2-Locations, 1-3CX Server, Is this possible?

[westek-consulting]

I am relatively new to VOIP and I have a new client that has a 3CX phone system. He is opening a new office roughly 45 miles away from his current office and is inquring if he can run his current 3CX server for both locations.

I have searched quite intensively and haven't found an answer.

Can someone point in the right direction please?

Or just inform me that it is or isn't possible.

Thank You,

Kyle West
Westek Consulting

 

[jelliott52]

Yes it is possible . But I wouldn't recommend it. I would put a small 3CS system in the new location and bridge the systems.

I can go into more detail if you need that type of info.

Jay Elliott

 

[westek-consulting]

Thanks for the prompt response Jay.

If you could go more into detail, that would be excellent.

From my understanding, his new office will only have 4-5 phones, if that matters.

And can you elaborate more on "small 3CX" system?

Thank You,

Kyle

 

[jelliott52]

Hi Kyle,
To have his office run one 1 3CX I would recommend a pretty robust internet connection and VPN solution. We use Clark Connect with openVPN. The down side. If his internet connect goes out he can't make any calls at all.

Recommended Solutuon
Put a small 3CX system (4 call's ) at his "other" site. The hardware requirements are minimal for 3CX. Heck, my home system is VIA minibox, running XP and 512 of ram. You can pick up a new computer system for $300 dollars, add a grandstream gateway for telephone lines, add 4-5 sip phones and then bridge the 2 systems together so that they can make inter office calls. There's your solution.

Jay

 

[MickeM]

I'm running one 3cx server for a total of five offices. No specific problems because of that...

/Michael

 

[Ricambi America]

I am quite surprised that people think this is an odd configuration.

It is simple as pie, and 100% satisfactory. My company runs 4 different locations, with the server in a 5th location. There are no actual handsets anywhere in the facility (or network, for that matter) where the server resides.

Our server is part of a farm of servers that we have at Rackspace. It is a dual-core 2GB machine, also running some additional apps. Our 4 different locations field about 150 calls a day inbound, and place another 40-60 outbound calls. In essence, all the phones are 'external' to the server.

Our services are via Vonage and CallCentric. Our handsets range from Grandstream (GXP2000), Aastra (55i), Cisco (525G), to the VOIP client. No issues. I wish faxing via 3CX were cleaner, but for our configuration we felt the best solution was to 'drop back and punt'.... we use fax.com for that requirement, bypassing 3CX entirely.

Rackspace does a phenomenal job managing uptime and network connectivity to the server. We have experienced zero problems. I don't know how big the pipe at Rackspace is, but it has not been an issue. Each of the 4 remote facilities use business-class cable modems, and in those locations people run a variety of other network apps all consuming bandwidth too. Bandwidth consumption from those remote locations is not excessive.

Honestly, the only pissy part of the configuration has been STUN servers that get flaky. We transfer calls between locations easily, we manage ring groups, etc. with no problems.

Don't believe for one second that an 'external' server is unacceptable. They work just fine.


.

 

[comresource]

I recently did a 3 site single server install. Things to keep in mind.

1. Create the proper outbound rules if external offices are in a different Area Code to prepend it correctly.
2. Ensure that each office will outpulse the correct DID for that specific office.
3. Make sure that 911 from the external offices will report the correct callback DID and Street Address. TEST THIS!

My setup was a bit different as the external offices were connected via a corporate MPLS so I had to multi-home the 3CX server and set an outbound proxy for the external phones but it all ended up working well.

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

Just to remind you all that we have a Program called: 3CX Sip Proxy Manager which essentially does what you want.
It's downloadable on the Wiki for Free, but if you really need expensive hardware VPN solutions that's no problem.

Just reminding you of your second option as well.

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

Well, the 3CX Sip Proxy Manager is our product so, i dont see why people would prefer other VPN solutions, when we have our own working version for our product.

I mean, we test it for you, we make sure it's as BugFree as possible.
We recently revamped it and made a new Version 8 Sip Proxy Manager with a lot of fixes.

-We are planning to improve it's functionality in the future by adding the ability to directly connect to a phone that is on the same network as the user, instead of having to go through the remote PBX, then back to the network to call the user you want to speak to.
If a user is next to you, at the moment the call still goes through the remote PBX then back...
But in the future it will directly call that user if he is on the same network.

Anyway it's your choice, i'm just a bit curious on why anyone would use some other solution.

 

[comresource]

@LeonidasG

Does the latest version of the SIP Proxy Manager work with Aastra phones now?

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

@LeonidasG

Does the latest version of the SIP Proxy Manager work with Aastra phones now?

You got me there HARD :mrgreen:

Aastra is the only phone that cant work with the 3CX Sip Proxy Manager...
This is simply because the VIA field in the packets that Aastras send are somewhat different and the Sip Proxy Manager depends heavily on the Via field.

For the moment Aastras are "NO-GO" but we are planning to investigate and find a possible solution for Aastras.
Although you can receive calls and have audio, you cannot make outbound calls with Aastras on the Sip Proxy Manager.

 

[danielnm]

Hi LeonidasG,

I have exactly the same problem with a Gigaset A580 phone connecting trough SIP Proxy Manager. I get incoming calls, however outgoing calls do not go trough. I get a message "VoIP not available". Can you comment on this? Might it be the same problem as for Aastra phones?

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

Sounds like the same issue but i cant confirm because i dont have a Gigaset A580 here.

 

[danielnm]

Any way to confirm that?