Auto provisioning (PnP) not working on ESXi and pfSense

[Taigar]

Hello,

First post, I searched the 3CX, pfSense and VMware forum, but didn't find my answer yet.
I also made a post on the pfSense forum: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=124720.0

Problem is: auto provisioning is not working.

It is my first ESXi install, and my first 3CX install. ESXi installed fine, created a Debian 8 VM, and installed 3CX. Connected this 3CX virtual server to my home network (Edgerouter Lite, and Toughswitches), connected a Yealink T41P phone to a ToughSwitch (PoE), and logged in to the web interface of 3CX.
The phone showed up without any problems (using PnP, multicast), everything looked good!

I played a little around with settings, and made an internal call on my desktop between 2 phones (T41P).

Then it was time to install pfSense (this is the firewall application we have in our office, and I am also planning on installing it at home as VM. Worked many years with pfSense, and have a pretty good understanding of the software).
I created a pfSense VM, setup 2 LAN networks (1x LAN, 1x LAN-VOIP (for testing)), and changed the switch and portgroup on the ESXi web interface (little bit trial and error, but I managed to get a VLAN for VOIP, with in this VLAN the 3CX server, and 2 phone's)

With a little help from google, I managed to change all the settings on the 3CX server (change from VLAN also made a change in IP address). But I couldn't get the phone's to auto provision.
I made a new Debian 8 VM, and installed 3CX fresh on the new VLAN (to be sure it didn't had any old IP's somewhere in the settings)
But again, no auto provisioning.

I tried every possible setting in the ESXI, and on the pfSense, but it didn't help.
Then I again made a new Debian VM, and installed 3CX, this time connected to the home network again. Just to be sure it still worked (and I didn't make any faults configuring the switch/portgroup). And it worked!

Now I only need to know why it is not working with my pfSense VM. Do I need to change some settings? Are the multicast packets blocked on the vSwitch? Does pfSense have anything to do with it?
Does someone over here have any experience with this problem? Can you help me solve it?

If you need more info, let me know!

 

[StefanW]

so is the PBX and the Phone in the same network or routed via the pfsense. I run this setup for our departments 100 times so general this is not an issue. Can you define all IP addresses your have in use for phone and pbx?

 

[Vali_3CX]

Also, Taigar, the PBX port should be 5060

 

[Taigar]

Thans for your reply.

The 3CX and Phone are in the same network (same VLAN) connected to the pfSense. They are in the same subnet, and I am able to ping the phones from the 3CX server.

I don't have the IP addresses available right now, because I tried another setup to find out the problem. But it was like this:

pfSense 172.25.70.1
3CX 172.25.70.2
T41P 172.25.70.3
T41P 172.25.70.4

I installed the 3CX with default settings, and also checked the SIP port to be 5060 (it was default).

One thing I might try is swapping out the ToughSwitch, as I am not such a big fan of these switches anymore. I have a netonix switch, lets try that.

The setup you ran, it also has only ESXi with vSwitches, or did you also have vCenter Server and distributed switches?

 

[Sopock]

Now I only need to know why it is not working with my pfSense VM. Do I need to change some settings? Are the multicast packets blocked on the vSwitch? Does pfSense have anything to do with it?

Maybe it is possible to try with beta build on Hyper-V?

https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/3cxphone-v15-deploy-user-configuration.46200/

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

First of all it is multicast and not broadcast used. In order to ensure that your server listens to multicast requests open an SSH and type netstat -g
You should see sip.mcast.net next to your default network interface.
You could also run tshark on the server and filter with the ip of the phone or the multicast ip which is 224.0.1.75
the phonesmust be factory reset ti send multicast

https://www.3cx.com/docs/plug-and-play-ip-phone/

 

[jbryant84]

Have you tried adding option 66 to DHCP using the provisioning link found on an extension?

 

[Sopock]

You should see sip.mcast.net next to your default network interface.

It is there. OP was confused that there should be 224.0.1.75...

 

[Taigar]

Thanks all for your responses.

I understand it is multicast traffic.

I also didn't know what to look for after using 'netstat -g'. I found 1 site which gave me the IP address (224.0.1.75).
But sip.mcast.net is indeed listed on my 3cx server.

I tried the Netonix switch, instead of the ToughSwitch, but no result.

I think somewhere in the ESXi network the multicast is blocked.

Is it possible to use this without using distributed switches?

DCHP option 66 I didn't try, because that is not wat I wanted. PnP should be working if it can.

Factory reset I did (about a hundred times already...)

 

[Sopock]

At least for learning purpose I would connect phone to second NIC. Test PnP on softphone?

Bad news is that, if you need an IGMP proxy for that, it won't work on your VLANs.
It's a long known bug never fixed but considered "rarely used" and pushed from release to release to release.