Hosting 3CX PBX in DigitalOcean

Introduction

Easily host and manage 3CX in your own DigitalOcean account and manage all your servers from one place. This guide takes you through the steps of creating a free DigitalOcean account with $250 credit being offered exclusively to 3CX Partners. Use it to set up a VM with 3CX. If you decide to keep 3CX for production use, we suggest you switch to a suitable paid account.

Get your Free DigitalOcean Trial Account

Free DigitalOcean Trial Account

Go to https://try.digitalocean.com/3cx-partners/ and get the special DigitalOcean promo for 3CX customers. The review process takes 3-5 business days.

Step 1 - Enable the DigitalOcean API token

  1. Go to the DigitalOcean “Dashboard → API → Tokens/Key → Generate New Token”
  2. Enter the name “3CX”, set the expiration to “No expire” and enable the “Full Access” permission.
  3. Click on “Generate Token” and copy it as you will need it for the deployment wizard.

Step 2 - Configure SSH access

  1. Go to “Settings”, click on “Security” and then “Add SSH Key”.
    Use our guide to generate your key and paste the public SSH key content.
  2. This step can only be done after 3CX has been deployed! In DigitalOcean Dashboard go to “Networking > Firewalls” and click on “pbxexpress Firewall > Inbound Rules > New Rule > SSH”, add your source ip address and “Save”.

Step 3 - Deploy 3CX

  1. Create a 3CX customer account here
  2. Select “Self Hosted (Private Cloud)” and click “Next”
  3. Choose your 3CX FQDN and click “Next”
  4. Set your extension digit length and click “Next”
  5. Set your System Preferences and click “Next”
  6. From the drop-down list, choose “Digital Ocean” and paste your access token created earlier and click “Next”
  7. Give your Digital Ocean machine a name and use the drop-down list to select your project, region, key pair, network and your machine type. Click “Next”
  8. 3CX will now be deployed. Once done, you will see the login details and the next steps

Re-deploying your 3CX?

  1. Login to the customer portal
  2. Go to “My Systems” find the subscription you want to have hosted and select "Install"
  3. Select “Self Hosted (Private Cloud)” and click “Next”
  4. Select your extension digit length and on the next screen set your System Preferences then click on “Next”.  These settings will be overridden if you restore a backup.
  5. Select “Digital Ocean” from the drop-down list and enter your access token.
  6. Click “Yes” to upload your existing 3CX configuration backup and click “Next”
  7. Give your Digital Ocean machine a name and use the drop-down list to select your project, region, key pair, network and machine type. Click “Next”

See Also

Last Updated

This document was last updated on 17 July 2024

https://www.3cx.com/docs/hosted-pbx-digital-ocean/