Installing FreePBX on a Synology NAS

I would like to get some help if possible, in installing the FreePBX on my Synology NAS DS920+. I’m new to FreePBX and I have used Docker in Synology to install the FreePBX and it says it is running but can’t find any information on the proper way to access it.

Little about our company: We are a new Not-for-profit company and only have 4 people and need the ability to grow. We need to be able to receive inbound calls that first go to an auto-attendant and then will distribute the calls. We also want the feature to have music on hold. Lastly, I want to be able to transfer calls and have conference calls.

If anyone could help, I would appreciate it.

Thanks

For a small org, this is probably not the way to go. If cost is a real barrier I would suggest finding a PC tower and install from the ISO. Alternatively, depending on where you are based it might be worth spend a small amount per month on a VM with Vultr, Digital Ocean or the likes that have a full ISO image that you can spin up easily and then just increase the spec of the VM as you grow.

Trying to run in docker is not recommended at best of times and let alone on a NAS.

I don’t understand why the FreePBX would not run on the Synology NAS. I have been working with mine for 2 years now and love it. It sounds to me that so many people are being forced to buy other hardware by not giving support. I do know there are some people out there that use it on their NAS. At this time it’s installed and running but trying to learn how to access it from the terminal.

The fact that you and others have managed to get something to work doesn’t mean that’s the best way to do it.

Just did a quick look and they advertise some kind of VM Manager so there maybe someone who is more familiar with that setup. Historically NAS was just storage and not running full machines.

I work as Ops Manager for a Non Profit in the UK and I run ours on a hosted VM. It’s easier and causes far less issues because it’s designed to work in that way.

If calls and growth are important to the organisation do it properly otherwise you are doing them a disservice.

I think I’d agree that you don’t meet the criteria for running your own hardware for this. Whilst I sometimes think that people are over-reliant on the cloud, your business only really seems to need the phone system to service VoIP calls from outside, so is already fundamentally reliant on the internet working for your telephone requirements. Local hardware make more sense if you need to have internal telephony. and possibly external ones from the same exchange area, in emergencies.

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I also think it provides for much better business continuity and flexibility, even more so now we are living in a much more hybrid working environment.

Not sure I would ever go back to running local hardware.

I agree with the others that running FreePBX in the cloud is probably best for your organization. If you feel on-site is more suitable, please provide details.

With a cloud PBX, if your power or internet goes out, the system continues to function normally, making and taking calls on mobile phones. If the hardware fails, the cloud service provides a replacement. If the software fails, restoral from a backup or snapshot is trivial. Should you need to hand over management responsibility, you have a system that is well documented, understood by the community, with paid support readily available.

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What’s the appeal of installing a PBX on a network storage appliance?

Most small offices will not require a lot of storage for their PBX, unless they have a lot of phone traffic, record everything, and keep recordings forever.

Echoing what others have said, NAS is probably not the right tool for this job. There are “one click installers” available to launch FreePBX in AWS, Azure, and DigitalOcean, and it is trivial to launch FreePBX in Vultr as well.

As a progrmmer graduate I would disagree. I sometimes feel that we are pushed into subscribing to cloud base storage. I host my websites and do everything with my own equipment. I had a hosted provider but when I saw l could own it for less that’s what I done. I have power backup and everything and I have no issues. I just believe not paying for something if I you can do it yourself.

I think it is basically because the NAS is a Linux server in an environment which is, otherwise, Windows workstations. The storage won’t be for the PBX, but for other office uses, so the hardware essentially comes free.

This is the worst type of non-profit. It is one that doesn’t see their business as a business.

The OP does not understand that in order to be a non-profit, you first have to be a business. That is why not for profit certifications are all for businesses.

Like all business, you have overhead. Like all businesses you have a product you are selling. Like all businesses, you need to make a profit. Unlike all businesses, your profit is not allowed to be spent however you want. You instead need to spend it on whatever thing you are setup for.

But I hope the OP sees the commonality here… Business is still business.

Edit: not inappropriate

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Whilst I understand the sentiment, the recent pandemic has shown the need for better flexibility and business continuity. We recently used this as an example of viability for a funding bid because we have the ability to easily work from anywhere.

Again, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. The reality is, you have faced an issue you can’t resolve yourself and regular contributors to the forum can’t help so perhaps that tells you something?

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I have noticed that Vultr no longer offers the one click install.

Hadn’t realised that, although you can upload and install via the ISO I think. I use the official FreePBX hosting partner in the UK but we also pay them to provide support, backups and SIP trunks so that if I’m not around others in the organisation can still get help.

It still worked out over £120 a month cheaper than using a Pay Per Seat option.

What do you think about that company that has it’s a blue box but it has everything pre-installed on it? I know the warranted and take care of the box for so long. Can’t remember the company right off hand but I saw a video on it. That’s what made me think of the Synology drive because that is really the same setup for real.

Both Sangoma & ClearlyIP both do a FreePBX appliance. Personally I prefer ClearyIP with the original FreePBX Dev team but as a box they are much of a muchness if you just want VoIP.

True, but it’s still very easy. Go to ISOs, click +, paste or type into the Remote URL field, for example
https://downloads.freepbxdistro.org/ISO/SNG7-PBX16-64bit-2204-1.iso
and click Upload.

There is a culture here that has accepted that the easiest way to use FreePBX is on a AMD64 architecture of any form, virtual or physical. That way either the basic opensource freepbx intall won’t be a problem, if you want any commercial modules, you will need to further restrict yourself to the Sangoma rebuilt OS of Redhat , (also soon needing to be rebuilt)

You can however have equal success building FreePBX and asterisk against ARM hardware for Raspberry Pi’s and their ilk, with their own eco-system ( not here though).

Synology had at one time FreePBX advocates, apparently not so many anymore, but seriously your angst surely belongs in their forums and not here :wink:

Electricity cost 15-30 cents a KWh, at $5 a month a cloud service is often cheaper than a recycled Goodwill thing running at 75 watts or more. And further is way easier to backup and restore when things go sideways.

JM2CWAE

hmm - I prefer the Sangoma appliances with the current FreePBX Dev team, just seems to work better for me … different strokes :wink:

im not sure on the Synology but this is quite simple with something like Truenas Scale - if you’re interested in that type of thing TrueNAS SCALE | Open Hyperconverged Storage Scales Up & Out

Ive been exploring it recently with a windows vm and this triggered me to load freepbx … installs just fine however I haven’t run any voice through it yet

its on top of KVM so depending on the spec of the host it might be fine - something to play with