TrixBox Alternatives.

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Fine product as it was, Trixbox CE was killed by Fonality in 2012. If you are still clinging on to TrixBox, there are plenty of alternatives that are even better and keep you secure through timely updates and support,
Here are some of those (the list is organic and we will update is as necessory);

FreePBX GUI and Distro

The FreePBX project has been around for a very long time and we have written a whole lot about FreePBX. FreePBX is one of the most widely used management tool for Asterisk deployments. But it has much more to offer than just a management tool, the distro ISO comes with all the tools you need to run a super duper telephony system. The Distro is based on CentOS and you can select either 32bit or 64bit befitting your needs. Download from here.

AsteriskNOW IP PBX

AsteriskNOW is another fast and easy way to  way to get started Asterisk installed and start building custom telephony solutions or simply use as a telephony solution. We have been fans of AsteriskNow for a long while. Like FreePBX, you will have to download the .iso file, burn it to a CD, drop it into the CD or DVD drive on the target computer to build a complete Asterisk telephony solution. The installation will provide you with,  complete Linux distribution, CentOS again, Asterisk, the DAHDi driver framework, an administrative GUI (Thanks to FreePBX project above), the MySQL database, the Apache web server and a wide variety of development tools and components. Just like FreePBX, you can download 32bit or 64bit versions of AsteriskNOW.

Elastix

Elastix is a fine open source VoIP IP Telephony software package which brings together best-in-class tools for the task into a single, easy-to-use interface. Elastix a prominent IP Telephony distribution that is growing everyday. It has been translated into dozens of languages, and carries extensible modules and advanced features. Elastix is available to download from Elastix download site and it is also available for Raspberry PI with the moniker uElastix.
 

PBX in a Flash

Yes it used to mean on a flash drive but I am happy to say now I am referring 'FLASH' to the speed, in implementing a telephony solution based on Asterisk. An amazingly versatile turnkey PBX is based on the latest versions of popular Linux distribution, CentOS and your choice of Asterisk 1.4 or 1.6 with FreePBX, a Linux firewall, and Fail2Ban provides enhanced security.

AsteriskNOW 1.5.0 Available Now.

AsteriskNOW 1.5.0

AsteriskNOW 1.5.0, the soft Asterisk Appliance, has been released and available for download and yes we all know it is after a long pause.

If you are an existing user, you will be able to run `yum update` to upgrade your server to current version. It was noted that you might need to run `yum update glibc` in some cases to update the glibc.

Following improvements and additions were added since last beta;
* Updated several packages to latest versions (Asterisk, DAHDI, etc)
* Fixed more permissions issues between Asterisk and httpd/FreePBX.
* Updated to CentOS 5.3

Please use Bug Reports and forums at Digium for reporting bugs, problems and feedback.

Tags: AsteriskNOW, AsteriskNOW 1.5.0, digium, Asterisk, DAHDI, FreePBX, Asterisk Appliance

Asterisk Gui 2.0, Feast For Your PBX Eyes!

Even though it was expected for a while, I found a new branch in Asterisk svn tree, branches/2.0 and well it was a pleasure to see the screen shots, even though I am yet to compile the new code. The former gui exists as gui version 1.0 on branch/1.0.
Compiling and installation is not a big deal and you can follow the instructions on AsteriskNOW site.
If you feel that you have input for the project, you can find out how to get involved here.
Oh, here are the screen shots released by the team.

Tags: Asterisk, AsteriskNOW, asterisk gui 2.0

AsteriskNOW, A Book By Packt Publishing, Prelude To A Review.

I just started reading a book published by Packt Publishing, "AsteriskNOW" by Nir Simionovich. From the first glance or first thumb through, it is like looking at a meal that is visually satisfying. Well laid out and spiced up where necessary with real world examples.
As you know I have been a AsteriskNOW fan for very long time. I attest without any hesitations, That AsteriskNOW by Digium filled the gap left by what then Asterisk@home project when it got acquired by another party. For what ever the reason, I chose AsteriskNOW and was very happy with the decision, when the news came out that TrixBox (Asterisk@Homes new name) came with built in call home features. (Did TrixBox Trick You?) Ever since I have advocated AsteriskNOW for projects that deemed most suitable and a full blown installation of Asterisk seemed unnecessary.

Back to the book, and I will wet your appetite with the list of contents that I am devouring right now with a satisfaction that you only get from a good book.

I will be writing about the book as soon as I am done with reading but if you find the list of content is enough to convince you, you can get the book from Packt Publishing. It is also available in PDF format for all those tree loving AsteriskNow fans out there. For the paper loving people like me, Packt is offering free shipping to UK,US, Europe and selected Asian countries.

Table of contents.

Preface
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Telephony and Asterisk
Chapter 2: Building a PBX
Chapter 3: Extensions, Phones, and Others
Chapter 4: Service Providers—Your Connection to the World
Chapter 5: Tentacles of the PBX—The Calling Rules Tables
Chapter 6: "Let me in!"—Inbound Call Routing
Chapter 7: "For Annoyance, Press 1"—Voice Menus and IVR
Chapter 8: Voicemail, Conferencing, and Parking—Advanced PBX Services
Chapter 9: "Please hold, we'll be with you shortly"—Simple Call Queues
Chapter 10: General AsteriskNOW Management—Monitoring, Backups, and More
Chapter 11: Hard Core AsteriskNOW
Chapter 12: Where to from Here?
Appendix A: Jargon Buster
Appendix B: Free World Dialup (FWD)
Appendix C: AsteriskNOW for Service Providers
Index

Tags: Packt Publishing, AsteriskNow, AsteriskNow Book, Nir Simionovich, Asterisk, Digium

