Solved New Install Won't Activate

[Mike Hammett]

• 3CX Version: Pro Annual 18.0 U3 Build 461
• Server OS, Debian 10
• Is the 3CX Server Hosted and where? Hosted in my own "cloud"
• IP Phone Make/Model/Firmware version, None yet
• Provisioning Method: None yet
• Trunk Provider or VoIP Gateway Make/Model, None yet
• Has the Firewall Checker passed: YES
• Are custom Phone Templates being used: NO

I have a brand new install and I'm getting, "Unable to reach 3CX License Activation Server. Confirm that your Primary DNS Server is able to resolve activate.3cx.com"

Except that it can:

# nslookup activate.3cx.com
Server:         208.89.144.100
Address:        208.89.144.100#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:   activate.3cx.com
Address: 104.18.14.54
Name:   activate.3cx.com
Address: 104.18.15.54
Name:   activate.3cx.com
Address: 2606:4700::6812:e36
Name:   activate.3cx.com
Address: 2606:4700::6812:f36

and it can pull down other pages:

# wget fart.com
--2022-04-13 10:15:59-- http://fart.com/
Resolving fart.com (fart.com)... 142.93.86.2
Connecting to fart.com (fart.com)|142.93.86.2|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 301 Moved Permanently
Location: https://fart.com/ [following]
--2022-04-13 10:16:04-- https://fart.com/
Connecting to fart.com (fart.com)|142.93.86.2|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [text/html]
Saving to: ‘index.html’

index.html                                               [ <=>                                                                                                                   ] 138.27K  --.-KB/s    in 0.1s

2022-04-13 10:16:05 (1.26 MB/s) - ‘index.html’ saved [141586]

 

[Mike Hammett]

It will even pull down from that server:

# wget https://activate.3cx.com/apiv2/domains
--2022-04-13 10:57:59-- https://activate.3cx.com/apiv2/domains
Resolving activate.3cx.com (activate.3cx.com)... 104.18.15.54, 104.18.14.54, 2606:4700::6812:e36, ...
Connecting to activate.3cx.com (activate.3cx.com)|104.18.15.54|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 24513 (24K) [application/json]
Saving to: ‘domains’

domains                                              100%[======================================================================================================================>]  23.94K  --.-KB/s    in 0.001s

2022-04-13 10:58:04 (35.5 MB/s) - ‘domains’ saved [24513/24513]

 

[ChrisC_3CX]

Make sure it is the Host's primary server that can resolve the FQDN and try it again. I'd recommend that, at least temporarily, you set the Host's primary DNS to google's (8.8.8.8).

Note: You might need to restart the interface once you make the change.

Let me know what happens.

 

[Mike Hammett]

Make sure it is the Host's primary server that can resolve the FQDN and try it again. I'd recommend that, at least temporarily, you set the Host's primary DNS to google's (8.8.8.8).

Note: You might need to restart the interface once you make the change.

Let me know what happens.

Okay, The primary server *WAS* indeed down (full disk). The secondary server clearly worked. Why didn't 3CX use all configured DNS servers?

 

[ChrisC_3CX]

Okay, The primary server *WAS* indeed down (full disk). The secondary server clearly worked. Why didn't 3CX use all configured DNS servers?

The internal mechanism for License Activation only uses the primary server, hence the message:

"Unable to reach 3CX License Activation Server. Confirm that your Primary DNS Server is able to resolve activate.3cx.com"

This is by design and is always the case for this specific function.

In any case, glad to see you managed to sort this out!