Managing your Phone System

Introduction

Most of the configuration of 3CX can be done via the 3CX Web Client Admin section. However some features, the dashboard, as well as legacy functionality are only available from the Management Console. Over time all management functionality will be moved to the new 3CX Web Client Admin section. Management Console access requires you to be a System Admin or System owner.

IMPORTANT CHANGE IN UPDATE 6 FOR EXISTING 3CX USERS

On existing systems, a root account has been configured in 3CX that allows access to the Management Console. This account can be configured from “Security > Root Credentials”. Reset the password if you are not sure who has access. 

If you are an existing user and you have just upgraded, you will receive a warning in the Management Console to assign an extension user System Owner privileges. In most companies the system administrator / owner has an extension on the system already.

However, there might be cases that the current 3CX administrator has only a root account (“Management Console > Security > Root credentials”). In these cases you must create an extension for the Root account.

To assign ‘System Owner’ rights, go to the “user” account, click on the ‘Rights’ tab and select “System Owner” role in the ‘Group Membership’ section.

Dashboard

The dashboard page shows all key information and health status about your system in one easy-to-understand view, grouped by:

1. “System Status” - key info on the health and activity of the computer system on which 3CX is running including CPU usage and performance, disk and memory usage. CPU graph spikes are normal, however if the level is frequently above 60% over a continued period of time, then your system is underpowered and you need to upgrade.
2. “PBX Status” - 3CX PBX activity including trunks and extensions, calls in use, blacklisted IPs, automatic backups status, firewall checker and services.
3. “Information” - 3CX installation info including system FQDN and public IP, WebMeeting FQDN and MCU, License and Maintenance info, number of licensed simultaneous calls and conference participants.
4. “Event Log” and “Activity Log” - 3CX logs for monitoring critical system events and troubleshooting potential PBX issues.
5. “Updates” - keep your system up to date with the 3CX update service.

System Status

Key information about the health of the computer system on which 3CX is running, includes:

• System Status graph - displays processor usage over time.
• Disk usage - monitor for call recordings and logs.
• Memory usage.
• CPU usage - the current processor performance.

PBX Status

The ‘PBX Status’ section shows you details on the status of your 3CX installation on this system:

• Trunks Up - number of trunks, bridges and SBC connections registered versus configured.
• Extensions Up - number of extensions active versus configured.
• Number of calls in use - number of calls currently in use versus licensed.
• Blacklisted IPs - number of blacklisted IPs for failed authentication attempts.
• Call History - number of call history entries.
• Chat logs - enable / disable or purge chat logs.
• Audit Log - enable / disable or purge audit logs
• Automatic Backups - automatic backup indicator and timestamp for the last successful backup.
• Recording - current used space and recording quota
• Firewall Checker - indicates the firewall check status.
• Trunks - indicates the status of configured SIP trunks.
• Phones - status indicator for connected phones.
• Services - green if all 3CX Services are running; red if otherwise.
• Terminal (Linux only) - open a web command console for basic monitoring and maintenance tasks for the 3CX host machine.
• System Extensions - green if all system extensions are registered, red if otherwise.

Information

• License - license activation status and number.
• Product - license edition
• Sim Calls - number of licensed simultaneous calls.
• Meeting Seats - number of licensed conference participants.
• Maintenance Expiry - maintenance expiration info or any possible error state.
• Version - current version number
• My Partner - your assigned 3CX Partner
• FQDN - the FQDN used by the system.
• IPv4 - the 32-bit public IP of the phone system.
• IPv6 - the 128-bit public IP of the phone system.
• Outbound Rules - number of configured outbound rules - one or more outbound rules are required to make calls.

Event Log

The ‘Event log’ records important system events for you to take note or action, such as:

• The emergency number is dialed (ID 4099).
• SIP trunk status change(s) (ID 4100).
• A trunk failover occurs, i.e. the backup rule is triggered (ID 12289).
• The license limit has been reached (ID 8193), i.e. consider upgrading your license if the 3CX license limit on concurrent call events occurs frequently.

See the guide for a full list of PBX event logs. Set notification email alerts for critical events in “Settings > Email > Notifications”.

Activity Log

Use the ‘Activity Log’ to:

• troubleshoot 3CX Phone System’s activity and review potential reasons for error conditions.
• filter events based on extension, a particular call or by date and time.

