Monitor more than one 3CX server

[acolville]

I have three sites each with a 3CX system (paid editions) which are connected via a vpn and then 3CX bridge. We chose to go this route rather than one single system to prevent sites losing their phones if the internet connection was lost either at the remote or the central location.

It works well - users can call between sites, transfer calls between site etc but, and it is a big but, the presence info is NOT passed through the bridge. Hence a user at site A does not know if a user at Site B is busy or not.

Some of this can be resolved by using BLF on phones, but these can not be used for transferring calls (snoms).

Can anyone suggest a way of displaying the extension info at all three sites eg:

-run three copies of 3CX assistant? - It seems you can only run one at a time
-Another program which picks up the SIP data? - I have looked at OpenFire and Spark, but they currently only allow connection to one SIP server

I know I can open three web pages to each server - but this is no good for the users! and they timeout and you have to keep logging on!

My provider had hinted that presence over 3CX bridges would be part of V8 - but I can see no mention of it in the release notes.

All help very gratefully received!

Alistair Colville

 

[pjr]

This is a feature our clients would benefit from too!

Any word from 3CX on this?

Paul

 

[archie]

We're considering to implement 3CX Server's Link in future version. I don't know if it will be V9 or V10, but we definitely are working in that direction. Having servers link you will be able to monitor any extension on any linked PBX, and also will have many other neat features.

 

[acolville]

We're considering to implement 3CX Server's Link in future version. I don't know if it will be V9 or V10, but we definitely are working in that direction. Having servers link you will be able to monitor any extension on any linked PBX, and also will have many other neat features.

By V9 or V0 I will be using Cisco!

This is a real issue for us. We implemented 3CX in order to have a single receptionist for three sites, but the bridge functionaltiy is pretty limited.

Ok, we could have one site as the master and extensions at the others as remote from the master, but this is far too risky. If the internet connection is down at the main site then all three are down.

I do not see what the issue is? If 3CX assiatnt was to monitor more than one server, with the extentions grouped by server this would resolve all these issues, surely this would not be too difficult to implement?

As a hack why not allow mutliple versions of 3CX assistant to run at the same time? not pretty I know, but I have just seen a demo from cisco where this works out of the box (and it has extension roaming!). I was impressed and the price was not that much more than 3CX - especially with the V8 price improvements (for 3cx!)

This is not meant to be a rant, but the cost benefit of 3CX is being eroded by a lack of basic features which should be there and features which just don't work (don't get me started on faxing). Come on 3CX you need to focus on the core product or those of us who belived in your initial philosphy will move on...

If anyone knows any way I can monitor three sites let me know, hopefully before the Cisco rep comes around again...

Alistair

 

[archie]

By V9 or V0 I will be using Cisco!

So far we've been releaseing a version in half year. If we keep the pace - V10 will be available in a year.

I do not see what the issue is? If 3CX assiatnt was to monitor more than one server, with the extentions grouped by server this would resolve all these issues, surely this would not be too difficult to implement?

No, it is not difficult to transmit and collect information. Difficult is to present it to user in clear and manageable way.

As a hack why not allow mutliple versions of 3CX assistant to run at the same time?

It is possible. Put a feature request to make it configurable.

I was impressed and the price was not that much more than 3CX

Just out of curiosity: what is Cisco price for three interlinked sites installation? I've heard that base price for one site starts from $15K, is it true?

 

[KerryG]

Personally I think 3CX development is moving at a very rapid rate right now. Keep in mind that 3CX is basically a newcomer to the scene and has really only been production-ready for a very short period of time in comparison to other products. I think its actually pretty amazing 3CX is where it is at today given how young it is.

As for Cisco being the same price, you might want to get a new bid on that because its just not accurate since you have to buy their hardware as well which pushes the cost well beyond anything you can do 3CX for.

At the same time, 3CX will probably never have every feature everyone wants, no system out there does. If you look at competing products in this category such as trixbox, SwitchVox, 3Com NBX systems, and pretty much everything else, you will not find that particular feature you are looking for. Not that what you want isn't valid, it most certainly is but it is also a niche feature that won't be used by the 90% of the customer base.