[dba-Tech] 3CX phone system

Tue Mar 14 01:38:58 CDT 2017

Hi Jim

You don't have to run 3CX in a VM. As you mentioned, an old reliable stand-alone box with Windows 7 - or with the Debian install - will do.

/gustav

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: dba-Tech [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Jim Lawrence
Sendt: 14. marts 2017 01:51
Til: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Emne: Re: [dba-Tech] 3CX phone system

Hi Gustav:

That makes sense. We had a Technet account for years but upon retirement felt no need to pursue it. Well I guess any Windows product that can run a VM can run the package, as it appears, the foot-print is very small.

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gustav Brock" <gustav at cactus.dk>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2017 12:01:12 AM
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] 3CX phone system

Hi Jim

As I have mentioned several times, we use MAPS:

https://partner.microsoft.com/en-US/membership/action-pack

at about USD 500 per year to cover up to ten users for Windows 10 Enterprise and five for Office 2016 Pro and Office 365 E3 plus several server licenses. 
The 3CX runs in a VM on our main server.

That said, 3CX will run in all Windows versions down to the old Windows 7 SP1.

/gustav

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: dba-Tech [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Jim Lawrence
Sendt: 13. marts 2017 05:32
Til: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Emne: Re: [dba-Tech] 3CX phone system

Hi Gustav:

Hope you got a good deal on the Windows Server 2012 R2. (Last time I looked, it would have cost me in the 4K bracket, which is beyond my retired budget... ;-))  

It does sound like you have a very effective system. 

I did check and even though the product was built upon a Debian distro, the core 3CX is not OSS. For the fun of it, I downloaded and ran the ISO, but without doing any configuration (wouldn't know where to start without studying the docs) and it took less than 12 minutes, from a USB stick, to have a fully operational server in place, installed on the network...sweet. :-)

I may recommend this product, to a client, if the circumstances come up again...if you get some prank call from Canada about some 3CX problem, you will know where it comes from. ;-)

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gustav Brock" <gustav at cactus.dk>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2017 12:36:09 AM
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] 3CX phone system

Hi Jim

Yes, highly recommended. We've used it for the last two years, though running on Windows Server 2012 R2. In fact, it replaced our last Linux server running a Trixbox PBX based on Asterisk.

Indeed, if you operate in Europe, 3CX should be your first choice as it - contrary to Asterisk - truly understands European telcos and telephony standards. Besides, management is a breeze compared to the total mess of Asterisk and its derivations.

Further, if you grow out of the free version (1 trunk, 8 simultaneous calls), the system is in no way expensive.
However, open-source it isn't. It least I haven't seen anything stating this.

/gustav
________________________________________
Fra: dba-Tech databaseadvisors.com> på vegne af Jim Lawrence <accessd at shaw.ca>
Sendt: 10. marts 2017 21:22:51
Til: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Emne: [dba-Tech] 3CX phone system

Hi All:

The 3CX Phone System is a boutique designed Linux distro for the sole purpose of managing an office phone system. It has a very small footprint, less than 512MB, counting extras and the databases, so the system can be added to a network via an older box or one with little resources...or even run from the Cloud. The distro has been around for a while but it was not until recently that I actually saw it installed and up and running...and I was very impressed. The local techs said that they had the system up and running in a morning and could mix the old and old equipment (telephones): https://www.3cx.com/

Quote:

3CX Phone System is a specialist, Debian-based Linux distribution designed to run a complete unified communications platform. The 3CX client, included in the distribution, can also be installed separately on most hardware as well as the Cloud. It provides a complete open standards-based IP PBX and phone system that works with popular SIP trunks and IP phones. It will automatically configure all supported peripherals and it also comes with clients for Windows, OS X, iOS and Android. The ISO image includes a free license for the 3CX PBX edition. The ISO images contain the standard Debian installer which installs a minimal system with the nginx web server, PostgreSQL database, iptables firewall and Secure Shell. Options not relevant to 3CX have been removed from the distribution. Download the installation ISO image from here: debian-8.6.0-amd64-netinst-3cx.iso (265MB):

http://downloads.3cx.com/downloads/3cxpbxiso/debian-8.6.0-amd64-netinst-3cx.iso
http://bit.ly/2mskxhw

In addition, this software, at least the client part, runs on all platforms (and even the Cloud), supports multiple languages, has online and phone support across North America and Europe (from the US to Russia...Africa to Australia) and forums, documents and so on...

https://www.3cx.com/phone-system/3CXPhoneSystem_brochure.pdf

As it is basically, for a base, small installation, free and open source anyone can download and play with it and find out it is right for your clients.

Jim 