A few non-technical Windows v18 to v20 questions

[GDInc]

We are planning our upgrade to v20 in the next few weeks and have a few questions for clarification.

1. I see a lot of displeasure that Windows users will be forced from Pro to Ent. We currently pay $295/yr for 8SC. Am I correct that the upgrade to Ent be only be an additional $75/yr?

2. Will the upgrade from Pro to Ent happen automatically during the v20 install or is there anything I need to do manually?

3. Say something goes really wrong and I need to revert back to v18. If i uninstall v20 and reinstall v18 and restore a v18 backup, will there be any issues? Or once you go to v20, youre stuck with v20?

Thanks!

 

[N_G]

If $375 per year for all users is too much for your organization, I suggest you start looking for another product right now and don't bother with the upgrade. You can check out asterisk.org it's completely free.

 

[Guillaume Bourgeois]

1. I see a lot of displeasure that Windows users will be forced from Pro to Ent. We currently pay $295/yr for 8SC. Am I correct that the upgrade to Ent be only be an additional $75/yr?

Yes, exact. Reference : https://www.3cx.com/ordering/pricing/pricelist/

2. Will the upgrade from Pro to Ent happen automatically during the v20 install or is there anything I need to do manually?

Everything is managed automatically during the restoration process on v20.

3. Say something goes really wrong and I need to revert back to v18. If i uninstall v20 and reinstall v18 and restore a v18 backup, will there be any issues? Or once you go to v20, youre stuck with v20?

Reverting is not possible. Once you’ve migrated to v20, the activation server will not allow you to complete the license activation process with a license now designated for v20.

 

[NicholasP_3CX]

We are planning our upgrade to v20 in the next few weeks and have a few questions for clarification.

1. I see a lot of displeasure that Windows users will be forced from Pro to Ent. We currently pay $295/yr for 8SC. Am I correct that the upgrade to Ent be only be an additional $75/yr?

2. Will the upgrade from Pro to Ent happen automatically during the v20 install or is there anything I need to do manually?

3. Say something goes really wrong and I need to revert back to v18. If i uninstall v20 and reinstall v18 and restore a v18 backup, will there be any issues? Or once you go to v20, youre stuck with v20?

Thanks!

Honestly, as a person who prefers windows myself (THANK YOU MICROSOFT FOR KEEPING ME IN A JOB FOR 25+ YEARS!) its actually really easy to use the Linux edition.

We provide the ISO which is really easy to deploy. Once the OS + PBX installation is done, the deployment of the PBX configuration is identical in both Windows and Linux.

You also need less resources to use the Linux edition, and no Microsoft licensing to pay, so another cost saving there, which you could use to upgrade to an Enterprise edition of 3CX for more features!

Your next question would be, but what if something goes wrong and I need to trouleshoot the OS? Easy answer...

USE YOUR BACKUPS! If you have a good solid backup regime, where you take regular backups and store them off server, whatever happens, you can just trash the OS and redeploy it.

It would honestly take you less time than trying to figure out what the issue is, and then try to learn Linux to solve it!

 

[GDInc]

If $375 per year for all users is too much for your organization, I suggest you start looking for another product right now and don't bother with the upgrade. You can check out asterisk.org it's completely free.

My question wasn't implying that $375/yr is too much. My question was to get clarification on what people were complaining about, which I'm not understanding as the increase from Pro to Ent doesn't seem to be THAT much (strictly my opinion and in our case with 8SC).

 

[GDInc]

Reverting is not possible. Once you’ve migrated to v20, the activation server will not allow you to complete the license activation process with a license now designated for v20.

Is restoring a VM snapshot of v18 an option? Or does 3CX contact the activation servers even after installation?

We've follow all of the requirements for upgrading to v20 and feel fairly confident that we won't have issues. But, we always like to have an immediate revertible "plan B" just in case something goes awry.

 

[GDInc]

Honestly, as a person who prefers windows myself (THANK YOU MICROSOFT FOR KEEPING ME IN A JOB FOR 25+ YEARS!) its actually really easy to use the Linux edition.

We provide the ISO which is really easy to deploy. Once the OS + PBX installation is done, the deployment of the PBX configuration is identical in both Windows and Linux.

You also need less resources to use the Linux edition, and no Microsoft licensing to pay, so another cost saving there, which you could use to upgrade to an Enterprise edition of 3CX for more features!

Your next question would be, but what if something goes wrong and I need to trouleshoot the OS? Easy answer...

USE YOUR BACKUPS! If you have a good solid backup regime, where you take regular backups and store them off server, whatever happens, you can just trash the OS and redeploy it.

