Deploy 3CX Straight from Azure Marketplace!

[StefanW]

With a growing number of customers and resellers heading to Microsoft Azure for their PBX hosting, it was only natural that availability from Azure Marketplace would follow. That’s right, you can now also deploy your 3CX PBX directly to your Azure account from the marketplace. Azure Marketplace offers quick access to solutions available from Micr...

Continue reading the Original Blog Post.

 

[JonnyM]

Excellent news, thank you for this. We really needed the flexibility on which VNet to deploy into, IP space, resource group etc.

 

[cobaltit]

Excellent news, thank you for this. We really needed the flexibility on which VNet to deploy into, IP space, resource group etc.

Huh? This was available from day 1:

https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/installing-debian-linux-pbx/

 

[JonnyM]

I'm talking about in comparison to PBX Express, where it deployed into Azure for you but you didn't have any choices other than region.

 

[cobaltit]

Yeah PBXExpress is great for people to play with but we never used it because it lacked the flexibility you mentioned so we've been doing manual installations since day 1. The Azure addition simplifies things slightly for those that haven't already scripted things.

 

[JonnyM]

Our first deployment on Azure was done by running the Linux instructions on a Debian image, but I got stuck on Debian 8 because I let the auto-updater run and it blew it up and I had to roll back to a previous snapshot. I'm much more comfortable running the 3CX provided OS image in terms of knowing upgrades are going to work etc., it was just a bit annoying having to use PBX Express to deploy the instance and then use the Azure backup tools to restore it into the VNet that I wanted it in.

 

[mknutson]

With the Azure deployment do we only have a choice for linux or can we use Azure Marketplace and use windows?

 

[Frank86]

When you install it in the cloud, how do you connect an office with 50-100 desk phones to your cloud 3CX PBX?

 

[accentlogic]

When you install it in the cloud, how do you connect an office with 50-100 desk phones to your cloud 3CX PBX?

With the latest version of 3CX you can hald all of them with a single Session Border Controller at the site. Be sure it's beefy enough, and on the same network as the phones. With that many devices I'd recommend using a voice VLAN with prioritization setup. 3CX has tested 100 IP phones with tons of BLF keys and found no issues with performance. See https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/sbc-performance/ for more info on their tests. See https://www.3cx.com/docs/recommended-hardware-specifications-for-3cx/ for hardware recommendations. (Their hardware list is a little old, but still gives you a good rule of thumb.)

Personally, I would use a dedicated machine with an i5 at 3.2Ghz or better with 4GB RAM running the 3CX Debian SBC. If you have a good VMware or Hyper-V host on site, then by all means use a VM for your SBC. 2 cores and 4GB RAM should be fine.

You can also split your IP phones between two SBC units on site so if an SBC fails you still have half your desk phones working. This is supported by 3CX. When the phones check in to the console they may all show up on one SBC - just change some when you provision them to the second SBC IP address.

 

[Frank86]

Great.
Thank you.

 

[darwin]

what sort of specs (and costs) are involved in a small 3CX installation on AZURE
say 1 sip trunk and 5 extensions

is google better / cheaper / more reliable?

 

[StefanW]

the big 3 (Azure, Google, AWS) are very close together. It is mainly your preference and feeling where to place it.

 

[rjamesm2884]

Can someone please advise what is the minimum specs requirements for a Debian install on Azure?

 

[Richard Pettigrew]

@rjamesm2844 see https://www.3cx.com/docs/recommended-hardware-specifications-for-3cx/

use this to help you decide on your VM size in Azure - I'm using a B2ms Virtual Machine for my setup and I need to support 30 softclients, around 6 handsets over 2 sites using SBC devices.

VM spec:

B2ms

Standard

General purpose

2

8

4

2400

16 GB

Yes

£52.35

no performance issues at - but may be a little over-spec actually!

For the SBC, I bought a Raspberry Pi Model 3B+, an Official Pi PoE HAT v2 and an official case. The followed the guide to install the SBC on Rasbian Stretch. Works a treat. the SBC is not that powerfull being a Model 3B+ raspberry Pi, as it only has 2 cores and 1GB RAM, but enough for 4 handsets with BLFs.

 

[Evolute IT]

@rjamesm2844 see https://www.3cx.com/docs/recommended-hardware-specifications-for-3cx/

use this to help you decide on your VM size in Azure - I'm using a B2ms Virtual Machine for my setup and I need to support 30 softclients, around 6 handsets over 2 sites using SBC devices.

VM spec:

B2ms

Standard

General purpose

2

8

4

2400

16 GB

Yes

£52.35

no performance issues at - but may be a little over-spec actually!

For the SBC, I bought a Raspberry Pi Model 3B+, an Official Pi PoE HAT v2 and an official case. The followed the guide to install the SBC on Rasbian Stretch. Works a treat. the SBC is not that powerfull being a Model 3B+ raspberry Pi, as it only has 2 cores and 1GB RAM, but enough for 4 handsets with BLFs.

you could be surprised by the SBC performance on a Pi 3B+!

 

[Richard Pettigrew]

Indeed, monitoring it recently, our Pi based SBC rarely breaks a sweat! It could certainly manage quite a few more handsets with BLFs.