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End of Life (EoL) for 3CX version 18

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Lloydo

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Hi 3CX Community or 3CX,

Can someone please advise the actual EoL date for 3CX version 18? I have searched and I can't find a simple (actually any) EoL date for the Enterprise version of 3CX Version 18.

I also received the following from 3CX Today and I am still confused as there is no mention of the 3CX Enterprise version 18, quite frankly even if I was on the mentioned OSes/Editions am I good to go if I have V18 Update 9A or is it just until the end of 2024 or April 2025 if I only have IOS user etc...?? I think what 3CX need to say is that version 18 is EoL on X date and is in limited support currently with the following caveats for X Editions and Patches (a matrix is usual in such cases)... Basically, these are the most convoluted EoS/EoL notices I've seen.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We recommend all users upgrade to V20 as soon as possible. However, if more time is needed to prepare for V20 - upgrade to V18 Update 9A.

U9A will extend iOS and Android PUSH support and renew the license certificate so that you can keep activating your servers on V18.



V18 Update Deadlines


  • After July 2024 there will be no further Debian 10 Security updates published. Ensure you’re behind a firewall and monitor your instance.
  • Android PUSH will stop working at the end of 2024.
  • Apple PUSH will stop working April 2025.
  • We do not envisage any further updates to V18.


V20 Migration Deadlines


  • Hosted by 3CX - 1st September 2024.
  • NFRs - 1st July 2024.
  • Free 4SC Licenses - upgrade to V20 and register before 1st July 2024. Follow these steps to do so.
For more details read our latest blog. If you have any questions, reply to this email.

Kind regards,
3CX Team
 
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Lloydo said:
am I good to go if I have V18 Update 9A or is it just until the end of 2024 or April 2025 if I only have IOS user
Click to expand...
Thats the latest to updat to v20 if you like to use mobile apps.
 
This is not typical for 3CX to push everyone to the newest version so quickly. I completely understand that investing hours and dollars in a previous version of 3CX is unpleasant, but historically 3CX has always supported the current version of 3CX and one version back (v18 in this case).

I suppose one thing that has clearly changed in recent years is the purpose of service packs. In years past, service packs were largely confined to bug fixes. More recently, however, service packs have become the default vehicle for releasing new features as well. Also, in the past, we routinely had a full release of 3CX every year around the August / September timeframe. That pattern is not followed anymore. Perhaps the policy now for "supported versions" is the current version and perhaps the most recent couple of service packs? It's not clear to me where the line is anymore.

For me, encouraging (gently pushing) everyone to V20 makes my life easier because we typically only support our tools on versions of 3CX that are supported by 3CX. Still, this apparent change in policy has not really been verbalized openly by 3CX.

Ironically, I was just telling a customer yesterday that I doubted 3CX will drop support for V18 before the end of the year. Today, I'm starting to question that position because I got the same email from 3CX and it sure feels like they are effectively dropping support for V18 by the end of the year.
 
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VoIPTools said:
This is not typical for 3CX to push everyone to the newest version so quickly. I completely understand that investing hours and dollars in a previous version of 3CX is unpleasant, but historically 3CX has always supported the current version of 3CX and one version back (v18 in this case).

I suppose one thing that has clearly changed in recent years is the purpose of service packs. In years past, service packs were largely confined to bug fixes. More recently, however, service packs have become the default vehicle for releasing new features as well. Also, in the past, we routinely had a full release of 3CX every year around the August / September timeframe. That pattern is not followed anymore. Perhaps the policy now for "supported versions" is the current version and perhaps the most recent couple of service packs? It's not clear to me where the line is anymore.

For me, encouraging (gently pushing) everyone to V20 makes my life easier because we typically only support our tools on versions of 3CX that are supported by 3CX. Still, this apparent change in policy has not really been verbalized openly by 3CX.

Ironically, I was just telling a customer yesterday that I doubted 3CX will drop support for V18 before the end of the year. Today, I'm starting to question that position because I got the same email from 3CX and it sure feels like they are effectively dropping support for V18 by the end of the year.
Click to expand...
One thing to remember is V18 is based all around Debian 10.... This is why security updates stop in June actually.

3CX V20 is based all around Debian 12... realistically if they wanted to support the last release there should have been a V19 on Debian 11 which could have remained supported until 2026... So its not so much that V20 is coming too soon, its that V19 is completely missing.
 
Lloydo said:
For more details read our latest blog.
Click to expand...
In the blog post it states:
"Update 9A will
...
Renew the license certificate so that you can keep activating your server on V18 until 28th February 2025"

That's assuming you don't need Android Push or whatever else stops working before then.

Reference: the v18 updates the last few years that were required to stay active as older versions couldn't talk to the activation servers.

Bottom line is they're expecting everyone to stay reasonably current.
 
What about us Windows users? I see nothing that points to updates or EOL for us. Have the gotten hot-desk working for us in v.20?
 
