FPBX (Freepbx)- Secure VoIP IP-PBX baseline on Asterisk

The FPBX (Freepbx) is one of the widely used VOIP IP PBX across the globe, and the main reason behind this is the ease of use and manageability factor. Network or VoIP administrator can easily install the F-PBX on either of their on-prem VoIP solution or cloud based VoIP infrastructure. While On-Prem freepbx solution provide you little more benefits over the cloud deployment, but with the advancement in security features and reliable source code , freepbx is one of the most secure IP-PBX in the tech industry that is available as Asterisk Open source, so trend is shifting to cloud based freepbx deployments as well. As it is asterisk open source, so basically freepbx network administrator can integrate third party applications like CRM tools(salesforce, Zoho,vTiger) and other billing softwares (a2billing etc). Moreover freepbx  provide additional benefit where user can do custom changes as per their requirements. Isn't it cool !!!

Freedom PBX

If you are thinking about web based easy to manage VoIP pbx solution, then Yes FPBX (freepbx) is GUI based VoIP solution which provide you very nice and tidy graphical interface to play with. Super easy in terms of configuration and usability.

F-PBX VoIP is more secured against breakdowns, as VoIP user can setup and install a redundant  freepbx server with a fallback schema in case of disaster recovery. For a PBX system , It is also very important that  they do not have lag or quality challenges, as its not desirable...neither for the user agents and nor for the customers who call them. So FPBX overcomes all these with freepbx enhanced feature sets and sangoma provided commercial modules.

Freepbx VoIP Security : In FPBX every code of the schema for the SIP serviceproviders administrator can do the encryption, so that even if server being compromised then the intruder has no chance and will be unable to get any data or details about the SIP or service providers, moreover in FPBX you can enable to encrypt the voice or message conversations which makes it very secure for on-prem and cloud deployments.

Features I like the most :-

->With FPBX, If asterisk breaks down or fails on one of the servers then network Administrator can be notified on e-mail or via the SMS.
->Automatic freepbx Backup of IP-PBX files repositories- If any of the configuration files being altered then a backup is being made automatically, and purging can be set by administrator.
->Freepbx Video Support in h264 for video conferencing, webrtc over asterisk
->FPBX connect Asterisk based VoIP IP-PBX to a BOT

Now Let's deep dive into underlying technical side of the asterisk and F-PBX solution- So as i said, its an asterisk based solution so lets discuss some of the features it provides ;

Freepbx runs on Asterisk latest version and comes in below IP-PBX flavors (as of today)

FPBX v.(15) This version supports Linux_7-6
• Asterisk13or16
-It also compatible with UEFI as well as the BIOS_booting


FPBX v.(14) This version supports Linux_7-6
• Asterisk13 or_16
-It also compatible with UEFI as well as the BIOS_booting

<<<END OF LIFE>>>
FPBX v.(13) This version supports Linux_6-6
• Asterisk11or13
-It also compatible only with BIOS_booting (Legacy)

If you download the freepbx ISO image of this FPBX VoIP distro , make sure to double check the !SHA256! hash value before installing on the hardware or Virtual linux based machine, SHA code that is encrypted in the iso image is_b9604d98e2ba9cd47a76a271a67af78b24312b72469fc456901796e36a29ecac  and you should make sure you have the iso image named _SNG7_FPBX_64bit-2002-2.iso. Also, you need to check the :md5: hash value for this ISO image- It should be as !"_dc9bd1b5927bbe959b881ede6d8e0c87_"!
These are the basic per-requisites one should follow before moving further to the exciting part of "VoIP Installation and Configuration" which we will cover in our next VoIP network blog. I hope you liked this information. Please do comment if any question, comment or query regarding this solution.

Before starting the installation , you should know basic Linux command line and syntax - it will be helpful in troubleshooting any issue during the process

Also, I recommend using Google DNS server for Hostname resolution , to edit the DNS server details from the CLI of F-PBX, one can edit the _resolv.conf_ file that is under directory /etc. so to do that you can use either nano or vim commands as below;

Domain Name Server:

harmosin_FPBX#nano /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 127.0.0.1
nameserver 8.8.8.8

Here you need to make sure that nameserver_127.0.0.1 should be the first in the list and Google DNS server _8.8.8.8 should be the second in the list.

Moreover you may need to update the IP Network Setting , that can be done using below commands:
One should prefer the static IP address to the IP-PBX VoIP server rather than going for Dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP); By default it is enabled as DHCP but administrator can change the settings under ifcfg-eth0 file by making bootproto to static , this will require adding three more commands in the file that will be making "Onboot" to yes; and then giving static IP address, IP subnet mask and Default gateway. IP address of F-PBX should be assigned to parameter "IPADDR", and IP Subnet mask will be put against the parameter "NETMASK"... On asterisk you need to run below command and do the editing as below;

harmosin_FPBX#vim /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

"BOOTPROTO=static"
"ONBOOT=yes"
"IPADDR= <IP_Address>" ---> This should be the freepbx IP address
"NETMASK= <IPSubnet Mask>"
then press ctrl-O to save -- Enter -- and then ctrl-X to exit.

After making the necessary changes you have to reset the network, that can be done with _#service netwrk restart command

We will discuss these steps in details while doing the blog on Installation and configuration of (VOIP IP-PBX) of F-PBX

Updates:-

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