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The Most Versatile VoIP Provider: FREE PORTING
JUST RELEASED: Visit the Incredible PBX Wiki$300 Chromebook Faceoff: ARM vs. x86? Which Is Better?
We’ve written about the Chromebook before, but today presents an interesting dilemma. Should you choose an ARM-based Chromebook for a bit better performance or an x86-based Chromebook for application flexibility? This becomes even more interesting when one recalls that Apple is poised to dump Intel processors and move exclusively to the ARM platform for all of its next generation machines. The short answer is it depends upon your use case. Cell phones and tablets traditionally have relied upon ARM processors while desktop computers are almost exclusively based upon either Intel or AMD processors. The Chromebooks fall somewhere in the middle because they can perform traditional web browsing and also run dedicated applications traditionally reserved for desktop computing platforms. So we decided to put two of the least expensive Chromebooks to the test. We managed to grab both the ARM64-based Chromebook (pictured above) and the AMD-based Chromebook (pictured below) for equivalent discounted prices of about $300. The HP Chromebook included a rechargeable pen, detachable keyboard and stand, 11″ touchscreen display, and power adapter while the Acer Chromebook included a mouse, backlit keyboard, convertible 14″ touchscreen display, case, and power adapter. Both weigh about 4 pounds with 8GB RAM and 64GB disk.
We decided to test these Chromebooks by determining how well each could perform as a sales demonstration unit for those in the VoIP business. Suffice it to say, there’s nothing quite like a LIVE showing for a potential customer demonstrating how their future Unified Communications platform would work. And the fact that you can pull this is off with what looks very much like a computer tablet is icing on the cake. Both Chromebooks passed the test with ease although we massaged the Incredible PBX installer a bit to accommodate the ARM64 platform. If you decide to try this out for yourself, we’ve documented the process on the VoIP-Info.org Forum.
Because the Acer Chromebook was AMD-based, the installation process for Incredible PBX was much easier simply because the traditional Incredible PBX installer for Debian 10 runs without a hitch. Begin by opening the Chrome browser to chrome://flags. Enable Chrome extensions. Set Upgrade Crostini to Bullseye to Disabled. Set Debian Version to Buster. And set Allow Resizing Crostini Disks to Enabled. Restart the Chromebook to continue. Then navigate to Settings -> Advanced -> Developers -> Linux Development Environment. Set the Disk Size to 15GB. Then Enable Linux Development Environment. Once your Chromebook is restarted, run Terminal app. PIN it to task bar with Alt-Click.
Issue the following commands to install Incredible PBX for Debian 10:
sudo passwd root # set a very secure root password su root cd ~ apt update apt upgrade apt install cron nano -y wget http://incrediblepbx.com/IncrediblePBX2021.sh chmod +x IncrediblePBX2021.sh nano -w /etc/profile
Edit /etc/profile to look like this at the top. Save the file and restart your Chromebook.
Log back into your Chromebook’s Terminal app as root, and issue the following commands:
su root cd ~ apt update ./IncrediblePBX2021.sh
Here are the remaining steps to configure Incredible PBX:
- chmod 775 /
- touch /var/log/auth.log
- chown asterisk:asterisk /var/log/asterisk/*
- Add OpenVPN client credentials as /etc/incrediblepbx.ovpn
- Add gTTS following steps at this link
- Run /root/enable-gmail-smarthost-for-sendmail using your Gmail app password
- Remove ssh-block file from /ssh
- Uncomment port with a port number above 1000 in sshd_config
- Restart SSH: systemctl restart sshd
- Remove UCP daemon: fwconsole setting NODEJSENABLED 0
- fwconsole ma upgradeall
- fwconsole reload
- Clear errors, if any, from reload (several times) by doing what the prompts say
- Run /root/sig-fix twice
So there you have it. A desktop demo machine in a tablet form-factor. Not to come across as an x86 snob, but there still are things we like to do on the Intel and AMD platforms that you simply cannot pull off using an ARM-based computer, at least not yet. At the top of that list is running VirtualBox. Many have tried, but VirtualBox is not an emulator. It’s a virtualization platform which means it runs other x86 applications using the existing x86 platform on which it was installed. Oracle has shown little interest in porting it to ARM processors and, even if it did so, you would only be able to run other ARM applications. As you also probably noticed, unless you find a really good sale, ARM-based Chromebooks are about $100 more expensive than their x86 competitors. So our tip of the hat goes to Acer Chromebook this time around.
