Steps To Take To Deploy FreePBX 15 On VMware ESXi 6.0 In Less Than 10 Minutes.
If you need to quickly deploy a simple and easy to setup phone system at home or in a business environment but do not have the budget to purchase a PBX appliance then the FreePBX open source phone system might just be what you need. FreePBX is absolutely free to download / use and can be deployed as a virtual machine on an on premise server or even in the cloud. FreePBX comes with a web based configurator which makes it easy to setup trunks, phone extensions, interactive voice response (IVR) and more. There are also commercial modules available on the FreePBX online store and sangoma partner portal. Continue reading this tutorial to learn how to install and deploy FreePBX 15 On VMware ESXi 6.0
REQUIREMENTS
In order to complete this tutorial successfully the following items are required. Please ensure to have these items available before taking implementation action on this tutorial:
1) A desktop or laptop running windows 10, Mac OS or Linux
2) A web browser for accessing the FreePBX and ESXi web configurators
3) The FreePBX 15 installation ISO file.
4) A computer running VMware ESXi 6.0
OVERVIEW
1) Go to the official FreePBX website and download the FreePBX 15 ISO file.
2) Login to the VMware ESXi web configurator, upload the FreePBX 15 iso file and create a virtual machine where FreePBX 15 will be deployed
3) Power on the virtual machine and install FreePBX 15, ensure that you attach the FreePBX 15 iso to the CD / DVD drive and also set it to “CONNECT AT POWER ON”
4) Open the FreePBX virtual machine console and check its IP address, then use that IP address to open the FreePBX web based configurator
5) Run the FreePBX 15 post installation tasks such as activating FreePBX, setting a static IP address and installing module updates.
WHY FREEPBX?
FreePBX has no restrictions on its basic functionality. There are absolutely no limitations on the number of extensions, trunks , system updates, IVR’s and more.
The FreePBX iso file comes prepackaged with the FreePX web GUI, a linux OS and the asterisk communications platform. This means that FreePBX is a turn key solution by default and there are no complex installation tasks that have to be done.
Whats cool is that despite the fact that FreePBX is secure and open source, it is tested out by the Sangoma quality assurance team. There are also hardware appliances that are specially designed to run FreePBX and can be purchased online directly from the sangoma online store or from major online ecommerce platforms such as Amazon.
Step 1: Download FreePBX 15
1) Click HERE to go to the official FreePBX downloads page then click on the BLUE DOWNLOAD FREEPBX 15″ button. You can also type in your name and contact information if you wish to receive newsletters , new product notifications, updates and more in your mail box.
Step 2: Upload The FreePBX ISO File To The ESXi Server.
2) Open a new web browser tab and type in the ip address or hostname of the ESXi web console e.g 192.168.1.1/ui.
Enter your login credentials on the login page and then click on “STORAGE > DATASTORE BROWSER”
3) Select a folder to uplaod the ISO file to then click on the UPLOAD button. On the file selection dialogue box, open the folder where the FreePBX 15 ISO file is saved, select it and click on OPEN. This will start the file upload process and a progress bar will be show on the top right corner of the ESXi datastore browser. You simply have to wait for the file upload process to complete before you can proceed to the next step.
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