk-GUI by choosing the Asterisk CLI tab2 in the left column. Doesn’t get any simpler!

    Update: It should be noted that Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI also supports Anveo Direct trunks; however, they are configured differently because of the way Anveo handles the calls. You’ll need the PIN provided by Anveo to set up your trunk, and Anveo supports CallerID spoofing so you can enter any CallerID number for the trunk that you are authorized to use. You’ll find the Anveo Direct setup link in the Incredible PBX Apps tab. To route an outgoing call through Anveo trunk, dial 2 + any desired 10-digit number.

    Here is the complete list of dialing prefixes and the trunks to which they are associated:

    • 1 – Google Voice
    • 2 – Anveo Direct
    • 3 – Future Nine
    • 4 – CallCentric
    • 5 – DIDlogic
    • 6 – IPcomms
    • 7 – Les.net
    • 8 – Vitelity
    • 9 – VoIP.ms

    For free iNUM calling worldwide, the following dialing prefixes are supported in conjunction with the last seven digits of any destination iNUM DID. Free iNUM DIDs for your own PBX are available from both of these providers as well.

    • 0XXXXXXX – CallCentric
    • 90XXXXXXX – VoIP.ms

    7. Configure a Softphone with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI

    We’re in the home stretch now. You can connect virtually any kind of telephone to your new Gotcha-Free PBX. Plain Old Phones require an analog telephone adapter (ATA) which can be a separate board in your computer from a company such as Digium. Or it can be a standalone SIP device such as ObiHai’s OBi100 or OBi110 (if you have a phone line from Ma Bell to hook up as well). SIP phones can be connected directly so long as they have an IP address. These could be hardware devices or software devices such as the YateClient softphone. We’ll start with a free one today so you can begin making calls. You can find dozens of recommendations for hardware-based SIP phones both on Nerd Vittles and the PIAF Forum when you’re ready to get serious about VoIP telephony.

    We recommend YateClient which is free. Download it from here. Run YateClient once you’ve installed it and enter the credentials for the 6002 extension on Incredible PBX. You’ll need the IP address of your server plus your extension 6002 password. Choose Users -> 6002 and write down your SIP/IAX Password. You can also find it in /root/passwords.FAQ. Fill in the blanks using the IP address of your server, 6002 for your account name, and whatever password is assigned to the extension. Click OK to save your entries.

    Once you are registered to extension 6002, close the Account window. Then click on YATE’s Telephony Tab and place some test calls to the numerous apps that are preconfigured on Incredible PBX. Dial a few of these to get started:

    7001 - IVR Demo
    123 - Reminders
    947 - Weather by ZIP Code
    951 - Yahoo News
    *61 - Time of Day
    TODAY - Today in History

    If you are a Mac user, another great no-frills softphone is Telephone. Just download and install it from the Mac App Store.

    Configuring Google Voice

    If you want to use Google Voice, you’ll need a dedicated Google Voice account to support Incredible PBX. The more obscure the username (with some embedded numbers), the better off you will be. This will keep folks from bombarding you with unsolicited Gtalk chat messages, and who knows what nefarious scheme will be discovered using Google messaging six months from now. So keep this account a secret!

    IMPORTANT: Do NOT under any circumstances take Google’s bait to switch from Google Chat to Hangouts, or you will forever lose the ability to use Google Chat with Incredible PBX. Also be sure to enable the Google Chat option as one of your phone destinations in Settings, Voice Setting, Phones. That’s the destination we need for The Incredible PBX to work its magic! Otherwise, all inbound and outbound calls will fail. Good News! You’re in luck. Google has apparently had a change of heart on discontinuing Google Chat support so it’s enabled by default in all new Google Voice accounts. Once you’ve created a Gmail and Google Voice account, go to Google Voice Settings and click on the Calls tab. Make sure your settings match these:

    • Call Screening – OFF
    • Call Presentation – OFF
    • Caller ID (In) – Display Caller’s Number
    • Caller ID (Out) – Don’t Change Anything
    • Do Not Disturb – OFF
    • Call Options (Enable Recording) – OFF
    • Global Spam Filtering – ON

    Click Save Changes once you’ve adjusted your settings. Under the Voicemail tab, plug in your email address so you get notified of new voicemails. Down the road, receipt of a Google Voice voicemail will be a big hint that something has come unglued on your PBX.

    One final word of caution is in order regardless of your choice of providers: Do NOT use special characters in any provider passwords, or nothing will work!

