Solved Activation Issue

[TagleRock]

Good Morning,

I am getting an activation issue on a new 3CX deployment. When trying to activate I get the error "Unable to reach 3CX License Activation Server. Confirm that your Primary DNS Server is able to resolve activation.3cx.com ". I have set the DNS to google (8.8.8.8) and removed all others and rebooted to ensure the cache is cleared and the DNS service is restarted, when I ping googe.com or yahoo.com it resolves and replies, but when I ping activation.3cx.com it resolves but times out on both the server and on my laptop, this of course could be because they have ICMP blocked on 3CX's side but I don't know that for sure. Anyone have any ideas or know of any current issues with new activations at the moment? Thanks

Server Version
Debian 3CX Installed on ESXI 5.5
Version: 16.0.3.676

 

[TagleRock]

I ran a tracert and for some reason on the last few it actually leaves the US, are 3CX's activation servers outside the US?

 

[craigreilly]

I can not ping that address either - but my activations goto that address as I can see in my router when I refresh my license info. It appears to be an OVH server in the UK.

 

[TagleRock]

Have you seen any issues with your activations? Or is this something that support will probably need to handle?

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi @TagleRock

Unfortunately you are running on an unsupported ESXi version, so the system is not running in a supported environment.

I would suggest to install it on a physical machine as a test if you want, and run your checks there before you proceed. You may use the Debian ISO we provide for a quick deployment.

https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/installing-debian-linux-pbx/#h.5hoy5wwhhk5c

 

[TagleRock]

Hi @TagleRock

Unfortunately you are running on an unsupported ESXi version, so the system is not running in a supported environment.

I would suggest to install it on a physical machine as a test if you want, and run your checks there before you proceed. You may use the Debian ISO we provide for a quick deployment.

https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/installing-debian-linux-pbx/#h.5hoy5wwhhk5c

Can you please provide a valid technical reason as to why activation would be affected from an ESXI 5.5 machine. DNS works, TCP/IP works, but it just won't activate the license.

 

[TagleRock]

Turns out there really is no valid reason why 5.5 would prevent activation, the problem was a short between the computer and the chair -.-. I had edited a file containing DNS settings but it seems to have been the wrong one, I edited the correct one (/etc/resolv.conf) and removed the primary DNS server which isn't online yet and left only the secondary one (8.8.8.8) and it worked. Now if you all will excuse me I'm starting the weekend early before I light something on fire.

 

[cobaltit]

The good old PEBKAC, At least you figured it out today so it didn't ruin your weekend!

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Can you please provide a valid technical reason as to why activation would be affected from an ESXI 5.5 machine. DNS works, TCP/IP works, but it just won't activate the license.

It's not tested so we do not know how it will behave or if there is anything networking-wise that needs to be taken into consideration on this version of Debian. That being said, if you edited files that have to do with DNS resolution, I would look there first before anything else by returning them to their defaults

Regardless, I'm glad it was resolved in the end