[Welcome to PBX in a Flash]

      The Lean, Mean Asterisk Machine

If you've longed for the good ol' days of Asterisk@Home, welcome back to the new steroid-enhanced version. PBX in a Flash is the Lean, Mean Asterisk Machine designed to meet the needs of hobbyists as well as business users and VARs. You'll have a high-performance turnkey Asterisk PBX that's easy to upgrade with dozens of add on scripts to provide virtually any feature you can imagine. And you can choose from tons of Nerd Vittles and FreePBX applications that install in under 15 seconds: AsteriDex, Weather Reports, News Feeds, Email by Phone, Telephone Reminders, and many more. You add features when you need additional functionality. Otherwise, Just Say No to Bloatware!

On behalf of the PBX in a Flash Development Team, we want to welcome you to the world of PBX in a Flash. We've tried to collect in one place everything you will need to create your own PBX in a Flash system in under an hour! Once you have your system installed, you'll have a fully functional server with the CentOS 5.x Linux operating system including an Apache web server, a SendMail server, a MySQL database server, an IPtables firewall, PHP, and WebMin plus Asterisk 1.4, FreePBX, phpMyAdmin, and more. You'll then be ready to choose (or not choose) from dozens of Add-On's that make PBX in a Flash a unique offering in the IP telephony marketplace. There's the Asterisk 1.6 beta, automatic backups, CallerID lookup services, X-Windows, SSL Keys, Gtalk, Cepstral with Allison for text-to-speech applications, fax support, and on and on. If you don't need the extra features, don't load 'em. But every Add-On is designed to install with one click in under a minute! For some applications, you may have to perform a bit of customization, but we've strived to make that an easy process with excellent documentation. What really separates PBX in a Flash from the competition is its painless upgradeability... and our #1 Goal is No Bloat, No Bugs! Whether it is the underlying CentOS operating system, the Asterisk telephony platform, the FreePBX web-based user interface, or Bug Fixes, upgrades are always one button click away. Enjoy and welcome to the PBX in a Flash family!

Installation Tips for Everyman... and Woman

A Quick Primer on Installing PBX in a Flash

Our tutorials provide step-by-step installation and configuration instructions for PBX in a Flash. But we thought a thumbnail sketch might be helpful to those just getting started. We also have a limited number of preconfigured systems available for purchase under the Hardware tab. So here is the Baker's Dozen Drill:

  • ISO Download - Download the PBX in a Flash ISO image from one of our sponsored Download Sites.
  • Creating a CD - Using your favorite CD Burner Software, create a CD from the downloaded ISO image.
  • Virtual Machine - PBX in a Flash can be run on your Windows or Mac Desktop using VMware or Parallels. Here's how.
  • Hardware - We recommend a dedicated PC. Here's a $199 system that's perfect for home or small office use. We use it.
  • Time Matters - Be sure the time is correctly set on your machine before you begin the installation, or portions of the install will fail.
  • Basic Installation - On a dedicated machine connected to the Internet with an available DHCP server, insert the CD and reboot. Remove CD when prompted.
  • Updates - At a minimum, log into your system as root and run update-scripts then update-fixes. For the latest Asterisk source, run update-source.
  • Documentation - Now's a good time to type help-pbx and read the first three docs for PBX in a Flash. Take the fourth one to your bedside table.
  • Final Setup - Once the installation completes in about 30 minutes, reboot the system and do the four things outlined in the this article.
  • Configuring FreePBX - Reboot your system once again and set up FreePBX following the directions in the Nerd Vittles article.
  • Setting Up Phones - Download one of the numerous soft phones for testing and then install telephone instruments.
  • Choosing Providers - To make calls outside your PBX, you're going to need one or more hosting providers. Start here.
  • Add-Ons - Visit our Scripts Site. Choose and download the additional features to add to your PBX in a Flash system.
  • Participate & Learn - Become part of our PBX in a Flash community. Visit Nerd Vittles and the PBX in a Flash Forum.
  • Legal - What You Can and Can't Do With Our Applications. It's all GPLv.2 unless otherwise stated.
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