Update 7 Beta - New Deployment Server

[N_G]

New streamlined way to deploy 3CX​

In Update 7 we’ve improved and simplified our deployment method. Starting with this update each instance of 3CX has to be deployed from www.3cx.com/install/. Update 7 Beta is now the default deployment service from 3cx.com. If you want to deploy using the old Update 6 method, deploy directly ...

Continue reading the Original Blog Post.

 

[Guillaume Bourgeois]

Hi,
I really can't wait to try the configuration file generator !

Is this normal this message?




I can't test with a license I own/available.
Not urgent, I just couldn't wait to try.

 

[N_G]

Ah yes - if you are using a partner account and you want to create trials for users then you must do so from the customer portal the old way for the moment. The customer portal is not updated yet to the new way.

Each regular 3CX account is limited as to the number of trials it can spin up. I assume you already have a number of free editions or trials running?

 

[N_G]

@JupiterIT Thank you for the feedback. Its not a trivial feature. First we have to update our ms 365 integration to the latest apis and improve syncing, then we can get to this. First step will be done in update 8, which is around the corner believe it or not! But we need more time, at least a few more months, for the syncing via teams.

 

[Evolute IT]

Hello Nick Galea Thank you for your replies and for the timing of the feature.
Many of our customers. And also here in the forms, this is a very important feature. I'm a bit amazed it's not a high priority at 3 CX. But. Thanks again for the information.

3CX works on many things at the same time and they're not a team of 2000 programmers, so no it's not a priority. They work on the 3CX itself first, not integrating with competitors lol

 

[accentlogic]

@JupiterIT Thank you for the feedback. Its not a trivial feature. First we have to update our ms 365 integration to the latest apis and improve syncing, then we can get to this. First step will be done in update 8, which is around the corner believe it or not! But we need more time, at least a few more months, for the syncing via teams.

@Nick Galea this is good news! I'm also hoping we can have more control over the status mappings. Specifically, 3CX "Available2 "should be mapped to 365 "Working Elsewhere", not DND.
https://www.3cx.com/community/threa...k-working-elsewhere-to-3cx-available-2.81013/

 

[Forum User]

When going to 3cx.com/install and choosing the private cloud option I noticed I have to choose a 3CX FQDN. What is this used for?
At the moment we order all installs at Digitalocean and use our own FQDN (also happens to be hosted at Digital Ocean).
Am I understanding correctly that it is no longer possible to use our own FQDN starting from Update 7?

 

[Evolute IT]

When going to 3cx.com/install and choosing the private cloud option I noticed I have to choose a 3CX FQDN. What is this used for?
At the moment we order all installs at Digitalocean and use our own FQDN (also happens to be hosted at Digital Ocean).
Am I understanding correctly that it is no longer possible to use our own FQDN starting from Update 7?

Not all options are moved yet. And you can still deploy on DO via the marketplace image and use the setup wizard as you used to.

 

[Forum User]

Not all options are moved yet. And you can still deploy on DO via the marketplace image and use the setup wizard as you used to.

That is not an answer as that only applies to Update 6. What will happen with Update 7? Are custom FQDN's still possible then?

 

[Evolute IT]

That is not an answer as that only applies to Update 6. What will happen with Update 7? Are custom FQDN's still possible then?

U7 still has the setup wizard. It's the third option in the 5015 UI.

U7 can still be deployed via Marketplace Images. Those are not going anywhere.

Custom FQDNs are not going away as, if you read the post carefully, an option for the custom SSL will be added to that /install page.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

You can still use the classic setup wizard if you need to do so.

 

[Guillaume Bourgeois]

Ah yes - if you are using a partner account and you want to create trials for users then you must do so from the customer portal the old way for the moment. The customer portal is not updated yet to the new way.

Each regular 3CX account is limited as to the number of trials it can spin up. I assume you already have a number of free editions or trials running?

Hi Mr. Galea,
Thank you for your reply.

if you are using a partner account

Yes , exact, I was logged in with my partner account.

and you want to create trials for users

This page is the first step of https://www.3cx.com/install/
The tool (3cx.com/install) did not ask me if I wanted to use an existing license or request a trial one.

In my case, I wanted to use one of my NFR license to generate a configuration file, for On Premise installation .. only to test new tool .

The customer portal is not updated yet to the new way.

No worry, I am convinced that the new tool is great!
I'll wait, there are no emergencies.





Thx

 

[Peter PBX]

Dropping support for Lightsail will be a major headache for us.

We have over 160 3CX instances running on Lightsail.

The billing on AWS EC2 is hard to manage as you have to buy reserved instances to get competitive prices. With Lightsail you just pay for what you use (no need to reserve anything).

Also, we will have a problem if we have to redeploy any of these because if we redeploy to AWS EC2 we can't move the IP address over as they use different IP address pools (our wholesale SIP provider provides IP trunks - non registered).

Digital Ocean is not an option in Ireland either.

 

[Colorado VoIP]

so i tested out the install configuration site and it appears to have auto generated a trial key. where do we type in a key we own into this page?

