Solved Restore not working - are there Restore logs and Backup logs

[Foiler]

We have a standby W10 host running latest 3CX app .. often after selecting a restore (of a backup from a Debian Linux setup), there is no confirmation email or failure message, but the restore is not working because the configuration is not updating to known settings of the backup.

After a fresh restart of the W10 pc, a restore did seem to work.

Are there logs somewhere to help diagnose the problem?

 

[ChrisC_3CX]

Hey @Foiler,

Restoring from a 3CX Backup from a Debian 9 machine to a Windows Host is possible, however we recommend that the restore is performed during installation. Also, you will have to make sure that that the Backup is the same or lower version (not lower that v15.5 SP6) than that of the new installation's version.

There does exist a log for the Restore functionality and you should be able to find it from within the Management Console under Dashboard >> Activity Log >> Logs >> Instance. If it is unclear though, you may have to contact our Support Team so they can shed some light on the matter.

 

[ChrisC_3CX]

@Foiler
Just to add to my previous reply. If you are talking about a failover configuration with the Windows 10 machine being the passive 3CX Instance, then note that the fact that you did not receive an email regarding the restore failure/success may be due to the fact that you are using the 3CX SMTP (for the passive server) and that the FQDN is pointing to a different Public IP (probably the primary's server Public IP). The email will fail because the authentication with the 3CX SMTP will fail in this scenario. You may want to consider using a different SMTP.

Despite not receiving the email though, the 3CX Instance should still be able to restore from the backup, provided of course that the version of the backup is the same or lower than the version of the actual installation.

Note: In a 3CX Failover configuration, both 3CX PBX must be running the exact same version.

 

[Foiler]

With the option ticked: Restore-Schedule "Do not start services after restore", then my Restore does not work after running once .. either the 3CX services need starting or the W10 PC needs re-starting to get another Restore to run.

Is this behaviour by design, or is there one service I can start manually with a schedued task to enable Restore to work on a daily basis?

 

[ChrisC_3CX]

@Foiler
When a 3CX Instance is in Passive mode, the following services are expected to be stopped:



While being in the above state, the Schedule Restore function should work and no services are required to start. How have you determined that the restore task does not complete? Are you not seeing configuration changes being carried over?

 

[Foiler]

By inspection of RestoreCmd.log the Restore did not run at all .. ie it did not start.

The "Enable Failover" is not selected, so the 3CX is neither Active or Passive?

A schedule restore does not run as reported, and also a manual restore will not run - unless the W10 o/s is restarted.

For the moment, as a workaround, I have disabled the selection to "Do not start services after restore" .. I am happy with this setup but I am interested to know if this is normal behaviour: "a Restore fails when the services were stopped automatically after a previous restore" ??

 

[NickD_3CX]

Hi @Foiler

The option "Do not start services after restore" is meant to be used in conjunction with Failover enabled, so I would suggest not using it in your case.

We are planning to make this more obvious in the future.

 

[Foiler]

The problem we have is that our backup server is on the same network, and if the SIP services are running on it, the Trunk registers and this seems to interfere with the active PBX after about 6 hours, and both inbound and outbound calls start failing on the main PBX.

So it looks like I have to run a Windows scheduled task (which I hate because they always seem unreliable) to restart the W10 pc before a scheduled restore, and then to stop the 3CX services (well at least the SIP service) just after the restore. All a bit messy .. does someone have a more elegant solution here?

 

[ChrisC_3CX]

In that case, all you should do is enable failover from within Backup and Restore >> Failover. This will ensure that the correct services are stopped on the passive server and that all services required for completing the restore process are always running. It will also of course automate the switchover process to the passive whenever a failover event occurs.

Do note that enabling failover will require an Enterprise Edition License Key. If you do not have one already, you may want to consider contacting one of our 3CX Partners to acquire one.

 

[Foiler]

ok thanks for that Chris