• 2 Core CPU at 2.4 GHz.
• 4GB of Memory
• 50GB of Storage.

This will allow you to have up to 50 extensions with 12 concurrent calls. An internet connection is required to install VitalPBX fully and with its latest version.

• A Virtual Machine capable computer.
• Virtualization Software. This can be VM Ware, Oracle Virtual Box, ProxMox, or any other KVM-based virtualizer.
• VitalPBX’s official ISO image or a Debian minimal installation ISO image.
• An internet connection.

This installation process is the basis for hardware or a Debian minimal installation. So, you can refer to these steps if you are installing these other types.

Concerning system specifications, this will depend on the number of concurrent calls you wish to have. Again, we will go through how you can determine this in a later lesson. For now, use the minimum server specifications detailed in the previous section.

The Virtual Machine creation process will vary based on the virtualizer of your choice. In this lesson, we will be using Oracle’s Virtual Box. It is free to use and accessible for most systems. We will cover some special occasions at the end of this section.

First, we will need to download the ISO from VitalPBX’s official website at https://www.vitalpbx.com. This can be found under the Download section and by scrolling down.

There, you will also find written guides on how to install VitalPBX in different environments.
Next, we will create a new virtual machine. For this, we will start Oracle’s Virtual Box. Then, click on the New button.

Here, enter a name for your virtual machine. Then, select the type of virtual machine as Linux and the version as Debian 64-bit. Set the Memory Size as 4096 MB. For Hard Disk, select Create a virtual hard disk now. Afterward, click on Create.

Next, you will be presented with the “Create Virtual Hard Disk” window. Here, enter the hard disk size of your choice. For Hard disk file type, select Virtual Hard Disk. For “Storage on physical hard disk,” choose Dynamically Allocated. Finally, click on Create. By dynamically allocating the storage, we don’t use the full size we entered immediately.

You will now have a virtual machine created. Next, we will need to configure this virtual machine to proceed with the installation. Right-click on the new virtual machine and select settings.

Click on System and then on Processor. Here, we will set the number of processors to 2. You can choose more “Processors” depending on the number of cores your host machine has.

Next, click on Storage. Here, click on the empty storage, then the disk icon next to Optical Drive, and choose the ISO image we downloaded from VitalPBX’s Website.

Finally, we will go to Network and change “Attached to” to Bridged Adapter. You can then select a network adapter on your host machine. This will allow this virtual machine to connect to your local network. Finally, click on OK.

Now that we have set up our virtual machine, we can turn it on. You can double-click on your virtual machine or click on the green arrow start button.

Once you have initiated the virtual machine, you will be shown the installation process for Debian with VitalPBX pre-selected options. To proceed, press enter. Just be sure you are in the virtual machine by clicking on the window screen.

Afterward, select your preferred language. Press enter.

Next, you will need to choose your location. You can use the arrow keys and spacebar to pick. Once you have your location selected, you can press enter.

Then, pick your keyboard layout and press enter.

With all these options selected, the installation process will begin.

Afterward, you will be prompted to enter your root password. Enter a root password you won’t forget and is difficult to decipher. You can choose to view the password. Moving using the arrow keys to “Show Password in Clear” and pressing the space bar.

Then, navigate with the arrow keys to Continue and press enter. You will then need to re-enter the root password. Afterward, navigate to the Continue button and press enter.

You will then be prompted to enter a name for a new Debian user. Your full name is recommended.

Next, you will be asked to create a username for the new user. We recommend using all lowercase letters and no spaces. Once entered, navigate to the Continue button and press enter.

Then, enter a new password for the Debian user. You will then be prompted to re-enter the password. On both screens, navigate to the Continue button and hit enter to move forward.

Once again, we recommend you use a strong password that you can remember easily. Preferably, this password is different from the root password.

Next, you will be presented with the time zone selection screen. Navigate to your time zone and then press enter.

You will then be prompted to partition your disk. Here, we select the “Guided – use entire disk” option.

You will then see your disk partitions. We should only have one in this case. Press enter.

Afterward, you will need to select your partitioning scheme. Here we choose “All files in one partition.” Press enter.

We then verify our screen partitioning, navigate to “Finish partitioning and write changes to disk,” and press enter. 

A warning will appear with the changes to occur. Navigate to Yes using the arrow keys, and press enter.

Your disk partitioning will start processing, and the operating system will begin the installation. This process will take a couple of minutes.

Next, you will need to select your package manager location. This will ensure that you get the closest mirrors to your area. This will assure faster download speeds and reliability. Navigate to your preferred location with the arrow keys and press enter.

Select your preferred mirror. By default, the selection is deb.debian.org. If you don’t have a preference, you can leave it as default and press enter.

Afterward, you will be prompted to enter an internet proxy. If you don’t use one, you can leave it blank. We navigate to the Continue button using the arrow keys and press enter.

The installation of the operating system will continue.

Once the installation is done, your virtual machine will reboot.

After the virtual machine reboots, you will be prompted to log in. Log in using the root user with the password you created. Press enter. 

You will then be prompted to install VitalPBX. Enter yes in the prompt, and press enter.

