Migrating Hosted to Self-Hosted Error "Wrong License Key In Backup"

[motivationent]

I have attempted to get my hosted 3cx instance moved to a self-hosted. I have tried to do so with Lightsail, just because I typically use Linode but 3CX doesn't support Linode and I still have an AWS account...

I started by creating a backup with all the options checked off except for the password, the file size is roughly 25MB, there's not a lot going on with the instance to be honest.
Then I released the FQDN and deleted the old instance from my portal because that's the best set of instructions I could find searching Google and this Forum stated you needed to do that before you could restore to a new instance.
I created a new system and attempted to upload the backup from the portal, but the wrong license key in backup error comes up.

Things I've tried:
Proceeding anyway with out the backup and installing as if it's a new system and enter the old FQDN. (This all worked fine) Then login to the new system and try to restore the backup directly from it, only to find out that you can't just upload the backup, so I had to SCP the backup to the Lightsail instance and then copy it to the backup directory of 3CX. The GUI then showed the backup and I attempted to restore. I then got an e-mail stating "The backup contains a different license key or a different FQDN than the one I used to install. To use this backup, you need to reinstall 3CX and restore this backup at installation time." Oh great thanks cause I didn't try that...

I also tried to copy the license key from a new system into the XML file in the backup, but then I get the error of an invalid license...

This is not a huge config, so if push comes to shove I can just manually reconfigure everything if need be nothing too important was saved in terms of voicemails to anything, however, this is sort of a test for me and a proof of concept that this process should work... and it just doesn't, there really isn't great documentation on the back up and restore aspects and I've followed it all as best as I understand it, and I have a back ground managing webservers and general IT so this is not exactly new territory for me. What if this was a significantly larger client, I would be very screwed right now...

Anyone know why this happens and how to prevent? If I can't figure this out in the next few hours I'm just going to have to create a new system again and just manually configure all the settings over...

The only other options I've found is that I need to essentially manually install 3CX myself and when I run the setup add the backup there... However the only marketplaces that have 3CX are Azure which their website gives me a headache and AWS but it has to go on an EC2 instance when using the marketplace install not a Lightsail and their pricing is just too annoying to figure out. I'd like to stick with Lightsail, Digital Ocean or Vultr. But those all seem to only install via the portal installer, which it seems to be a glitch with the portal restore that is my issue...

 

[IrinaP_3CX]

Hi @motivationent

If you see the error that there is a wrong license key in the backup, it means that you are trying to restore the backup on the system that was installed or getting installed using a different license key.

To use the backup that includes the license key number, you must create the system with the same license key number.

It is not possible to restore backup consisting license key number on the system that is installed or getting installed using a different license key.

 

[motivationent]

Hi @motivationent

If you see the error that there is a wrong license key in the backup, it means that you are trying to restore the backup on the system that was installed or getting installed using a different license key.

To use the backup that includes the license key number, you must create the system with the same license key number.

It is not possible to restore backup consisting license key number on the system that is installed or getting installed using a different license key.

TLDR;

So now that I know that you cannot restore a back up any system but that it must be restored to a system of the same license key... How do I create a system with the license key which is used in the backup? Because the process in the portal does not let me set it myself and does not let me change it...

-----------
Start Rant:

I researched before attempting via looking through the documentation for cloud providers, documentation for backup and restore, the Basic certification, and other forum posts and asked the customer service people. There is no straight forward guide to moving from 3CX Hosted to Self Hosted. I had to piece it all together and then ask which the customer service was reluctant to even say but I felt confidence based on the pieces they would confirm when I asked if the process I was going to do this in would work... I even asked my SIP Trunk provider because they're 3CX preferred and knew a lot about 3CX when I originally set up and they even say it sound like that's correct.

After all my research it seemed simple. 1. Create a Backup. 2. Release the FQDN and Delete the old system. 3. Create a new system and then load the back when asked to. 4. Everything should be seamless to the users. BUT that's obviously not how it actually works... So quite frustrating...

It seems as though this isn't possible to do, there is no way for me to set the license key myself when creating a new system... It simply doesn't make sense. I want to migrate a system, okay here's the backup and restore information to do so. Okay seem simple enough. Go and do it and no dice, get this error. When I signed up for 3CX it was essentially touted that I have the choice to manage it how I see fit and I could host it wherever and back it up any way I choose and if I decided to move to 3CX hosting no problem if I decide to move to self-hosting no problem. Well it seems to be a problem.

Based on what I know now I'm guessing it would be possible to just reinstall the system I had already with the correct key and have it install to a cloud provider instead, however this is just guess, I don't recall if the 3CX hosted system had the install button or not. But in any case, the documentation I was provided to do this and whatever I found on my own do not say to do it that way... The few forum posts I found the answers were to delete the existing system and create a new one.

