Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional - Programming (5)

Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional - Programming (5) - Nairaland

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Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by emoboy4u: 7:25am On Jun 01, 2025

MacMkboy:
Passive telecom handles the non-signal generating equipment at a bts.

Oh, that's clear.

What I would advise to move to the active side is to try to switch internally within your organization. You must try to prove to the managers that you can take on that responsibility. You can learn with the guys in the active side when they troubleshoot issues and also learn on your own.

I did something similar too. Mine was in semi-passive but I wanted to do core network engineering so I changed organizations to achieve that but I had to do lots of study and labbing using emulators to understand concepts. You can start with Net+ or Jeremy IT CCNA course on youtube. It might be boring when you don't work with the things you study but that's why you have the emulators. They help you feel like you are in the real appliance.

Although, if you have the funds too, you can do a masters too and I am very sure you will use these emulators during your studies and maybe you'd have a little edge.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MacMkboy(m): 2:14pm On Jun 03, 2025

emoboy4u:
Oh, that's clear.

What I would advise to move to the active side is to try to switch internally within your organization. You must try to prove to the managers that you can take on that responsibility. You can learn with the guys in the active side when they troubleshoot issues and also learn on your own.

I did something similar too. Mine was in semi-passive but I wanted to do core network engineering so I changed organizations to achieve that but I had to do lots of study and labbing using emulators to understand concepts. You can start with Net+ or Jeremy IT CCNA course on youtube. It might be boring when you don't work with the things you study but that's why you have the emulators. They help you feel like you are in the real appliance.

Although, if you have the funds too, you can do a masters too and I am very sure you will use these emulators during your studies and maybe you'd have a little edge.

Thanks a lot for the counsel given.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by Crossblueart: 10:36pm On Jun 03, 2025

airsaylongcome:
The "community" has been the key for me. Whether that's FreePBX community, Freeswitch community, asterisk community, even reddit. These have been the key. I go there, read posts, engage/help troubleshoot other users issues etc. You are learning but also putting yourself out there. Recently got a Canadian gig to deploy a pilot for a multitenant voip infrastructure. Just from a post on one of the communities. The poster was hell bent on using that community software. I was 10000% convinced a different solution was best suited. We had UAT on Saturday and after all the tests, he said "I want to thank you for insisting. My developer is very pleased with the APIs and the documentation".

The community is smaller. Most people who contribute there see it as more than "just a job". So anyone hunting to hire there greatly cuts down the number of applicants by almost 80%

Thanks for all these, bro.
I was going through the Freebpx YT videos by Crosstalk and I saw he never showed how to install on a virtual machine. Can you point in the right direction on how to do this? Thank you.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by olamilarks(m): 2:02am On Jun 07, 2025

Crossblueart:
Thanks for all these, bro.
I was going through the Freebpx YT videos by Crosstalk and I saw he never showed how to install on a virtual machine. Can you point in the right direction on how to do this? Thank you.

To install on a virtual machine, you need to first install Debian on your VMware then you'll download and install freepbx using bash. The instructions at the wiki should help you better, please close the spaces (https://sangomakb. atlassian. net/wiki/spaces/FP/pages/230326391)

1 Like

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 9:49am On Jun 07, 2025*

Crossblueart:
Thanks for all these, bro.
I was going through the Freebpx YT videos by Crosstalk and I saw he never showed how to install on a virtual machine. Can you point in the right direction on how to do this? Thank you.

ChatGPT can guide you through installing FreePBX on a virtual machine, making the setup quick and hassle-free, plus you’ll have it up and running in no time.

1 Like

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by lexdino: 2:14am On Jun 08, 2025

airsaylongcome:
Oh was it yours? Too bad. Wasn't really needed and may have overwhelmed you sef. It's one of my guys that was presenting his FreePBX module. Nice stuff but may have been too technical for you

Hello Chief, I hope all is well with you.
I was unable to see any of your responses yesterday due to the bots deleting them.
I really do appreciate all your efforts so far in answering my questions with great details.

I'm currently 1/3 into that video series but unfortunately its also beginning to turn into another version of the current program I'm studying in Automotive embedded systems.

