FreePBX 2.6 did not upgrade Asterisk

[JRoque]

Hello,

I ran the upgrade module to move to FreePBX 2.6 and Asterisk 1.6. The FreePBX stuff did upgrade but Asterisks remained at 1.4. Do I need to upgrade Asterisk core separately? The upgrade module lead me to believe that Asterisk would also be upgraded. I turned skeptical when the upgrade took all of 3 minutes to complete. FOP shows FreePBX 2.6.0.0 and Asterisk 1.4.21.2.

Did I miss anything?

JR

 

[jroper]

Upgrading asterisk is a separate operation to upgrading FreePBX

When considering this step, complete this well known phrase or saying - "if it ain't broke ...."

Joe

 

[mbellot]

Upgrading asterisk is a separate operation to upgrading FreePBX

When considering this step, complete this well known phrase or saying - "if it ain't broke ...."

Joe

you're not trying hard enough.

 

[JRoque]

Any hints on how to upgrade to 1.6? I imagine the update-sources script upgrades the current 1.4 version but not to 1.6. The FreePBX instructions mention downloading a tar file but I'm not sure if that will wipe my PiaF mods/scripts.

Thanks,
JR

 

[powerontech]

Any hints on how to upgrade to 1.6? I imagine the update-sources script upgrades the current 1.4 version but not to 1.6. The FreePBX instructions mention downloading a tar file but I'm not sure if that will wipe my PiaF mods/scripts.

Thanks,
JR

Depends on your situation. If you are not concerned with some hiccups then just install Asterisk as you would on a new setup. Depending on what version of Zap/Dahdi you may need to upgrade that as well.

The best method would be to install everything from scratch.

I wouldn't do any of this on a live system you depend on without doing it on a test system first but that is just me.

 

[wardmundy]

We strongly discourage Asterisk upgrades from 1.4 to 1.6 on existing, functional systems unless you're willing to give up at least one of the adjectives when you're finished.

 

[JRoque]

Thanks again for your input. Is there a sane path to upgrade or do I wipe clean and start fresh? Any way to upgrade while preserving settings?

Thanks,
JR

 

[jroper]

Hi

I say this with the greatest of respect, but given that you believed that FreePBX would upgrade asterisk, I would respectfully suggest that you leave bleeding edge upgrades well alone, until you get to a point of recognising the symptoms that something is going wrong, and have a very clear idea of the architecture of the system and how it bolts together.

Basically, my advice is to stay in the nice cosy fenced off area PiaF supplies for you, until you have the confidence and knowledge to explore parts of Asterisk that have "Here be Dragons" on PiaF map.

Asterisk 1.6 etc are the future, and it needs explorers and chancers to go and have a look at these areas to survey the ground, and make your path easier.

Joe

 

[JRoque]

Gotcha Joe, thanks. I appreciate the sugar coating

I read the FreePBX doc and it simply led me to believe the "upgrade module" would land me on 2.6 and Asterisk 1.6. I have downloaded and compiled Asterisk before to get around some security issues so the notion a module would do that wasn't that far fetching to me.

I'll let you, Ward and the others do the thinking to get the next version ready (ETA?). Phillipe says over 6000 FreePBX users are already on 2.6/1.6 so it doesn't seem that bad.

Cheers,
JR

 

[powerontech]

I wouldn't exactly call 1.6 bleeding edge dragon territory considering it has been production released for a long time now.

Maybe not quite a stable as 1.4 yet but that is getting more and more debatable with each new 1.6 release.

 

[cosmicwombat]

The be Dragons for sure...

When you go from Zaptel to DAHDI that can be no fun if you don't know what is going on.

 

[jroper]

But when you get there, and get your head round Dahdi, and use the right hardware, it's so much nicer and friendly, and in my experience, less problematical that zaptel.

In respect of 1.6, I would agree that 1.6 gets better by the day. However, the point I was trying to make, and clearly not very well, is that PiaF provides an environment which if you stay in that environment, then life should be easy, or depending on your point of view, less difficult.

If you stray outside of the environment prescribed by PBX in a Flash, then unless you know what you are doing, then a very large dragon may sneak up behind you and set fire to your backside. Figuratively speaking.

Joe

 

[ErikU]

I also would like an easy upgrade path to 1.6, and I'm willing to risk the broken dial plans, etc. I'll just back up my system before I start. Speaking of, it would be neat to have some kind of backup script included that would backup everything required for a FAST rebuild.

BTW- my reason for wanting 1.6 is the included transcoding. I use all polycom endpoints and would like to take advantage of "HD Voice" but would need the codec support to make it work well.

