PBX in a Flash (PIAF) - Favorite of hackers and hobbyists.
Basically installs CentOS, Asterisk, FreePBX GUI and nothing else. Here is my take on the various differences in the distros:ĪsteriskNOW - Digium Official Distro sponsored by the same company that sponsors Asterisk. For the most part any Asterisk-based distro is going to provide the same core functionality, but there are a few nuances and differences between them. If you just need a basic PBX then going with an Asterisk Distro will be your best option. (If that is the case, then "vanilla" Asterisk is absolutely the way to go.)
There is no single right or wrong answer, the right thing to do is based on your specific situation.I would recommend against a full Asterisk deployment unless you have specialized requirements for a highly customized / integrated system and you have the engineering staff to build and maintain the solution.
When considering going down this road, you need to fully consider the responsibility you are taking on and weigh it against the savings. They have a knowledgeable (trained and/or certified) Asterisk person on board and have the specific telecom skill sets in-house to support Asterisk.įor organizations that just want to take the cheapest route possible and not consider the knowledge requirements necessary, the DIY PBX can be a big mistake. So, is DIY PBX for you? We’ve seen it work very well for many companies. Vendors prefer to work on commercially developed products with strong manufacturer support. You will have a hard time finding a local vendor who will provide support and on-site service, as there is no business case to be made for supporting “free” PBXes. your phone system doesn’t work, you will need to fix it yourself. With the Do-it-Yourself PBX, your own phone company, and if you get into trouble, i.e. There is no handholding, nor is it likely that you will have access to a local vendor. When you do purchase support, it’s typically in the form of emails and being pointed to pertinent forums. You get support from the open source developer community or you can purchase a support plan from the provider. Be mindful that there is also limited support. To build applications with Asterisk you should have basic understand of Linux/Unix system administration, be familiar with the fundamentals of VoIP and/or legacy telephony, and be comfortable with the basics of script programming.”Īlso, you will need to understand PBX technologies and call handling features really well. Disadvantages of DIY PBXĭIY PBX requires the builder to have substantial technical skills. As Digium describes, “Asterisk is an application development framework. The other advantages are flexibility and the ability to build out a feature set of exactly what you need. Plus, some Asterisk distribution providers offer preconfigured servers making the job easier.
The software is free and you can pick up decent server hardware for considerably less than a grand. Support: Support is available via forums, hourly remote support or by a FreePBX resellerīesides the pure nerdy satisfaction you might get out of building your own PBX, the primary advantage of DIY PBX is, of course, cost. There is no cheaper way to go. FreePBX also offers their PBXact commercial PBX sold and supported by FreePBX resellers.Ī listing of the popular features of FreePBX
Once You have a basic PBX in place you can add commercial modules to add advanced features to an already feature rich base install of FreePBX. With over 1 million production systems worldwide, the FreePBX has the largest marketshare. Support: Elastix provides support via a subscription model or on an on-demand basis, meaning that you pay as you go for support.
Support for Bluetooth interfaces on cell phones.Further, Elastix is very popular internationally.Ī listing of the popular features of Elastix: ElastixĮlastix has the most refined interface and has lots of bells and whistles. They have a nice graphical user interface that is based upon the FreePBX open source software. They all are all based on the Asterisk open source code, so they are more alike than different. You need to evaluate the three flavors of Asterisk commonly available and choose the version that best fits your needs. The leading Asterisk-derived products in this space are Elastix, PBX in a Flash (PiaF), and AsteriskNow. Step 3: Install the Open Source PBX Software