I haven't dealt much with VoIP and am looking for some software to install on my Ubuntu box. At the core of all this, I'd like it to aggregate/manage 2 SIP accounts. Simply put, I'd like to access 2 SIP accounts that with an ATA box (depending on dialplan, etc).

Asterisk is the obvious one to me, but it the word overkill comes to mind. :) SIP Sorcery is another example but runs on Windows (vs Ubuntu linux).

What other options are out there? Pros? Cons?

Does your ATA support 2 sip proxy? I am guessing it is not. One option is to get a new sip phone which have support for multiple sip proxy registry (check out cisco or linksys or polycom sip phones). There should be some ATA that support multiple SIP too. Sometime, they are called SIP Gateway. One company that has SIP Gateway porduct is welltech (I am sure if you look for it, there are other brand too). These devices can support multiple sip account.

No, my ATA only supports 1 SIP proxy. I actually looked at a 2-SIP device before but decided against it. I don't really remember why but I think that I was unhappy with the reviews I found online.

If anybody has any software-based ideas please share. I'm starting to think Asterisk will be a fun educating project versus purely based on need.

I use Trixbox - it's a great system, easy to use. It's a prefab distro of CentOS with all of the necessary packages installed.

Hello.

Check out the following:

http://www.elastix.org/
http://www.trixbox.org/
http://pbxinaflash.net/

That's the three main open source PBX's.
All based on Asterisk and CentOS - You can download the ISO from the sites

Personally Elastix is my flavour of choice! :)

All the best

Thanks for those links... how do those 3 compare?

Also, how well do they run/port/install on Ubuntu? I did a quick search and there's a thread on Elastix for example that says it can be installed as a VM only under Ubuntu?

Best thing to do is to create a PBX system that will run the 2 SIP Accounts. You could host it on-site or off-site. If you host it on-site I recommend taking a look into Trixbox (URL posted in ThomasC's post).

Second thing to do is order a SIP Trunk so that you can receive and place calls. I am currently using Future9 since their outbound rates are 1 cent a minute for domestic USA calls and you can get an inbound number for around $5 a month. (Future-Nine.com) I have had an account with Future9 since March 2009.

Thanks for those links... how do those 3 compare?

Also, how well do they run/port/install on Ubuntu? I did a quick search and there's a thread on Elastix for example that says it can be installed as a VM only under Ubuntu?

Ha, you posted before I made my post.

I do not know much about Elastix, but Trixbox is a Operating System (CentOS5) and PBX (Asterisk) all in one.

If you did not want to write over your Ubuntu install, take a look into FreePBX (http://www.freepbx.org/)

Also, how well do they run/port/install on Ubuntu? I did a quick search and there's a thread on Elastix for example that says it can be installed as a VM only under Ubuntu?We run a large amount of VoIP PBX VMs with CentOS - So that's not true.

The difference between Elastix/Trixbox is a very big question!
Have a quick search on the forums as it's been discussed to death before.

I'll definitely do a search- but in the meantime you keep talking about CentOS. I'm running Ubuntu, what's your experience running VoIP on Ubuntu?

If you are looking at asterisk, you may want to scope your requirement. For a simple dial plan and you are very handy with command line, a Raw asterisk server is a good option. You can then decide whether run the Asterisk server on Ubuntu or Centos easily. I personnaly run asterisk server on Ubuntu and Centos without issue.

If you require a more complex dial plan, then the trixbox, ealstix, asteriskNow and PIAF are good distribution to use. They all have FreePBX web gui for configuration. They are build on top of centos. They are tested on top of centos. I would not recommend to hack them to run on Ubuntu.

I hope it help.

Thanks rentpbx, a lot of info that helps. As for requirements, I guess I haven't said much because there isn't much.

At first, I'm trying to control/access two SIP accounts via one SIP account similar to SIP Sorcery but not on Windows! It doesn't matter much what I use but from the sounds of it, Asterisk is more or less the only option.

That's fine with me, and I don't think configuring the dialplan will be too hard. If I get serious into VoIP (which is unlikely) then I'll consider running CentOS or something similar.

For the FreePBX gui, will it install/run alright on Ubuntu? Or, is it geared/based only on CentOS? Will a simple make/compile run ok (or is it just a web script)? If I don't make sense, it's because I don't have a good grasp on this yet - please forgive me and correct me. :)

trixbox is a great system I recommend it for you

WHY do you recommend it for me almubark when I'm running Ubuntu?

Unfortunately that doesn't mean much to me because you have provided very little justification for me to consider. I'm here not just to find what software/script package to use, but to learn about different products which has many benefits in itself.

// // //
On a completely separate note, I'm tempted to changeover to CentOS for reasons such as this. Hmm! :)

Blueb,

Asterisk will run fine on Ubuntu. I would suggest at least installing asterisk and FreePBX. Although the GUI (FreePBX) is not required, it will make your learning curve much shorter. A quick google found this (outdated) install guide for asterisk/freepbx on Ubuntu.
http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/How+to+install+Asterisk+1.4+and+FreePBX+2.3.1+in+Ubuntu+Linux

Its a good start though, just use the newer versions.

Good luck

Thanks for all the insight everybody! I ended up putting Asterisk on a CentOS box, not that it matters because I have 2 trunks and 1 extension set up - talk about hoarding system resources! :P

Anyways, in conjunction with Webmin it gave problems galore when I installed Asterisk/FreePBX after Webmin. If I installed it before, it works fine... I don't think I'd see this problem if I took a closer look at user/group permissions, but installing it in this order took care of itself. :)

I've used TrixBox, Elastix and PBX in a flash (which is actually an embedded solution) in the past but overall I think FreePBX is superior to them all...

Does your ATA support 2 sip proxy? I am guessing it is not. One option is to get a new sip phone which have support for multiple sip proxy registry (check out cisco or linksys or polycom sip phones). There should be some ATA that support multiple SIP too. Sometime, they are called SIP Gateway. One company that has SIP Gateway porduct is welltech (I am sure if you look for it, there are other brand too). These devices can support multiple sip account.

Also look into the Yealink T-28 or T-26 SIP phones. One is a 6 account(T-28) and the other (T-26) is a 3 line SIP phone. They have superior sound quality and are auto provisioned for several formats. You can also brand the LCD interface to your company LOGO. One even nicer feature is their price. You can get them wholesale online for less than $150 for either model.