Upgrade to new hardware restore existing PBX

[Rolteus]

I went ahead with my hardware upgrade even though I had some reservations about the process. Here are the problems I ran into.

1. When attempting to reboot my server had "waiting for network" error and hung twice but functioned on the third boot. From what I was able to gather there is an issue with Debian abandoning the initial IP interface settings established during setup and had to be reconfigured sometimes. I suppose I'm lucky I didn't have to reconfigure my IP interface from the command line to continue my installation as that doesn't appear to have happened in this case.

2. Instructions for "deactivating" your license prior to setting up the new system do not match the customer portal layout. Screenshots and instructions don't match up. https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/pbx-backup-restore-failover/#h.2a3yvcw23lo4/ This document doesn't really show you the correct procedure for unbinding your public IP from your FQDN it just says "deactivate" but the portal has a big red "release" button. The instruction shows a way to switch to a "free license" but those controls weren't there. I was successful in "releasing" my license/fqdn/public IP using the release button with some trepidation. For what its worth I tend not to make assumptions when working on a production server on a Sunday. I like to think that the instructions available are accurate and up to date and I expect this to be the case especially when conducting a sensitive operation where my server is down hard and the instructions don't appear to match what I see on my screen.

3. After completing the installation I attempted to reactivate my license and ended up with an error and my license is saying its expired and I have no support. When I click the button to refresh license information it hourglasses for a moment and comes back with "unable to contact activation server place make sure primary DNS can resolve activation.3cx.com. I can ping that URL and it resolves to 151.80.125.88 from the console of the pbx and from my personal computer at home. Both attempts at reaching your activation server failed on Sunday, March 8th between 11am and 12:10pm.

4. After installing I wanted to check my updates. The update shows "out of date" and is an "alpha" update according to the information. When I click the link I get a warning that this update is "beta" and should not be used in production.

As you can imagine I'm just a little confused.

I feel lucky at this point I'm able to send and receive calls but my dashboard says my license isn't active and I no support but we're paid up and we have a reseller linked.

Can someone please address this issue for me I don't need to spend money calling my reseller for support because your activation server URL was changed or was offline on a Sunday.

Also, I need to understand what's going on with this update and if I have the current production version or are there updates I'm missing.

Our server was not updated Debian 8 when Debian 9 came out so we were still on v15. The Debian 9 update was no longer available when I attempted to install it so I had to go with a new installation and a restore.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Best

 

[Saqqara]

I think the screenshots tell you all the info

licensing issue - change your dns servers to google and try licensing by click on ‘refresh license’

versio of 3cx - do not install the version under updates - this a alpha version of the next release and should not be used in a live environment

FYI - if you are using the same license and fqdn you do not have to release the license key - just switch off the old server before setting up the new servers

 

[Rolteus]

I think the screenshots tell you all the info

licensing issue - change your dns servers to google and try licensing by click on ‘refresh license’

versio of 3cx - do not install the version under updates - this a alpha version of the next release and should not be used in a live environment

FYI - if you are using the same license and fqdn you do not have to release the license key - just switch off the old server before setting up the new servers

As I said the instructions were lacking detail it would have been nice to know I didn't need to worry about deactivating my license before I actually went to work.

I've been researching this for a month and I knew something like this was going to happen because my dry runs exposed the problems in this process and now I'm in production with a lame server and I didn't do anything different or wrong I installed this server three times to make sure the process was sound.


I'm using google DNS. My pbx works. I'm using a sonicwall with DNS relay configured properly my network has been in production continuously for many years with no problems. Windows server providing local DNS returning same results as my PC at home on different network. I can ping that host from any host on my network including pbx console and the URL resolves to an IP but ping times out. I can ping this from my home and it resolves but times out exactly the same different network. DNS is actually resolving URL to an IP address NSlookup is returning different information. This PBX has been in service for 3.5 years with no issues. In my experience when you ping a host from two different networks with the same result its usually a server down issue. Try pinging activation.3cx.com and tell me what you get if you don't mind.

Thank you.

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Hi @Rolteus

The guide you followed applies to a previous version of the PBX where the option to deactivate your licence was available. This is no longer the case. If you want to move a machine without changing your licence or your FQDN you can just perform a full backup and restore that backup to the new machine.
We will get the guide removed to avoid future confusion.

Did you use the 3CX iso to install Debian or did you use a different iso?

You are running the latest version of the PBX and you do not need to install the Alpha version. That is for users that want to try out the next service in a test environment. For a production environment we do not recommend installing an Alpha version.

activation.3cx.com will not reply to pings so what you are describing is correct. The server is up and running.

Can you bypass the firewall and try to re-activate the PBX server to see if that helps? Also check your ip tables in Debian in case something is being blocked.

 

[Rolteus]

Hi @Rolteus

The guide you followed applies to a previous version of the PBX where the option to deactivate your licence was available. This is no longer the case. If you want to move a machine without changing your licence or your FQDN you can just perform a full backup and restore that backup to the new machine.
We will get the guide removed to avoid future confusion.

Did you use the 3CX iso to install Debian or did you use a different iso?

You are running the latest version of the PBX and you do not need to install the Alpha version. That is for users that want to try out the next service in a test environment. For a production environment we do not recommend installing an Alpha version.

activation.3cx.com will not reply to pings so what you are describing is correct. The server is up and running.

Can you bypass the firewall and try to re-activate the PBX server to see if that helps? Also check your ip tables in Debian in case something is being blocked.

I got everything worked out. The only issue was I had to swap the primary and secondary DNS and it activated no problem. 8.8.8.8 was my secondary and gateway has always been a reliable relay for our ISP Spectrum DNS servers.

It seems the only DNS that works for your activation is google DNS but this really isn't part of any instruction or information I could find before the install so I ended up finding it after searching for the error that popped up.

Maybe you could make 8.8.8.8 the default DNS and indicate this during the install to avoid this confusing and unnecessary problem in the future. A proper more up to date installation and restore from backup instruction would also be very helpful.

Thank you.

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Glad to see that everything was sorted. Google DNS is not required for activation and that is why it's not included in any of the guides. There are thousands of systems in different cloud providers that do not use google DNS and activate just fine.

A proper more up to date installation and restore from backup instruction would also be very helpful.

Our online guides include the following:
https://www.3cx.com/3cxacademy/videos/basic/installing/
https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/
https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/pbx-backup-restore-failover/

Going through them i feel like they are pretty up to date but any suggestions on improving them are welcome.