AsteriskNOW 1.0.1

AsteriskNOW 1.0.1 my favorite Asterisk appliance (in software form) since Asterisk@home deviated from the path and began to spy on us, unsuspecting Trixbox users without declaring so. (I have replaced all my Asterisk@home and Trixbox installations, closer to 20 to AsteriskNOW, since that incident even though they have said that it was corrected.) I am also testing out PBX in a Flash by Nerd Vittles. I do not mind using or testing Trixbox on my experimental rigs but when it comes to people who trust me, my customers, I want to be able to say that my work is clean. And that I have given them the best possible solution.After the spying trouble, I had to go to all those people, apologize for giving them faulty solutions and install AsteriskNOW, which was in beta state then.
Since the AsteriskNOW 1.0.1 was released, I have upgraded all my installations to newer version and all are happy campers now. But due to the needs of some of them and support needs, I will have to convert some of them to full blown Asterisk and hand them over to better capable people for support.
Most of the installations are used to VoIP enable legacy PBXs and as VoIP solutions for small ventures that spawn all over bay area. But these startups change for better and have upgraded with Asterisk Appliance from Digium and 3Com. Some have opted to use Asterisk Business Edition, the commercial counterpart of AsteriskNOW.
I have some of these installations also in some of the high end educational institutions and two in very far away lands that I have not physically seen since 2005.
What else could you use AsteriskNOW for totally hip voice mail system with IVR functions. May be for that conference system with developers and clients strewn all over the world.
Yes all those are very possible and have been made really ease with the AsteriskNOW 1.0.1 release.

Since the last beta release there were some addons and updates were added, although not an exhaustive list following stand out the best;

• Over 1000 updates and improvements to the GUI
• Updated to Asterisk release 1.4.17
• Updated to Zaptel release 1.4.8
• Updated Linux Kernel 2.6.22
• Polycom phone auto-provisioning
• Improved package management and update capabilities
• Open Settlement Protocol
• The phone provisioning module

You can download the release here and learn more about the release here.
tag: Asterisk, AsteriskNOW, AsteriskNOW 1.0.1, Trixbox, Asterisk@home, Asterisk appliance, Digium, IVR functions, voice mail, VoIP olutions, PBX, IP PBX,

Asterisk and Open Telephony Conference

VoIP IP Telephony @ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com
What can I say about this statement by Sean Michael Kerner, "The Future of Open Source VoIP is Asterisk 1.6"
I do not think that the whole future of VoIP lies on Asterisk. But a part of it will be. Asterisk has already made a big stir in the world of VoIP and IPPBX's. Specially the SMB's and even individual house holds use Asterisk for their telephony uses. I have total of four Asterisk servers running at any time. One is in my office which is actually my secretary! One at my Campus office, one at my home and the fourth for my development and experiments. This in addition to evangelical work I have done and promoted small business to use it.
I usually try to educate users to manage their own Asterisk servers rather than relying on me. I introduce them to all the online support tools and people who really need hand holding I direct them to Digium's commercial support. But most of them realize that Asterisk is not rocket science. People who were afraid of Linux, smile once they see how easy it is to manage the Asterisk server running on Linux. That is mostly AsteriskNOW.org and AsteriskNow. But all I can say is, with proper care and attension, Aterisk will grow in you while, at the same time being there when ever you need it.

Now back to the article,
The following staments; "

As part of the development process, Asterisk developers have overhauled how they deal with security issues. Fleming boasted that security issues are handled by a core team that address issues 24 to 48 hours from the initial report.

There is also now a formal Asterisk Project Security Advisory reporting system that will provide full disclosure into reported issues and what Asterisk is doing to fix issues.

Fleming admitted that Asterisk hasn't done a great job of making users aware of security advisories, but the new effort is an attempt to do better.

"One of the benefits of open source is that there are more people using our code and a lot more people looking at our code and telling us when things are wrong," Fleming said.

"No one gets to look at the code for Nortel's systems and there are probably just as many vulnerabilities there but you only hear about it when it gets exploited.""

There it summarizes all I wants, Security! Right Now first thing I advise to install together with Asterisk is a firewall. But still we have had issues with security.

Thank Sean, for making me think! I think Asterisk has a great future. We need to scale it higher.

Tags: Asterisk, AsteriskNOW, digium, VoIP, IPPBX, VOIP IP Telephony

AsteriskNOW, coming out in full force.

VoIP IP Telephony @ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com

The VON 2007 was a blast. Among many other things that I spent my two days at VON, I noticed very well how AsteriskNOW is coming out in full force. There were controversies related to Trixbox etc, but AsteriskNOW has opened the IPPBX application to thousands more users who would have stayed away due to the complexities of running Asterisk.
Now that the GUI management tool is providing a way to manage most of the Asterisk tasks, more and more people will be searching the value of Asterisk, through AsteriskNOW. According to official reports, there were more than 2,000 Downloads a Day of AsteriskNOW Beta since it's release.
The new beta version of AsteriskNOW, AsteriskNOW beta 5 is slated to be the the final beta leading up to Q2 availability of AsteriskNOW 1.0. Customers can deploy AsteriskNOW in minutes to start using Asterisk.
I deployed an AsteriskNOW server with Digium hardware, two TDM400P cards, in less than 20 minutes. The deployment was in a real world scenario, PBX, IPPBX for a 6 person startup. Although there are Linux experts in the group, the groups receptionist, handles and manages AsteriskNOW.
What hardware did they use? well $299 Fry's PC with an additional hard drive (Used for mirroring).

Links;
Digium's press release on AsteriskNOW
AsteriskNOW, go get it

Tags: Asterisk, AsteriskNOW, Digum, TDM400P, IPPBX, PBX, AsteriskNOW 1.0, trixbox