It’s been a busy weekend at SysAdminMan where I’ve been doing final testing on a new product that will launch in the next couple of weeks.

First a little background … SysAdminMan has been selling hosted FreePBX servers for the past 3 years and by far the biggest number of issues are caused by broadband firewall/routers and the way they handle both NAT and SIP connections. Even when NAT is handled correctly by Asterisk many of the SIP gateways built in to the broadband routers can mess up SIP packets.

This is especially true for system implementers that rent servers from SysAdminMan to implement at customer sites, where they often have little control over the firewall/router used.

Any solution needed to meet the following requirements -

• Easy to deploy
• Prevent broadband routers corrupting NAT / SIP packets
• Inexpensive to deploy

Which leads me on to the new SysAdminMan offering – VPN:PBX. This new PBX comes in 2 parts. Firstly there is the virtual server running Asterisk, FreePBX, A2Billing and OpenVPN. Having OpenVPN allows you to create a secure tunnel to your PBX, bypassing your broadband routers NAT and SIP ALG (Application Layer Gateway).

The second part is a custom OpenWRT firmware for the TP-Link 1043ND. This is an inexpensive and capable router that allows the firmware to be replaced very simply. The new custom firmware includes OpenVPN pre-installed and also a web page for entering your virtual PBX IP address and VPN authentication details. It is expected that the existing broadband router would be left in-place, with the new TP-Link 1043ND being plugging in to it, providing access for the phones. This causes minimal disruption to any existing network devices.

Also configured on the firmware is DHCP that hands out an IP address along with the address of your PBX to any phones connected to the router. This enables the use of FreePBX End Point Manager to automatically deploy VOIP phones – with zero configuration of the handset itself. All that’s required is a supported handset (and there are many) along with the phones MAC address.

This allows handsets to be configured centrally, and deployed at site within minutes.

A lot of work has gone in to making VPN:PBX as simple as possible to deploy. While it does require purchasing an additional router (the TP-Link 1043ND)  it’s very reasonably priced and hopefully the ease of deployment and the added benefits will make this a sound investment.

More details and user guides to follow soon.

My Scroll Extreme was delivered today. I pre-ordered it from ebuyer.com and they delivered it next day, even though I only went for the free shipping. This is my first tablet but I’ve used Android for a couple of years having a HTC Desire running CyanogenMod 7.1 (Gingerbread).

The Scroll Extreme is a 9.7″ tablet and runs Android 4.0 – Ice Cream Sandwich.

Hardware

The battery took a few hours to fully charge from shipping. It has a separate charging port, rather than just charging via the micro-usb port. The manual says you can charge via the micro-usb port although it will ‘trickle charge’ so I’m not sure how long that would take. It’s got a pretty large 7,800mAH battery (11,666mAH in the New iPad!).

It’s got a matte silver finish on the back and feels pretty secure to hold. It’s fairly heavy to support with one hand. I couldn’t find the weight listed on the website but I make it around 650g. That compares to the ‘New iPad’ which is 652g (WiFi version).

Screen

The screen is pretty nice with a good viewing angle. With the brightness turned up the screen is bright. I’m sure it doesn’t compare with the screen on the New iPad but it’s certainly usable. I image only when holding the 2 side by side would you be disappointed with the Extreme’s screen. It’s going to be more than adequate for web browsing, e-mail, video …

Wifi

As expected these days there was no issue connecting to my WiFi, which uses WPA2 PSK.

Sound

Sound it tinny on full volume but I guess that’s to be expected. It’s not overly loud either, but there is a 3.5in audio jack for headphones.

Speed

Switching between applications is quick and so far (after only around an hours use!) the tablet feels responsive. Youtube loaded quickly and web browsing with the built in browser was pretty good.

Apps – Google Play

I read a lot before I purchased the Extreme about not being able to access the Google Store (Google Play now). This was a bit of a disappointment  but I just figured I’d use the SlideMe store that was recommended. However, after signing in to my Google account it seems my Extreme DOES have Google Play installed, and the screenshots are below to prove it. The only weird thing seems that sometimes it does appear in the list of installed apps, and sometimes it doesn’t! I’m not really sure why this is so far but will post more if I find out.

Conclusion

I’m glad I went for the Extreme. I didn’t want to spend £400 on a tablet I might not use much. The Extreme seems fast enough, and well built enough for what I need. Being able to get on the Google store is definitely an added bonus.

SysAdminMan is now offering a FusionPBX template to go with the currently available Elastix, PBX-in-a-Flash and FreePBX/A2Billing templates.

FusionPBX is the first template available from SysAdminMan to use Freeswitch instead of Asterisk.

More details about this solution can be found here - http://sysadminman.net/fusionpbx-hosting.html

FusionPBX is different to the other templates as it is not based on FreePBX. Some guides to get you started can be found here -

• http://sysadminman.net/blog/2012/fusionpbx-getting-started-setting-up-an-extension-3568
• http://sysadminman.net/blog/2012/fusionpbx-getting-started-making-an-outbound-call-3585
• http://sysadminman.net/blog/2012/fusionpbx-getting-started-receiving-an-inbound-call-3601
• http://sysadminman.net/blog/2012/fusionpbx-getting-started-conference-room-3682

SysAdminMan FusionPBX passwords

SysAdminMan’s FusionPBX servers have 2 levels of security. The first is a master web server username/password. The second is the built FusionPBX username/password.

The second username/password can be changed in the FusionPBX web GUI by selecting Accounts / User Manager.

The first web server password can only be changed via the SSH command line.

To do this log in to your server as ‘root’ using something like Putty

Then run the following command -

SysAdminMan FusionPBX IP whitelist

Each server also runs fail2ban and denyhosts. These provide security against hackers but it’s also possible to accidentally block your own IP address. To whitelist your IP address you can run the following command via SSH (see above) -