Chapter 1. Introduction

Table of Contents

Federation
Independent and decentralized alternatives to federation
Private networks
Decentralized networks
Conclusion
Choosing between SIP and XMPP
Choice of operating system
Using a ready-to-run or turn-key solution
Using a generic GNU/Linux distribution
Use latest software versions
Using IPv6
Example network used in the documentation

This quick start guide walks through the essential steps to build a working real-time communications platform with full support for federation with other autonomous domains over the public Internet.

We show the essential steps first: setting up a TURN server, SIP proxy and an XMPP server. Setting up an Asterisk or FreeSWITCH PBX is not essential, these are supplementary services that should be added in a later stage of the project.