Help with emails, extensions and network

General Help
1

Please, help me. i am new to asterisk and i am using FreePbx. i don’t mind using cli shell ( im new to linux as well, but i like to use commands 'cause it is a learning process. ). Anyway, i have three issues:

  1. i am not able to send voicemail using email. i have postfix installed but i have not configured it ( i dont mind using sendmail ). Is it true that i dont need a registered domain ( eg. Godaddy) ? Regardless, i have a registered domain and email account with go daddy and i created a mailbox (voicemail@mydomain). but i didn’t go any further. can someone please send instructions.

  2. i have two different offices ( not related to each other, and will probably have two more) connected to my server, and i would like to use extension numbers starting at 101,102,103… how can i make it so different offices have same extensions. For example: office 1 has a desk with a sip extension 101 and office 2 also has a sip extension 101, is it possible ? Also, how can i prevent extensions on office 1 from calling extensions on office 2 and so on.

  3. Im using a netgear router. I have a feeling that’s not a good equipment. What kind of router it is recommended for having multiple remote sip extensions ( about 20 to 30 extensions) connected to my server.

Im running centos free PBX latest version. Sorry i am not sure how to post more information from my system here. Please let me know if you need more information and how to get it from my system.

thank you in advance !

2

  1. The easiest way is to set up Postfix to use gmail as a relay server. If you search the forums, you’ll find that someone posted instructions on this issue relatively recently.

  2. It is better not to have the offices have the same extensions, but if you really want it that way, you’d set-up your outbound routes to require a prefix to interconnect.

I.e. 85 + Extension Number to reach office #1
86 + Extension Number to reach office #2.

and so on.

The Outbound Routes module has instructions on how to set-up prefixes that are stripped off before the call is routed.

For more details, see page 153 of this document:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/elastix/files/Tutorials_Docs_Manuals/Elastix%20Without%20Tears/elastix_without_tears_june2010.pdf/download

  1. Running remote extensions is a really bad idea, because it requires that your PBX be exposed to the internet. This also exposes it to malicious hacker-bots that will, at a minimun, deny your users service because of the bandwidth they consumer, and at worst, all them to run up your phone bill. If you must use remote extensions, set-up a VPN between your multiple locations.

Netgear is a well known provider and they generally make good equipment. However, if you want your VOIP service to work well, you’ll need to make sure you have a router that supports QOS.

3

Depending on the netgear router, I think it would be fine. But what about your internet connection, what speed to you have to support 20-30 remote possibly concurrent connections?