The best solution I've come up with is it seem if you install 3CX yourself with the ISO then you might be able to set the license key that way... This I'm not even sure if it works, but I've attempted to get it working by installing on a cloud service Linode (I know not supported but I just know that service the best and if I'm manually installing would work the best for me) but unfortunately for whatever reason when I installed it and then was moving on to the actual PBX installation I get a notice that it didn't have internet and sure enough the installation was missing a bunch of networking configs and packages... Would be simple enough to just install those packages, but the instance doesn't have Internet so not possible to get the packages. And ever since then I've attempted a few reinstalls hoping to find something in the setup process about networking but they have all resulted in kernel panics... And since I don't even know if that is going to fix my issue I paused that attempt until hearing back from this thread. I'll probably just have to start from scratch if that is the answer.

So hear is my next solution... If I just simple set it up on a local machine temporarily will that then give me a system in the portal and then once I have a new system in the portal with the correct license key simply install a fresh from the portal but then select a cloud provider?

I have exhausted everything I could thing of before turning to this forum for help. And if I get this working I will create another forum post outlining the exact way you should migrate between hosts since there isn't really a clear outline that I have found.

End Rant.

Thank you for you time and assistance. I just wish it was clearer to me before starting this the correct procedure.

 

[IrinaP_3CX]

How do I create a system with the license key which is used in the backup?

Was the backup created by you? How did you create the backup that you have?

 

[motivationent]

Was the backup created by you? How did you create the backup that you have?

Yes I created the back up... I logged into the console, went to Backup and Restore, created a new backup and checked off all of the options except the password option. I then downloaded the backup and have the zip file on my local machine. I also have the license key/subscription PDF

 

[IrinaP_3CX]

If you still have access to that machine, you can create another backup without the license key and FQDN.

 

[motivationent]

@IrinaP_3CX
No I do not... as I've stated already... How I created the backup in my initial post, and in my first two posts how I followed a procedure which instructed me to delete the original instance for the new instance to work...

 

[IrinaP_3CX]

If you deleted the instance only you can re-deploy using the same key.
If you actually deleted the license, you will not be able to use this backup.

You can email us at [email protected] to check the status of the licenses you are using and check what exactly you have deleted. We will be happy to check this for you.

 

[motivationent]

If you deleted the instance only you can re-deploy using the same key.
If you actually deleted the license, you will not be able to use this backup.

You can email us at [email protected] to check the status of the licenses you are using and check what exactly you have deleted. We will be happy to check this for you.

I deleted the system from my portal as that's literally what I was able to find to do in order to get the back up to restore to a new system... I'll e-mail them but I'm guessing a system is tied to the key and if the system is deleted the the key is gone and now it's impossible to get my instance restored... The documentation is no clear on this at all and the few forum threads I found talking about what I was attempting do to recommended this procedure... a year ago I had a lot of faith in 3CX I'm not so sure right now...

 

[IrinaP_3CX]

@motivationent you can always contact our customer service with any questions before taking action, and we will help with the clarifications on the correct process.

 

[motivationent]

@motivationent you can always contact our customer service with any questions before taking action, and we will help with the clarifications on the correct process.

Unfortunately did and they told me they could not answer any technical questions for me... but when I outlined what I was going to do they said that should work... I asked very specific questions because I wanted to know exactly how the restoring aspect would work but they just didn't want to answer anything too technical... Very frustrated. I'm a technical person I manage web servers and basic IT... The customer service yesterday didn't want to help me they just wanted to tell me to go find a 3CX partner... I didn't need a partner I needed a correct procedure...

 

[IrinaP_3CX]

If you email customer service today, please wait for the reply to clarify your account status.

 

[motivationent]

If you email customer service today, please wait for the reply to clarify your account status.

I have sent them a message, but I kind of am expecting the worse case scenario, luckily this is not a large setup and I took screen shots of all the settings just in case... So just more time wasted to get it back and unfortunately I will have to have all the users setup up again if I can't get the restore to work...

In the meantime, is there an actual tutorial or documentation that actually covers this? The Backup and Restore documentation I found on my own and the documentation customer service provided me yesterday definitely does not cover this scenario despite this exact scenario being pitched to me as trivial when I first started using 3CX.

 

[IrinaP_3CX]

@motivationent please kindly communicate with us in the ticket to resolve this.

 

[IrinaP_3CX]

@motivationent, following communication with our customer service team, I trust that we helped you to resolve this issue.

Best wishes,
Irina