If you’d like to put your name in the hat for one of our Chromebook test units, post a meaningful comment to this article and include your email address which won’t be published. The comment must be posted before the last day of July, 2022. We’ll publish the winner when we randomly make a selection in August, 2022. The winner will also be notified by email using the address included with your comment. Here’s the not-so-fine print:
NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY IN ORDER TO WIN, AND YOU MAY ONLY SUBMIT A SINGLE COMMENT PER HOUSEHOLD. YOU MUST BE 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER ON THE DATE OF ENTRY, AND YOU MUST BE A LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 STATES OF THE UNITED STATES OR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. THE CONTEST IS SUBJECT TO ALL FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS. IF YOUR JURISDICTION BANS PARTICIPATION IN FREE CONTESTS, YOU ARE DISQUALIFIED AND MAY NOT ENTER THE CONTEST. BY PARTICIPATING IN THIS CONTEST, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE CONTEST RULES AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE DECISIONS OF NERD VITTLES, THE SPONSOR, WHICH ARE FINAL. THE WINNER MUST PROVE COMPLIANCE WITH THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE THE PRIZE IS DISTRIBUTED, AND THE WINNER MUST PROVIDE A PHOTOCOPY OF A VALID U.S. DRIVER'S LICENSE OR OFFICIAL STATE PHOTO ID WITH YOUR ACTUAL MAILING ADDRESS. WINNER WILL BE DISQUALIFIED IF PROOF OF COMPLIANCE IS NOT RECEIVED WITHIN 10 DAYS OF EMAIL TRANSMISSION ANNOUNCING THE WINNER. IN SUCH CASE, AN ALTERNATE WINNER WILL BE RANDOMLY SELECTED UNDER THE SAME TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF THE ALTERNATE WINNER IS SUBSEQUENTLY DISQUALIFIED, THE PRIZE WILL REMAIN UN-AWARDED. IN THE EVENT THE CONTEST IS IMPAIRED IN ANY WAY FOR ANY REASON AS DETERMINED BY THE SPONSOR IN ITS SOLE DISCRETION, THE SPONSOR MAY TERMINATE CONTEST WITHOUT AWARDING THE PRIZE. BY PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST, YOU AGREE TO RELEASE AND HOLD HARMLESS NERD VITTLES, WARD MUNDY & ASSOCIATES LLC, AND WARD MUNDY FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEST OR AWARD TO THE WINNER. ANY CLAIM MUST BE FILED INDIVIDUALLY WITH A WAIVER OF CLASS ACTION STATUS IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA. CLAIMANT FURTHER AGREES TO COVER ALL LEGAL AND COURT COSTS OF THE DEFENDANT IN ADDITION TO CLAIMANT'S OWN LEGAL EXPENSES. ALL QUESTIONS OF LAW SHALL BE RESOLVED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA. IN THE EVENT CLAIMANT PREVAILS AT TRIAL AND AS A CONDITION FOR ENTRY INTO THE CONTEST, PLAINTIFF AGREES TO ACCEPT NO MORE THAN $1 AS THE ACTUAL AND PUNITIVE DAMAGE AWARD.
Originally published: Monday, June 27, 2022
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info 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.
Migrating Incredible PBX 2021 to a PUBLIC Facing Cloud PBX
Today we want to again enhance the migration of Incredible PBX 2021 into a PUBLIC-facing Cloud PBX. What that means is authorized users can connect a SIP phone to the PBX regardless of where the user might be located without worries about an ever-changing dynamic IP address and the requirement to whitelist the new IP address. A PUBLIC-facing PBX also provides free SIP URI connectivity to users of your PBX by anyone from anywhere in the world. In other words, it’s similar to the way you could connect to any Ma Bell telephone in the world simply by knowing the number to dial. The difference, of course, is SIP URI connectivity is free while there were often staggering long distance charges for remote connectivity in the Ma Bell days. Fifty years ago it was not uncommon for a college boy to spend $200 a month calling his college sweetheart less than 200 miles away in the same state. Ask me how I know.
Why is this such a big deal? The short answer is security and your phone bill. You don’t want bad guys on the other side of the globe attempting to register a SIP phone to your PBX so that they can use your trunks to make free phone calls on your nickel. You also don’t want anybody and everybody calling your users by simply guessing the IP address of your PBX. So today’s new design combines several security mechanisms to make a PUBLIC-facing PBX safe and secure. First, we will block all SIP connectivity to your PBX by IP address. Second, we will identify 30,000+ known SIP bad guys and block their access to your PBX entirely. Third, we will only permit SSH access to your PBX using public key authentication instead of traditional username/password authentication. Fourth, we will only permit web access to the Incredible PBX portal from whitelisted IP addresses and OpenVPN private addresses. We haven’t mentioned the elephant in the room, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, but today’s methodology reduces the risk considerably since your PBX cannot be ping’d, and all IP address access is blocked at the Linux kernel level.
