Decide where you want your PBX

[Jared Busch]

Once you have done your initial discovery and know how your current PBX operates, you can then figure out the best place to put your new FreePBX system.

This will be different for every organization and has to be based on what works best for the business.

You have two choices.

1. Host it on your internal virtualization infrastructure
2. Host it on a public virtualization platform

Can it be installed on a physical appliance? Sure, but you would not want to run your main line of business application on random hardware, so why would you run your phone system that way?

You have to base this decision on a number of things.
Below is a general guideline to think about.

• Do you have a solid virtualization platform in place locally
  • if no, make the PBX hosted
  • if yes, make the PBX hosted or local
• Do you have more than one site needing to register phone to this PBX
  • make the PBX hosted
• Do you have solid backups locally
  • if no, make the PBX hosted
  • if yes, make the PBX hosted or local
• Do you have solid internet for the total concurrent call volume and well as extension to extension volume
  • if yes, make the PBX hosted
  • if no, make the PBX local
• What Needs to survive the most when the internet goes down
  • extension to extension calling
    • make the PBX local
  • inbound customer calls getting handled
    • make the PBX hosted

There are always more things to consider, but those are the key factors.

Each of them need thought about without emotion to determine what is best for the business.