FreeSWITCH for pfSense v1.2.3 Package on Alix.2D3
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I'm thinking of installing the FreeSWITCH for pfSense v1.2.3 Package on an Alix.2D3. The CF card I have many available are only 512MB. I'm wondering if it's large enough for nanoBSD pfSense + FreeSWITCH. Since 512MB is divided into two partition + a config partition, I figure pfSense only uses about 150MB of space with about 100MB remaining for packages… Does anyone know??
thanx
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FreeSWITCH is not one of the package that works with embedded at this time. It requires constant write access for things like voicemail, logs, and so on.
There may be a version of the package in the future that might work, but at the moment it isn't possible.
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I see, previously I looked at Askozia and it would have needed me to get another Alix Embedded board, and having FreeSWITCH integrated within pfSense as a single appliance removes alot of complexity as I'll be just using it to support no more than 3 connections and using it very rarely.
I thought nanoBSD removed this limitation.
Although I have some 512MB cf cards for testing, I figure I can get quality SanDisk 8GB CF cards from my local Costco for about $30 and with a 4GB nanoBSD image on an 8GB card and wear leveling, constant re-writes shouldn't be a problem as it has an extra 4GB to spread the writes/re-writes. I haven't seen any Askozia failed because of constant re-writes as long as it's SanDisk or other quality cards. Only had a Centon 8GB that failed after about a few hundred re-writes, got an immediate refund/store credit though.
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NanoBSD removed the limits for packages which did not need constant write access to the CF card.
Here is a list of packages that work on NanoBSD, and ones that don't, and why.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AojFUXcbH0ROdFdHTTlKNWNSMG5rRjQwZE1fYVgySGc&hl=en
You are right, it may be OK on some CF cards, but we must err on the side of caution.
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blewis, if you are prepared to run the risk of full read/write access to your CF why don't you do a full install to the CF?
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I just tried/tested FreeSWITCH using VMware and didn't work well. It appears to a bit cpu intensive, possibly because the cpu I used was 64-bit but had no hardware virtualization support. Tried an old 1.2GHz system and performance was quite good. Come to think of it, the Alix board may not be enough to run pfsense + FreeSWITCH very well.
However the "fit-PC2i" looks VERY appealing with its 2Gb ethernet ports and it has great specs + use very little power… but still unavailable. May just buy a "fit-PC2i" and use it for pfSense + FreeSWITCH.
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Actually FreeSWITCH isn't too CPU intensive. I've run it on pfsense with a 600mhz cpu. However in a virtual machine there seems to be a timing issue that messes up the audio.
Mark J Crane
P.S. pfSense FreeSWITCH project that I created has been named FusionpBX. You can see the latest features by looking at http://fusionpbx.com. The new version is mult-platform. I still need to work on it a bit more to get the latest version in a pfSense package but I am working on it. I did get it working on my pfsense box but still need to do more work for it to work to install as a package.
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I just d/l FusionPBX and looks good, especially when it gets integrated with pfSense. I noticed that the screenshots showed a "Fax" feature that is no longer present in the "fusionpbx.1.0.zip". It would be great if we can simply upload a pdf/tiff from the pfSense GUI and fax it with a simple mouse click, or d/l a pdf/tiff from the GUI to view or print a received fax. I currently use multiple software packages on different computers and various ATAs for sending & receiving faxes.
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The fax feature was removed because it wasn't completely ported to the multi-platform version in time for version 1.0. However since 1.0 I have done more work on the fax module and its about 90% complete. The remainder of the work can be completed with one or two more days of work which I will do as time permits.
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Hi mcrane,
Has the need for constant write access by FreeSWITCH/FusionPBX been eliminated in order for the pfSense developers to allow the embedded version? I'm still kind of new to setting up voip. Right now I'm quite interested in setting up fax capabilities. I've seen a friend have one setup where everything, including fax can be done from within a browser.
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Here is what it would take to do it.
Setup a ram drive to run the parts that need read and write.
Symbolic link directories or files to the ram drive.
Sync with a cron job for data that needs to be saved to the hard drive.Its not currently high on my to do list. If someone sponsors the work then it can become a priority.
Mark J Crane
