Implementing 3CX in a cloud environment would be a great idea, particularly if we can offload the hardware management headaches to a competent hosting provider. Well, Google is about as safe a haven as you could find, and Google's Compute Engine is an affordable platform well-suited to this sort of task.

To set up a 3CX machine on Google's Compute Engine, we will need to perform a number of steps - some trivial, some a bit more involved:

  • Setup a Google account and sign in
  • Create a Project
  • Create a temporary VM Instance to build a template
  • Prepare your template instance for 3CX
  • Create your instance from the template
  • Install 3CX on the new instance

Setup a Google Account

If you have not yet got a google account, then you will need to create one to manage your service infrastructure. Keep in mind that this account will need to have billing set up on it after your "free" or "trial" period.

Note that even if your email address is not a Google-hosted domain, you can still create an account for your email address.

  • Point your browser at https://console.cloud.google.com
  • Click the "Try it Free" button.

Agreement_Cloud Platform for free

  • Set your country, agree to the terms of service, and click the "Agree and continue" button
  • Insert your personal information and company information (if relevant) for eventual billing purposes.

This will send you the Google Cloud Platform Dashboard.

Create a Project

  • Click on the "Create Project" link

New Project_Cloud Platform for Free

  • Create a project name - in this example "cloud3cx-247supported-demo"

You will need to wait a few seconds for the project creation process to complete.

Create a VM Instance to Build a Template

  • Navigate to Compute Engine -> VM Instances
  • Click on "Create Instance"
    • Set the name to "instance-3cx-template-vm"
    • You can leave the default value for the zone - this is not really relevant right now since we are only creating a template
    • Set the machine type to "small (1 shared vCPU, 1.7Gb memory, g1-small)"

Boot Disk_Cloud Platform for Free

  • Set the Boot Disk:
    • OS Image == Debian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)
    • Boot disk type = Standard persistent disk
    • Size (Gb) = 25Gb
    • Click on the "Select" button

Boot Disk Type_Cloud Platform for Free

  • Identity and API access:
    • Service Account = Compute Engine default service account
    • Access scopes = Allow full access to all Cloud APIs

Deletion Rule_Cloud Platform for Free

  • Expand the Management, disk, networking, SSH keys section
    • Navigate to Disks => Deletion rule
    • UNSELECT the "Delete boot disk when instance is deleted" option
    • Click on the "Create" button at the bottom of the page

We have now completed most of the back-end preparation work. In part 2, we will see how to create your "gold" image for eventual multiple deployments of 3CX on Google Compute Engine.