Prerequisites. To put all these safeguards in place, you’ll need a cloud-based Incredible PBX 2021 KVM platform running Debian 10. Install the latest Incredible PBX 2021 platform using our tutorial. Next, you’ll need these items:
- Public IP Address of your server
- Obscure FQDN linked to this public IP address
- Random SSH port with registered public keys for SSH access
- List of SIP extensions to enable for SIP URI access
- IP Addresses to WhiteList for Access to the Web GUI
1. Deciphering Public IP Address of Your PBX
After logging into your PBX as root, you can execute pbxstatus to decipher the public IP address of the PBX. Or issue the command: wget -q -O - ipinfo.io/ip
2. Obtaining an FQDN for Your PBX
Security through obscurity provides the critical layer of protection for your server so choose an FQDN carefully. sip.yourname.com provides little protection while f246g.yourname.com pretty much assures that nobody is going to guess your domain name. This is particularly important with SIP registrations because registered extensions on your PBX can obviously make phone calls that cost you money. If you don’t have your own domain, you can always obtain a free hostname from a service such as NoIP.com.
3. Securing SSH Access to Your PBX
Whatever you do, don’t leave SSH access via port 22 exposed on your PBX. In the time it took to create a new PBX on CloudAtCost, there were over 400 attempted logins to the default SSH port of the new server. The simplest (but least secure) method to avoid these script kiddie attacks is to change the port number for SSH access to your server. We suggest using the year you were born as the port number because it’s easy to remember. Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and uncomment the Port line replacing 22 with the port number you chose. Then restart SSH: systemctl restart sshd.
The preferable solution to secure SSH is to create and use SSH keys for access and set PasswordAuthentication no on the last line of /etc/ssh/sshd_config. Digital Ocean has an excellent tutorial to walk you through the setup process.
4. Choosing Extensions for SIP URI Public Access
With today’s PUBLIC design, exposing an extension for PUBLIC access means anyone in the world that knows the FQDN of your server and the extension number can do two things using any SIP client: (1) they can call you and (2) they can attempt to register to that extension and make calls on your trunks AND your nickel. So only expose extensions for public access if there is a need to connect or call from remote locations. For extensions you decide to expose, make certain that the passwords for these extensions are extremely secure, lengthy, and use numbers with both UPPER and lower case letters. Never use default extension passwords!
5. Whitelisting IP Addresses for Public Web Access
Without enumerating IP addresses for public web access, you won’t be able to connect to the web GUI of your PBX. Down the road, if you wish to add additional IP addresses, you can use /root/add-ip to add them via SSH.
Deploying New PUBLIC Firewall
To get started, log into your server as root and issue the following commands:
cd /tmp wget http://incrediblepbx.com/newpublic.tar.gz tar zxvf newpublic.tar.gz rm -f newpublic.tar.gz
Next, edit /tmp/iptables.base and change the highlighted entries:
Change port 22 in the dport entry to the SSH port number you chose in Step 3, above.
Change 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4., and 1.1.1.1 to actual public IP addresses of desktop machines you wish to use to access the web GUI of your PBX. If you don’t need three entries, comment out the other entries with # at the beginning of each line.
Replace your-servers-IP-address with the actual IP address of your PBX from Step 1, above.
Save the file.
On the Debian platform, issue the following commands:
cd /etc/iptables cp /tmp/iptables.base . mv rules.v4 rules.v4.orig cp iptables.base rules.v4
Using Incredible PBX PUBLIC with Asterisk
The first line of defense with this PUBLIC implementation is your FQDN. Second is the IPtables firewall setup above. And third is the Asterisk® extensions configuration in extensions_override_freepbx.conf. Here’s how to configure it. Edit /tmp/extensions_override_freepbx.base and change the highlighted entries:
If there are phone numbers assigned to your PBX that you want processed according to your Inbound Routing rules, duplicate the first highlighted line above and, for each trunk, replace 8881234567 with your actual DID numbers.
In exten => _.,1 line, replace your-servers-IP-address with the actual IP address of your PBX from Step 1, above.
In exten => _.,10 line, replace your-servers-FQDN with the actual FQDN assigned to your PBX from Step 2, above.
Scroll down in the file to the following section:
Comment out undesired default extensions. Place a semicolon at the beginning of the lines.
For any extensions you wish to add, insert a new line in the following format replacing both 7000 entries with the desired extension number:
exten => 7000,13,Dial(local/7000@from-internal)
Save the file and then execute the following commands to complete the PUBLIC setup:
cd /etc/asterisk cp /tmp/extensions_override_freepbx.base . mv extensions_override_freepbx.conf extensions_override_freepbx.orig cp extensions_override_freepbx.base extensions_override_freepbx.conf fwconsole restart asterisk -rx "dialplan reload" iptables-restart sed -i 's|-A INPUT|-I INPUT|' /root/add-ip sed -i 's|-A INPUT|-I INPUT|' /root/add-fqdn
Adding IPSET Protections to Incredible PBX
We’re not the biggest fans of blacklists because the bad guys spend a lot of time trying to corrupt them by inserting valid IP addresses of sites such as DNS servers in the lists to wreak havoc. Having said that, there are two blacklists that are carefully monitored on a daily basis, and both provide additional protection for your PBX by weeding out access by 30,000+ potential bad guys. The oldest of these is VoIP Blacklist. And the new kid on the block is APIBAN from LOD.com and Fred Posner. We’ve simplified the setup process for use with Incredible PBX 2021. To get started, obtain an APIBAN API key here. Then issue the following commands to put all the pieces in place on your server:
apt --fix-broken install -y apt install ipset iptables netfilter-persistent ipset-persistent iptables-persistent -y cd /usr/local/sbin wget http://incrediblepbx.com/incrediblepbx-ipsets.tar.gz tar zxvf incrediblepbx-ipsets.tar.gz rm -f incrediblepbx-ipsets.tar.gz
Next, edit /usr/local/sbin/apiban-init and insert your APIkey.
