I have seen in a few places that people are running asterisk. I would like to get a server setup, hopefully with freepbx too.

I have searched the forums here. not finding much in the way of specifics.

Anyone have any pointers?

i already have a real machine running trixbox, i know i cheated there.

any help is appreciated.

I've been running a production Asterisk system on a Linode 360 for 3 months now. It runs great. The only thing to note is that AFAIK you can't use Zaptel (now called DAHDI), even with ztdummy. This means you can't host MeetMe conferences. (Although I think there are third-party conferencing apps that are available which don't rely on MeetMe.)

I use straight-up Asterisk, so I can't say anything about FreePBX.

Let me know if you have any specific questions...

Good luck,

Maan

Do you tie that into a SIP provider like gizmo5.com for outgoing calls? Do you have VOIP handsets around your home? I've been thinking of playing with something like this but don't know if I should just set it up inside my home on a physical box or use a linode.

I use VoipJet (IAX) for outbound calls, and Junction Networks (SIP) and Voxbone (SIP) for origination. I also use a variety of SIP handsets (I like Polycom a lot) and some ATAs as well.

The nice thing about using Linode is that it's on a public IP wich, avoids a lot of problems related to NAT with SIP... Reliability is also much better if you have clients connecting from remote sites.

Maan

Interesting. Thanks. I use gizmo5 for inbound as well. I have a UK and US number through them. Only costs $4 per quarter. I checked out voxbone and they want you to register before giving a quote

I'm thinking of doing this. Right now my VOIP stuff is handled on my Nokia N95 handset when its in wifi range.

$4 a quarter is pretty cool! What are the per minute charges? I use Voxbone for European numbers ($9 setup + $7/month, unlimited use).

Polycom phones starting at around ~$90 and Linksys ATAs for ~$50 make it easy to get going. I highly recommend those two brands.

Maan

There are no charges for inbound calls using dial-in numbers on gizmo5. Outbound calls depending on the country but are around 2 cents a minute for most places.

http://gizmo5.com/pc/network/callout-rates/

The mobile-to-mobile rate is doubled because basically you initiate a call from a web page and it calls your phone and the destination phone to connect them together. If your phone has wifi, that's not required.

The gizmo5 desktop client has an option to log into an Asterisk PBX although I've never tried it since I don't have one -- yet.

http://gizmo5.com/pc/network/asterisk-support/