Like learning something and just at the point you feel you're beginning to understand it, you're taken away from it and have to start learning something else. Rinse repeat until the end, and in the end, you neither have a concrete idea of what kind of knowledge you have acquired nor how you can use it to get jobs or start your own entrepreneurial venture.

To be precise, the series so far has made me switch the repo from freepbx to clearlyIP for "security reasons" according to the tutor. Then I had to also switch the GUI's branding from Sangoma PBX to Crosstalk PBX for cosmetic reasons. Now the modules in my setup are both a mix of Sangoma's and ClearlyIP's. To even make it worse, now the series is teaching how to use this setup to zero touch provision a Crosstalk 270 SIP phone.

In a production-grade setup, doesnt it make sense that Sangoma, ClearlyIP and Crosstalk should each have their own tooling?

I understand the terrain though and I'm not complaining.
Do you do paid mentorship?
I would like to have a paid mentorship to give me a structured learning plan that follows a path of least resistance to professionalism in this tech space and I understand such doesnt come for free.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 6:28am On Jun 08, 2025*

Have you tried ChatGPT for mentorship?

From ChatGPT:

You're absolutely right to raise this concern — your instinct about production-grade setups is solid.

Let's break this down.

What You're Describing
You're following a tutorial series that:

Switches FreePBX repositories from Sangoma's to ClearlyIP's — citing “security reasons.”

Rebrands the GUI from Sangoma PBX to Crosstalk PBX — for "cosmetic reasons."

Ends up with a mix of modules from both Sangoma and ClearlyIP.

Is now provisioning a Crosstalk-branded SIP phone using this hybrid setup.

Why This Is Problematic in a Real-World/Production Environment
1. Repository Switching for “Security” Is Questionable
Sangoma owns FreePBX, and their repositories are the authoritative source.

ClearlyIP is a fork/derivative that may offer enhancements, but switching to it for “security reasons” should raise questions. Security justifications need to be specific and verifiable.

Mixing repos can introduce conflicts, unexpected bugs, or dependency issues.

2. Branding a GUI Doesn’t Add Functional Value
Changing the logo or name to "Crosstalk PBX" doesn't affect how the system works.

In a real production deployment, cosmetic branding has no technical justification unless you’re reselling or white-labeling.

3. Mixing Modules Is Risky
Combining Sangoma and ClearlyIP modules can:

Break compatibility.

Lead to unexpected behaviors or crashes.

Cause support issues, because neither vendor will take full ownership of a hybrid setup.

4. Vendor-Specific Provisioning Should Match Vendor Tools
If you're provisioning a Crosstalk-branded SIP phone:

Ideally, use Crosstalk’s provisioning tools (if available).

Or use a standardized provisioning protocol (like DHCP Option 66 or TR-069) if the phone supports it.

Using ClearlyIP tooling to provision Crosstalk phones, or a Sangoma-based system to do it, is not best practice and could break with updates.

In Production, You Want:
A Clean, Consistent Vendor Stack:

Sangoma phone + Sangoma PBX + Sangoma provisioning.

ClearlyIP phone + ClearlyIP PBX stack.

Crosstalk phone + Crosstalk-supported stack.

Clear Support Boundaries:

When something breaks, you know who to contact.

Predictable Updates and Compatibility:

Mixing vendors can delay updates or cause modules to fail.

Why the Tutorial Might Do This
The tutorial author may:

Be trying to show an all-in-one, "fun" or flexible setup for educational purposes.

Be affiliated with Crosstalk Solutions (a YouTube channel known for such hybrid setups).

Be unaware of the long-term maintainability and support problems of such a stack.

Summary
Yes — in a production-grade setup, mixing Sangoma, ClearlyIP, and Crosstalk tooling like this is not recommended. Each vendor should ideally be used within its ecosystem unless you have a compelling reason and deep understanding of how to maintain such a mixed environment.

You’re not wrong to be concerned. If this is more than a lab or demo, it’s a red flag.

lexdino:
Hello Chief, I hope all is well with you.
I was unable to see any of your responses yesterday due to the bots deleting them.
I really do appreciate all your efforts so far in answering my questions with great details.

I'm currently 1/3 into that video series but unfortunately its also beginning to turn into another version of the current program I'm studying in Automotive embedded systems.

