Auto-provision 3CX Assistant

[discovery1]

I like the auto-provision feature but if you don't want or don't get the welcome email with the link to autoprovision the 3CX assistant i would like another method.

What about when the 3CX assistant is installed there is a wizard asking for the hostname or the IP of the 3CX server and your extension number so that it can configure itself?

At the moment i have to find the path and manually type or paste it in but it would be better if there was a bit of automation to do this for me.

Ideally the 3CX assistant could do some sort of lookup against the 3CX phonebook for your name and try to auto-configure itself so you could have a truly automated setup once you have given the assistant the hostname or IP of the 3CX server. Something similar to the outlook 2007 and exchange 2007/2010 provisioning where you enter your email address and it configures your outlook client without you having to enter any more details.

 

[nb]

Full automation is by resending welcome email.
At the moment this is the automation you can get.

it is easier for a user to just press a link than staying inputting ip addresses or lookups.

 

[discovery1]

Hi Nicky

Thanks for the reply, but i am looking at it from a large enterprise level where a users profile gets set up and they have almost no input to configure their apps.
This is an enterprise feature similar to the call break in feature that i asked for over a year ago that has just made it into the latest build.

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

Hi,

Really all you would need to do is to Send an activation E-Mail to all users on the system which can be done in just a few seconds.
Then the user just needs to click on the link in the e-mail you sent, then everything is done automatically and the user is ready to go.
- This is really as simple and fast as it gets for the user, i can't think of a better way myself.


With your solution:
- The solution you provided describing having to go through a Wizard for each installation adds up more un-needed functions from the user and takes more time than the current implementation of the Auto-Provisioning.

- So lets say you've installed the assistant on your PC and you run the wizard that "gets your info from the phonebook".
How does it know that you are Extension 100 for example?
For the sake of the argument, let's say you provide this yourself in the wizard, then what? Does this mean that anyone with an Assistant installation can simply install, say what extension he wishes to be, and with no problem at all he is connected to your company's server? For this reason, the Wizard you suggested doesn't sound like a good alternative to the current way of provisioning.

- Currently for us it's impractical to move away from one good way of provisioning to an other good way of doing it.
Unless it has some real hard benefits, we cannot simply start making changes for something that does not even look beneficial.

For now, this is not something we are planning to do unless a really good alternative beneficial way of provisioning shows up.




I really don't see how your version

 

[carolinainnovative]

Leonidas,

I could see this being a benefit when the user's profile is locked down to the point that they can not install software. There really needs to be a way to DEPLOY the assistant as an administrator and bundle the config. Think call center - lots of level 1 agents, none of them with access to do anything on their PCs except run whatever Line-of-Business application they have, email, and 3cx Assistant. They CERTAINLY wouldn't be able to INSTALL software.

 

[bangsjaman]

Leonidas,

I could see this being a benefit when the user's profile is locked down to the point that they can not install software. There really needs to be a way to DEPLOY the assistant as an administrator and bundle the config. Think call center - lots of level 1 agents, none of them with access to do anything on their PCs except run whatever Line-of-Business application they have, email, and 3cx Assistant. They CERTAINLY wouldn't be able to INSTALL software.

You could do this by deploying 3CX assistant by Group Policy. I do this myself for Call center purposes and it works fine, but as the other answers indicate you still have to supply the users with IP-adress and login information..

 

[carolinainnovative]

You could do this by deploying 3CX assistant by Group Policy. I do this myself for Call center purposes and it works fine, but as the other answers indicate you still have to supply the users with IP-adress and login information..

I would like a way to push the config too!

 

[coelhopsi]

I completely agree that there should be a way to automatically push the config. At our workplace nobody has admin access to their workstations and all software is deployed via Group Policy, which renders the e-mail with the setup link completely unusable.

Regards,
Fábio Pinto Coelho

 

[netwerkshop]

I second, third, or fourth that motion.

We want to deploy 3cx assistant through group policy.

So what happens when a user logs in, will the be asked for the provisioning URL? (as this is the first time that 3CX assistant is started)

It seems there is only a small missing link between auto provisioning and Active Directory. Could the 3cx assistant not abuse active directory by provisioning based on active directory username? (Yes, the active directory username will also have to be in 3cx somewhere, perhaps set as sip ID....?

While we're at it, and slightly off topic, although 3cx is incredibly feature rich when it comes to the user, I think sometimes to much is expected of that user. In the worst case the user has to learn how to use 4 interfaces:

3cx assistant (with different profiles)
3cx softphone
Myphone webinterface
Deskphone

Quite a lot for many users ...

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

One word then...
http://3cx.ideascale.com/