MAC address will change during host migration - 3CX v.15.5

[dannytheperry]

All,
A client has 3CX v15.5 installed on a Virtual Machine (VM).
The client needs to move the VM from one host to another host.
The IP address and hostname of the VM will remain the same during the migration to the new host.
The MAC address of the NIC on the 3CX VM will change during the migration to the new host.
What do I need to after the host migration to re-license the 3CX installation to the new MAC address on the new host?
Is there a knowledge article?
Thank you.

 

[CentrexJ]

If the customer is on 15.5.20000.6 then it should re-activate until the activation server changes in Feb 2022. If not upgrade to that build first to be sure. If not on that build or if you do it after the activation server changes you won't be able to re-activate the license if the server decides it needs to re-activate because the MAC changed.

(I'm sure you already know) Ideally move then to v16 and then v18.

 

[dannytheperry]

This change will happen this week. The customer is on 15.5.20000.6. Are you saying that when they move the VM to new host and the MAC address changes I WILL NOT have to re-activate the 15.5 license? Or that I WILL have to re-activate the license?

Thank you for your assistance.

 

[CentrexJ]

It’s a may have to re-activate and it may work. There is a possibility that it won’t work.

Be prepared that you may have to upgrade to v16. Regardless plan an upgrade asap and before February.

 

[ChrisC_3CX]

First off, just want to clarify that the 3CX PBX must, at any given moment, be able to activate the license. For new installations, may that be a migration or an installation from scratch, at least one activation will occur upon completion.

The fact that the MAC address will change is not necessarily a problem. It MIGHT be a problem only if the specific License was activated on a large number of MAC addresses during the last year. If it has only been activated a reasonable number of times then you should be fine. In the off chance that you do have an issue activation due to the MAC address changing I'd recommend reaching out to your 3CX Direct Sales representative to get this sorted.

The most important thing to note here is what @CentrexJ said about the version you're running. We are very close to v15's deprecation due to it not being able to activate anymore (Feb 2022) so, since you're going to go through a migration process anyway, I'd strongly recommend that you AT LEAST upgrade to 3CX v16 U8a which will buy you some time since it will be able to activate until November 2022.

The relevant blog post can be found here: https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/fqdn-endpoint-change/