Like learning something and just at the point you feel you're beginning to understand it, you're taken away from it and have to start learning something else. Rinse repeat until the end, and in the end, you neither have a concrete idea of what kind of knowledge you have acquired nor how you can use it to get jobs or start your own entrepreneurial venture.

To be precise, the series so far has made me switch the repo from freepbx to clearlyIP for "security reasons" according to the tutor. Then I had to also switch the GUI's branding from Sangoma PBX to Crosstalk PBX for cosmetic reasons. Now the modules in my setup are both a mix of Sangoma's and ClearlyIP's. To even make it worse, now the series is teaching how to use this setup to zero touch provision a Crosstalk 270 SIP phone.

In a production-grade setup, doesnt it make sense that Sangoma, ClearlyIP and Crosstalk should each have their own tooling?

I understand the terrain though and I'm not complaining.
Do you do paid mentorship?
I would like to have a paid mentorship to give me a structured learning plan that follows a path of least resistance to professionalism in this tech space and I understand such doesnt come for free.

1 Like

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by airsaylongcome(op): 12:30pm On Jun 08, 2025*

lexdino:
Hello Chief, I hope all is well with you.
I was unable to see any of your responses yesterday due to the bots deleting them.
I really do appreciate all your efforts so far in answering my questions with great details.

I'm currently 1/3 into that video series but unfortunately its also beginning to turn into another version of the current program I'm studying in Automotive embedded systems.

Like learning something and just at the point you feel you're beginning to understand it, you're taken away from it and have to start learning something else. Rinse repeat until the end, and in the end, you neither have a concrete idea of what kind of knowledge you have acquired nor how you can use it to get jobs or start your own entrepreneurial venture.

To be precise, the series so far has made me switch the repo from freepbx to clearlyIP for "security reasons" according to the tutor. Then I had to also switch the GUI's branding from Sangoma PBX to Crosstalk PBX for cosmetic reasons. Now the modules in my setup are both a mix of Sangoma's and ClearlyIP's. To even make it worse, now the series is teaching how to use this setup to zero touch provision a Crosstalk 270 SIP phone.

In a production-grade setup, doesnt it make sense that Sangoma, ClearlyIP and Crosstalk should each have their own tooling?

I understand the terrain though and I'm not complaining.
Do you do paid mentorship?
I would like to have a paid mentorship to give me a structured learning plan that follows a path of least resistance to professionalism in this tech space and I understand such doesnt come for free.

It has been hitting me left right centre with bans. Let's see if it bans me on this. If not I will edit and respond to your questions

Edit:

So you asked a very good question "there" and I had a detailed response only get hit with a ban. I will try to briefly explain here and hope I don't get hit again.

So there's the Redirect Server and the Provisioning Server. The Redirect server is often provided by the Phone manufacturer as a "free" service for all phones they manufacture. It allows for Zero touch provisioning, meaning the phone service provider (think RingCentral or 8x8) doesn't not have to see or touch the phone for them to configure it and have it work with their service: hence the name "Zero touch". Every phone from factory state by default connects to the Redirect server. The redirect server does exactly that, redirects the phone to the Provisioning server. So the phone (in factory state) says to the Redirect server: "Hey I am Yealink T53W with xyz MAC address, where do I go to get my configuration settings?". If that phone has already been configured on the Redirect Server, the Redirect server will tell it "Go to ABC (the provisioning server) for your configuration details". If the phone hasn't been setup on the Redirect Server, it responds with "Naaaah, I don't have any configuration server for you". The phone then seats there and displays "No service". You can then manually configure the phone using its Web GUI by visiting the phones IP address using your Web browser.

The provisioning server on the other hand is provided by the Phone service provider. It's mostly custom developed although there used to be a few open source ones (that have now mostly been abandoned). The provisioning server basically tells the phone, you are Ext 101 on ABC phone server. It tells the phone the PBX server address, the extension name, extension secret, and few other details like whether the extension is "Line 1" or "Line 2" on a phone (one phone can connect to multiple different PBX, or even to multiple extensions on the same PBX).

So to clarify, the Redirect server tells the phone where to go, to get its configuration details. The Provisioning Server provides the phone with its configuration details (after obviously verifying that the phone is who it says it is).

