3CX Failover

[techdummy]

Hi,

We are weighing in the 3CX Fail-over option.
I would like to know, whether we need 2 separate licenses to setup fail over or is it possible with just one?
Also, I see that the fail over time for PRO licenses is 6 hours, does this mean the switch will take only after 6 hours?
What is the minimum time for the switch to happen?

Thank you.

 

[techdummy]

From what I've read and understood, it is one license that gets re-activated at the time of fail-over.
I want to know if I'm right or is there something that I'm not understanding.

When I look it from a logical view point too, it suggests that the license would be the same. But I just need a confirmation from someone who has already done this or is knowledgeable about this.

 

[techdummy]

Also, will the re-activations cause any problem? I believe the number of activations is limited. Need some clarity on that too.

 

[Mwamba]

Hi,

We are weighing in the 3CX Fail-over option.
I would like to know, whether we need 2 separate licenses to setup fail over or is it possible with just one?
Also, I see that the fail over time for PRO licenses is 6 hours, does this mean the switch will take only after 6 hours?
What is the minimum time for the switch to happen?

Thank you.

You should use the Enterprise License. The FQDN is set to a TTL of 5 minutes, this allows you to fail-over within 5 minutes.

 

[eddv123]

I second this, the Enterprise licence is a single key that can be registered to 2 separate servers and thus give you a better fail-over option.

I have done fail-over with the single PRO licence option and it is not fun (windows share required, public DNS fail-over, scripting etc required).

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Hello @techdummy

Please note that only one licence is required for failover but like the others i would recommend using the Enterprise Licence that is designed for failover.
The failover time for the PRO version is not 6 hours as the failover server will take over right away. The FQDN TTL is 6 hours which means that the FQDN will take up to 6 hours to point to the new IP.
In the Enterprise edition this is reduced to 5 minutes.

 

[techdummy]

Thank you for the replies @Mwamba, @eddv123 and @YiannisH_3CX
We are having a PRO perpetual license at the moment, the maintenance and support expires in August.
How do I go about changing the license?
Can't I just upgrade to Enterprise edition from Pro and then buy the yearly maintenance package?
Which is the best way to bring about these change?

Also, @YiannisH_3CX When I went through the Failover document, i saw something like this "With an ENT license key the DNS TTL resolution for 3CX provided FQDN is set to 5 minutes". Does this mean it is only possible with a 3CX provided FQDN? Because we have our own FQDN.

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Can't I just upgrade to Enterprise edition from Pro and then buy the yearly maintenance package?

Yes you can upgrade your existing key to ENT and not have to change licence.

Also, @YiannisH_3CX When I went through the Failover document, i saw something like this "With an ENT license key the DNS TTL resolution for 3CX provided FQDN is set to 5 minutes". Does this mean it is only possible with a 3CX provided FQDN? Because we have our own FQDN.

These values affect 3CX provider FQDN's. If you use your own FQDN then you control the DNS entries and it is up to you update them during failover.
https://www.3cx.com/docs/failover/

 

[techdummy]

@YiannisH_3CX what about the sync delay?

Can you please let me know what is the interval during which the servers sync? Is it 1 hour, 2 hour or will it take 24 hours? Is it possible to reduce the sync interval from our side?

I read in the article that the passive server uses the backup from the Live server, So does that mean that if something goes wrong between the backups, the passive server will only have the previous backup to turn into and that all the informations like call log between the last backup and failure will not be available to the passive server?

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

The sync happens when the backup is restored to the failover server that happens at a set time you choose. So if the backup was not restored then the passive server will only have the data from the latest successful restore.

 

[techdummy]

Okay, so the sync happens only when the backup gets restored. So there will be a delay of 24 hours between 2 sync? Correct?!

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Yes the sync will occur every 24 hours if setup to daily restore.

 

[techdummy]

Okay, thank you for confirming.
Is there any way we can reduce the sync times?

 

[techdummy]

Also, is there a limit to the number of times a PRO or Enterprise license can be re-activated?

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Okay, thank you for confirming.
Is there any way we can reduce the sync times?

Currently, daily is the best you can do with scheduled restores. You could request for this to change however by posting your request on https://www.3cx.com/community/forums/3cx-ideas/ . All posts are reviewed by their corresponding Departments and, if feasible and voted for by other users as well, may be implemented in an upcoming service pack or update.

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Also, is there a limit to the number of times a PRO or Enterprise license can be re-activated?

As long as the activation occurs between the same 2 servers (failover) you should not worry about the limit