Solved Activation issues

[jeremyprestidge]

Hi,
Getting the below error when I try activating 3CX on windows server 2019

3CX failed to establish a TCP connection to activate.3cx.com.
Ensure that the local or border firewalls are configured to allow outbound traffic to activate.3cx.com

I'm able to ping activate.3cx.com and it successfully resolves and gets a reply, so not sure what it's issue is?

Version is 18.0 Update 2 (Build 307)

Thanks

 

[jeremyprestidge]

Updated to Build 314 just to make sure that wasn't an issue, but still no luck

 

[Saqqara]

Change the dns servers on the 3cx server to google 8.8.8.8 , try activating again

Check your firewall to see if you are not blocking outbound traffic from the 3cx server, if you are adjust the settings. Resolving the fqdn and allowing access are two different things

Have you configured your firewall with the required setup https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/firewall-router-configuration/

 

[jeremyprestidge]

I've disabled the firewall entirely without any luck. But yes I had followed that guide first.

Also changing the dns to google won't affect anything if I can already resolve the fqdn in theory?

 

[jeremyprestidge]

Also, if I run the 3CX firewall checker, I get no issues. Not sure if this actually does any checks for the activation server though

 

[Saqqara]

When I say firewall, I mean the router.

Do you have any webfiltering enabled on the router

What other applications are installed on the Server 2019,

 

[jeremyprestidge]

Yes I realize you meant the router - I did the dodgy and just allowed all inbound and outbound traffic on all ports etc. just to check it temporarily.
There is web filtering on the server, but it doesn't appear to block anything - I can attempt to browse to the activate.3cx.com address without the web filtering pages kicking in. Also nslookup activate.3cx.com and activation.3cx.com both successfully show 8.8.8.8 as the dns server for the requests. Just to confirm I've attempted that option as well.

 

[Saqqara]

The server should only be running 3cx and no other applications - please remove the web filtering application.

In Windows Defender add the following exclusions -

• C:\Program Files\3CX Phone System\*
• C:\ProgramData\3CX\*

 

[jeremyprestidge]

I'm not easily able to remove the other applications, but I can't see that any of them would be interfering. Exclusions have been added where necessary

 

[NickD_3CX]

I'm not easily able to remove the other applications, but I can't see that any of them would be interfering. Exclusions have been added where necessary

DPI and packet inspection can cause Activation requests to fail.
I have to agree with @Saqqara on this one, that web filtering software needs to be removed to eliminate that.

Just to confirm, while you are packet capturing on the Firewall (there is no point doing this on the server), if you press the "Refresh License Key" button, do you see traffic reaching the Firewall and going off towards the internet?

 

[jeremyprestidge]

Ok. I ended up just redeploying to a new azure vm and it's all working now.
Thanks for your help!