3CX Hosted PBX FAQsWe recently announced our hosting service for 3CX Partners’ NFR keys. This is in preparation of our commercial hosting later in 2020. Since then, we’ve received a lot of questions about the hosted PBX service and what this means for resellers and hosting partners. Here are some which we would like to share:

Is there a cap on trial users?

Hosting for trials and NFR licenses is designed to accommodate up to 20 users. Partners who intend to run their primary NFR with more than 20 users can request an upgrade from our team via our support channels. Upgrade requests will be reviewed on a case by case basis. Trial licenses are currently capped at this limit until the commercial plan is ready.

How does the Instance Manager work?

To gain maximum control of your system, the instance manager service is enabled during instance provisioning. You can access the 3CX Instance Manager from your portal under the tab “Instances”. From here you can perform reboots and gain additional performance information.

What about Offsite Backups?

3CX performs backups, encrypts them and stores them securely. These backups contain system configuration and call history records. They do not contain voicemail and recording files. Every time your instance is rebooted an additional rescue backup is created. This does not include your call history.

You should archive your recordings in a remote location and perform your own backups using the “Backup & Restore” tool in the management console. Since this is your personal data, it’s important that you should maintain control of it at all times. For both backups and recording files we would recommend using a location such as Google storage, SFTP or FTP for complete protection.

How is the location selected?

Automatic location selection is based on the partner’s registered address and will soon be extended to trial licenses. This means that all common configurations are already set the moment you sign in to the 3CX Management Console, with the lowest latency possible for the locations we accommodate.

Note to European customers: All services will be deployed in the EEA but this does not necessarily mean that the country hosting your instance will be the one you reside in. Furthermore, automated backups do not leave the EEA.

What is the 3CX Hosted Instance Mode?

All instances we deploy come with this feature enabled, removing unnecessary access to menu options for the user. However, it still allows complete configuration of users, trunks and settings which are not related to the operation of the system itself. This involves the following differences compared with an on-premise or self-hosted instance:

  • Removed access:
    • Network Settings
    • Instance Manager
    • Parameter table
    • License Key Tab
  • Locked:
    • Recording quota
    • Recording local path
    • Voicemail quota
  • Removes web-terminal from the dashboard
  • Disables custom IP-phone templates
  • Disables CFD service
  • No scriptable IVRs or HA Configuration

Who are 3CX’s Hosting Providers?

3CX has partnered with leading cloud providers, forging deals to offer the best value for money. Currently, 3CX uses a mix of Amazon EC2, Digital Ocean and Google GCP. The service used depends on the location selected. In future, we may need to change the service provider and/or transfer existing customers to a new service.

Will 3CX offer VPN Access?

No, hosted by 3CX is all about providing a vanilla 3CX installation in the cloud with a focus on our mobile apps, web client, browser extension and Windows app. Customers wishing to connect IP phones to the instance should use the 3CX SBC to do so.

Will I be able to have root access?

Good one, no ;-)