Running PBX in a Flash as a Virtual Machine

And It's Still a Lean, Mean Asterisk Machine

If you don't have a spare computer sitting around to dedicate to PBX in a Flash and you'd just like to experiment a bit, then running PBX in a Flash as a virtual machine on your existing Windows, Mac, or Linux Desktop may be just the ticket. This tutorial will walk you through getting everything set up. Just follow the steps. We don't recommend the Virtual Machine setup for a production machine because a software-based PBX tends to be processor intensive. But it's certainly an excellent way to learn about the technology and see if it meets your needs.

Prerequisites

As with the standard PBX in a Flash install, you'll need a working Internet connection on your Desktop system to complete the install. We would recommend a Windows XP or Vista machine of recent vintage (preferably with Dual Core processors) and at least 1GB of RAM, 512MB of which can be dedicated to PBX in a Flash. We also recommend VMware for this install because it happens to be free for Windows systems. You'll also want at least a 1024x768 resolution monitor so that you have ample workspace for PBX in a Flash and your normal Windows applications.

PBX in a Flash runs equally well on a virtual machine with a Mac or Linux system using either VMware or Parallels for the Mac. Those are niche markets, and we assume you can read between the lines in the tutorial which follows to get one of those systems configured.

Windows Installation Overview

The installation of PBX in a Flash is fairly straight-forward. First, you download and install VMware on your Windows Desktop. Then you download both the PBX in a Flash ISO image and the VMware config module for PBX in a Flash. Then you start up the Virtual Machine and boot from the VMware module for PBX in a Flash. The rest of the installation follows the usual PBX in a Flash install which will not be repeated here. See our tutorials for detailed instructions.

VMware Download and Install

From your Windows Desktop, open a web browser. Then download and install the VMware Player accepting the defaults specified by the install program. The Mac install is similar except you must purchase VMware Fusion. Once the installation completes, create a pbxinaflash folder in the root directory of your default drive: md \pbxinaflash. Note: Both the directory name and location are important, or the PBX in a Flash install will fail.

PBX in a Flash Downloads

Two files must be downloaded to install PBX in a Flash as a virtual machine using VMware. Download each of these two files to your Desktop and then drag them to the \pbxinaflash folder created above. First, download the current PBX in a Flash ISO image from one of our Download Sites. Then download and unzip the PBX in a Flash VMware Module.

PBX in a Flash Install on Virtual Machine

Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the \pbxinaflash folder and double-click on the .vmx file to boot up your Virtual Machine with the PBX in a Flash boot image. Follow the prompts to erase and repartition your virtual disk, and then proceed with the standard PBX in a Flash installation procedure outlined in our tutorials. The installation takes about 30 minutes to complete.

Eliminating Choppy Sound Using PBX in a Flash with VMware

Most users report problems with choppy sound on voicemail and IVR applications when running Asterisk 1.4 under VMware regardless of the muscle of your host machine. The fix is to install a special version of the CentOS/Linux kernel that has been tuned for VMware. Here's how. Log into your PBX in a Flash system as root and issue the following commands. After you reboot your system, be sure to choose the 2.6.18-53.1.4.el5 kernel when prompted.

cd /root
wget http://dev.centos.org/~tru/kernel-vm/5/RPMS/i386/kernel-vm-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5.i686.rpm
wget http://dev.centos.org/~tru/kernel-vm/5/RPMS/i386/kernel-vm-devel-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5.i686.rpm
rpm -ivh kernel-vm*.rpm
shutdown -r now

If either or both of the downloads above should fail, feel free to download the files from the PBX in a Flash repository:

cd /root
wget http://pbxinaflash.com/vm/kernel-vm-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5.i686.rpm
wget http://pbxinaflash.com/vm/kernel-vm-devel-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5.i686.rpm
rpm -ivh kernel-vm*.rpm
shutdown -r now

Rebuild zaptel on your PBX in a Flash system, and you're finished!

cd /usr/src/zaptel
make clean
./configure
make
make install
make config
genzaptelconf