VoIP - Part #1 Installations & Basic Configurations

VoIP have been in the IT for sometimes, yet seldom people see the benefits of implementing until recently where similar apps such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Line etc. comes popping up into your SmartPhone.

But all this are cloud based apps, how about on-premises apps ? Meaning hosting your very own chat & voice server ?

Yes, Microsoft already have their own Skype for Business product. I mean really, do you really wanna pay for your own home use ?

Let me introduce Asterisk, an open source framework for building communications applications. It mostly focuses on IP PBX system. The only drawback is that it doesn't have GUI available, so most of the configurations are done via CLI. Luckily there are some good Samaritans that took the efforts to developed a GUI for the public and its called FreePBX.

As both software matured, more and more functions & features being made available and are more stable than ever before.

A full installations & configurations tutorials is available on YouTube. So I'm not going thru the installations but just a quick run down on the basic configurations to make it work.

1. Once the installations complete, you can login via the GUI. Just open any preferred browser http://192.168.2.100 (assuming the server you have installed is using that IP address). Select "FreePBX Administration" icon.

2. When prompted, key-in the username & password you have setup at initialization stage.

3. Once you login, you will be presented the "Dashboard" view as shown below.

4. Browse to --> Applications menu --> Extensions options.

5. Once you are in the "Extensions" windows, click on the "Quick Create Extension" button.

6. Leave the default "Chan_SIP" type, now you need to plan a proper extension number (min. 3 digits) and the "Display Name" option.

7. You might want to configure "Enable Voicemail" functions, but not compulsory. Just click "Finish" button once all are completed.

8. Once completed, the new extension will be displayed as shown, you will need to click on the"Edit" button as shown.

9. You will need to note down the "Secret" settings for configuration on either the Softphone or Hardphone. Click "Submit" button at the bottom of the screen and then click "Apply Settings" button located on top of the browser.

10. Now browse to "Admin" tab and select "Asterisk CLI" option as show below.

11. Type the following command into the box "sip show peers", this command will list out all the connected account. The status must be "OK" for all account.

HAPPY COMPUTING !!!