[How to] Install 3CX ISO on OVH's VPS

[Alphabetic]

Last updated: 29/08/2024

This is more for the benefit of me. However, I thought people might like to install their 3CX's with the ISO rather then using the old command lines.

You will need:-

- 3CX ISO
- OVH VPS LE YOU MUST CHOOSE DEBIAN 10 DISTRO OR YOU'LL GET GRAPHICS ERROR
- VNC Viewer (Im using UltraVNC)


Buy your VPS from OVH then reboot it in rescue mode

Use the login details from the email or you can grab them from the login screen on the KVM.



SSH to the VPS using Terminal/Powershell

ssh root@<IP> -L 5900:localhost:5900

Unmount and delete all partitions on HDD​

note you may have more/less partitions to delete

umount /dev/sdb1
fdisk -u /dev/sdb
d
d
w

Install KVM & download 3CX ISO​

sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get update
apt install qemu-kvm

For v18

wget -P /dev https://downloads-global.3cx.com/downloads/debian10iso/debian-amd64-netinst-3cx.iso

For v20

wget -P /dev https://downloads-global.3cx.com/downloads/debian12iso/debian-amd64-netinst-3cx.iso

Start up the KVM​

For v18

qemu-system-x86_64 -netdev type=user,id=mynet0 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=mynet0 -m 1024 -enable-kvm -drive index=0,media=disk,if=virtio,file=/dev/sdb -vga qxl -vnc 127.0.0.1:0 -daemonize -cdrom /dev/debian-amd64-netinst-3cx.iso -boot once=d

For v20

qemu-system-x86_64 -netdev type=user,id=mynet0 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=mynet0 -m 1024 -enable-kvm -drive index=0,media=disk,if=virtio,file=/dev/sdb -vga qxl -vnc 127.0.0.1:0 -daemonize -cdrom /dev/debian-amd64-netinst-3cx.iso -boot once=d

Note: Any trouble with QEMU then kill it off and start it again.

pkill qemu

Connect to KVM with VNC Viewer​

Once logged in, connect to the machine with VNC Viewer using localhost:5900 as the address.

Run through the set up​

You may get disconnected off the VNC, just connect back up again and run through set up.



The server will reboot and the VNC will get disconnected. Give it a few minutes and connect back up with VNC.

If you cannot get connected with VNC then reboot the VPS in normal mode and continue the set up via OVH KVM (typically happens with v20 on LE VPS)


Once to get to here, select option 1 and reboot the VPS in to normal mode.






Finish off set up.

 

[petxi79]

Yes im afraid i've encountered the same problem today. cannot get it to display. gonna have to install via cli

How do you install via cli?

 

[Alphabetic]

All - slight tweak in procedure to get 3CX installed on LE edition with ISO.

 

[sigmaIT]

Can anyone help, getting an error

WARNING: Image format was not specified for '/dev/sdb' and probing guessed raw.
Automatically detecting the format is dangerous for raw images, write operations on block 0 will be restricted.
Specify the 'raw' format explicitly to remove the restrictions.
this after entering
qemu-system-x86_64 -netdev type=user,id=mynet0 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=mynet0 -m 1024 -enable-kvm -drive index=0,media=disk,if=virtio,file=/dev/sdb -vga qxl -vnc 127.0.0.1:0 -daemonize -cdrom /dev/debian-12.1.0_46a7ea2-amd64-netinst-3cx.iso -boot once=d

 

[Alphabetic]

Not an error, did you not see the screenshot in the step?

 

[Michael.Wood]

I'm having trouble booting the 3CX ISO. Qemu command is fine but when connecting via VNC it's the debian installer.

 

[Alphabetic]

View attachment 42690
I'm having trouble booting the 3CX ISO. Qemu command is fine but when connecting via VNC it's the debian installer.
View attachment 42691

Kill qemu and try again. If you still fail we can do a remote session

 

[Michael.Wood]

Kill qemu and try again. If you still fail we can do a remote session

Thanks, I’ve tried a couple times and reinstalled the VPS. I think I’ll just host it on a supported provider.

 

[Alphabetic]

Thanks, I’ve tried a couple times and reinstalled the VPS. I think I’ll just host it on a supported provider.

I don’t mind going through my guide if you got time. It does work.

 

[ProMed]

Thanks, I’ve tried a couple times and reinstalled the VPS. I think I’ll just host it on a supported provider.

You have to be quick - from running the qemu command to having a vnc window open & connected needs to be achieved within about 15s, so you then have about 5s to start the 3cx install (otherwise it timeouts of the options and defaults to installing debian).

My method which worked was to have all of the commands, and the root password, saved on a text file ready to use
First attempt, run them, but you'll miss the timeout
The second command prompt window can remain open, but your vnc window will close
So open a new vnc window, but don't press connect
Have a second attempt, run the qemu command, then quickly connect to vnc
That should give you enough time to select the option to install 3CX

 

[Alphabetic]

You have to be quick - from running the qemu command to having a vnc window open & connected needs to be achieved within about 15s, so you then have about 5s to start the 3cx install (otherwise it timeouts of the options and defaults to installing debian).

My method which worked was to have all of the commands, and the root password, saved on a text file ready to use
First attempt, run them, but you'll miss the timeout
The second command prompt window can remain open, but your vnc window will close
So open a new vnc window, but don't press connect
Have a second attempt, run the qemu command, then quickly connect to vnc
That should give you enough time to select the option to install 3CX

Shouldn’t have to.

You can start the whole process (and finish) in one terminal simply by doing

ssh [email protected] -L 5900:localhost:5900

 

[openvoip]

Im struggling to get a connection via VNC, when I use the KVM I get this error -

Booting From Hard Disk...
GRUB Loading
Welcome to GRUB

error no such partition

Please could someone help

 

[Alphabetic]

Im struggling to get a connection via VNC, when I use the KVM I get this error -

Booting From Hard Disk...
GRUB Loading
Welcome to GRUB

error no such partition

Please could someone help

Read instructions again and follow exactly.

 

[openvoip]

Read instructions again and follow exactly.

The only bit I am unable to follow exactly are
umount /dev/sdb1
as when I type it I get error -

[RESCUE] root@vps-122442be:~ $ umount /dev/sdb1





umount: /dev/sdb1: no mount point specified.

 

[Alphabetic]

The only bit I am unable to follow exactly are
umount /dev/sdb1
as when I type it I get error -

[RESCUE] root@vps-122442be:~ $ umount /dev/sdb1





umount: /dev/sdb1: no mount point specified.

What VPS did you buy?

move on to the fdisk command.

 

[openvoip]

What VPS did you buy?

move on to the fdisk command.

I bought the vps2020-starter-1-2-20

I did move onto the fdisk command and followed exacltly from there, but get stuck at the boot stage (the GRUB post I put up earlier)

 

[Alphabetic]

You're not following the steps.

Once you're ran the QEMU cmd you can use VNC.

Youre not running pkill qemu are you?

 

[Alphabetic]

Sorry - you are correct, now I get this error -

-bash: qemu-system-x86_64: command not found

@openvoip

This mean you read the instructions again and installed qemu?

 

[openvoip]

Yes but I still get the boot error and end up in GRUB

 

[Alphabetic]

Yes but I still get the boot error and end up in GRUB

Lets do a remote, send me your anydesk ID?

 

[openvoip]

Sorry, I quit for the day in rage, are you free today to looka t this? I would really appreciate your help!