Hi! I just came in possession of a Cisco 7942 IP phone and I am eager to set it up. I did some research and discovered how to flash it with SIP firmware as opposed to the SCCP firmware. As for the actual SIP server, I discovered Kamailio and decided on this one as it is in the main package list for OpenBSD which is the platform I mainly want to develop this on. I also discovered Siremis as a GUI for Kamailio, but it seems development has been lacking. Does anyone have any tips or tricks or advice on setting up a SIP server? Anything weird I need to look out for? Any challenges you guys specifically faced when setting up a SIP server? Thank you for any tips and advice!
Spin up a freepbx instance or fusionpbx instance. You’ll have to hook it up to a trunk provider to place calls through the PSTN though. Can’t say any trunking providers names… cause we get banned now. But you have google :)
Kamalio is far from being user-friendly and is usually used by service providers as a proxy/session border controller rather than a PBX. Unless you are planning on using it as a proxy there will be no real benefit over more user-centered PBXs. Since you were trying to find a GUI solution for Kamalio, my guess is that PBX is what you actually looking for.
I was actually able to get Kamailio up and running on a VM and got a successful ring between two other VMs. A GUI isn’t terribly important, just a little convenience to have. How does Asterisk compare to Kamailio? I’ve read that while Asterisk is more user friendly, Kamailio is more stable and can support more lines. However, I have also read you can run and load balance Asterisk on Kamailio
Asterisk is way more user-friendly and a good starting point. It all really depends on what your goal is. It is very stable if compiled correctly.
Kamalio is a great robust load balancer and is widely used for this exact purpose. Originally it didn’t even have the RTP module and was handling SIP signaling only.
The biggest hit in terms of productivity comes from handling RTP traffic and transcoding. That’s pretty much why one Kamalio can service multiple Asterisks.
SIP can be very interesting / fun once you get the hang of it! I agree with other comments though that starting with a Cisco 79xx is a rough way to start. A soft phone or Cisco/Linksys SPA 9xx or any yealink phone is a great starting point.
Kamailio is also an aggressive starting point. There are several open source options that might be a bit more friendly to start with.
A free pbx will be better than anything you’ve ever used or heard of.
Here is a really good series on how to use a much easier open source PBX. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1fn6oC5ndU_umAhL9A_1zkC90hMPDPNO&si=Cyaq6uP_ahwa6fTx
astricks may be a better choice for you
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Start by getting a phone that supports generic SIP and is not proprietary. The 7942 is EOL, and unless you load the 3pcc/mpp Multi-Party Platform firmware on it, it will only work with Cisco CallManager systems. In leu of a desk phone you could use a softphone on your computer, tablet or smart phone.
unless you load the 3pcc/mpp Multi-Party Platform firmware on it, it will only work with Cisco CallManager systems
No, that is not true.
There are so many users of CP-79xx who have integrated them to Asterisk and 3CX phone system.
I, for instance, have several 7965 & 9951 at home and connected to FreePBX.
The 7942 is just something I was given for free. It was gonna be thrown out, but I was gifted it to play around with.