Dunno if all of that is clear. Let me know if it is and I will attempt to clarify the "confusion" over FreePBX, Sangoma, Crosstalk, ClearlyIP and even now latest "renegade", TangoPBX

Edit 2:
I take full responsibility for not being proactive in stating what videos to skip over. For a beginner like you, after Video 9, you should skip over to video 13. Videos 10-12 require tooling that you will not have access to unless you pay for them. Especially the Sangoma Endpoint manager and all the ClearlyIP/Crosstalk stuff. Switching repos and all will not have made much functional changes to your system. I use a mix of Crosstalk and ClearlyIP repository purely because Sangoma has been moving "one kind way" lately. It feels like they are trying to close source it, and the community is rebelling by forking it and keeping it open source. Na normal thing in open source. One business tries to maximise and fully monetize, community say "NO WAY" and split away. While Sangoma through FreePBX still leads, there are several underlings that people will jump to quickly if Sangoma close source it. TangoPBX looks like it will be the place where people will go. A lot of former Sangoma employees have left Sangoma to work with TangoPBX.

So to reiterate, skip over videos 10-12 and continue at video 13, when you have some more experience, you will better understand 10-12

Edit 3:
Also Skip 18 & 19. Instead you can get a Telnyx or any other German SIP Trunk provider and follow their guide for configuring FreePBX with their SIP Trunk

2 Likes

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by airsaylongcome(op): 2:41pm On Jun 08, 2025

MindHacker9009:
Have you tried ChatGPT for mentorship?

.....

This ChatGPT response is one of the reasons people need to be knowledgeable in the field and not rely on GenAI. I understand and appreciate that you are trying to be helpful, but ChatGPT is clearly uninformed about the nuances and drama surrounding FreePBX and it's several forks and is outrightly spitting a lot of gibberish here. This isn't an attack on you, so don't see it as one

3 Likes

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 3:05pm On Jun 08, 2025

airsaylongcome:
This ChatGPT response is one of the reasons people need to be knowledgeable in the field and not rely on GenAI. I understand and appreciate that you are trying to be helpful, but ChatGPT is clearly uninformed about the nuances and drama surrounding FreePBX and it's several forks and is outrightly spitting a lot of gibberish here. This isn't an attack on you, so don't see it as one

Okay. But how about this response to your comment from ChatGPT:

🔄 Clarifying My Original Response
My answer leaned toward the ideal, production-grade best practice model — where vendors maintain clean boundaries and support is predictable. That is usually the safest recommendation for those deploying in business-critical environments.

However, what I didn’t fully acknowledge — and what the critic rightly points out — is this:

🔍 The Reality of the FreePBX Landscape
Sangoma owns and develops FreePBX, but they’ve made controversial decisions (e.g., restricting some features, monetizing modules) that have led to forks and dissatisfaction in parts of the community.

ClearlyIP was founded by former FreePBX developers — notably Tony Lewis, who helped lead FreePBX before Sangoma’s acquisition. ClearlyIP is seen by many as a more community-friendly continuation of what FreePBX “used to be.”

Crosstalk Solutions (run by Chris Sherwood) often promotes hybrid setups for practical, rather than purely ideological, reasons. His audience consists of small IT shops and integrators, not large enterprises with strict procurement policies.

There is overlap in tooling between these ecosystems because they often derive from the same FreePBX codebase. The fact that modules from Sangoma and ClearlyIP “work together” isn’t necessarily poor practice — it’s the norm for some in the open-source telephony community.

🧠 So, What’s the Takeaway?
Yes, my original answer was too purist. It assumes clean vendor separation, which isn’t always realistic or even necessary in this ecosystem.

No, it wasn’t “gibberish,” but it was incomplete. I didn't factor in the political history and practical choices that lead to these hybrid environments being not just common, but sometimes preferred.

The critic is right to caution against blindly trusting any answer — AI or human — without understanding the context.

✅ Updated Recommendation
If you're setting up a production system:

Understand the ecosystem politics and motivations (Sangoma vs ClearlyIP vs forks).

If you’re following Crosstalk’s tutorials, recognize that his stack is hybrid by design, and usually aimed at DIY, SMB, and open-source-friendly audiences.

Hybrid setups can work well, but you must own the responsibility for any integration issues and understand that no single vendor may fully support it.

