RasPBX Background

Installation of Asterisk and FreePBX GUI on Raspberry Pi

• "Asterisk" is a PBX communication server
• "FreePBX" is a front-end that exposes Asterisk functionality via a web-based GUI
• "FreePBX Distro" (previously called "AsteriskNow") was a pre-configured bundle distribution of Asterisk/FreePBX system based on CentOS. But now discontinued.
• "RaspPBX" is a pre-configured bundle distribution of Asterisk/FreePBX based on Raspbian Buster 10, Asterisk 16.13.0, and FreePBX 15.0.16.75. The latest version is from 2020-10-10, but is no longer supported.

So... this repository intends to document the process of creating an up-to-date Asterisk installation on a Raspberry Pi, based on latest releases as follows:

• Asterisk 22 (2025-01-09)
• FreePBX 17 (2024-08-02)
• Rasp Pi OS, Debian 12 Bookworm (2024-11-19)

This is based on snippets from various sources, primarily https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r30661088-PBX-FreePBX-for-the-Raspberry-Pi .

1.) Install Raspberry Pi OS (20mins)

• a.) Download the latest OS image from https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/ . I'm using 2024-11-19-raspios-bookworm-arm64-lite.img.xz
• b.) Burn the OS image onto an >8Gb SD card. I use DiskImager to do this (but you could alternatively use Etcher etc.)

2.) Configure OS in Windows (2mins)

• a.) Once the OS image is burned, the SD card should automically be mounted in Windows Explorer as a partition named "bootfs"
• b.) Create an empty file in the bootfs root directory named "ssh"
• c.) Create a text file named "userconf" in the bootfs root directory containing the following:

pi:$6$c70VpvPsVNCG0YR5$l5vWWLsLko9Kj65gcQ8qvMkuOoRkEagI90qi3F/Y7rm8eNYZHW8CY6BOIKwMH7a3YYzZYL90zf304cAHLFaZE0

3.) Copy Installation script to Raspberry Pi (2mins)

• a.) Insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi (connected to your LAN via ethernet cable) and power on
• b.) Use WinSCP to create an SFTP connection to:

host: raspberrypi.local
username: pi
password: raspberry

• c.) Copy install and install.tar.gz from this repository to the /home/pi directory.

4.) FreePBX Installation: Phase 1 (2mins)

• a.) Use PuTTY to create a SSH connection to:

host: raspberrypi.local
username: pi
password: raspberry

• b.) Set executable permissions on the install script chmod +x install
• c.) Run the install script sudo ./install

• d.) When prompted...:
  • Set pi user password
  • Set root user password
  • Select FreePBX version
  • Select Asterisk version
  • Use Edge?
  • Disable IPv6 option? ('No' recommended)
• e.) Review selections as follows:

FreePBX Version: 17.0   (c)
Asterisk Version: 22    (d)
Edge Enabled: Yes       (y)
IPv6 Enabled: Yes       (n)

5.) RaspPi OS Configuration (2mins)

• a.) System Options->Set Hostname (1/S4) RasPBX
• b.) Localisation Options->Locale (5/L1) en_GB.UTF-8
• c.) Localisation Options->Timezone (5/L2) Europe - London
• d.) Advanced Options->Expand Filesystem (6/A1)
• e.) Finish/Reboot Now No

The Raspberry Pi will reboot, closing the connection to PuTTY.

6.) FreePBX Installation: Phase 2 (5mins)

• a.) Create a new PuTTY connection, using the new hostname and/or root credentials set in the previous steps (you may receive a message saying cached key is out-of-date - update it) e.g.

host: raspbx.local
username: root
password: raspberry

• b.) Having connected successfully, FreePBX installation will continue automatically.

The Raspberry Pi will reboot, closing the connection to PuTTY.

7.) FreePBX Installation: Phase 3 (30mins)

• a.) Restart the PuTTY connection using the same root credentials as in the previous step (right click on the PuTTY menu bar and select "Restart Session")

host: raspbx.local
login as: root
[email protected]'s password: raspberry

• b.) Confirm the selection made in 4d., as follows:

FreePBX Version: 17.0   (c)
Asterisk Version: 22    (d)
Edge Enabled: Yes       (y)
IPv6 Enabled: Yes       (n)

This step will take some time. Also, it does not appear to finish cleanly. My PuTTY connection timed out, with the following as the last message received:

The Raspberry Pi will reboot, closing the connection to PuTTY.

7.) FreePBX Installation: Phase 4 (2mins)

• a.) Restart the PuTTY connection using the same root credentials as in the previous step for one last time (right click on the PuTTY menu bar and select "Restart Session")

host: raspbx.local
login as: root
[email protected]'s password: raspberry

• b.) The FreePBX installation should continue as in previous steps, and will complete with the message FreePBX Installation Complete

8.) FreePBX Administration

• a.) Log in to the web GUI in a browser by going to raspbx.local
• b.) Assign an administrator account credentials. I'll choose asterisk, asterisk

e with the message FreePBX Installation Complete

9.) Create Extensions

• a.) Go Connectivity->Extensions
• b.) Add Extension + Add New SIP [chan_pjsip] Extension
• c.) There are several options, but only three are required:
  • User Extension is the phone number that users will dial to call this extension
  • Display Name specifies the name associated with this extension within FreePBX, and will also be sent as CallerID for outgoing calls
  • Secret is the password used by devices that connect to this extension

User Extension: 1000
Display Name: Handset
Secret: 82f5d5f5e4410fc003bd4c120bb06b6c

• d.) IMPORTANT to save changes, click both the Submit button AND the Apply Config button!