Finally, issue the following command to reload the firewall: iptables-restart
Verifying Firewall Setup of Incredible PBX
Let’s make certain that everything got installed correctly. Begin by issuing this command: iptables -nL
Scroll toward the top of the list, and you should see two entries for the voipbl and apiban ipsets indicating that entries in those lists will be dropped by the firewall.
Next, verify that the voipbl and apiban ipsets are populated. The first two commands below will list all of the blocked IP addresses. And the next two commands will provide a count of the dropped IP addresses.
ipset list voipbl ipset list apiban ipset list voipbl | wc -l ipset list apiban | wc -l
Finally, you can refresh the ipsets with the following two commands:
voipbl-init apiban-init
Rebooting or restarting the firewall with iptables-restart also refreshes the ipset listings.
Calling an Incredible PBX PUBLIC Extension
Any extensions that you have whitelisted in the blue section above can be called from anywhere using any SIP client. Simply enter the SIP URI for the extension in the following format: SIP/extension@your-servers-FQDN
CAUTION: If a caller attempts to call any extension on your PUBLIC server from an extension on another Asterisk server to which the caller is registered, the call will fail if there is a matching extension number on the PUBLIC server and the two servers are not registered to each other. So remember to use unique extension numbers on your PUBLIC server if you expect callers from other Asterisk servers.
Registering Incredible PBX PUBLIC Extension
If you wish to login to a whitelisted extension using a SIP client, enter the extension and password of the extension. For the server address, enter the FQDN of your server. If it’s a PJsip extension, add :5061 to the end of the FQDN.
Originally published: Thursday, November 11, 2021
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info 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.
Meet RackNerd: The Best VoIP Cloud Bargain on the Planet
We continue to scour the Internet for the best bargains to host Incredible PBX 2021 in the Cloud. When the annual cost drops to $1 a month, you would be crazy not to move your PBX to a cloud-based solution. And, yes, we eat our own dog food. We have four VPS offerings from RackNerd that are scattered across the United States in Chicago, Atlanta, New York, and Seattle. Over the past year, inflation has set in. For new signups, the price has increased a whopping dollar to $12.00 per year. Renewals remain the same as your original cost.
What’s the catch? Nothing really other than you have to handle backing up your platform as no backup or snapshot option is offered with the service at this price point. Performance is not a problem. SpeedTest reports 547 Mbit/s downloads and 462 Mbit/sec uploads on our most recent install. Here’s the signup link. Dare to Compare:
Installing Incredible PBX 2021 with Debian 10. Installing Incredible PBX 2021 is a breeze. Simply signup for a Debian 10 VPS at RackNerd and wait a minute or two for your credentials to arrive. Then follow the steps in the latest Incredible PBX 2021 tutorial. You’ll be up and running in less than 15 minutes.
For more VoIP Cloud Provider Alternatives, go here or visit the Incredible PBX Wiki.
Originally published: Monday, August 23, 2021 Updated: Sunday, October 24, 2021
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info 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.
Morphing Incredible PBX into a PUBLIC-Facing Cloud PBX
We’ve previously documented how to change Incredible PBX 2021 and Incredible PBX 2020 into PUBLIC-facing PBXs. What that means is that authorized users could still connect to your PBX regardless of where they may be located without having to worry about whitelisting IP addresses. To suggest that the procedure was convoluted is a bit of an understatement. So today we offer a simplified solution that you can deploy in a couple of minutes. It lacks some of the safeguards of the earlier releases, but it remains secure so long as you don’t employ a readily decipherable FQDN for your PBX. The idea here is to block communications access to your PBX using its public IP address and allow access by those that know the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of your PBX. You can also restrict the extensions that are accessible. And SSH access to your PBX will be protected by assigning a random port number or by requiring public key authentication for access.
Prerequisites. To get started, you’ll obviously need a cloud-based Incredible PBX 2020 or 2021 platform running CentOS 7, Debian 10, or Raspbian. Next, you’ll need these items:
- Public IP Address of your server
- FQDN linked to the public IP address
- Random SSH port for SSH access to PBX
- List of secure extensions to enable for SIP URI access
- IP Addresses to WhiteList for Access to the Web GUI
1. Deciphering Public IP Address of Your PBX
After logging into your PBX as root, you can execute pbxstatus to decipher the public IP address of the PBX.
