FreePBX
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![]() Screenshot of the FreePBX 17 dashboard | |
Original author(s) | Coalescent Systems Schmooze Com Inc |
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Developer(s) | FreePBX Project Sangoma Technologies Corporation |
Initial release | October 15, 2004 |
Stable release | 17 [1]
/ August 2, 2024 |
Repository | |
Operating system | Debian Linux (officially supported), Linux, FreeBSD |
Platform | PHP, JavaScript, Shell script |
Predecessor | Asterisk Management Portal (AMP) |
Available in | 22 languages |
List of languages | |
License | AGPL v3 and GPL v3 |
Website | www |
FreePBX is a web-based open-source graphical user interface (GUI) that manages Asterisk, a voice over IP (VoIP) and telephony server.[2]
FreePBX is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3,[3] with commercial modules available under their own licenses.
FreePBX is a component of the now discontinued FreePBX Distro, released by the FreePBX project, which was a maintained Linux system derived from the source code of the CentOS distribution with all components needed, including Asterisk, pre-installed and released as a turnkey distribution.
FreePBX is included in other open source distributions such as AsteriskNOW, Elastix and RasPBX. PBXact is a commercially supported offering from Sangoma that is based on FreePBX.
FreePBX is maintained by a community of developers and contributors using the GitHub platform.[4] The slogan for FreePBX is "Let Freedom Ring". The mascot for FreePBX, as seen in the logo, is Tango the frog.[5]
History
[edit]FreePBX was initially released as the Asterisk Management Portal (AMP), version 1.10.002. This was originally created by Coalescent Systems and was a simple database that wrote configuration files for Asterisk to use.[6]
The project was renamed to freePBX (later FreePBX) at version 2.0 for trademark reasons, as Asterisk was a registered trademark of the Digium corporation at the time (Digium is now also a subsidiary of Sangoma Technologies Corporation).
FreePBX was acquired by Schmooze Com Inc on February 22, 2013.[7]
Schmooze Com Inc was acquired by Sangoma Technologies Corporation on Jan 2, 2015.[8]
Installation
[edit]FreePBX 17 is officially supported on Debian Linux. It is installed by using a bash script downloaded from the website on a freshly installed copy of Debian 12. The script installs all of the necessary prerequisites needed for FreePBX to run, including Asterisk. The software is also offered stand-alone and can be installed on a Linux distribution of choice, however, this requires installing all the prerequisites and Asterisk manually.
FreePBX up to version 16 can be installed as stand-alone software or as part of the pre-configured FreePBX Distro that includes the CentOS Linux operating system, the Asterisk PBX, FreePBX and necessary prerequisites.[9] Due to CentOS Linux being discontinued and the last supported version of CentOS 7 going out of support on June 30, 2024, FreePBX will no longer be providing a pre-configured FreePBX Distro. In-place upgrade/migration is not possible, but can be achieved by restoring a backup on the new version from the previous version.[10] This move allows FreePBX to be run on a modern, secure and supported operating system. FreePBX 16 will be supported until the release of FreePBX 18 - FreePBX on this distribution will still work and be supported, however, there will be no further support for the underlying operating system.
Development
[edit]FreePBX is written in PHP, JavaScript and shell script and uses the LAMP stack.[11] New releases of Asterisk have been accommodated by various updates to FreePBX. Updates have included new modules and support for additional capabilities such as voicemail, calling queues, fax, multiple languages, DAHDI and a local user directory.
FreePBX maintain the currently released version and the previous release behind this.[12][13] When a new version is released, the oldest supported version becomes end of life at the same time.
