How to Install FreePBX on Ubuntu Linux
This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install FreePBX on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04.
FreePBX is an open-source, web-based application that can manage Asterisk (PBX) platform. We recently showed you how to install Asterisk on Ubuntu.
You’ll get a terminal console to manage the system when you install Asterisk. The problem with managing Asterisk via the terminal is that configuring complicated phone trees can be very difficult.
For a simple-to-use interface, install FreePBX. This post will show you how to install FreePBX to manage Asterisk.
To get started with managing FreePBX, follow the steps below:
Install Asterisk PBX
Since you will manage Asterisk, your first task will be installing it. The good thing is we’ve shown our users how to install Asterisk on Ubuntu.
Below is a tutorial that shows you how to install Asterisk on Ubuntu.
After installing the Asterisk above, continue below to install and configure FreePBX.
Apache HTTP Server
Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server, so install it since FreePBX needs it.
To install Apache2 HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below.
sudo apt update sudo apt install apache2
After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop , start and enable the Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl enable apache2.service
To determine if the Apache2 HTTP server is installed, simply open your web browser and type in the server’s IP or hostname.
When you see a page similar to the one below, Apache2 is installed and working.
After that, run the commands below to remove the Apache2 default index.html file.
sudo rm /var/www/html/index.html
Install MariaDB Database Server
FreePBX also needs a database server to store its content. And MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with FreePBX.
To install MariaDB run the commands below.
sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop , start and enable the MariaDB service to start up when the server boots.
Run these on Ubuntu
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.
sudo mysql_secure_installation
When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.
- Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
- Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
- New password: Enter password
- Re-enter new password: Repeat password
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y
To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon into the MariaDB server
To test if MariaDB is installed and working, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl status mariadb
That should display MariaDB’s service status.
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.1.44 database server Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-04-08 17:08:17 CDT; 1min 54s ago Docs: man:mysqld(8) https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/ Main PID: 22363 (mysqld)
By default, MariaDB is configured to use the UNIX auth_socket plugin on Ubuntu . You’ll want to run the SQL commands below for the root user to use mysql_native_password .
You’ll need a MariaDB root account to set up FreePBX later.
Run the commands below to log on to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.
Switch to the MySQL database.
Then update the root account to use mysql_native_password .
UPDATE mysql.user SET plugin = 'mysql_native_password' WHERE User = 'root';
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To install it, you must get it from third-party repositories.
Run the commands below to add the below third-party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-imap php7.2-ldap php-cas php7.2-bcmath php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip php7.2-sqlite3
After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Apache2.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini Then save the changes on the following lines below in the file. The value below is an ideal setting to apply in your environment.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 max_input_vars = 1500 date.timezone = America/Chicago
After making the change above, please save the file and close it.
To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in the Apache2 root directory by running the commands below
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php Then type the content below and save the file.
Save the file. Then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php
You should see the PHP default test page.
Install Nodejs
After installing the server above, run the commands below to add Nodejs 10 repository to Ubuntu.
sudo apt update sudo apt install curl dirmngr apt-transport-https lsb-release ca-certificates curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo bash
Then run the commands below to install Nodejs.
sudo apt-get install gcc g++ make sudo apt install nodejs
Install FreePBX
At this point, you should have everything ready for FreePBX. To download and install FreePBX, run the commands below:
sudo apt install wget cd /tmp wget http://mirror.freepbx.org/modules/packages/freepbx/freepbx-15.0-latest.tgz tar xfz freepbx-15.0-latest.tgz
Finally, run the commands below to install.
cd freepbx sudo ./start_asterisk start sudo ./install -n --dbuser root --dbpass type_root_password_here
Error!
Unable to read /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf or it was missing a directories section
run the commands below to resolve:
sudo cp /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf.old /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf
‘asterisk’ user…bash: line 0: cd: /home/asterisk/: No such file or directory
Run the commands below to resolve:
sudo mkhomedir_helper asterisk
When you have resolved all the errors above, try the installation again.
After installing, you should get a similar message as shown below:
Updating Hooks…Done Done installing all modules Taking too long? Customize the chown command, See http://wiki.freepbx.org/display/FOP/FreePBX+Chown+Conf Setting Permissions… Setting base permissions…Done Setting specific permissions… 11864 [============================] Finished setting permissions Taking too long? Customize the chown command, See http://wiki.freepbx.org/display/FOP/FreePBX+Chown+Conf Setting Permissions… Setting base permissions…Done Setting specific permissions… 11864 [============================] Finished setting permissions Generating default configurations… Finished generating default configurations You have successfully installed FreePBX
After installing, restart Apache2.
sudo a2enmod rewrite sudo usermod -aG www-data asterisk sudo systemctl restart apache2
Now go and access the FreePBX portal.
Setup, login, and start building your PBX
This post showed you how to install Asterisk and FreePBX to create your PBX systems. If you find any error above, please use the comment form below to report.
Richard W
I love computers; maybe way too much. What I learned I try to share at geekrewind.com.