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How to install Asterisk and FreePBX on Ubuntu 24.04

Qallixo · Install guides · Updated 7 Sep 2026

Asterisk is the most popular open-source PBX. This guide builds Asterisk 20 LTS from source on Ubuntu 24.04, runs it as a dedicated non-root user, and adds the FreePBX web GUI so you can manage it from a browser.

Step 1 — Install dependencies

Update the system and enable the Universe repository, then install the build tools and libraries Asterisk needs:

sudo add-apt-repository universe -y
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y git curl wget build-essential subversion \
  libxml2-dev libncurses5-dev libjansson-dev libsqlite3-dev \
  uuid-dev libedit-dev libssl-dev pkg-config sox

Step 2 — Build and install Asterisk

Download and extract Asterisk 20, pull in extra prerequisites, then configure and compile:

cd /usr/src
sudo wget https://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/asterisk-20-current.tar.gz
sudo tar xvf asterisk-20-current.tar.gz
cd asterisk-20.*/

# MP3 source + remaining prerequisites
sudo contrib/scripts/get_mp3_source.sh
sudo contrib/scripts/install_prereq install

# Configure and pick modules
sudo ./configure
sudo make menuselect      # enable Core/MOH/Extra sound packages, then Save & Exit

# Compile and install
sudo make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install
sudo make samples
sudo make config
sudo ldconfig

Step 3 — Configure the asterisk user

Never run Asterisk as root. Create a dedicated user and hand it ownership of the Asterisk directories:

sudo groupadd asterisk
sudo useradd -r -d /var/lib/asterisk -g asterisk asterisk
sudo usermod -aG audio,dialout asterisk
sudo chown -R asterisk:asterisk /etc/asterisk
sudo chown -R asterisk:asterisk /var/{lib,log,spool}/asterisk
sudo chown -R asterisk:asterisk /usr/lib/asterisk

Tell Asterisk to run as that user. In /etc/default/asterisk set AST_USER="asterisk" and AST_GROUP="asterisk", and in /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf uncomment and set runuser = asterisk and rungroup = asterisk.

Step 4 — Start and verify

sudo systemctl restart asterisk
sudo systemctl enable asterisk
sudo systemctl status asterisk
sudo asterisk -rvv      # connect to the CLI; type 'exit' to leave

If you see the CLI banner and "Connected to Asterisk … running", the core install is done.

Step 5 — Install FreePBX (optional web GUI)

FreePBX gives you a browser interface for extensions, trunks and modules. Open the firewall, install the LAMP stack and PHP, then run the FreePBX installer:

# Firewall: SSH, web, SIP signalling and RTP media
sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
sudo ufw allow 80,443/tcp
sudo ufw allow 5060/udp
sudo ufw allow 10000:20000/udp
sudo ufw enable

# Web + database + PHP
sudo apt install -y apache2 mariadb-server nodejs npm \
  php php-cli php-mysql php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml \
  php-intl php-zip php-bcmath php-soap libapache2-mod-php

# FreePBX
cd /usr/src
sudo wget http://mirror.freepbx.org/modules/packages/freepbx/freepbx-17.0-latest.tgz
sudo tar xvf freepbx-17.0-latest.tgz
cd freepbx
sudo ./install -n

Point Apache at the asterisk user, enable rewrites and restart, then open http://your-server-ip/admin in a browser to create the admin account and reach the FreePBX dashboard.

Security best practices

• Strong, unique passwords on every SIP account — weak extensions are the #1 way Asterisk boxes get toll-fraud abused.
• Restrict SIP/RTP ports to trusted IPs; never expose SIP wide-open to the internet.
• Enable TLS + SRTP for SIP where you can.
• Run fail2ban and keep the OS and Asterisk patched.
• Watch /var/log/asterisk/ for repeated failed registrations.

Rather not run any of this?

Building and securing Asterisk is real ongoing work. Qallixo is a managed cloud platform built on this same technology — dialers, IVR, recording and WhatsApp with no servers to run. See the managed vs self-hosted comparison, or read how Asterisk compares to FreeSWITCH, Kamailio and OpenSIPS.

Next: Install FreeSWITCH + FusionPBX on Ubuntu →