Accidental activation of a customer's backup in a VM

[PBX_Programmer]

Hi all,

I hope somebody can help me out please because I've caused a problem I think. We've got a customer who's got a v18 system running on Debian on a bare metal HP server. It's not a virtual machine. We are working on upgrading them to v20 and as part of that process we have taken a full backup. Separately, whilst experimenting with virtual machines in our office I have created a new Debian/3CX virtual machine and as part of the process I chose the option to build it from a backup - and unfortunately the backup I selected was mistakenly the backup I took from our customer's v18 system. So basically I've messed up here. The VM started up and said it was activating the FQDN. I then realised my mistake but it was too late. Now I cannot access our customer's actual 3CX system remotely via its FQDN. If I ping the FQDN it resolves as the public IP address of our office, not our customer's premises. I've shut down the VM I built by mistake. Is there any way in which I can get our customer's on-premises 3CX system re-associated back with its FQDN? I hope I've explained my problem well but if you need any further information please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[Evolute IT]

Hi all,

I hope somebody can help me out please because I've caused a problem I think. We've got a customer who's got a v18 system running on Debian on a bare metal HP server. It's not a virtual machine. We are working on upgrading them to v20 and as part of that process we have taken a full backup. Separately, whilst experimenting with virtual machines in our office I have created a new Debian/3CX virtual machine and as part of the process I chose the option to build it from a backup - and unfortunately the backup I selected was mistakenly the backup I took from our customer's v18 system. So basically I've messed up here. The VM started up and said it was activating the FQDN. I then realised my mistake but it was too late. Now I cannot access our customer's actual 3CX system remotely via its FQDN. If I ping the FQDN it resolves as the public IP address of our office, not our customer's premises. I've shut down the VM I built by mistake. Is there any way in which I can get our customer's on-premises 3CX system re-associated back with its FQDN? I hope I've explained my problem well but if you need any further information please let me know.

Thanks!

Did the backup contain the FQDN and license? If so, simply reboot the customer's physical machine and it should force an update of the license details again. Make sure to kill the new VM obviously.

You can also try accessing the machine locally via its private IP (if you have a VPN access or someone on-site able to Anydesk/Teamviewer with you) and refresh the license from there. It should force an update.

 

[PBX_Programmer]

Did the backup contain the FQDN and license? If so, simply reboot the customer's physical machine and it should force an update of the license details again. Make sure to kill the new VM obviously.

You can also try accessing the machine locally via its private IP (if you have a VPN access or someone on-site able to Anydesk/Teamviewer with you) and refresh the license from there. It should force an update.

Thanks @ConceptsWeb ,

Currently I have remote access to servers on the premises however when I browse from there to the internal address of the 3CX server, I see the login page but when I try to log in it says Server Error. I'm not sure if that's maybe because of the problems I've caused.

Yes the backup did contain the FQDN and license, everything was included in the backup. It wasn't encrypted.

I think there is ILO on the server, so if I can get into that I will try to reboot it.

Currently the system does appear to still be handling calls, obviously rebooting it will cause a loss of calls for a few minutes, hopefully it will then come back.

I'll update here to say how it goes.

Thanks

 

[PBX_Programmer]

I have been able to browse into it locally from one of the servers on site without having to reboot it. I will refresh the license and see what happens.

 

[PBX_Programmer]

Refreshing the license details via the dashboard doesn't seem to have made any difference. If I ping the FQDN it still resolves as the wrong public IP address. I guess it will maybe just take a while for the DNS records to update? Or do I need to restart the services, or even reboot the physical server maybe?

I am worried about potential licensing issues now. I don't fully understand how it works but we've seen problems in the past when upgrading from one version to another. My very basic and probably incorrect understanding of it is, the new system (in this case my erroneous VM) reaches out to the licensing servers and says hey, I'm now on V20. Then when we try to roll back to v18 (or in this example, I reboot the actual physical server) it reaches out to the licensing server which rejects it because it's a v18 system and not v20, Maybe I've got that wrong and it will all be ok!

 

[Evolute IT]

Refreshing the license details via the dashboard doesn't seem to have made any difference. If I ping the FQDN it still resolves as the wrong public IP address. I guess it will maybe just take a while for the DNS records to update? Or do I need to restart the services, or even reboot the physical server maybe?

If it's a Pro version, DNS can take up to 6h to update. I suggest using www.dnschecker.org to see which DNS are updated.

Also, make sure that the correct static IP is entered in the Settings > Network section. You may try putting it to dynamic, save and then put it back to static with the right IP. It should also force trigger a DNS update.

I am worried about potential licensing issues now. I don't fully understand how it works but we've seen problems in the past when upgrading from one version to another. My very basic and probably incorrect understanding of it is, the new system (in this case my erroneous VM) reaches out to the licensing servers and says hey, I'm now on V20. Then when we try to roll back to v18 (or in this example, I reboot the actual physical server) it reaches out to the licensing server which rejects it because it's a v18 system and not v20, Maybe I've got that wrong and it will all be ok!

There's a grace period for rollbacks so you should be fine.

 

[PBX_Programmer]

Ok thanks, the correct static IP address is in there and I had already tried switching to dynamic and back to static as I'd seen somebody mention that procedure elsewhere, and for me it didn't seem to make any difference, however as you've said that it can take up to 6 hours to update the records I will keep an eye on it and hope that it sorts its self out over time.

 

[Guillaume Bourgeois]

As mentioned by ConceptsWeb, remember to shutdown your test machine.

When you switch to dynamic iP mode, restart the services. Then, switch back to static iP mode.

 

[PBX_Programmer]

Ah ok, thanks @Guillaume Bourgeois . I am trying that now. Yes the VM is shut down and I won't be starting it up again. I will update again shortly once services are restarted and I've switched back to static.

 

[PBX_Programmer]

It looks like it's ok now following me switching to dynamic, restarting the services, and switching back to static again. Thanks very much @ConceptsWeb and @Guillaume Bourgeois , you really helped me out. If anything further happens I will update this thread.

Thanks!

 

[Guillaume Bourgeois]

It looks like it's ok now following me switching to dynamic, restarting the services, and switching back to static again. Thanks very much @ConceptsWeb and @Guillaume Bourgeois , you really helped me out. If anything further happens I will update this thread.

Thanks!

I taught @ConceptsWeb everything he knows... without me, he wouldn't be as good.

Just kidding , I didn't teach him anything LOL.
I admit that I'm usually the one benefiting from his advice LOL!
In your case, it's just because I've experienced it many times LOL. I'm sharing my experience.

Have a great day, and don't hesitate to reach out if we can assist you again!

 

[Evolute IT]

It looks like it's ok now following me switching to dynamic, restarting the services, and switching back to static again. Thanks very much @ConceptsWeb and @Guillaume Bourgeois , you really helped me out. If anything further happens I will update this thread.

Thanks!

Glad it worked out!