Which PBX do you recommend: MSS, 3CX, Axon, PiaF, Elastix

Discussions about using SIP Sorcery on your own computer/server
User avatar
zaheer002
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:00 pm
Location: Gaza concentration camp, Illegally Occupied Palestine

Post by zaheer002 » Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:49 pm

Thought I'd update the thread a bit. I found another windows based SIP server called SIP PBX 2 from PC Best Networks. It is totally free (upto 8 concurrent calls) and pretty lightweight (runs fine on my P2/350/128/40GB) but requires .NET installtion. I installed it and ran it for a few days, worked OK.

Good luck and guys report back if you have seen any similar apps or reviews.

BigTex
Posts: 32
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:16 pm

Post by BigTex » Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:13 pm

I headed down a bit different path, but it's working well. I've got Asterisk running on an inexpensive ASUS router (currently $35 after rebate at Newegg.com (
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... -Product)
).
It was a fun project. Here are the step-by-step instructions I used:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22812 ... 750343847
It's been up and reliable for a couple of months now. It you've used Unix or Linux in the past, you might like this inexpensive (hardware and electricity used) solution.

User avatar
zaheer002
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:00 pm
Location: Gaza concentration camp, Illegally Occupied Palestine

Post by zaheer002 » Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:26 pm

BigTex, that's cool. TBH, I have just been looking at how to do this on a Fonera which is not as great as the Asus, but I have seen a number of reports on the DDWRT forum about it working well on it. I'm going to have a go at it at the weekend. Does the Asterisk relay the audio stream as well or is it just for sip proxy/signalling? Is there any GUI :oops:

BigTex
Posts: 32
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:16 pm

Post by BigTex » Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:27 pm

It relays the audio stream as well. The GUI is basic - I ssh into the router with putty, edit the config files with vi, and view the asterisk console. But I'm surprised how that's not as big an issue as I thought it would be. After initial setup (which the guide walks you through), there are only two files to work with - sip.conf and extensions.conf. I typically open three putty sessions, one for sip.conf, one for extensions.conf, and one to display the asterisk console.

For the ASUS, I find it works flawlessly when just running Asterisk. When I experimented and tried to make it also be my router, DHCP server, wireless, etc., I had some issues. So I recommend configuring the Tomato settings so that the ASUS is just a simple hub, with the WAN, DHCP, and wireless features disabled, to reserve its CPU for Asterisk.

I liked the Tomato firmware so much that I purchased a second ASUS to be my "real" router. Tomato has terrific QOS features and monitoring - which are important if you want a good quality VOIP call.

User avatar
zaheer002
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:00 pm
Location: Gaza concentration camp, Illegally Occupied Palestine

Post by zaheer002 » Fri Dec 25, 2009 5:59 pm

I installed DDWRT v24 05/20/08 std (SVN revision 9517M) on my Fonera. This version of DDWRT is meant to have Asterisk included but I get an error message "Unable to connect to remote asterisk (does /var/run/asterisk.ctl exist?)"

DD-WRT v24 std (c) 2008 NewMedia-NET GmbH
Release: 05/20/08 (SVN revision: 9517)

DD-WRT login: root
Password:
==========================================================

____ ___ __ ______ _____ ____ _ _
| _ \| _ \ \ \ / / _ \_ _| __ _|___ \| || |
|| | || ||____\ \ /\ / /| |_) || | \ \ / / __) | || |_
||_| ||_||_____\ V V / | _ < | | \ V / / __/|__ _|
|___/|___/ \_/\_/ |_| \_\|_| \_/ |_____| |_|

DD-WRT v24
http://www.dd-wrt.com

==========================================================


BusyBox v1.9.2 (2008-05-20 03:26:39 CEST) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

root@DD-WRT:~# asterisk -rvvvvvv
Asterisk 1.4.18.1, Copyright (C) 1999 - 2008 Digium, Inc. and others.
Created by Mark Spencer <markster@digium.com>
Asterisk comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; type 'core show warranty' for details.
This is free software, with components licensed under the GNU General Public
License version 2 and other licenses; you are welcome to redistribute it under
certain conditions. Type 'core show license' for details.
=========================================================================
Unable to connect to remote asterisk (does /var/run/asterisk.ctl exist?)
root@DD-WRT:~#

I've googled this error and am meant to have a asterisk.conf file in my Fonera which wasn't there, so I created this file and the error went away but re-appeared on reboot of the Fon.