2. Obtaining an FQDN for Your PBX
Security through obscurity provides the critical layer of protection for your server so choose an FQDN carefully. sip.yourname.com provides little protection while f246g.yourname.com pretty much assures that nobody is going to guess your domain name. This is particularly important with SIP registrations because registered extensions on your PBX can obviously make phone calls that cost you money. If you don’t have your own domain, you can always obtain a free hostname from a service such as NoIP.com.
3. Securing SSH Access to Your PBX
Whatever you do, don’t leave SSH access via port 22 exposed on your PBX. In the time it took to create a new PBX on CloudAtCost, there were over 400 attempted logins to the default SSH port of the new server. The simplest (but least secure) method to avoid these script kiddie attacks is to change the port number for SSH access to your server. We suggest using the year you were born as the port number because it’s easy to remember. Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and uncomment the Port line replacing 22 with the port number you chose. Then restart SSH: systemctl restart sshd.
The preferable solution to secure SSH is to create and use SSH keys for access and set PasswordAuthentication no in /etc/ssh/sshd_config. Digital Ocean has an excellent tutorial to walk you through the setup process.
4. Choosing Extensions for SIP URI Public Access
With today’s PUBLIC design, exposing an extension for PUBLIC access means anyone in the world that knows the FQDN of your server and the extension number can do two things using any SIP client: (1) they can call you and (2) they can attempt to register to that extension and make calls on your trunks AND your nickel. So only expose extensions for public access if there is a need to connect or call from remote locations. For extensions you decide to expose, make certain that the passwords for these extensions are extremely secure, lengthy, and use numbers with both UPPER and lower case letters. Never use default extension passwords!
5. Whitelisting IP Addresses for Public Web Access
Without enumerating IP addresses for public web access, you won’t be able to connect to the web GUI of your PBX. Down the road, if you wish to add additional IP addresses, you can use /root/add-ip to add them via SSH.
Deploying New PUBLIC Firewall
To get started, log into your server as root and issue the following commands:
cd /tmp wget http://incrediblepbx.com/newpublic.tar.gz tar zxvf newpublic.tar.gz rm -f newpublic.tar.gz
Next, edit /tmp/iptables.base and change the highlighted entries:
Change port 22 in the dport entry to the SSH port number you chose in Step 3, above.
Change 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4., and 1.1.1.1 to actual public IP addresses of desktop machines you wish to use to access the web GUI of your PBX. If you don’t need three entries, comment out the other entries with # at the beginning of each line.
Replace your-servers-IP-address with the actual IP address of your PBX from Step 1, above.
Save the file.
On Debian and Raspbian platforms, issue the following commands:
cd /etc/iptables cp /tmp/iptables.base . mv rules.v4 rules.v4.orig cp iptables.base rules.v4
On CentOS platforms, issue the following commands:
cd /etc/sysconfig cp /tmp/iptables.base . mv iptables iptables.orig cp iptables.base iptables
Using Incredible PBX PUBLIC with Asterisk
The first line of defense with this PUBLIC implementation is your FQDN. Second is the IPtables firewall setup above. And third is the Asterisk® extensions configuration in extensions_override_freepbx.conf. Here’s how to configure it. Edit /tmp/extensions_override_freepbx.base and change the highlighted entries:
If there are phone numbers assigned to your PBX that you want processed according to your Inbound Routing rules, duplicate the first highlighted line above and, for each trunk, replace 8881234567 with your actual DID numbers.
In exten => _.,1 line, replace your-servers-IP-address with the actual IP address of your PBX from Step 1, above.
In exten => _.,10 line, replace your-servers-FQDN with the actual FQDN assigned to your PBX from Step 2, above.
Scroll down in the file to the following section:
Comment out undesired default extensions. Place a semicolon at the beginning of the lines.
For any extensions you wish to add, insert a new line in the following format replacing both 7000 entries with the desired extension number:
exten => 7000,13,Dial(local/7000@from-internal)
Save the file and then execute the following commands to complete the PUBLIC setup:
cd /etc/asterisk cp /tmp/extensions_override_freepbx.base . mv extensions_override_freepbx.conf extensions_override_freepbx.orig cp extensions_override_freepbx.base extensions_override_freepbx.conf fwconsole restart asterisk -rx "dialplan reload" iptables-restart sed -i 's|-A INPUT|-I INPUT|' /root/add-ip sed -i 's|-A INPUT|-I INPUT|' /root/add-fqdn
Calling an Incredible PBX PUBLIC Extension
Any extensions that you have whitelisted in the blue section above can be called from anywhere using any SIP client. Simply enter the SIP URI for the extension in the following format: SIP/extension@your-servers-FQDN
CAUTION: If a caller attempts to call any extension on your PUBLIC server from an extension on another Asterisk server to which the caller is registered, the call will fail if there is a matching extension number on the PUBLIC server and the two servers are not registered to each other. So remember to use unique extension numbers on your PUBLIC server if you expect callers from other Asterisk servers.