If you need official support, choose a clean vendor path. If you're comfortable being your own support, hybrid setups are a valid — and in some circles, superior — choice.

If you want, I can go deeper into what the drama actually is between Sangoma, ClearlyIP, and the FreePBX forks. There's a lot of nuance, and it’s actually kind of fascinating from a governance and business perspective.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by airsaylongcome(op): 3:08pm On Jun 08, 2025

MindHacker9009:
Okay. But how about this response to your comment from ChatGPT:

Would you take ChatGPT's response over a trained surgeon?

Your Adhominem regurgitating of ChatGPT is "one-kind" to say the least.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 3:16pm On Jun 08, 2025

airsaylongcome:
Would you take ChatGPT's response over a trained surgeon?

ChatGPT has this answer:

That’s a sharp analogy — and it gets to the heart of a real issue: how much should people trust AI responses in specialized fields?

Let’s unpack this honestly.

🧠 The “Surgeon” Analogy
In that analogy:

The trained surgeon = a domain expert with deep, lived experience.

ChatGPT = a very knowledgeable assistant that has read all the textbooks, journal articles, forum threads, and blog posts — but hasn't performed surgery or lived through the practical consequences of its advice.

So, the answer to the critic’s question is:

No, you shouldn't take ChatGPT's response over a trained surgeon — especially when the stakes are high, and especially if you're not experienced enough to validate or question the advice.

And that applies not just to medicine, but also telephony, DevOps, security, etc.

🧰 But Here's Where ChatGPT Is Useful
Even if you wouldn’t trust me like a surgeon, I can still:

Provide fast synthesis of large amounts of information.

Explain concepts clearly to help you better understand the situation.

Challenge assumptions or offer perspectives that make expert opinions easier to evaluate.

Act as a “second opinion” that you can bounce ideas off of, just like you might compare multiple surgeons' views.

So while I’m not a "surgeon," I can help you:

Ask better questions.

Understand community dynamics (like the Sangoma–ClearlyIP tension).

Translate messy situations into something you can reason through.

🧭 Final Thought
The best use of GenAI in specialized fields is with experts, not instead of them. If someone like you is already asking good questions, then AI becomes a powerful tool in your hands — not a replacement for the lived wisdom of someone who’s done it all before.

If you'd like, I can help summarize both "sides" of the FreePBX ecosystem debate — the Sangoma loyalist vs the ClearlyIP/open-source fork perspective — so you can judge for yourself.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by airsaylongcome(op): 3:19pm On Jun 08, 2025

MindHacker9009:
ChatGPT has this answer:

I will NO LONGER engage you. You apparently do not have the capacity to make written contributions in your words. Happy Sunday

1 Like

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 3:37pm On Jun 08, 2025

airsaylongcome:
I will NO LONGER engage you. You apparently do not have the capacity to make written contributions in your words. Happy Sunday

No offence meant, you've genuinely done good here introducing us to world of VoIP and I respect that. Just being honest though that, not using tools like ChatGPT these days feels a bit like refusing to use the internet or sticking to horses instead of cars. It’s not about replacing expertise, it’s about learning faster.
Happy Sunday to you too.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by airsaylongcome(op): 4:47pm On Jun 08, 2025

MindHacker9009:
No offence meant, you've genuinely done good here introducing us to world of VoIP and I respect that. Just being honest though that, not using tools like ChatGPT these days feels a bit like refusing to use the internet or sticking to horses instead of cars. It’s not about replacing expertise, it’s about learning faster.
Happy Sunday to you too.

I have no problem with AI. I use Gemini heavily in my new role. But it is outright condescending to be speaking with me who eats and lives VoIP and throwing ChatGPT response. ChatGPT can consume all the information it likes, it can never come close to the battle field troubleshooting experience I've had.

4 Likes

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 5:06pm On Jun 08, 2025

airsaylongcome:
I have no problem with AI. I use Gemini heavily in my new role. But it is outright condescending to be speaking with me who eats and lives VoIP and throwing ChatGPT response. ChatGPT can consume all the information it likes, it can never come close to the battle field troubleshooting experience I've had.

Appreciate you sharing your views, no hard feelings from my side.

