Linux Version

NowSMS NextGen is the next generation platform of NowSMS, now available for Linux, macOS and Raspberry Pi environments.

NowSMS NextGen builds on the foundation of the existing NowSMS product. We reviewed every line of code and every configuration setting, no matter how well hidden. Anything that is possible with NowSMS is possible with NowSMS NextGen.

For existing customers, NowSMS NextGen is designed to be a drop-in replacement for the existing NowSMS Windows product. There are a few scenarios that require extra attention, but for many installations, the upgrade is as simple as copying the NowSMS directory structure from your existing Windows server to a new Linux server and the running the simple 2-step NowSMS install.

Click here for more information about upgrading to NowSMS NextGen.

NowSMS NextGen currently supports Linux, macOS and Raspberry Pi. Linux environments supported include:

  • 64-bit AMD/Intel architecture supporting standard releases of Debian, Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu, Mint, OpenSUSE and Amazon Linux (AWS).
  • 32-bit ARMv7 architecture, including Raspberry Pi
  • 64-bit ARM architecture

The most significant new feature of NextGen is database support (MariaDB and MySQL). Database support is significant for two reasons:

Log Files – Databases make it far easier to manage and monitor message and traffic history.

Clustered Servers – Multiple front-end servers can share their workload via a shared database, offering powerful new options for fault tolerant systems and scalability.

Speaking of log files, even if you’re not using a database, we’ve made major improvements in our log files. A consistent format and headers make it easy to import these CSV log files into other applications for analysis, even common applications such as Excel and Numbers.

The new web interface has query and export tools, which simplify system management tasks.

Speaking of system management, all configuration and control is via a web interface. This new configuration interface is far more comprehensive than the standalone configuration program of past versions. That said, we still use the same SMSGW.INI config file format, and you can still edit SMSGW.INI directly. Heck, even if you’re in a clustered server environment, we’ll automatically propagate those manual edits out to the other nodes.

On other fronts, we’ve expanded the NowSMS HTTP API to support JSON & XML formats, in addition to the existing HTTP GET or POST URL encoded (form variable formats. These formats are all supported for submitting SMS to NowSMS, or receiving from NowSMS as a 2-way command.

Speaking of HTTP, there is also a new configuration setting to forward a user account’s received messages and delivery reports via HTTP.

There’s more…but, those are the more interesting new features…

As usual, we have a free 30-day trial available for download. It is limited to a throughput of only 30 messages per minute,  but if you need to validate higher throughput, contact us for a higher throughput trial license.

For download and setup instructions, read NowSMS NextGen Quick Install Guide

For support or questions, contact us, or visit our Support Forum Website.