Version History
[edit]Version | Release Date | Features |
---|---|---|
1.10.002 | 2004-10-15 | Initial release as Asterisk Management Portal (AMP)[14]
See release notes for features |
1.10.003 | 2004-10-27[14] | See release notes for features |
1.10.003a | 2004-10-29[14] | See release notes for features |
1.10.004 | 2004-12-22[14] | See release notes for features |
1.10.005 | 2004-12-28[14] | See release notes for features |
1.10.006 | 2005-01-26[14] | See release notes for features |
1.10.007 | 2005-03-28[14] | See release notes for features |
1.10.007a | 2005-03-28[14] | See release notes for features |
1.10.008 | 2005-05-25[14] | See release notes for features |
1.10.009 | 2005-09-09[14] | See release notes for features |
1.10.010 | 2005-11-18 | Final AMP release[14]
See release notes for features |
Legend: Older version, unsupported |
Version | Release Date | Features |
---|---|---|
2.0.0 | 2006-03-17[14] | Initial release as FreePBX
See release notes for features |
2.0.1 | 2006-03-17[14] | See release notes for features |
2.1.0 | 2006-05-15[14] | See release notes for features |
2.1.1 | 2006-05-30[14] | See release notes for features |
2.1.2 | 2006-09-14[14] | See release notes for features |
2.1.3 | 2006-09-25[14] | See release notes for features |
2.2.0 | 2007-01-05[14] | See release notes for features |
2.2.1 | 2007-02-06[14] | See release notes for features |
2.2.2 | 2007-06-08[14] | See release notes for features |
2.2.3 | 2007-07-18[14] | See release notes for features. |
2.3.0 | 2007-08-24[14] | See release notes for features |
2.3.1 | 2007-10-22[15] | See release notes for features |
2.4.0 | 2008-02-10 |
|
2.5 | 2008-09-19[17] | See milestone for features |
2.6 | 2009-10-27 |
|
2.7 | 2010-03-01 |
|
2.8 | 2010-07-13 | |
2.9 | 2011-05-08 |
|
2.10 | 2012-02-29 |
|
2.11 | 2013-05-14 |
|
12 | 2014-10-30 | |
13 | 2016-01-06[27] |
|
14 | 2017-08-02[29] |
|
15 | 2019-10-31 |
|
16 | 2021-10-31 |
|
17 | 2024-08-02 |
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Legend: Older version, unsupported Older version, still supported Latest version Preview version |
Hardware support
[edit]FreePBX supports numerous hardware manufacturers, including Aastra Technologies, Algo, AND, AudioCodes, Cisco Systems, Cyberdata, Digium, Grandstream, Mitel, Nortel/Avaya, Panasonic, Polycom, Sangoma, Snom, Xorcom and Yealink .[33] FreePBX developers estimate the distro has been deployed in millions of active PBX systems in over 220 countries and territories.[34]
When Digium took over the Asterisk project, they released a series of SIP phones that tightly integrate with FreePBX, including provisioning support and apps.[35] Since both FreePBX and Digium were acquired by Sangoma, Sangoma have released a number of SIP phones that tightly integrate with FreePBX.[36]
Sangoma have also released certified appliances to run FreePBX.[37] These are custom computer servers already configured with FreePBX. They are rated by the concurrent amount of calls the appliance can handle at once.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Gupta, Kapil (2024-08-02). "Exciting News: FreePBX 17 is Now Generally Available!". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
- ^ Bryant, Russell; Van Meggelen, Jim; Madsen, Leif (2013). Asterisk: The Definitive Guide (4th ed.). O'Reilly Media. p. 800. ISBN 978-1-4493-3242-6.
FreePBX, the juggernaut of the Asterisk community. This interface (which is at the heart of many of the most popular Asterisk distributions, such as AsteriskNOW, Elastix, the FreePBX Distro, and PBX in a Flash), is unarguably a very large part of why Asterisk has been as successful as it has. With the FreePBX interface, you can configure and manage many aspects of an Asterisk system without touching a single configuration file. While we purists may like everyone to work only with the config files, we recognize that for many, learning Linux and editing these files by hand is simply not going to happen. For those folks, there is FreePBX, and it has our respect for the important contributions it has made to the success of Asterisk.
