FreePBX 16 for cloud platforms
FreePBX works great on popular cloud providers. Here we review what Simon Telephonics offers and some of the benefits of each cloud platform.
FreePBX Distro
By running the FreePBX Distro, as opposed to building the open source FreePBX project on your own, you get the benefit of being able to run the Sangoma commercial modules, such as SysAdmin (and SysAdmin Pro), Sangoma Connect (softphones), Fax Pro, and many others. Moreover, Sangoma and its partners (including Simon Telephonics) are better able to support FreePBX Distro’s standard configuration.
Cloud platform choice
In many cases, cloud platform choice will be decided for reasons other than PBX hosting; for example, you’ve standardized on Amazon Web Services as the platform for your SaaS or you want to use Microsoft Azure for its rich integrations with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem or a hybrid AD configuration. In these cases, it’s great to stick with the provider you know and with whom you have contracted. FreePBX will work well on either.
Starting fresh
We offer FreePBX Distro on Azure, AWS EC2, and DigitalOcean and we support all of them equally well. Here are a few pros and cons of each to help you decide:
Azure
Pros:
- Fast VMs
- Easy to subscribe and launch from the Azure Marketplace
- Azure firewall configuration is reasonably intuitive
- Azure VMs can be backed up automatically
Cons:
- Azure portal is clumsy to navigate and can be confusing
AWS EC2
Pros:
- FreePBX can run well on the t3 instances, saving costs
- EC2 dashboard is navigable
- Launching a FreePBX instance from the AWS Marketplace is simple
Cons:
- Security groups can be challenging to configure
DigitalOcean
Pros:
- One-Click Install is quick and easy
- DigitalOcean’s firewall service is simple, easy to configure
- Easy to take and restore snapshots and backups
Cons:
- VM hosts and networks can become congested at times
Our recommendation
The great thing about all of these cloud providers is that you can try them out with very little commitment. Launch a FreePBX instance, configure it and test it out for a few days, and you’ve still spent less than $2 on hosting costs.
We can talk through your cloud PBX requirements with you. Contact us for a consultation.