Blocking 3CX Access to the Internet Temporarily

[Wendelspanswick]

We have a site that is still running V14, we have been pushing to upgrade but it needs to be done out of hours and the customers IT department are dragging their heels in giving us remote access to the server and the temporary upgrade server.
As the date when the 3CX server certificates expire approaches (the 7th of October) we are concerned that the licence will revert to the free version before the IT department come up with a policy to allow us remote access to their network.
Is it possible to create a firewall rule to stop the server accessing the 3CX licencing site till we can upgrade it?

 

[eddv123]

You cannot ask 3CX not to connect to the licencing server - it requires this connection so that the licence is live and customers are not using the licencing instance on multiple sites.

However your specific question is not 3CX related but network/firewall, you could probably setup a rule to do this dependent on your firewall brand, most firewalls are stateful and will allow outbound connections by default so you will need to put in specific rules - the results however on the 3CX licence will most likely put it into FREE.

I would stress to your client the results of what will happen if they do not upgrade and insist on access. If they know the system could potentially be down I am sure they would sort themselves out.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

You cannot ask 3CX not to connect to the licencing server - it requires this connection so that the licence is live and customers are not using the licencing instance on multiple sites.

However your specific question is not 3CX related but network/firewall, you could probably setup a rule to do this dependent on your firewall brand, most firewalls are stateful and will allow outbound connections by default so you will need to put in specific rules - the results however on the 3CX licence will most likely put it into FREE.

I would stress to your client the results of what will happen if they do not upgrade and insist on access. If they know the system could potentially be down I am sure they would sort themselves out.

The IT department are a nightmare, it's a large public body and no one wants to take responsibility so it is being pushed about from person to person!
We have tested the removal of web access by taking away the DNS servers from the NIC... the 3CX keeps the licence details but the Fax to Email service stops, if we knew the correct addresses we could create a firewall rule to restrict server access..

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Hello @Wendelspanswick

Please note that blocking the IP of the activation server will have the same result as the PBX will simply not find an activation server to activate against. That does not mean however that the PBX will revert to FREE. If no changes are made to the system that require re-activation then the system will remain activated. So if you do upgrade the system until the mentioned date make sure that no changes are made to it to avoid any issues.