Extension preservation for litigation hold

[kseba77]

What is the easiest way to preserve an extension if it is required for litigation purposes?
I can easily do vms, recordings, extension settings (greetings etc.) by copying the dirs on the server for a specific extension but can not figure out a way to keep call history.
I was thinking about just running reports but maybe there is an easier way?
It would be cool if 3cx had a "preserve" or "hold" extension option where it would automagically do all the above for me

thank you

 

[VoIPTools]

I would recommend you simply disable the extension. Presumably you do not have too many occasions where you are involved in litigation so I would not expect you to run out of extension numbers

Or, you could look at our 3CX Exporter tool which can replicate all of your call history to a separate SQL / MySQL server. Then you can delete the extension. Further, if you were using our 3CX Recording Manager tool, we take a hash of each recording so you can show that nobody has tampered with the recordings. That might be helpful for litigation.

 

[kseba77]

I would recommend you simply disable the extension. Presumably you do not have too many occasions where you are involved in litigation so I would not expect you to run out of extension numbers

Or, you could look at our 3CX Exporter tool which can replicate all of your call history to a separate SQL / MySQL server. Then you can delete the extension. Further, if you were using our 3CX Recording Manager tool, we take a hash of each recording so you can show that nobody has tampered with the recordings. That might be helpful for litigation.

Than you for that info. To be vey honest I did look in to your tools and really like what you have to offer. The problem is the cost is very hard to justify when the odd-ons cost as much or more than the PBX also comparing 3cx offering to per user per month subscriptions from the competition it just does not look good for most of the people/clients I deal with.
Also from the purely 3cx point of view I can not just disable any extensions. This clients reuses extensions and uses them in printed and other marketing so if let's say the CEO has changed the new CEO will get the previous CEOs extension.

 

[cobaltit]

Generally if you need to put something in litigation hold, that trumps any typical behavior such as just reusing an extension because you normally do. But if you really must re-use an extension then your only option is to take a full backup, or preferably a system image/snapshot if a VM, and then if the sh*t really hits the fan you can restore that to recover whatever is needed. 3CX is no different than any other application/data you might need to retain in this case.

 

[VoIPTools]

I understand cost can be a challenge for some. However, it is important to keep in mind a number of factors that impact our costs. For example:

• It would be really nice if you could call 3CX and say, please install 3CX for me, and configure it, and train us on how to use it, and perform all the updates for us, and do that forever. That is precisely what we do for our customers. You provide access to the servers and we install, configure, and train you on how to use our tools. And we perform all the updates as long as you have our tools. We provide unlimited support and training.
  
  
• We are building tools for a subset of 3CX customers, therefore, we do not have the economies of scale that 3CX does. I wish we could sell our tools to every 3CX customer
  
  
• Consider that 3CX does not have to coordinate with anyone when they make changes, and they can make whatever changes they want without regard to how that impacts 3rd-party developers like us (VoIPTools). To make matters more challenging, they do not tell us what changes they have made so we have to test, and test and test to find the changes.
  
  
• When 3CX makes a change, we have to drop everything we are doing and update all our commercial and custom tools as quickly as we can. That means lots of overtime for our entire company (Development, Testing, Support, Documentation, etc.).
  
  
• Unlike 3CX, we do not control the environment where our tools need to function. We have to integrate across multiple servers (web servers, database servers, application servers, 3CX servers). 3CX controls their entire software environment.

Hopefully I have offered a glimpse into some of the challenges we face as a 3rd-party developer for 3CX and how that impacts our costs. We are working hard to simplify our software and thereby reduce our costs so we can pass savings on to you.