Registering Incredible PBX PUBLIC Extension
If you wish to login to a whitelisted extension using a SIP client, enter the extension and password of the extension. For the server address, enter the FQDN of your server. If it’s a PJsip extension, add :5061 to the end of the FQDN.
Switching Back to Incredible PBX Default
Should you change your mind and decide to switch back to the default Incredible PBX setup, it’s simple to do so. Here are the steps.
sed -i 's|Port|#Port|' /etc/ssh/sshd_config cd /etc/asterisk cp -p extensions_override_freepbx.orig extensions_override_freepbx.conf cd /root cd /etc/sysconfig cp -p iptables.orig iptables cd /root cd /etc/iptables cp -p rules.v4.orig rules.v4 asterisk -rx "dialplan reload" iptables-restart systemctl restart sshd
Originally published: Monday, August 16, 2021
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info 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.
Adding the Linux XFCE GUI to Incredible PBX 2021
One of the most requested add-ons for Incredible PBX® is a graphical user interface for Linux. And today we’ll show you the quick and easy way to add XFCE 4 to your Debian 10 platform. What it gets you is simple access to a number of Linux applications and utilities which only run inside a GUI. These include the Firefox browser, LibreOffice with Microsoft Office compatibility, ImageMagick, media players, a FileManager GUI, and Linux utilities such as TimeShift and gparted.
None of these applications will run inside of SSH. So you’ll need an app such as VNC which is included with most cloud platforms by simply clicking on the Console option inside the cloud server’s management portal. To install XFCE on your Incredible PBX 2021 Debian platform, log in as root using SSH or Putty and issue the following commands:
apt-get update apt-get install task-xfce-desktop reboot
Once your server has rebooted, click on the Console icon in your cloud management portal or in VMware ESXi portal and login with your root credentials when prompted:
Double-click on the Home folder icon and the Home menu for the root user will open:
Icons at the bottom of the display allow you to minimize open windows as well as access the terminal emulator, file manager, web browser, application finder, and your root directory.
At the top of the display, you’ll find tabs for all of your open windows including Applications which provides access to all of the installed GUI applications:
CrownCloud & RackNerd Setup for Remote VNC Access
If you’re running Incredible PBX 2021 on CrownCloud or RackNerd or any other provider using the SolusVM Control Panel, here are the steps for remote VNC access. First, login to your Control Panel and click on the VNC Access button. Write down the IP address, port number, and password for remote VNC access. Next, install the appropriate VNC Viewer for your desktop computer from RealVNC. Open the VNC Viewer app on your desktop and enter the IP address followed by a colon and the port number that you wrote down above. When prompted for your password, enter the VNC password assigned by your provider. You then will get a login screen to enter your root username and root password for Incredible PBX 2021. NOTE: The public IP address of your desktop computer must be whitelisted in IPtables using the All-Access option 0 with add-ip or add-fqdn in the /root folder of your server.
Vultr & Digital Ocean Setup for Remote VNC Access
If you’re running Incredible PBX 2021 on Vultr, Digital Ocean, and most other platforms including VMware, here are the additional steps to gain remote VNC access to your server’s public IP address or VMware’s private IP address. Issue the following commands after logging into your server as root:
apt-get -y install xorg lxde-core tightvncserver reboot
Once your server has rebooted, log back in as root. First, set an 8-character VNC access password: tightvncserver :1
Next, edit the xstartup config file: nano ~/.vnc/xstartup
Uncomment the x-window-manager line. Immediately below that line, add the two new entries below and save the file:
x-window-manager & lxterminal & /usr/bin/lxsession -s LXDE &
Finally, stop and restart tightvncserver:
tightvncserver -kill :1 vncserver :1 -geometry 1024x768 -depth 16 -pixelformat rgb565
With VMware ESXi, substitute the following vncserver startup command:
vncserver :1 -geometry 800x600 -depth 16 -pixelformat rgb565
Now install the appropriate VNC Viewer for your desktop computer from RealVNC. Open the VNC Viewer app on your desktop and enter the IP address followed by :1. Enter your root credentials when prompted.
With VMware, you also can access VNC through the VMware ESXi Console by simply entering your root credentials.
NOTE: The public IP address of your desktop computer must be whitelisted in IPtables using the All-Access option 0 with add-ip or add-fqdn in the /root folder of your server.
Originally published: Friday, June 11, 2021
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info Forum.
Housekeeping 101: Managing Your Asterisk Backups and Logs
If you’re one of those that likes planting shrubbery but ignores maintenance thereafter, then today’s column is for you. Linux servers and Asterisk® PBXs need some regular attention. If you don’t invest a little time in the backup and log purging tasks, sooner or later you’ll regret it when disaster strikes.