From searching the DDWRT forum, which does not have many posts about Asterisk (which surprises me) it looks like the only 2 versions that work are RC3 and RC4. However, I cannot downgrade from my current firmware due to a error. I have upgraded to DDWRT V24-SP1 and this also gives me the asterisk.ctl error. Now I'm thinking of installing OpenWRT on it hoping it has better support for Asterisk

Has anyone got a working Fonera with asterisk on it with v24 05/20/08 std (SVN revision 9517M) or higher build?
Anyone got a solution for the asterisk.ctl error on the Fon?
Can anyone recommend an OpenWRT build that works with Asterisk or has it built in already?

Cheers

Aaron
Site Admin
Posts: 4652
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:13 am

Post by Aaron » Fri Dec 25, 2009 6:34 pm

I beleive the /var/run/asterisk.ctl file is created by Asterisk when it starts and is used by Asterisk to make sure it only ever attempts to run a single instance. If you're getting an error about the asterisk.ctl file it most likely means Asterisk wasn't able to start due to some other kind of error. The default place for Asterisk log messages is /var/log/asterisk and I'd recommend having a look in that directory to see if there is an indication of the error.

Regards,

Aaron

User avatar
zaheer002
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:00 pm
Location: Gaza concentration camp, Illegally Occupied Palestine

Post by zaheer002 » Sat Dec 26, 2009 6:58 pm

Thanks Aaron, I've managed to downgrade the DDWRT version on my router to RC3 and downloaded and installed Asterisk 1.2.16 which is running. Just getting to grips with the sip.conf and extension.conf files!

gvtricks
Posts: 81
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 2:48 pm

Post by gvtricks » Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:48 am

This looks interesting:


Introducing the Orgasmatron V, Google Voice Edition

http://nerdvittles.com/?p=637

Aaron
Site Admin
Posts: 4652
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:13 am

Post by Aaron » Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:13 am

Fair play to Nerd Vittles for putting that together. Be warned though that it doesn't matter how it's wrapped up Asterisk is not for the faint hearted AND if you get it wrong you can end up with some nasty people sending fraudulent calls through your system. Asterisk IS definitely worth playing around with and is incredibly powerful but Nerd Vittles statement that you'll be set up in 15 minutes is a bit optimistic in my opinion, be interesting to hear how you get on.

Regards,

Aaron

wilsonhlacerda
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:02 pm
Location: Sao Paulo - Brazil

Post by wilsonhlacerda » Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:33 pm

zaheer002 wrote:
Has anyone got a working Fonera with asterisk on it with v24 05/20/08 std (SVN revision 9517M) or higher build?
Anyone got a solution for the asterisk.ctl error on the Fon?
Can anyone recommend an OpenWRT build that works with Asterisk or has it built in already?

Cheers
I've been runing DD-WRT (no asterisk) in Fonera for almost 2 years now. I've tried almost all latest releases but unfortunately I realized DD is getting heavier and unstable release by release.

So....I've just moved to Gargoyle (v1.1.7). Check it:
www.gargoyle-router.com

Sure it is now the best clean and stable alternative solution to Fonera! It is in fact a clean OpenWrt with a very good GUI and QoS. I'd say it is the "Tomato for Atheros".

As you already have Fonera h*cked, to install it just plug your Fonera to PC by cable and run the FonFlash utility. And wait. It does everything! Piece of cake.

And best of all....then you just SSH into it and get Asterisk 1.4 very easy: (leave QoS off before this)
opkg update
opkg install asterisk14-mini

Install a simple but useful Asterisk GUI. Just SSH and install FIVN:
cd /www
mkdir cgi-bin
cd cgi-bin
wget http://www.fivn.com/scripts/asterisk.sh
chmod 755 asterisk.sh

And then edit the asterisk.sh and change this:
Set operation_system_variant="openwrt"

From your PC just go to:
http://192.168.1.1/cgi-bin/asterisk.sh

To SSH you can use Putty:
http://wiki.x-wrt.org/index.php/Tips_fo ... sers#PuTTY

To edit files like asterisk.sh and all others you can use WinSCP:
http://wiki.x-wrt.org/index.php/Tips_fo ... ers#WinSCP
(or vi under the SSH)

Post Reply