Need advice: FreePBX 13 installed by vendor and no longer supported

General Help
1

Hi all.

We have a FreePBX 13.0.197 server with Aastra phones that was purchased from and installed by a local vendor. The vendor no longer supports FreePBX and hasn’t for some time. Apparently their FreePBX services was a one man show and he left awhile ago.

Our main concern is the aging server hardware. The server is dedicated hardware with two 1 TB rotational drives mirrored.

I do not have the root password though I’m hoping I can reset it by booting into single user mode.

What are our options? Migrate as is to our VMWare hosts as is. “Clone” this server configuration to new virtual server?

Are there any vendors or other support options in the Harrisburg PA area?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

2
  • Run a full backup
  • Install fresh FreePBX 17
  • Restore backup

Test first in a VM
Root Password: This was the first google result and instruction all look correct

Backup is probably going to be Yuge so you will probably want to scp it off.
yuge-huge
Follow appropriate links here related to backup/restore

but you will want to do the 17 install

3

Thank you for the reply!

Edit again: you already linked to backup/restore process. Trump threw me off…

Excuse my ignorance, but when you say run a full backup, I assume you mean within the FreePBX web interface. If that’s a correct assumption, could you give further instruction. I have not found any option within the interface to backup or restore. Are my credentials lacking? Do I need to install a module/add-on? Am I blind or dumb?

Edit: forgot to mention the entire / “root” file system is only 10 GB. It serves around 20 users.

As to the root password: I’ve found many tutorials to recover it. I have not played with any Linux distros for a good while and I was only novice at best, but I think I can handle that part baring any Grub passwords or any SElinux hurdles.

Thanks,
Chris

4

Yes select all the things, you may want to do cdr/cel and recordings in a separate backup that should shrink your main backup

backup is a module, should be under admin.

as a standard since the beginning of time selinux is disabled because nobody wants to build a config that makes freepbx happy

5

Under Admin \ Module Admin the Backup & Restore module is installed and enabled however it is not listed in the Admin menu.

I disabled the module and then re-enabled with no change.

I did some googling after posting this. Came across an option to modify the Admin menu via a toggle in advanced settings and modifying freepbx_menu.conf. The option is not turned on, I haven’t verified the .conf file as I have yet to tackle the root password issue.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

6

Do you see the Administrators menu? If so, check whether your admin login has permissions to use Backup/Restore.

7

I do not have the “Administrators” link in the menu. Also, under User Management, there is no entry for my current login, only entries for users mapped to extensions.

If I am able to change the root password, can I log into FreePBX Administration with it? Or is there no mapping between FreePBX users and system users?

Thanks,
Chris

8

If you are able to log in as root to the server console or SSH, you can use the fwconsole unlock backdoor to get in to the web interface as full administrator. https://sangomakb.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PG/pages/41779247/PBX+GUI+-+fwconsole+commands+13#Unlock.1

9

Awesome! I’ll have to schedule downtime to attempt to gain root access.

Thanks everyone!

10

Hi @ccarbaugh

If you still need help I am available and can help support you.

11

Downtime scheduled for Thursday to reboot into single user mode and reset root password. Will then attempt the “fwconsole unlock” and report back.

Thank you all for you help.

To those of you who have messaged me privately for offers of third party support I thank you for reaching out and will respond individually when a decision has been made.

Thanks again,
Chris

12

I’m in with full admin permissions.

I followed the instructions here to change root password:

Once I gained root, I was able to ssh to it (just verifying, I have physical access), and used the “fwconsole unlock” posted by billsimon to give my existing user access to all modules via the “Administrators” module.

There was a daily backup configured using sFTP, but the vendor has shut down that server. There is also a weekly local backup scheduled.

My next step is to get this machine backed up to our Barracuda backup appliance. That will provide local and offsite backup, and allow me to virtualize this machine if needed.

I’ll post a new topic on my backup process with Barracuda just to ask about any hiccups as this is an outdated OS.

I will be following up with the offers of support as well.

I marked billsimon’s post as the solution because he pointed me to the fwconsole command. jfinstrom pointed me in the right direction to get to that point.

Thanks again to everyone!

Chris