3CX - Windows VS Linux

[njp]

Hello,

So after some helpful advice from you all in my last post regarding our Sangoma A200, although we got it working with NBE and Sangoma's help in supplying the template files from 3CX v12 we made a decision to go with a Patton gateway regardless because the support and compatibility factor is going to be important especially when my client comes round to purchasing a 3CX license.

We were going to stick with Elastix 5 (essentially the 3CX on Debian) as my client likes the thought of Linux powering the system, but this looks quite new and it appears 3CX has thrived on Windows. What are the pro's and con's? Or in general which platform is preferred predominantly by people using 3CX?

I know the obvious drawbacks to Windows and performance but the machine will be a second gen quad i5, 4GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD, and Windows 7 Pro x64 but I'll be simplifying the whole OS - no unnecessary software and processes, windows update checks disabled (maintenance will be done out of hours), it'll be as stripped back as it can be without toying with services etc. Rest of system is ~40 SIP Phones, and two PSTN lines for inbound and outbound.

 

[cobaltit]

3CX has been pretty solid under Windows, but realize they made a big change in v15 in switching from Abyss/IIS to Nginx for the web server. So in reality, there isn't quite that much history with v15 on Windows vs Linux. That being said we switched our installation from Windows to Linux as of SP2 and it has been fine with no issues. All of your interaction post-install is going to be via the web interface so just use whatever OS is available and you are comfortable supporting.

 

[us1]

I have several hosted instances of the Debian version of 3cx out in the wild. They have been just as solid as the Windows versions. The bonus is I no longer have to pay SPLA licensing to Microsoft for those hosted instances. It allows me to streamline things, gives me more pricing flexibility, and still delivers a solid platform.

Take your pick and run with what makes you comfortable.

 

[rks]

Are there any performance metrics to compare the linux version vs the windows version? We're looking to deploy about 100 users would this task be better suited to the windows version or the linux version? or does it not matter anymore?

 

[NetVu IT]

I can't comment on all aspects of system performance, but I can tell you re-installing Debian based 3CX from scratch on Friday took me about 15 minutes. For it to be this quick under Windows I'd probably have to be using a pre-installed VM image.

As others have pointed out it most likely comes down to what you're comfortable supporting, and an element of cost as you don't need a Windows license. For instance, being at the lower end of the market the reduced cost of a Debian system allowed me to upgrade the Intel NUC I'm using from 4GiB to 8GiB RAM and replace the HDD with an SSD while still coming in below budget.

 

[rks]

Is there a list of comparisons? What all is missing from Linux version?

 

[tratz]

One other thing. If you are using any 3rd party addons for 3cx (voiptools, etc.) or write your own, you would want to make sure that you have a way of running them within linux.

 

[livn46]

In response to rks, here is the latest post that lists Linux vs. Windows: https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/linux-pbx/. LDAP/ODBC support and PDF reports seems to be the only thing that's on Windows that's not on Linux yet. Other than that there's full feature parity.

 

[JasonNadeau]

Imo 3cx is solid in both OS's. The difference for me are the tools used outside 3cx like wireshark and TeamViewer. I had to give myself a crash course in tcpdump ..

 

[N_G]

As a background I can say that you are running identical code on linux or windows. Thre is just a few more features that are different but these will soon be resolved. PDF support is coming in 15.5. ODBC will probably be less required once our new CRM integration comes out.

Its very much what you are comfortable running. For appliance and cloud, Linux works much better clearly. But if you have a Windows server running, i'd say just stick to windows.