With Incredible PBX® 2020 and 2021 servers, you only have yourself to blame if you don’t make regular backups and move them off site. Simply run /root/incrediblebackup2020 and move the image from /backup to a safe place. For Incredible PBX 16 servers, use the /root/incrediblebackup16 script. If you’re considering a move of your on premise Incredible PBX 2020 or 2021 server to the cloud, then we recommend making a full FreePBX® backup. Simply use the FileStore module in FreePBX in conjunction with the FreePBX Backup module to backup to S3, FTP, SCP, or DropBox. For those using cloud platforms for your PBXs, we strongly recommend investing the few cents more to activate automatic backups or snapshots. See the Incredible PBX Wiki for provider suggestions.
Next, let’s turn to logs. On Linux-based systems running Asterisk, there are literally dozens of logs. If you don’t monitor them carefully, you run the risk of a system failure once your storage device fills up. For PUBLIC implementations of Incredible PBX, you also need to monitor /var/log/secure (CentOS) and /var/log/auth.log (Debian/Ubuntu) for SSH break-in attempts. Monitoring the logs for most other system problems is less necessary because these issues typically will rear their ugly heads in a way that you will instantly know there’s a problem.
That leaves us with taming log creep. Even though many of the logs rotate and manage their own total size, this isn’t true for all of them. The easiest way to identify where your problem areas are is to do full listings of the files in both the /var/log and /var/log/asterisk directories: ls -al /var/log && ls -al /var/log/asterisk. When you see the size of logs creeping into 7 digits or more, it’s time to take corrective action. The simplest way is to build yourself a bash script that runs as a cron job every week or so. Here’s what we typically put in the script. The first few lines clean out the rotated logs, and the other lines initialize all of the current log files except the SSH log. You would obviously want to examine any extremely large logs for issues and security breaches before running this script! We typically create a backup before running the script. This preserves a historical record in case of any problems.
#!/bin/bash rm -rf /tmp/* rm -f /var/log/*-2* rm -f /var/log/asterisk/*-2* rm -f /var/log/httpd/*-2* rm -f /var/log/*.gz rm -f /var/log/asterisk/*.gz rm -f /var/log/apache2/*.gz rm -f /var/log/apache2/*.1 rm -f /var/log/*.1 rm -f /var/log/asterisk/*.1 truncate -s 0 /root/.mysql_history truncate -s 0 /root/.asterisk_history truncate -s 0 /root/.bash_history truncate -s 0 /var/log/wtmp truncate -s 0 /var/log/lastlog truncate -s 0 /var/log/mysql/error.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/auth.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/boot.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/cron truncate -s 0 /var/log/cron.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/daemon.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/debug truncate -s 0 /var/log/dmesg truncate -s 0 /var/log/dmesg.old truncate -s 0 /var/log/dracut.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/fail2ban.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/ipchecker.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/kern truncate -s 0 /var/log/kern.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/knockd.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/mail.err truncate -s 0 /var/log/mail.info truncate -s 0 /var/log/maillog truncate -s 0 /var/log/mail.warn truncate -s 0 /var/log/messages truncate -s 0 /var/log/mysqld.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/slpd.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/syslog truncate -s 0 /var/log/alternatives.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/bootstrap.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/dpkg.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/tallylog truncate -s 0 /var/log/yum.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/faillog truncate -s 0 /var/log/fontconfig.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/regen_ssh_keys.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/apache2/access.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/apache2/error.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/apache2/other_vhosts_access.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/freepbx_dbug truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/freepbx_debug truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/freepbx.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/freepbx_security.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/full truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/h323_log truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/messages truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/queue_log truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/ucp_out.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/clearlydevices_out.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/clearlysp_out.log truncate -s 0 /var/log/asterisk/core*.log
To automate this process, create a truncate-logs script in /root with the entries above. Make the script executable: chmod +x /root/truncate-logs. Then add this entry to the bottom of /etc/crontab: 35 4 * * 6 root /root/truncate-logs >/dev/null 2>&1. This would run the script every Saturday morning at 4:35 a.m.
Originally published: Monday, April 26, 2021
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info 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.
A Fresh Look at Low-Cost VoIP Cloud Providers
Now that we’re up and running in 2021 with new releases of Incredible PBX 2021 for both Debian and Ubuntu, it seemed like a fitting time to take a fresh look at VoIP cloud offerings to host your new PBX. The short story is that a cloud-based PBX is the hands-down winner over on-premise hardware these days. It’s cheaper. It’s more reliable. It’s more powerful. And it’s more flexible. The question you’re probably wanting answered is how much does it cost. The good news is it no longer will cost you an arm and a leg. In fact, it’s less expensive than the cost of electricity to run any on-premise hardware except perhaps a Raspberry Pi.
Keeping in mind the old adage that you get what you pay for, let us tick off our favorite cloud offerings together with their pricing. And, remember, you can always find a current list of recommendations on the Incredible PBX Wiki.
