Trying To Install 3CX From The Debian ISO Into vSphere 6.5

[DarrenF-UWD]

I have been trying to get the 3CX Debian ISO installed in our vSphere 6.5 environment for the last 5 hours and I need a little extra help than what is in the "manual". I have created a blank new VM with all the correct hardware and the VM boots from the ISO and completes the install with NO errors. It reboots the VM at the end and all I get is a Debian login prompt. The automated install uses DHCP and the IP address it is using is valid and I can ping it but there is no web administration page on port 5015. When I try to login to the VM's console there is no 3CX logo and there is nothing close to the screenshots in the installation instructions. My environment is not special but I can't help but think there is something wrong with the installation script on the ISO. Any help would be appreciated because it shouldn't this difficult to get a VM appliance running.

 

[cobaltit]

I always do a manual install so can't really help you with that. You said 'try' to login to the console. Does that mean you can't actually login?

 

[DarrenF-UWD]

The web page http://dhcpaddress:5015 results in a 404 from 3 different browsers. I have verified that the MAC of the VM that is tied to the DHCP address that the install process is getting is valid. I can ping that IP and get no packet loss. There is also a screenshot in the documentation where there is an ASCI logo of 3CX and a menu with 2 options that showing that you can use a browser to get to IP:5015 or use the command line. I don't see that logo after the installer reboots. The sudo command in that screenshot also does nothing with an error that sudo isn't a recognized command. Honestly I'm just really frustrated because I don't know Debian and I would prefer to use a VM appliance than use a Windows license for 3CX.

 

[cobaltit]

So I've only used the 3CX ISO once for testing. All my production installs are done manually. You can try re-downloading the ISO in case you got a bad copy or or it's an older version or something. Otherwise I'd try a manual install:

https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/installing-debian-linux-pbx/

 

[DarrenF-UWD]

I'm very sorry if this comes across as me sounding like an asshole but if the working method to install 3CX is to do it manually then why does the ISO exist? I did download it a second time with the same results. If the downloadable ISO is buggy or doing something that its not supposed to, why is it available to confuse and frustrate a potential customer? This is a business right? 3CX is supposed to generate revenue, or is 3CX somebody's high school coding project? Or am I wrong and not worthy because I don't know about some elitist Linux OS?

Does the ISO have some other purpose besides setting up a running VM of Debian with the 3CX software on top of it? Is that factually correct or incorrect? At the moment all I can deduce is that the installer hasn't been tested properly or it can't handle the defaults properly. Sorry, it just shouldn't be this difficult.

 

[cobaltit]

I never said the working method is to do a manual install, I said I always do a manual install. I prefer to do my installs a certain way and I didn't know what assumptions 3CX made in the ISO.

As far as the ISO not working that could be any number of things. It could be a faulty ISO that was uploaded. It could be corruption in the CDN that 3CX uses. It could be something in your environment. If it frustrates you this much and/or you don't have time to troubleshoot then move on to your next choice in PBX or find a partner to set it up. There is no perfect product out there and while I've had issues with some of the business decisions 3CX has made I've never had a problem installing it on Windows or Linux (aside from a botched upgrade I did last weekend that was my fault).

I'm not sure what you spent 5 hours doing. I mean if it didn't work the first or second time I would have downloaded a fresh ISO or checked some basics like looking at running processes to see if the the installer/wizard was running or netstat to see if ports were open as it could be a firewall/ACL issue on the host/VM/network. Simply reinstalling over and over again seems more like insanity .

You put the disk in (or mount the ISO) and 10 minutes later it works or doesn't. Degree of difficulty seems pretty low.

I'll grab the ISO tomorrow when I get to the office and install it and see if it works for me. We're a HyperV shop though so it won't be apples to apples.

 

[cobaltit]

Also, just wanted to confirm that everything you see matches the manual up to step 14. It sounds like you aren't getting the 3CX install part, just the base Debian install.

 

[DarrenF-UWD]

Ok let's get some closer on this as I do appreciate the help in this thread. The failure occurred at the point where the installer tries to go get the 3CX packages because we are using a web proxy. During my troubleshooting, I configured our web proxy to exempt from filtering any requests to 3cx.com and debian.org. This exemption allowed the installer to continue without producing an error, however the called process for apt-get was actually failing because the https requests were being signed with the proxy's certificate. I was able to get the manual process to complete properly by turning off the web proxy for the few minutes it took to do the install. As constructive criticism, it may be a good idea to have the installer ask the human if a proxy is being used and if yes to provide credentials. Having credentials provides more options to have the installer complete in an automated process. As of now, we have a working install of 3CX. Again, sorry for the snark above, was very frustrated.