 

[N_G]

@network51 Existing keys must be deployed from the customer portal which currently still runs the old install server..... sorry about that should have been clearer in the blog post.

 

[N_G]

Dropping support for Lightsail will be a major headache for us.

We have over 160 3CX instances running on Lightsail.

The billing on AWS EC2 is hard to manage as you have to buy reserved instances to get competitive prices. With Lightsail you just pay for what you use (no need to reserve anything).

Also, we will have a problem if we have to redeploy any of these because if we redeploy to AWS EC2 we can't move the IP address over as they use different IP address pools (our wholesale SIP provider provides IP trunks - non registered).

Digital Ocean is not an option in Ireland either.

Big chunk (counted 80+) of those instances are free editions. So you can redeploy them to StartUP? Or maybe they can be moved to PRO and 3CX Hosted. If customer thinks startup is not good enough then he will have to be told he must pay for the luxury of a dedicated instance.

We deploy 2 vCPU images by the way for a much better 3cx experience (retail $18 a month) and Digital Ocean works great in Ireland too. No we will not help you bypass 3cx for no good reason at all.

The free edition was meant for small companies and enthusiasts to get to know voip and 3CX. And in smaller developing markets to help companies setup their communications at no cost. But it has become apparent that it has also been used at scale to sell hosting and support.

Small companies that can not afford a 3CX license should be on 3CX StartUP. We might consider exceptions for developing markets and when we find a way to find the true enthusiasts again we will restart the free license in a better controlled way.

 

[Peter PBX]

Big chunk (counted 80+) of those instances are free editions. So you can redeploy them to StartUP? Or maybe they can be moved to PRO and 3CX Hosted. If customer thinks startup is not good enough then he will have to be told he must pay for the luxury of a dedicated instance.

We deploy 2 vCPU images by the way for a much better 3cx experience (retail $18 a month) and Digital Ocean works great in Ireland too. No we will not help you bypass 3cx for no good reason at all.

The free edition was meant for small companies and enthusiasts to get to know voip and 3CX. And in smaller developing markets to help companies setup their communications at no cost. But it has become apparent that it has also been used at scale to sell hosting and support.

Small companies that can not afford a 3CX license should be on 3CX StartUP. We might consider exceptions for developing markets and when we find a way to find the true enthusiasts again we will restart the free license in a better controlled way.

Hi Nick,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, around 80 of our instances were setup on the 'Standard' license over the last year. We are in the process of migrating 100's of our customers from legacy Panasonic platforms. As you can see from our account, these Standard licenses are upgraded to Pro as and when they come up for renewal. There is no intention here of running systems with free licenses, and that's not the way we operate.

Digital Ocean have no servers available in Ireland, and we will not host our customer's phone systems from outside the country for performance and security reasons.

We are a Panasonic partner, and when Panasonic decided to pull out of the PBX market, we evaluated a number of platforms to migrate our customer base to. We love 3CX and one of the main reason's we decided on this solution was easy deployment on Lightsail.

A lot of our Panasonic NSV systems are still hosted on AWS EC2, but as I said before the billing on EC2 is a headache. For an individual company hosting their own stuff, maybe not. But for a managed services provider hosting multiple instances, it's not easy.

I understand that you need to have a business case to justify supporting Lightsail deployment, but I just wanted to flag it as an issue for us. I wouldn't be surprised if other partners were in the same position.

Thanks,

Peter

 

[renroh20]

Dropping support for Lightsail will be a major headache for us.

If I understand it rightly, you can't deploy new installs to LightSail, but any existing LightSail installs will not stop working, but for how much longer will they still be supported @Nick Galea please? (we only have 4 but others have many more!)

the phone calls are constantly being interrupted by MS teams.

also, will this be fixed in Update 7 please, so we can tell our customers? It's quite annoying for some, understandably. It also happens when an incoming 3CX call cuts off an existing Teams call in progress, (embarrassing for our customers when a Teams call gets cut off or interrupted with their customers! Yes I know they should mark themselves as DND but...!)

Many thanks (we're loving all these updates and improvements though BTW!)

 

[N_G]

@william.horner Thanks for the feedback! You can run Amazon lightsail instances for as long as you like. Keep in mind that the current 3CX requires a $20 2vCPU machine to run comfortably, depending on size of company of course.

Re Teams cutting off 3CX. We dont cut off any calls. Possibly your headsets do this. If you are talking about a JABRA ensure you have selected the Jabra integration option and if you have issues contact Jabra support....

 

[renroh20]

@william.horner Thanks for the feedback! You can run Amazon lightsail instances for as long as you like. Keep in mind that the current 3CX requires a $20 2vCPU machine to run comfortably, depending on size of company of course.

Re Teams cutting off 3CX. We dont cut off any calls. Possibly your headsets do this. If you are talking about a JABRA ensure you have selected the Jabra integration option and if you have issues contact Jabra support....

Yes thank you. In case others haven't seen it, check out the Jabra headset integration re-added to U7, (I like the comment!).