 

[jroper]

Hi

This should not be too difficult - I'm writing this from memory, so no guarantees, and as ever, you must understand the risks, and how to get back to where you were.

Use update-source to get to a point where you have Asterisk 1.4 and Dahdi installed - Dahdi and Libpri is the same across all versions.

Now go an download asterisk and asterisk-addons from http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/ by doing wget <<url>> in the /usr/src

then untar them - tar zxfv <<filename>>

go into the new asterisk 1.6 directory, and do:-

make clean
./configure
make menuselect
make
make install
make config

Then into asterisk-addons 1.6 directory, and run the same commands as above, with the exception of make config

reboot, login, then type rasterisk, and confirm that you are now running Asterisk 1.6

Joe

 

[ErikU]

Thanks for the good info!

I just want to clarify one thing regarding zaptel/dahdi...

All of my trunks are via SIP,.. I don't (and wont) have any POTS connections. So... I don't care about zaptel/dahdi.. right?

-Erik

 

[jroper]

Hi

Zaptel / Dahdi provides timing sources for conferencing, and some other areas.

Strictly speaking it does not have to be installed, but if it is, and you are going for a later version of Asterisk than installed by PiaF, then you should move to Dahdi.

Joe

 

[dstroot]

I say this with the greatest of respect, but given that you believed that FreePBX would upgrade asterisk, I would respectfully suggest that you leave bleeding edge upgrades well alone...

Joe

Two points:
1) Amen to the quote above
2) The PIAF community needs to pull it's head out of the sand on 1.6/DAHDI. It works OK now. You can't stay on 1.4 forever...

 

[darmock]

As for pulling heads out of the sand the 1.6 build has been available in PIAF since it's first release to beta. The only tool that has been missing recently is the upgrade-source16 which will be available RSN.

As for staying on 1.4 forever well historically PBX's have a high initial cost and you amortized it over years. SPBX's have changed that mindset at least from the sales guy perspective. eg: I can make more money selling them something cheaper and then forcing upgrades on them all the time...... (grrrrrrr)


From people who are coming from a legacy hardware based PBX they don't want to upgrade to the bleeding edge all the time. Rather they want something stable that changes slowly unless there is a bleeding edge feature that is just not available in a current stable release. Or a really severe security problem! I guess my clients are kind of odd that way

I must admit I finally upgraded all of my clients from PIAF 1.0 just a little while ago. (don't muck with things if it works). Realistically there never was a need to upgrade as everything was stable and "just worked" as it should. Now they are all on our "gold standard" and happy.

As for future releases of PIAF 1.6 will still be there and run all of the apps etc. Why do you think we are not supporting it? In fact now that dahdi is "somewhat" stable PIAF 1.5 final will support installing the asterisk 1.4 tree with dahdi initially along with our venerable Asterisk1.4/Zaptel which continues to work just fine in most cases.

While we continue to call Asterisk1.6/Dahdi the bronze standard this in no way means it does not work. In fact recently Digium donated a bunch of their cards, fully populated, to the project. Thanks Digium! This will help in the further testing of 1.6 and hardware. Other card manufacturers have been doing this all along also.

Eventually the Asterisk 1.4 version of PIAF will be put away and then the 1.6 version will take center stage for the long term stable SPBX reference system. Hopefully by then Asterisk 1.8 will be out in beta and a new round of testing can begin...


ah the future....

Tom

 

[wardmundy]

The PIAF community needs to pull it's head out of the sand on 1.6/DAHDI. It works OK now. You can't stay on 1.4 forever...

Ahh. How quickly folks forget. Never mind that the ONLY aggregation supporting Asterisk 1.6 was PBX in a Flash for the first 12+ months of its existence... since PBX in a Flash 1.2 to be exact!

 

[jroper]

Hi

PiaF has had a number of firsts - e.g. iptables, fail2ban, Asterisk 1.6, 64 bit integration, and even the design of separating the ISO and Payload was different to anything else around when it was launched.

However, the comments and dire warnings encountered when running through the update source to go to Dahdi, and to Asterisk 1.6 give an impression that everything will break if you chose to go this way.

One year on from including Dahdi as an upgrade, and with explorers and chancers trying it out, and as Ward would say, occasionally, finding arrows in their hats, I've discovered ultimately, that really, Dahdi is all rather good, and Asterisk 1.6 is not bad either.

Maybe now would be a good time to re-write some of the comments encountered in the update-source scripts to be more neutral, and not to give an impression that bad things will happen if you upgrade.

There is a Gold, Silver and Bronze standard, which suffices to advise the installer of which version to go for, but Silver and Bronze are still good to own.

Joe