We at VoIPTools struggle with many of the same challenges 3CX does. For example, our two companies have some similar services -- 3CX's activation services, and VoIPTools licenses services. There are inherent dependencies between the tools that need to interact with the service, and the services. We have handled changes to our licensing services by keeping both the old and new services up. The old versions of our tools use the old licensing services, and the newer tools use the new licensing service.

It's a business decision, I suppose, whether to require customers change the URL and port numbers, or keep the same URLs and port numbers with each new release. We elected to have customers open multiple ports if they use both the old and new tools. 3CX takes the approach of one URL and one port. If that means the old software does not work anymore, perhaps from their perspective that's a good thing because it pushes people to stay current, and 3CX does not have to support the old version anymore.

Further, regarding the OS version... there is nothing prohibiting 3CX from updating V18 with a service pack that adds support for a newer operating system. But why would they do that when their desire is to support one version of their software? Supporting multiple versions of software is REALLY expensive and draws development, test, and support resources away from the current product. So, anything 3CX can do to nudge people forward is good for the customer, and good for 3CX.

Some people might not like the hassle of mandatory updates, but 3CX also has a reputation to maintain. Having high profile security breaches because a customer did not upgrade there software is not only bad for the customer, it is also bad for 3CX. The more I think this through, the more I have to reluctantly agree with 3CX that finding ways to push people forward, whether they like it or not, is probably good for everyone.
 
9A exists for Windows, we have one acquired client on Windows and they can see it.
 
Hot desking and scheduled reports are in the latest beta.

Sorry for the ramblings of an old man...

I'm not sure why 3CX has not released a Windows version once they went to production with V20. This is another new pattern for 3CX. Normally 3CX releases both the Linux and Windows versions simultaneously.

As .Net developers (like 3CX) we have found almost no code differences between our Windows and Linux tools. For us, it is essentially one line of code, and handling file paths a little differently. In 3CX's case, they may be some libraries that are only compatible with Linux and they are still working on getting those libraries to function properly with Windows. We have run into that situation a number of times too.

There has been no comments from 3CX, that I am aware of, that they have any plans to abandon the Windows platform. That would be particularly ironic given 3CX's history of marketing their PBX as a Windows phone system. But times and technologies change and 3CX has to change with it. I'll bet there are a lot of internal discussions taking place about how long to continue to support Windows. The increased support fees (making the Windows version only available in the higher-end versions of 3CX) may be just the first shoe to drop.

To be absolutely clear, I have no inside information, and I'm just thinking like a business person. But, if your product works better on Linux, and Linux requires far less resources, and there are no operating system fees to pay, and there are fewer security challenges, and 90% of your customers are choosing Linux anyway, why put the money and resources, and time (time to market) on anything other than Linux? I suspect the only reason there is a Windows version of 3CX today is to honor the existing Windows customer base. That position can only hold water for so long.
 
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What happens when i do not migrate my customers to V20 before 1st September 2024?

I would like to migrate them to V20 but the holidaty feature as it's available in V18 and widley used by my customers is removed. I hoped that it would be re-implemented (or at least it's confimed to be re-implemented) before i need to migrate my customers. It's simply not an option to move some of my customers before, i eigther will move them to another solution.

More about the missing feature i'm talking about: https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/v20-no-more-per-office-holiday-voice-messages.124403

Are you missing this feature as well? Vote here: https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/bring-back-again-per-office-holiday-voice-messages.125146
 
Hey all, hijacking this post - apologies. Has there been any news on an actual EOL date for v18 on Windows? Just this April, we had a customer renew their license and moved them from an unlicensed W10 VM to a licensed Server 2022 VM - which we had to do before v20 came out for Windows.. I'm genuinely afraid of having to tell them we need to make another move up to v20 sometime this year.
  • Renew the license certificate so that you can keep activating your server on V18 until 28th February 2025
Click to expand...
Does this mean the license stops working February 2025 or do we simply have to move them up to v20 in order to renew the license when that's due?
 
EWS said:
Hey all, hijacking this post - apologies. Has there been any news on an actual EOL date for v18 on Windows? Just this April, we had a customer renew their license and moved them from an unlicensed W10 VM to a licensed Server 2022 VM - which we had to do before v20 came out for Windows.. I'm genuinely afraid of having to tell them we need to make another move up to v20 sometime this year.

Does this mean the license stops working February 2025 or do we simply have to move them up to v20 in order to renew the license when that's due?
Click to expand...
If its a paid licence you have time until the end of the year to upgrade to v20. Anyway i would do it in time before you need to upgrade.
 
@EWS https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/v20-upgrade-extension/

"Reminder - No More Updates for V18
We will not publish any further Debian 10 Security updates beyond July 2024. Ensure you are behind a firewall and monitor your instance.
  • Android PUSH will stop working at the end of 2024.
  • Apple PUSH will stop working April 2025."
 
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