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MAC based licensing and Amazon EC2

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fortressllc

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I've seen a few posts that indicate people have been able to get 3CX to run in the Amazon EC2 cloud. However, I'm finding that the software license is deactivated each time the machine is stopped and started. Amazon assigns a new MAC address to the machine instance at each startup.

How are you managing to run 3CX in the Amazon cloud and keep the license active?

I need to run my copy of 3CX in the cloud. If this isn't possible at Amazon, can someone suggest another location that would be around the same price? Right now, running a reserved small Windows instance is costing about 6 cents per hour.
 
I guess the silence on this topic indicates that it's not possible.

This is sad, I really wanted to use 3CX for my customer deployments. I suppose I'll buckle down and learn to use a different system.
 
Have you considered asking Amazon? It occurs to me that a new MAC is at a hardware level. As a result, it appears that the software is being installed on a different machine and I can understand if/why the activation comes about.
 
Just a thougt, look for a company hosting the multi-tennant version and have them run it for you. It seems that the implementation you ask for is not supported by 3CX.

Regards

Uffe
 
Vitelity offers 3CX hosting. We can do small individual systems, multi-tenant, or large boxes. Just call us and we can set you up.
 
Update:

We moved to PBXInAFlash. No more problems. Much more function. Even works great behind Centurylink's wacky router that has port 5060 blocked. Runs great under VMWare. No more Windows licenses. No more 3CX license. Lower hardware costs.

It does have higher labor costs for me. I spent a month figuring it out... and I was able to set up 3CX in an afternoon. So there's that... but it's an opportunity to learn, and now I know.

I liked 3CX, I really did. This MAC based copy protection just made it unusable. It was a great start, but now I've taken the training wheels off.

I expect the mods will have this post deleted in 3...2....1....
 
Amazon states is does NOT support Voice Applications on EC2. While you got it running expect to run into issues as they will not promise any QOS for that.

Bottom Line = DO NOT USE AMAZON FOR YOUR PBX!
 
Works great as a test system.. TEST.. SYSTEM..
 
There is no such thing as "can't be done" in IT. Amazon supports static MACs through ENI interface in a VPC
 
Nobody said it can't be done but if the vendor tells you don't do it because they don't support it / allow it/ reccomend it/ suggest it/ you should take that into account especially if you are going to rely on it for production
 
Good - so long as we are clear:
Any change to your MAC address can invalidate your license. In my tests, it only takes two changes. That's not a system I'm willing to put into production. It's a boobie-trap that will explode during a crisis. It's not specific to Amazon EC2.

Knowing that this is how copy protection is done in 3CX would have saved me from purchasing a license that is now totally wasted. I can't expect to get a refund, but I can save someone else.
 
It's based on Mac changes in a particular period of time.

In your case you made two quickly to get there apparently....

That counter could be reset by 3cx but you would need to ask nicely ; )
 
During a hardware failure, when we are either swapping out NICs or moving virtual machines around, I'm probably not in a nice mood. And clearly, from what I've seen here and in other forums, 3CX will kick you to the curb if you aren't nice enough.

You've reinforced my point. Locking software to hardware may be in fashion, but it's not the only option.

FWIW, we don't use Windows anymore either... same reason.
 
We have migrated in a disaster senario up to 5 times without issue.

Why you ran into an issue I'm not sure.

Having a clear business case with any provider is important where licenses are involved.

I dont know about you but I am not about to move all my customers from Windows Workstations to Linux Ubuntu OS to avoid having to call into Microsoft and getting a new activation approval.

I guess its a matter of preference but 3CX has been solid especially in disaster situations.

This is clearly a licensing conversation and I think 5 Activation's or different mac addresses on the same key is pretty generous assuming that folks are not trying to do unsavory things like trying to avoid paying licensing costs.
 
bardissi said:
I dont know about you but I am not about to move all my customers from Windows Workstations to Linux Ubuntu OS to avoid having to call into Microsoft and getting a new activation approval.

Me either... We'd be out of business. I depend on customers using Windows. On the other hand - there is no activation for OS X either, so you have more than one choice.

bardissi said:
I guess its a matter of preference but 3CX has been solid especially in disaster situations.

This is clearly a licensing conversation and I think 5 Activation's or different mac addresses on the same key is pretty generous assuming that folks are not trying to do unsavory things like trying to avoid paying licensing costs.

Agreed. I believe I complemented 3CX on ease of setup and how well it worked, other than licensing. If not, let me be clear... If this hadn't been a problem, I wouldn't have spent the next month pulling my hair out installing an open source system. I was satisfied otherwise. I discovered later that I was satisfied because I didn't know what I was missing. I owe 3CX a favor for pushing me to the other side.

If I was trying to do something unsavory, I expect I'd have managed to get it done one way or another. I would not be in here talking about the issue. I don't think you were implying I was being dishonest, no need to apologize - I didn't take it that way.

The full background on why we were trying to use Amazon: We lived in an RV full-time and ran the office on the road. We virtualized everything and moved it to the cloud. It wasn't typical. Now we have finished our trip a couple years later, and are back home. It's awesome that we could continue to run the business on the road and the customers barely were aware.
 
bardissi said:
Amazon states is does NOT support Voice Applications on EC2. While you got it running expect to run into issues as they will not promise any QOS for that.

Bottom Line = DO NOT USE AMAZON FOR YOUR PBX!

Could you point me to a page where Amazon states that? Not doubting you but couldn't find it after searching through their docs and googling.
 
Its in their t'c and c's that they will not support any voice applications on their cloud.

If you contact them you will get the same response as well.
 
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