Configuring 3CX Phone System For 8 Locations

[buschconsulting]

Just wanted to get some configuration help with setting up 3CX Phone System for a single company with 8 locations. Currently, I have the configuration set as:

A paid licensed single 3CX system setup on Windows 2008 R2 Server in a dedicated data center. The 3CX server will also host its own DHCP Server with a Superscope that will distribute IPs across the various locations. We want to autoprovision the phones so we have Option 66 set on the DHCP server.

Seven of the locations including the 3CX Server are connected by private line and SIP lines, but there is one location connected through the Internet. Our plan is to just have 6 locations connected to the data center through the private line/sip lines and have them autoprovision across the private WAN. The last location we are thinking about using Proxy setup and did not know how to set this part up yet, but we also want these to autoprovision.

I wanted to know if:

The setup with the locations connected by private line will work and if there are any improvements that can be made to improve performance or best practices that can be followed.

What is the best way to setup the location that is isolated from the others through the Internet connection. Will the Proxy setup work or if there is a better way.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback as we will be pushing this out over the next 2-3 weeks, thank you in advance.

 

[lneblett]

One main location hosting the 3CX and DHCP/DNS applications that will be used across 6 other locations connected via VPN such that all appear to be on/in the same local LAN with the same subnet - Should not be a problem provived that the bandwidth doesn't get in the way. You did not metion how many phones and what other traffic might be carried on the same connections, so I will assume it has been taken into account as well as any of the firewall settings and that a static IP is in play on the public side.

As far as the 7th site, again bandwidth may play a part. The proxy works well (for me), but I have not used it at a "Site-wide" level, meaning that I have used for a few phones at a time, but perhaps not as many as you may require. I do not think it will be an issue, but suggest you look at the blog as there is an article just published within the past few days about remote extensions. It has some good advice and then I suggest you look for phones that will support the need (ones that support STUN (just in case) and again, encourage a static IP on the public side. You did not mention what kind of internet connection (DSL, cable, etc) or the size of the license, so while at the high level it all appears well, the scope is not really mentioned.

 

[buschconsulting]

Thank you for your response lneblett. I apologize, I did not include some relevant information in my original post. We are implementing 110 phones that are Polycom Models 560 and 650. The majority of phones will be in the corporate office. Yes, we will have other data traffic, but they shouldn't be to bandwidth intensive. We will have static IP's for the public facing sides on all our routers/gateways so that should not be a problem.

Thanks for the direction on the blog, took a quick look at it and it will be very useful when we do transition over. The location that is connected to the Internet has a 5Mbps DSL line I believe and they should only have about 10-15 phones at most. Scope we will be incorporating an all encompassing superscope to cover all the subnets from the other locations and will have Option 66 set for autoprovisioning.

 

[lneblett]

Polycom makes a great phone, but most, if not all, do not support Stun. I only mention this as once you get it up and running, the requests may start coming to remote more to homes and other locations where you may not have as much control.

Good luck.

 

[buschconsulting]

Thanks again. Yes, I understand that Polycom phones arent the best with STUN. With the SIP Proxy, I should be able to setup as a tunnel, so basically we are not going outside, but through the tunnel, so it should be ok. As far as home or remote users, then we will consider something else. Thank you for your insight and help.

 

[Pablooo]

Hi all,

I´m having problems connecting as a remote extension my 3CX Phone for win. I checked "Troubleshooting a Direct Remote Extension", Uncheck Disallow use of extension outside the LAN, Run firewall checker and all is fine and the ports are fine.. the error on the 3CX debug file is:

Tunnel is attempting to connect remote tunnel 123456 [187.162.29.XXX:5090]
HTTP phonebook provisioning failed
Tunnel connection attempt failed
Tunnel is attempting to connect remote tunnel 123456 [187.162.29.XXX:5090]

Debug:

DX:MP3 Writer initialized
DX:MP3 Encoder initialized
DX:FFDShow not present
Translation file OK
HTTP data provisioning failed
Attempting to connect 192.168.0.100
Phone got as local port 61893
Jabra not connected
RTP engine OK
SIP engine OK
Sound mic device OK []
Sound ring device OK []
Sound speaker device OK []
HTTP phonebook provisioning failed
Translation file OK
HTTP data provisioning failed
Attempting to connect 187.162.29.XXX
Tunnel got as listening port 60664
Tunnel got as local SIP port 60665
Phone got as local port 60666
Jabra not connected
RTP engine OK
SIP engine OK
Sound mic device OK []
Sound ring device OK []
Sound speaker device OK []
Attempting to start the tunnel
Tunnel required cfg file:C:\Users\Hermes\AppData\Local\3CX VoIP Phone\3CxVoipPhone.ini
Tunnel logfile output:C:\Users\Hermes\AppData\Local\3CX VoIP Phone\Logs
Tunnel logging: off
Tunnel bridges created OK
Tunnel started
Tunnel is attempting to connect remote tunnel 123456 [187.162.29.XXX:5090]
HTTP phonebook provisioning failed
Tunnel connection attempt failed
Tunnel is attempting to connect remote tunnel 123456 [187.162.29.XXX:5090]
Tunnel connection attempt failed
Tunnel is attempting to connect remote tunnel 123456 [187.162.29.XXX:5090]
Tunnel connection attempt failed

thanks for your help!