    Now you’re ready to configure your Google Voice account in Incredible PBX. You can do it from within Asterisk-GUI by choosing Google Voice within the Incredible PBX Apps tab. Once you’ve entered your credentials, don’t forget to restart Asterisk, or Google Voice calls will fail. If you still have trouble placing or receiving calls, try BOTH of these tips.

    If you have difficulty finding the Google Chat option after setting up a new Google Voice account, follow this tutorial.

    NOTE: There are all sorts of rumors circulating again that the Google Voice free ride may be coming to a close. We’ve heard this song before, but who knows?? Whether true or not, you are well advised to not rely solely on Google Voice for your phone calls. That’s the real beauty of a PBX. So take advantage of it!

    OK, Smarty Pants: Show Me the Beef!

    We know what some of you are thinking. "What does a fast food worker really know about VoIP and Gotcha-Free PBXs?? Before wasting a bunch of time on this, show me the beef!" Fair enough. Sit by your phone and click the Call Me icon below. Type in a fake name and your real phone number. Click the Connect button, answer your phone when it rings, and press 1. You’ll be connected to the Incredible PBX IVR for Asterisk-GUI. Pick an option from the menu of choices and take the Incredible PBX apps for a spin on our dime… actually it’s Google’s dime. Everything you see and hear is part of what you get with Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI including the ability to set up your own click-to-dial web interface exactly like this one. The demo just happens to be running on our Raspberry Pi 2 instead of yours. So… what are you waiting for? Click away and try Incredible PBX for yourself. And, by the way, nobody besides the NSA and Google will be monitoring your call. 😉



    Nerd Vittles Demo IVR Options
    1 – Call by Name (say “Delta Airlines” or “American Airlines” to try it out)
    2 – MeetMe Conference (password is 1234)
    3 – Wolfram Alpha (say “What planes are overhead?”)
    4 – Lenny (The Telemarketer’s Worst Nightmare)
    5 – Today’s News Headlines
    6 – Weather Forecast (say the city and state, province, or country)
    7 – Today in History
    8 – Speak to a Real Person (or maybe just voicemail if we’re out)

    Homework Assignment: Mastering the Asterisk-GUI

    Now would be a good time to explore the Incredible PBX applications. Continue reading there. After you’ve played with the preconfigured features, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and learn about Asterisk-GUI and its powerful feature set. Here’s one word of warning. We mentioned that Incredible PBX was a hybrid system that combines some customized settings with the standard Asterisk-GUI interface. Before modifying existing settings for the default trunks, extensions, and default routes, take a look at the credentials* files in /etc/asterisk. If you modify any of these trunk entries or the Outgoing or Incoming Call Rules in Asterisk-GUI, you may break the Incredible PBX setup. So steer clear of that minefield until you know what you’re doing. Adding new extensions and additional trunks is perfectly fine and will not break anything.

    Rather than reinvent the wheel, we’ll point you to some excellent tutorials that already exist. Start with Chapter 3 of Digium’s Asterisk Appliance™ Administrator Manual. Next, review Chapter 11 of The Asterisk Book (Second Edition). Finally, take a look at a couple of the tutorials that have been written by other companies that incorporated Asterisk-GUI into their hardware products, e.g. Yeastar’s MyPBX SOHO User Manual and Grandstream’s UCM6100 User Manual.

    In the meantime, if you have questions, join the PBX in a Flash Forums and take advantage of our awesome collection of gurus. There’s an expert available on virtually any topic, and the price is right. As with Incredible PBX, it’s absolutely free.

    We also are quickly building a collection of tutorials tailored specifically for Incredible PBX for Asterisk-GUI:

    Just Released: The Gotcha-Free Incredible PBX Application User’s Guide

    Originally published: Monday, February 9, 2015

    Support Issues. With any application as sophisticated as this one, you’re bound to have questions. Blog comments are a terrible place to handle support issues although we welcome general comments about our articles and software. If you have particular support issues, we encourage you to get actively involved in the PBX in a Flash Forums. It’s the best Asterisk tech support site in the business, and it’s all free! Please have a look and post your support questions there. Unlike some forums, ours is extremely friendly and is supported by literally hundreds of Asterisk gurus and thousands of users just like you. You won’t have to wait long for an answer to your question.


    Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.

    Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…

    1. Vitelity and Google provide financial support to Nerd Vittles and the Incredible PBX project. [↩]
    2. If, for some reason, the Asterisk CLI tab does not appear on your server, click Options -> Advanced Options -> Show Advanced Options. [↩]

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