I wasn’t trying to be condescending at all, nor was I comparing ChatGPT to someone like you who’s been in the VoIP trenches for years. I’m just trying to learn, explore different perspectives and make sense of it all as I go through this self-learning journey, especially since it’s not possible to have someone like you beside me as a buddy to guide me through it.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by lexdino: 7:11pm On Jun 08, 2025*

airsaylongcome:
It has been hitting me left right centre with bans. Let's see if it bans me on this. If not I will edit and respond to your questions ...

Thank you very much.
I am really grateful for the clarification you gave.
Please go on with the FreePBX, Sangoma, Crosstalk et al.

@MindHacker9009, thank you for the AI generated points as well.

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Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by airsaylongcome(op): 8:58pm On Jun 08, 2025

lexdino:
Thank you very much.
I am really grateful for the clarification you gave.
Now I see why the repo had to be changed to ClearlyIP's.
If I got you clearly, the ClearlyIP's Clearly Devices module that was installed after the repo Change now enables my PBX Server to also act as a provisioning Server for ClearlyIP Phones when the Server is accessed using the Provisioning logins and ports?

Please go on with the FreePBX, Sangoma, Crosstalk et al.

@MindHacker9009, thank you for the AI generated points as well.

Yes, the ClearlyIP Clearly Device module allows your FreePBX to also be a provisioning server for ClearlyIP devices. Sangoma's Endpoint Manager module also accomplishes the same thing. Both are paid modules so you need to buy a license to be able to use either of them. With Sangoma though, if you buy their Phones, then you don't need a license for the Endpoint Manager.

Now to the Sangoma/ClearlyIP/Crosstalk/TangoPBX saga.

Many many years ago (1999) some dude called Mark Spencer developed Asterisk as a telephony software. He eventually setup a business called Digium which provided paid Technical support for businesses that used Asterisk. Sangoma had been a hardware company, making hardware that enabled asterisk work with older telephony hardware in use at the time. To grow, they "bought" over Asterisk with the promise to keep it open source. Some other dude, Rob Thomas (known as xrobau on the community) developed FreePBX, a GUI frontend for Asterisk. Asterisk at its heart is edited at the command line using several configuration files. It was very cumbersome and error prone, FreePBX made it easier. You click click click and FreePBX on the background edits the config files. Sangoma also bought the rights to FreePBX.

At some point, Sangoma decided to start monetizing FreePBX. They came up with PBXACT which is basically a paid version of FreePBX. Added Paid support and paid modules. And were basically "restricting" FreePBX. Community members led by Tony Lewis (who used to work with Sangoma and led the FreePBX development) were not happy with the direction that Sangoma were taking so they left Sangoma to form ClearlyIP. Much of the community was happy with the fork. Sangoma wasn't and started putting up stumbling blocks. Modules developed and signed by ClearlyIP would show up on native FreePBX as "dodgy" even though they were fully open source and vetted by the community. They sha had their back and forth dragging, necessitating ClearlyIP to have their own repo. Both still base their build.of the core open source FreePBX (Sangoma has to keep it open source based on the agreement they signed when they bought it). Sangoma is responsible for developing and maintaining FreePBX, but like I said earlier, they are trying to monetise it heavily. So the likes of ClearlyIP are trying to keep them in check. ClearlyIP has no issue with charging for addon services, but not for crippling the core FreePBX which Sangoma was trying to do by sometimes taking out necessary modules.

Recently, another group aligned with ClearlyIP also left Sangoma to form TangoPBX which they say will be open source. So far, they have kept it open source but I'm looking at them with corner eye. Cos as a business, there is no way you would not need to charge to keep the product afloat. But we'll see.

People like Crosstalk are "pro open-source" even though they charge for services they provide (like deploying and configuring FreePBX, or providing sip trunking service). However, na "coded advert". The tutorial is fully free, but it puts him as an expert. So any business that does not have the internal expertise will readily go to him, after all he has a detailed tutorial so he must be really good at it. And he is.

That's a "brief" summary of the drama. This happens all the time with open source software. While Mark Spencer was still in charge of Asterisk, a group broke out to form Freeswitch (another open source software similar to Asterisk but supports multitenancy - many customers using the same server, instead of one server per customer as Asterisk originally was). Freeswitch is the base of another "open source" PBX called FusionPBX that many providers use to provide commercial telephony service to multiple customers.