We like to separate cloud platforms into two main groups: those that provide periodic backups or snapshots and those that don’t. Fortunately, there are excellent backup utilities for Incredible PBX that lessen the need for provider backups, but they all entail some extra work on your part to get off-site backups configured or maintained.
Let’s begin with the elephants in the room: Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. They all have cloud offerings, and our recommendation is don’t go there. Their services are EXPENSIVE. And they offer less functionality at significantly higher cost than some of the smaller, well-established companies such as Vultr, Digital Ocean, and OVH. If $5 to $6 a month for a cloud platform is not too rich for your blood, you can’t go wrong with any of these three. And all of them provide backups or snapshots in the pricing we’ve outlined. So they are perfect for a family or SOHO PBX. All three can also scale up to support hundreds or even thousands of users. There’s more good news. Using our referral links that support our open source projects, Vultr and Digital Ocean will give you $100 in free credits to begin your cloud journey. And, coming soon, you’ll be able to create an Incredible PBX 2021 VPS from the Vultr Marketplace in less than a minute. Here’s a sneak peek.
Also worth a careful look are a couple of other cloud providers offering either off-site backups in the case of HotLineServers at $3.80 per month or a free snapshot in the case of CrownCloud at $25 a year. CrownCloud is our personal favorite because they also offer Incredible PBX 2021 images for Debian and Ubuntu that install in a couple minutes. Simply open a ticket and ask.
If you’re just getting started with your VoIP adventure and want to keep the cost to an absolute minimum, we have a few additional recommendations, all of which we’ve tested. Keep in mind that these providers have not been in business for decades so the risk of a company failure is always there. And, yes, many have failed before. Also, none of these providers offer backups or snapshots so backups become your responsibility. But for experimentation, you can’t beat the pricing. The least costly provider is RackNerd at less than a dollar a month or $11.97 a year to be precise. This gets you a KVM platform with 1GB of RAM, 17GB of SSD storage, and 3TB of monthly bandwidth. And it’s screaming fast clocking in with 900+ Mbit/second downloads AND uploads on their Atlanta node. There are a few other low-cost providers that are worth a careful look. See the Incredible PBX Wiki for current options.
Finally, a word about backups. Moving from one VPS provider to another can be a painful experience. Typically, the Incredible Backup and Restore route is not your best bet because of possible differences in VPS design. This becomes even more tedious if you elect to switch operating systems, for example moving from CentOS to Debian or Ubuntu. Our recommendation is to stick with a FreePBX® backup in these situations. The FreePBX Wiki will walk you through the setup process. What that means is that, if your server fails or you wish to switch VPS platforms, you then would create a new VPS on the new platform using the traditional Incredible PBX installer. Once it is fully operational, you then can restore your FreePBX backup from the old platform.
Originally published: Monday, February 8, 2021
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info 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.
Our Best VoIP Cloud Platform Recommendations for 2021
Once upon a time, spending $15 to $50 a month for a cloud-based KVM platform to manage your Asterisk® PBX was considered a good deal. But, in the words of Bob Dylan, Times They Are A-Changin’. Our testing over the past couple years confirms that paying premium prices for Google or Amazon EC2 VoIP platforms is nothing short of a waste of money. Today we’re pleased to recommend five cloud providers to host your VoIP server that range in price from $2 to $5 a month. We’ve used all five and have never experienced a single hiccup. Better yet, you won’t have to worry about power outages, IP address changes, and hardware failures. All five of these providers offer Debian 10 and CentOS 7 platforms to complement Incredible PBX 2021, Incredible PBX 2021 PUBLIC, and Incredible PBX 2020 and PUBLIC implementations.
What separates our two $5 a month providers from the rest of the pack are three noteworthy considerations: business longevity, location diversity, and scalability. While Vultr and Digital Ocean both provide referral credits to Nerd Vittles, suffice it to say that has no bearing on our unqualified endorsement of these two platforms. Both also offer system backups for an additional 20% of the monthly platform cost. For those with PBX platform requirements that don’t exceed 10 simultaneous calls, the $5 offerings are more than adequate. And, if your requirements change moving forward, it’s easy to scale up to a more robust platform.
In the middle of the pack price-wise is OVH starting at $3.50 a month for their 100Mbps Starter KVM with a free snapshot. For those in the United States, their nearest data center is in Eastern Canada; however, multiple locations are available in Europe and the Asian Pacific.
Last but not least are two more recent providers. HotlineServers offers a $3 a month platform using our coupon code of voip2021. You can add off-site backups for an additional 80¢ a month. Their data center offerings include New York, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles with some of the best performance specs we have ever seen. CrownCloud offers a $25 a year platform with a free snapshot and data centers in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Western Europe. By request, they also will load an Incredible PBX 2020 image that installs in under a minute.
For our latest recommendations on all things VoIP, check out the new Incredible PBX Wiki.
Originally published: Monday, January 11, 2021
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info 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.
Free Asterisk Solutions