This will then update Debian and download and install the latest version of VitalPBX. After the installation is done, your system will reboot.

Once the system reboots, you can log in with the root username and password again. After you log in, you will see a nice banner with the VitalPBX Logo and your system information. You can copy the IP address and enter it into your web browser.

When you enter the IP Address in your browser, you will be greeted with VitalPBX’s initial login screen. Here, you can enter the admin username and password. By default, the admin user is just “admin,” but you can choose any username of your liking.

The password you use can differ from the one you used for the root and Debian usernames. This is a separate user from the ones you created during installation. And with that, you have successfully installed VitalPBX. Congratulations!

When we say dedicated hardware, we mean that we will install the software on a computer or server that will only work as our VitalPBX installation. It is important to note that the computer or server you are installing VitalPBX on needs a dedicated monitor and keyboard to proceed with the installation.

So, we first need to download the ISO image from VitalPBX’s official website at https://www.vitalpbx.com, just as we did in the previous lesson. This can be found under the Download section and by scrolling down. There, you will also find written guides on how to install VitalPBX in different environments.

Next, we’ll need to flash the ISO image to a USB flash drive to install VitalPBX on dedicated hardware. To do this, we can download Balena Etcher at https://www.balena.io/etcher/. Balena Etcher is a free storage drive flashing tool that works in Windows or macOS.

Once you have installed Balena Etcher and run it, choose the ISO image you have downloaded. Then, select any USB flash drive you have available.

The USB flash drive has to be at least 2GB in storage size.

Finally, click on the blue “Flash!” Button. This will start the flashing process, which can take a few minutes.

Once it’s done, you can eject the drive safely.

Once you have securely ejected the USB flash drive, you can insert it into a USB port in your dedicated hardware. Proceed to turn on the server and press the boot drive options key while the system starts.

The boot drive option key varies depending on the motherboard manufacturer. Usually, it is the Delete key, F2, F11, or F12.

In the boot drive options, select the USB flash drive you flashed. Reboot your server or computer. The system will boot from the USB flash drive, and you can begin VitalPBX’s installation process. To proceed, press enter.

You can follow the same procedure in the Virtual Machine installation lesson, where we installed VitalPBX in a virtual machine.

Once you have followed these steps, you have successfully installed VitalPBX. Congratulations!

This will be the same process to install VitalPBX in any VPS service provider like Google Cloud, Digital Ocean, and Vultr, among others. You will need to create a new minimal Debian 64-bit-based system.

Once you have Debian installed, you can run a couple of commands.

You will need to log in as the root user, as root permissions are required to run the script. You can also use the “sudo su” command.

If your Debian user is not in the sudoers list, you need to add it to be able to run the “sudo su” command. We will take a look into this later on.

First, download the VitalPBX installation script using the following command.

root@debian:~# wget https://repo.vitalpbx.com/vitalpbx/v4/apt/install_vpbx4.sh

Next, we will give the script execution permissions.

root@debian:~# chmod +x install_vpbx4.sh

Finally, we execute the script.

root@debian:~# ./install_vpbx4.sh

Once you execute the script, you will be prompted to enter “yes” to proceed. Enter the word yes in the prompt and press enter.

This will update the system and begin the VitalPBX installation process. When it ends, the system will reboot.

Once the system reboots, you can log in again using the root user. You are now greeted with a VitalPBX Logo and system information.

You can copy the IP address into your web browser and configure the admin username and password. This username and password differ from the root username and password or any other user you may have created within Debian.

And with this, you have successfully installed VitalPBX in a Debian-based installation. Congratulations!

There is no ISO image based on ARM for VitalPBX, so you must start with a minimal Debian 64-bit installation. You can download the ARM64 ISO Network Install image from Debian’s website at https://www.debian.org/CD/netinst.

This also means a Raspberry Pi system can be your VitalPBX server. For this, you’ll flash a microSD card with a Debian or Raspberry Pi OS image.

In this lesson, I am installing VitalPBX on an M1-Max MacBook Pro. You can choose any virtualizer like Parallels or UTM. The process is mostly the same.

The installation process is a regular Debian Installation. Refer to our Virtual Machine installation lesson and check the troubleshooting tips we will share later.

Once the system reboots with ARM Debian installed, log in as root and run the following commands.

root@debian:~# wget https://repo.vitalpbx.com/vitalpbx/v4/apt/install_vpbx4.sh

Then give it execution permissions.

root@debian:~# chmod +x install_vpbx4.sh

Finally, we execute the script.

root@debian:~# ./install_vpbx4.sh

You will then be prompted to continue with the installation, so enter “yes” in the prompt and press enter.

Here are some tips and recommendations concerning a Debian installation. If you use VitalPBX’s ISO image, these options won’t appear, and default values will be chosen.

But, if you make a custom Debian installation or an ARM installation, you might find some additional configuration options during installation.

1. Hostname and Domain Name

In these fields, you can enter any information. For the hostname, if you use an FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name), use it here—for example, sip.mydomain.com. In the Domain Name option, you can enter your domain name. Like, mydomain.com.