So the key difference between FusionPBX and FreePBX is multitenancy. With FreePBX, you need one server per customer. With FusionPBX, you can have multiple customers (up to 50 depending on server size) per server. At the core though, they provide the same services, just different philosophy.

2 Likes

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by lexdino: 10:11pm On Jun 08, 2025*

Interesting History.
They've really come a long way wink

So how does the ClearlyIP Clearly Device module enforces payment before use? I ask because it allowed me to freely generate a Provisioning Address already. What happens if I were to manually input this address into the Phone and the Phone comes knocking on the provisioning server when I have not yet bought a License? cheesy

[quote author=airsaylongcome post=135674910][/quote]

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by airsaylongcome(op): 10:34pm On Jun 08, 2025

lexdino:
Interesting History.
They've really come a long way

So, what's your opinion in terms of performance between FreePBX and FusionPBX, when managing the same multi-customer workload? I mean, can a server running multiple virtualized FreePBX instances (say via a tier-1 hypervisor) perform as well as the same server running FusionPBX natively?

And also, how does the ClearlyIP Clearly Device module enforces payment before use? I ask because it allowed me to freely generate a Provisioning Address already. What happens if I were to manually input this address into the Phone and the Phone comes knocking on the provisioning server when I have not yet bought a License?

You are asking "offside" questions o...lol. I will address the ClearlyIP first. If you configure a Yealink phone to use it, I don't think it will work. With a ClearlyIP phone, possibly as their aim is to sell their products and services.

Regarding FusionPBX vs FreePBX, performance depends on a lot of variables, number of calls being made, what time of codecs are in use, encrypted vs unencrypted connection etc. Purely from an efficiency standpoint, one FusionPBX can support multiple customers while one FreePBX server will support one customer. BUT, while FusionPBX claims to be open source, there is very little free training material for it. Most of it is behind pay walls. Their community sef barely exists without a subscription. FreePBX on the other hand has a ton of resources to learn with, and the community is very very very active.

Minimum membership for FusionPBX is US$100/month. Top end is US$1000/month. Not very DIY friendly for a beginner. There are some YouTube tutorials but I've never really wrapped my head around it's initial configuration. Given an already configured server though, I can mess about with it because of my existing FreePBX experience

1 Like

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by lexdino: 11:29pm On Jun 08, 2025*

airsaylongcome:
You are asking "offside" questions o...lol. ...

Nor vex Chief. Was just curious to know.
Thanks very much.
I will try to dedicate more time to the series, see if I can complete it this month.

1 Like

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by airsaylongcome(op): 11:58pm On Jun 08, 2025*

lexdino:
Nor vex Chief. Was just curious to know.
Thanks very much.
I will try to dedicate more time to the series, see if I can complete it this month.

Looool....I was joking with the "offside" comment. I've actually enjoyed your dedication and discipline to push past the learning resistance.

1 Like

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by lexdino: 12:06am On Jun 09, 2025*

No problem.

Will let you know if I encounter any more issues.

airsaylongcome:
Looool....I was joking with the "offside" comment. ...

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 8:41pm On Jun 09, 2025*

This thread seems to want to start following the same path as the Sangoma/ClearlyIP/Crosstalk/TangoPBX monetization saga. 😄

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 11:18pm On Jun 09, 2025

@lexdino, you’re practically giving @airsaylongcome ideas to start charging for his invaluable VoIP insights right here in this open community thread! 😄

Please o @airsaylongcome let us start making some cool $$$ with the VoIP tips your are giving here, before you start charging 😄

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 11:30pm On Jun 09, 2025

@airsaylongcome no vex o! Just adding a bit of humor to lighten the mood after spending long hours deep-diving into the world of VoIP you have introduced us to on this thread. 😅

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by lexdino: 11:36pm On Jun 09, 2025

Yeah. You raised a valid point. I have therefore modified my posts and I hope @airsaylongcome also modifies his responses.

I was blindly following my personal principle of giving willfully to anyone whom I have benefited from, because by so doing can we help "God" in perfecting his works.