- ^ "FreePBX project in OpenHub". BlackDuck. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
- ^ "FreePBX". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ Dyment, Crisy Meschieri (2 June 2020). "FreePBX Logo and Character Redesign". Behance. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
- ^ McNair, Preston (2015-01-07). "FreePBX Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ "Schmooze Com Acquires FreePBX & SIPSTATION". Schmooze Com. 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ "Sangoma Completes the Acquisition of Two Businesses". Sangoma Technologies. 2015-01-02. Archived from the original on 2024-06-29. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ Merel, David; Dempster, Barrie; Gomillion, David (2009). Asterisk 1.6: build feature-rich telephony systems with Asterisk. Birmingham, UK: Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-8471-9863-1.
Making Asterisk Easy to Manage; CentOS; Preparation and installation; What is FreePBX?; FreePBX preparation and installation; FreePBX System Status Dashboard; Tools
- ^ Corbic, Nenad (2023-12-06). "FreePBX 17 Beta and the Future with Debian". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ "FreePBX ReadMe". FreePBX. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
- ^ "FreePBX distro support timelines". FreePBX Community Forums. 2022-07-22. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
- ^ Gaetz, Lorne (2022-11-02). "EOL Notice for FreePBX 13 and 14". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "SourceForge.net: Files". Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ Lindheimer, Philippe (2007-10-22). "FreePBX 2.3.1 Maintenance Release". FreePBX. Archived from the original on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ Lindheimer, Philippe (2016-01-06). "FreePBX 2.4.0 - It's Final!". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ "Milestone 2.5 - FreePBX - Trac". FreePBX. 2008-09-19. Archived from the original on 2008-12-24. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ Lindheimer, Philippe (2009-10-27). "FreePBX 2.6 Final, SIPSTATION Module and other progress". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX Blog. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ "Milestone 2.6 - FreePBX - Trac". FreePBX. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ Lindheimer, Philippe (2010-03-01). "FreePBX 2.7 Is Final". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ Lindheimer, Philippe (2010-07-16). "FreePBX 2.8 out the Door and 2.9 Coming Strong". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ "Milestone 2.8 - FreePBX - Trac". FreePBX. Archived from the original on 2011-12-22. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ "Milestone 2.9 - FreePBX - Trac". FreePBX. Archived from the original on 2013-05-18. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ "Milestone 2.10 - FreePBX - Trac". FreePBX. Archived from the original on 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ "Milestone 2.11 - FreePBX - Trac". FreePBX. Archived from the original on 2013-05-18. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
- ^ Nagy, Andrew (2014-10-30). "FreePBX 12 Release and Astricon". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ Finstrom, James (2016-01-06). "Happy New Year, FreePBX 13 out of RC". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ "FreePBX 13.0 - FreePBX Modules - Documentation". FreePBX wiki. FreePBX. 2015-09-11. Archived from the original on 2015-09-16. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
- ^ a b Nagy, Andrew (2017-08-17). "FreePBX 14, Distro 14 & More!". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
- ^ Nagy, Andrew (2017-03-21). "FreePBX 14 Release Candidate". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
- ^ Fredrickson, Matt (2019-10-31). "The Release of FreePBX 15". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
- ^ Gaetz, Lorne (2021-10-31). "FreePBX 16 is now released for General Availability!". FreePBX Blog. FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ "snom Phones Now Interoperable with Schmooze Com, Inc. Unified Communications Systems". 2012-04-24. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05.
- ^ Viscusi, Stefania (2011-05-11). "IP Telephony Feature: Schmooze Com Eases Phone System Use". TMCnet.com. TMCnet.com. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
- ^ "IP Phones | Business VoIP Phones | Digium". Archived from the original on 2017-07-02. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
- ^ "Phones and Devices - Sangoma Technologies". Sangoma Technologies. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
- ^ "Certified FreePBX Appliances | FreePBX - Let Freedom Ring". FreePBX. Retrieved 2024-06-29.