The following Linux distributions are recommended for running Enswitch on:

  • Ubuntu. This is the distribution Enswitch development machines run.
  • CentOS.

In addition, the follow Linux distributions are supported by Enswitch:

  • Debian GNU/Linux.
  • Devuan GNU+Linux (Enswitch 3.14 and later only).
  • Fedora Core.
  • Redhat Enterprise (requires Redhat subscription).

If in doubt, use the latest LTS version of Ubuntu. When installing machines:

  • Please use a fresh Linux installation, rather than recycling an installation that has been used for other purposes.
  • Enswitch supports both 32 and 64 bit kernels. 64 bit is recommended for performance.
  • If possible, please configure the disks as RAID1 for reliability. If the machine has 4 disks, please use 2 as RAID1 for the root filesystem, and 2 as RAID1 for a separate filesystem for the database or NFS files. Database filesystems should be mounted on /var/lib/mysql, and NFS filesystems on /var/lib/enswitch.
  • Please install the minimum set of packages to get the machines on the internet, plus:
    • An SSH daemon so we can connect in remotely.
    • A mail transport agent (MTA). Sendmail is reported to work best out of the box, but Exim and Postfix can also be used. Please test that each machine can send emails to internet addresses, and that the headers on the emails are correct.
  • Hostnames must be lower-case only, match the machines' DNS entries, and be unique within the Enswitch cluster.
  • Please do not create an "enswitch" user; the Enswitch installer expects to create this user for daemons to run as.
  • Do not install Asterisk, Kamailio, OpenSIPS, OpenSER, MySQL, or Apache. The Enswitch installation process will install fresh versions. If these are already installed, we will ask you to wipe the machine and re-install Linux.
  • If your Linux distribution automatically installs any extra daemons such as X windows or network servers, please disable them. This improves both performance and security.
  • Please use static IP addresses, rather than DHCP.
  • Please disable ACPI in the BIOS settings or grub menu.
  • Please put the machines directly on the internet, not behind a firewall, even if the firewall claims to support SIP. Please have the public IP addresses configured on the servers themselves rather than on a machine in front of them. We configure iptables based firewalling on each machine as a standard part of the installation.

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