MindHacker9009:
@lexdino, you’re practically giving @airsaylongcome ideas to start charging for his invaluable VoIP insights right here in this open community thread! 😄

Please o @airsaylongcome let us start making some cool $$$ with the VoIP tips your are giving here, before you start charging 😄

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 11:49pm On Jun 09, 2025*

lexdino:
Yeah. You raised a valid point. I have therefore modified my posts and I hope @airsaylongcome also modifies his responses.

I was blindly following my personal principle of giving willfully to anyone whom I have benefited from, because by so doing can we help "God" in perfecting his works.

I completely understand your point as this is our culture back home. My comments were just to add some humour to this thread.

But on a more serious note, as you mentioned earlier that you're currently in Germany, it's important to recognise that the cultural and professional norms there differ from ours. In Europe and other developed countries, offering a monetary gift to a professional can be considered misconduct. This is because the services they provide are part of their professional duty and something they have professed to uphold before being admitted into their profession.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by Crossblueart: 12:45pm On Jun 13, 2025*

I have an issue. When I enter my iP address to use thr GUI on my Web browser, it keeps shutting down after working for a while. I will have to run fwconsole restart for it to start working again.

Below is my setup

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by MindHacker9009(m): 5:17pm On Jun 13, 2025*

Crossblueart:
I have an issue. When I enter my iPhone address to use thr GUI on my Web browser, it keeps shutting down after working for a while. I will have to run fwconsole restart for it to start working again.
Below is my setup

Here is what ChatGPT has to say:

It sounds like you're running a FreePBX (or Asterisk-based) system and accessing its web GUI via your iPhone's browser, but the GUI stops responding intermittently, and you need to run fwconsole restart to restore it.

This usually points to one or more of the following underlying issues:

✅ Possible Causes and Fixes
1. FreePBX/Asterisk Service Crashing or Hanging
Symptom: Web GUI becomes unresponsive, fwconsole restart temporarily fixes it.

Fix: Check logs to determine why the services are crashing:

bash
tail -f /var/log/asterisk/full
tail -f /var/log/httpd/error_log
journalctl -xe
2. Memory Leaks or Resource Exhaustion
Symptom: The server becomes unresponsive after a while.

Fix: Monitor system resources:

bash
top
free -m
df -h
If RAM or swap is maxed out, the system might be killing Apache or Asterisk.

3. Fail2Ban Blocking Your iPhone
Symptom: GUI is suddenly inaccessible, works again after restart.

Fix: Check if Fail2Ban is banning your iPhone's IP (especially after incorrect logins).

bash
fail2ban-client status
fail2ban-client status apache-auth
Whitelist your phone's IP or adjust ban settings:

bash
fail2ban-client set apache-auth unbanip <your-iPhone-IP>
4. PHP-FPM / Apache Timeout Issues
Symptom: The web GUI dies or becomes very slow before crashing.

Fix: Check for errors in /var/log/php-fpm.log or /var/log/httpd/error_log. Increase PHP memory and execution time in:

bash
/etc/php.ini
5. Network or DNS Problems
Symptom: The GUI drops due to connectivity or lookup failures.

Fix: Try accessing the GUI from a desktop browser to see if the issue is specific to your phone. Check /etc/hosts and ensure DNS resolution is fast.

🔧 Recommended Action Plan
Check Logs Immediately After Crash

bash
journalctl -xe
tail -f /var/log/asterisk/full
tail -f /var/log/httpd/error_log
Monitor System Health

bash
top
htop
free -m
Fail2Ban Check

bash
fail2ban-client status
Review PHP & Apache Configs

Access from a Desktop: See if the issue is only happening from iPhone (could be Safari-specific or due to mobile browser timeouts).

If you can share your logs after a crash, or the output of top / free -m, I can help dig in further.

Re: Early to Early-mid career VoIP Professional by airsaylongcome(op): 5:52pm On Jun 13, 2025

MindHacker,

Can you back off with all these ChatGPT copy-paste? Can you just back the eff off? And do all of that on the other threads you litter with this AI copy-pasta where you have no context or experience? Can you?

You think people reading here are dull and can’t throw the errors at AI themselves that you feel the need to come and litter everywhere with AI responses?

Small thing, “ChatGPT said”, “AI said”. Either back off or take ownership and lead the conversation

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