Docker Installation

⚠️ WARNING: NOT FOR PRODUCTION USE

This installation method is for development and testing only. DO NOT use for production deployments. For production, use the standard RPM installation method.

Supported Systems

• RHEL/AlmaLinux/Rocky Linux 8–10
• Debian trixie (13) or sid
• Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) or newer

"Linux Only"

VoipNow containers require systemd support (not available on Windows/macOS).

System Requirements

• RAM: 7GB minimum (12GB recommended)
• CPU: 2 cores minimum
• Firewall Ports:
  • TCP: 22 (SSH), 25 (SMTP), 80, 443 (Web), 5061 (SIP TLS)
  • UDP: 5060 (SIP), 10000-20000 (RTP), 4000-4999 (FAX)

Installation

Step 1: Install VoipNow Repository

For RHEL/AlmaLinux/Rocky:

sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/voipnow.repo \
  https://repo.4psa.com/voipnow-installer

For Debian/Ubuntu:

Skip this step - repository not available for Debian/Ubuntu.

Step 2: Install VoipNow Installer

For RHEL/AlmaLinux/Rocky:

sudo dnf install voipnowinstaller

This installs:

• /usr/bin/voipnowinstaller - Main installer
• /usr/bin/voipnowcontainer - Container deployment script

For Debian/Ubuntu:

The voipnowinstaller package is not available for Debian/Ubuntu. Copy the voipnowcontainer script from a RHEL machine:

# On RHEL machine (after installing voipnowinstaller)
sudo cp /usr/bin/voipnowcontainer /tmp/

# Transfer to Debian/Ubuntu machine, then:
sudo cp voipnowcontainer /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/voipnowcontainer

Step 3: Run Container Installation

# Basic installation (auto-detects IP and hostname)
voipnowcontainer --auto

# Custom installation
voipnowcontainer \
  --image ghcr.io/4psa/voipnow5.rhel8:latest \
  --public-ip 1.2.3.4 \
  --hostname voipnow.example.com \
  --memory 12g \
  --cpus 4 \
  --auto

Common Options:

• --image IMAGE - Container image (default: ghcr.io/4psa/voipnow5.rhel8:latest)
• --public-ip IP - Public IP address (default: auto-detected)
• --hostname NAME - Container hostname (default: system hostname)
• --memory SIZE - Memory limit (default: 12g, min: 7g)
• --cpus NUM - CPU cores (default: 2, min: 0.5)
• --auto - Skip confirmation prompt
• --help - Show all options

"First Start"

Initial startup takes 5-10 minutes while services initialize.

Step 4: Access VoipNow

Open https://<PUBLIC_IP> in your browser.

Watch startup logs:

podman logs -f VoipNow

Container Management

Start/Stop

# Stop container
podman stop VoipNow

# Start container
podman start VoipNow

# Restart container
podman restart VoipNow

# View status
podman ps -a | grep VoipNow

View Logs

# All logs
podman exec VoipNow journalctl -f

# Specific service
podman exec VoipNow journalctl -u voipnow-cloud -f

# Errors only
podman exec VoipNow journalctl -p err

Shell Access

podman exec -ti VoipNow bash

Change Admin Password

podman exec -ti VoipNow /usr/local/voipnow/bin/chadminpass.sh

Upgrade

❌ UPGRADES NOT SUPPORTED

Container-based installations do not support in-place upgrades. To update, remove the container and reinstall (data will be lost).

Data Persistence

Container data is stored in Podman volumes:

• Configuration: /etc/voipnow
• Database: /var/lib/mysql
• Recordings: /var/spool/asterisk
• Logs: /var/log

Volumes persist when container is stopped/restarted but are lost on removal.

Remove Container and Data

"⚠️ DATA LOSS WARNING"

This permanently deletes ALL VoipNow data. Backup first if needed.

# Stop and remove container
podman stop VoipNow
podman rm VoipNow

# Remove all volumes (permanent data deletion)
podman volume rm $(podman volume ls -q | grep voipnow_)

Troubleshooting

Container won't start

# Check logs
podman logs VoipNow

# Check resources
free -h
nproc

Reset everything

# Complete removal
podman stop VoipNow
podman rm VoipNow
podman volume rm $(podman volume ls -q | grep voipnow_)

# Reinstall
voipnowcontainer --auto

Getting Help

For support, run:

voipnowcontainer --help