It would honestly take you less time than trying to figure out what the issue is, and then try to learn Linux to solve it!

Thank you for the information! Although I feel fairly comfortable with Linux, we are a strictly Microsoft shop for the time being. I'm trying to change that culture but it's not up to me unfortunately.

 

[Guillaume Bourgeois]

Is restoring a VM snapshot of v18 an option? Or does 3CX contact the activation servers even after installation?

We've follow all of the requirements for upgrading to v20 and feel fairly confident that we won't have issues. But, we always like to have an immediate revertible "plan B" just in case something goes awry.

To be honest, I don't know the exact behavior in such a situation.
My instinct would be to say that the system will eventually validate its license (within approximately 24 hours) since, when a license is renewed before its expiration date, 3CX typically inherits the new expiration date after some time without needing any action in the 3CX PBX. However, what will happen if the license is no longer recognized by the activation server?

In my opinion, it will downgrade to a maximum of 2 simultaneous calls.

For my own knowledge, I plan to test this on a non-critical system over the weekend to see the result.
But, in any case, if your installation is critical, I recommend seeking help from an experienced 3CX partner who can assist you. Reverting to version 18 is not, in my view, a viable rescue solution.

P.S.: If you are using 3CX-supported products, the chances of encountering problems are minimal (if not nonexistent).

 

[GDInc]

To be honest, I don't know the exact behavior in such a situation.
My instinct would be to say that the system will eventually validate its license (within approximately 24 hours) since, when a license is renewed before its expiration date, 3CX typically inherits the new expiration date after some time without needing any action in the 3CX PBX. However, what will happen if the license is no longer recognized by the activation server?

In my opinion, it will downgrade to a maximum of 2 simultaneous calls.

For my own knowledge, I plan to test this on a non-critical system over the weekend to see the result.
But, in any case, if your installation is critical, I recommend seeking help from an experienced 3CX partner who can assist you. Reverting to version 18 is not, in my view, a viable rescue solution.

P.S.: If you are using 3CX-supported products, the chances of encountering problems are minimal (if not nonexistent).

Thanks again for the information. Quite honestly, we haven't had any upgrade issues in the past and we've been using 3CX for quite a while. The only "non-standard" thing we have going on right now is some custom templates that were installed previous to me. Which, after some testing, I'm realizing they weren't needed so I'm reverting them back to built in templates.

If you test this weekend, please do let me know what you find out if you don't mind!

 

[NicholasP_3CX]

Is restoring a VM snapshot of v18 an option? Or does 3CX contact the activation servers even after installation?

We've follow all of the requirements for upgrading to v20 and feel fairly confident that we won't have issues. But, we always like to have an immediate revertible "plan B" just in case something goes awry.

Once a subscription has been activated in Version 20, there is no rollback to reactivate it in the previous version.

A few of the main gotchas for the upgrade to version 20:

• Have a system owner role assigned to at least 1 extension
• Make sure their emails are UNIQUE in the system. No duplicates. We use the email as part of the 2FA authentication.
• Make sure you can access the web client of the system owner extension(s) as this will be the way to manage 3CX moving forward. The Management Console has been laid to rest after many years of service.

The full checklist is available at https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/v20-upgrade-checklist-faq/

But honestly with Windows there shouldnt be a problem upgrading.

 

[GDInc]

Once a subscription has been activated in Version 20, there is no rollback to reactivate it in the previous version.

A few of the main gotchas for the upgrade to version 20:

• Have a system owner role assigned to at least 1 extension
• Make sure their emails are UNIQUE in the system. No duplicates. We use the email as part of the 2FA authentication.
• Make sure you can access the web client of the system owner extension(s) as this will be the way to manage 3CX moving forward. The Management Console has been laid to rest after many years of service.

The full checklist is available at https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/v20-upgrade-checklist-faq/

But honestly with Windows there shouldnt be a problem upgrading.

Thank you for the guidance. Yeah, we've double/triple checked the upgrade checklist FAQ and I think we have everything to go.

One thing, you say "Make sure you can access the web client of the system owner extension(s) as this will be the way to manage 3CX moving forward. The Management Console has been laid to rest after many years of service.". Are you basically saying, with v18, go to https://3cx.domain.com:5001/webclient and log in with the system owner extension, say ext 1234. If I go to "Admin > Users > Ext 1234" and it shows "System Owner" under the extension's e-mail address, I should be good to go. Correct?

I know that is a "basic" question but I want to make sure as it seems many people have forgotten the system owner thing before upgrading.