Do you have to run PBX express to create an Azure instance ?

[Jon Gair]

I have had issues using the PBX express method to create an instance within the UK, it seems to prefer other Azure regions (running a test using US East)

Is there any reasons why you should not used the 3CX Linux ISO to set this up manually in Azure other than the effort involved ? Is it possible to get hold of the setup config of the PBXexpress Azure elements to speed this process up rather than copying the setup from another Azure instance (JSON or powershell scripts?)

Just wondering if it would still be classed as a supported environment.

Thanks

Jon

 

[cobaltit]

Never used PBX express, just the manual method:

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

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Hello @Jon Gair

You can follow the procedure that @cobaltit mentioned and it will still be a supported environment. PBX express is used to simplify the process for users but you will still end up with a supported environment using the manual method.

 

[cobaltit]

@YiannisH_3CX

I thought I saw a 3CX response somewhere that at some point only the ISO based installs were going to be considered supported. Do you know if this is still the case?

 

[NickD_3CX]

I thought I saw a 3CX response somewhere that at some point only the ISO based installs were going to be considered supported

I can't guarantee that moving forward, but at the current time of writing it should be OK.

@Jon Gair
In the meantime though I ran PBX Express as I was quite surprised when you said the UK was not in the list. When I did it, I got the UK as an option:


I asked one of the developers, and the list of available regions we get dynamically from the Azure platform, it is not something we hard code.

 

[N_G]

I would recommend against not using PBX Express. Machines will be configured using the Azure Debian and all updates tested against this version of Debian. So with PBX express you will be minimize admin to practically zero.

 

[Jon Gair]

I received errors during the install when choosing the UK region which made me chose US East which worked fine. Not sure if the script that runs has been tested against multiple regions.
Installing it manually also looks tricky since I was hoping to use the 3CX ISO to install it but Azure only really supports VHD format. Installing Debian via Microsoft’s prebuilt images first before installing 3CX may be an option although it will not be as integrated as you have mentioned. Shame 3CX is not available on the Azure marketplace.

Thanks

Jon

 

[NickD_3CX]

I received errors during the install when choosing the UK region

What is the error you are getting?

 

[Jon Gair]

It was May when I set it up and I captured the following error during the deployment wizard, which was the same whether I chose UK or North Europe (Dublin, Ireland). US worked fine which is fine for a test but not something I will be prepared to deploy a live service on.

Error: The requested size for resource '/subscriptions/xxxxxxxxx7/resourceGroups/pbxexpress/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/msa-custom-uksouth-2018-05-11-16-42-58-xxxxxx' is currently not available in location 'uksouth' zones '' for subscription 'xxxxxxx'. Please try another size or deploy to a different location or zones. See https://aka.ms/azureskunotavailable for details.

Thanks

Jon

 

[NickD_3CX]

This is what the API returned, so it was an Azure issue at the time. I would suggest maybe trying with PBX Express to create another instance, this time in the region you want, them maybe migrate the 3CX installation from the one to the other.

If you do this remember to shut down the old VM when you are done.

 

[Jon Gair]

Thanks for the reply although I would be surprised if it was an Azure issue in two different regions (N Europe and UK) at the same time. I will see about trying it again once my initial testing is complete but would be interested to hear from anyone who has successfully deployed to the UK along with the VM type they chose.

Thanks

Jon

 

[Robertos]

Aside, in AWS i can never get pbxexpress to work. Manual install works fine though...

 

[JonnyM]

Can you provide a bit more information on what PBX Express is actually doing in the backend? I am reluctant to allow it access to our cloud environment if I am totally honest - perhaps you could provide an ARM Template that achieves the same thing? All I think we're missing is the URL of the disk image that you're attaching to the VM.

I guess longer term it would be great if you could just list it in the Azure Marketplace.