2. Scanning extra installation media

You may be prompted to “Scan extra installation media” when configuring the package manager. This option can be ignored, and respond “no.”

3. The “wget” command is not available.

You might get an error when trying to download the installation script. The error is saying that the “wget” command does not exist. You can download and install the “wget” command with the following.

root@debian:~# apt-get install wget

4. Software Selection.

By the end of the Debian installation, you will be asked which software you wish to include. We recommend you leave the list with everything unselected, as you will install all dependencies with the VitalPBX installation script.

These are the main differences between a custom Debian installation and installing from the VitalPBX ISO image.

1. Remote access using the root user.

You cannot remotely access the server using the root user by default. This can be changed by modifying the “sshd_config” file. First, log in as root directly on the terminal. Then, edit the following file using Nano.

root@debian~:# nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Change the line.

#PermitRootLogin prohibit-password

With.

#PermitRootLogIn yes

Save the document and exit.

Optionally, if you want to keep the root user from remotely accessing the server, you can add a Debian user to the “sudoers group.” Enter the following command.

root@debian:~# usermod -aG sudo username

2. Change to a Static IP address.

By default, your system will pull an IP address using DHCP. It is recommended that your server use a static IP address instead. To change it, we will modify the interfaces file. Run the following command.

oot@debian:~# nano /etc/network/interfaces

Change this block of text.

#The primary network interface
 allow-hotplug eth0
 iface eth0 inet dchp

To this.

#The primary network interface
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet static 
address 192.168.1.200
netmask 255.255.255.0 
gateway 192.168.1.1

Finally, enable the interface and reboot your system.

root@debian:~# ifup eth0
root@debian:~# reboot

This is separate from a vitalpbx.com account. This is so we can record the number of VitalPBX installs worldwide for internal use and is not shared with any third party.

f you have installed VitalPBX previously, you can click the Already Have An Account button and enter your email address. Afterward, click on Register.

This step is necessary for you to update your VitalPBX installation.

Before we continue, let’s get familiar with the web interface. We have worked on making VitalPBX as intuitive as possible, so learning these core aspects will have you navigating the system in no time.

To the left, you have the main navigation menu. Here, you will find the main categories, subcategories, and modules.

On top, you will find the general search bar. Here, you can search for any module or configuration from VitalPBX. For example, let’s search for Extensions and press enter.

You will see every item related to extensions in the results. Let’s click on “Extensions.”

Whenever you are in a module where you can create multiple items, you will see this “list” icon n the top-right corner.

In this list, you can open and edit items you previously created. There is also a Search Bar to search the items based on their name, number, or description.

When configuring a new item, you will have a Save button in the bottom right-hand corner. If you edit an existing item, you will see an Update, Delete, and Cancel button. The Update button will update your configurations with the new ones, Delete will delete the item you are editing, and Cancel will not save any changes and will present you with a blank canvas.

This will be the same with many of our different modules. More options may appear depending on the module in the lower left-hand corner.

A red arrow icon will appear when you save or update most configurations. This will Apply Changes from the database to the system’s configuration files.

Remember, Saving your configurations and Applying changes are two separate actions.

Right next to it, you will have the User Menu. This will display various other settings you can access. We will see these later on.

While moving through multiple modules, you will notice that tabs start to appear. This Multi-Tab system comes turned on by default with VitalPBX, allowing you to navigate opened modules easily. You can close Tabs individually or close many by right-clicking on one. It is also possible to refresh a single tab in case you recently made a change in a different module.

Finally, rest assured that you don’t need to remember what every field in VitalPBX configures. Whenever you hover your mouse over a field title, you get a Tool Tip. This allows you to see a brief description of the field; most of them contain sample data for your understanding.

As we saw in the previous lesson, you can control the features you can see here. You can see every option available in this menu when logged in as the system administrator.

On a fresh installation, you have access to the following features.

When you click on Profile, you will see various options you can configure concerning your profile.

You can change your username, email, password, startup dialog, full name, and department and enable or disable 2FA. You can also change your profile picture if you desire.

When you move over to the Settings tab, you can first change your web UI language, which only affects your user.

If you are in a different timezone to the system, you can change it here whether or not your user is visible.

This is important if you don’t want other users who can update user information to be able to modify your account. However, system administrators can see every user independently if this feature is used.

You can also enable or disable the Multi-tab feature.

And finally, you can enable Dark Mode if you enjoy a dark color palette for the interface. Keep in mind that if you enable Dark Mode, you must save the changes for the change to be persistent.

You can then save any changes in the bottom right-hand corner.

The next option in the User Menu is Language. This will change the web UI language. You can select from multiple options that VitalPBX has to offer. This, however, will not affect the voice prompts in the system. We will go over how you can influence this later on.

Afterward, we have the Check for Updates option. This is how you can update VitalPBX to the latest version. This way, updating the system through the Linux CLI (Command Line) is not obligatory.

Register License is how you register any of our Licensing Plans or the Starter License. We will go more in-depth on this in a later lesson.

The About option will give you information on your VitalPBX installation. This reflects the version you are running and licensing type.

And Finally, you can log out.

Additionally, quick links will appear here if you have any Sonata Application or VitXi installed.