3CX license change

[JMRM]

We switched vendors and upgraded last year from a perpetual license to annual and were given a free year. Our free year expires on Thursday this week, and we've purchased a new license key at a reduced SIM call level (Pro 64 VS 128). I am unable to activate the key on our existing installation and assume that I will need to uninstall and reinstall 3CX in order to activate it.

We are running the v16 final release on Windows server 2016 and would prefer to stay on this version through the week and upgrade to v18 over the weekend. When I reached out, we were informed by our vendor that this license cannot be activated on V16 and that we will be forced to install v18.

Is there any way to downgrade our license key so that it can be activated on v16?

I'm very uncomfortable upgrading mid-week and on such short notice...I'd prefer to give our users more notice about changes.

 

[VasilisV_3CX]

Hi @JMRM,

I'm afraid that I can't think of a way to do this. It seems to me that you'll need to get the new machine running before Thursday. If you take a backup from your v16 machine (running the latest version of v16: 16.0.8.16) and install a v18 PBX then restore it - you should be up and running in no time.

What OS version are you running the production system on?

 

[JMRM]

We are on Windows server 2016.

 

[VasilisV_3CX]

That's great @JMRM, then it should be a rather straightforward process.

 

[JMRM]

Ok, that's good to hear!

If you don't mind, I have a few more questions: Should I backup without the license key, then plug in the new license key during installation, or install from a typical backup using the expiring free-year key, then replace the key with the new one from the management interface once things are back online? Am I likely to run into any trouble with the FQDN not being associated with the new key?

 

[VasilisV_3CX]

Hi @JMRM,

Should I backup without the license key, then plug in the new license key during installation, or install from a typical backup using the expiring free-year key, then replace the key with the new one from the management interface once things are back online?

The best way to do this is to upgrade the old machine to v18 then replace the license key with the new v18 one, this way you ensure you don't lose your FQDN. If the new key you have hasn't been used before and has no FQDN associated to it, it will be a very smooth process taking only a few minutes.

Am I likely to run into any trouble with the FQDN not being associated with the new key?

Yes, the FQDN may be lost if you install a new machine and release the FQDN from the old license key. Thinking more about it, the above suggestion is really the best way to go. At first I was trying to avoid any downtime, now I believe it's better to have some downtime but keep the FQDN.