The “Settings” button to set the “Activity Log” to:

• Off - disable logging
• Low - log Error and Critical events.
• Medium - log Info, Error and Critical events.
• Verbose - log all SIP messages and debug info.

Note: Change the logging level back to low or medium after you complete troubleshooting, as Verbose logging consumes heavily disk space and CPU resources and will shut down your system over time.

Audit log

The audit logs records actions of administrators and group managers so you can review who made which changes to the configuration

Create Outbound rule to route calls over the trunk

Outbound rules dictate how 3CX routes outgoing calls, i.e. via different SIP trunks or gateways, based on which user or group is calling, the dialed number, or the number length.

When you create a SIP trunk, 3CX will auto create and configure an outbound rule for that SIP trunk. If the trunk is for the whole PBX, it will create an outbound rule for all users. If the SIP trunk is created within a group it will create a rule for that group only.

Now if you have more than one SIP trunk, then you will need to go into the outbound rules section to create an outbound rule for the second SIP trunk.

To create an outbound call rule in the Management Console and route calls via this trunk:

1. Go to “Outbound Rules”, select “Add”, and enter a name for the new rule.
2. Specify any matching criteria to trigger this outbound rule in the “Apply this rule to these calls” section:

• Calls to numbers starting with prefix - Apply this rule to all calls starting with the number you specify, e.g. entering the prefix “9” indicates that outbound calls to numbers starting with “9” trigger this rule.
• Calls from extension(s) - define the extension(s) or extension range calling to trigger this rule. Specify extensions separated by commas and ranges using “-”, e.g. 100,102-120.
• Calls to numbers with a length of - trigger this rule when calling numbers with the specified digit length, e.g. 8 digits, to differentiate calls between local and national numbers, without requiring a prefix.
• Calls from extension group - select the calling extension group(s) that trigger this rule.
• IMPORTANT: If you specify Extensions and one or more Extension Groups then the rule will trigger if the extension is in the group OR in the list of extensions (so, cumulative)

3. “Make outbound calls on” - select from the defined gateway(s) or provider(s) to set up to five alternate routes for the call. If the first route is not available or busy, 3CX automatically tries the next route, until the call can be made or the default “Block Calls” route is reached.
4. To transform the number that matches the outbound rule, before the call is routed to the selected gateway or provider, use these for each route:

• Strip Digits - remove one or more digits from the called number, e.g. strip one digit to remove the prefix “9”, before the number is dialed.
• Prepend - add one or more digits at the beginning of the number, if this is required by the provider or gateway.
• Optionally specify an ‘Outbound Caller ID’.

5. Click “OK” to add the outbound rule.

Now after the outbound rule is created it will be added to the bottom of the list, i.e. it has the least priority. If you want to increase the priority of an outbound rule you have to select it and click the “Move Up” button.

Keeping your system updated

The ‘Updates’ function enables you to keep your system up to date. 3CX updates are downloaded and grouped into:

• Updates - updates to core 3CX Services
• 3CX Apps - updates to 3CX apps
• Phone Templates - updates to the provisioning templates
• VoIP Gateway - updates to VoIP gateway provisioning templates
• SIP Trunks - new or updated configuration templates for VoIP Providers
• OS Upgrades - new Debian Linux OS versions are required for the latest 3CX PBX.

New certified firmwares for supported phones present on your network, are downloaded automatically, but not applied. Language pack updates, prompt sets and new integrations are now updated from their respective section in “Settings”, so that you can select which to download and apply.

Auto Update

The “Automatically update 3CX” option in ‘Updates’ keeps your system up to date, by scheduling automatic upgrades to these components:

• 3CX Phone System updates - only Release versions
• 3CX App updates - Windows and Mac OS
• iOS Push Certificate Updates
• PSTN gateway templates
• VoIP provider templates
• Required Debian Linux OS security updates.

3CX Betas

3CX releases beta versions to enable testing prior to installation on production systems. Beta releases are included in ‘Updates’, so that you can optionally install them to test and get support via the ticket system.

Important:

• Systems running on a 3CX beta version can only be updated with further beta releases.
• Backups of systems running a beta update cannot be restored on an older release version.

Backup and Restore

3CX integrates backup and restore functionality, to enable you to:

• Create regular and scheduled backups.
• Εasily upgrade to newer versions.
• Allow hassle-free moving from one machine to another.
• Configure a standby server for fault tolerance.

Although 3CX can back to a local drive, remote FTP, SMB, or SFTP, we recommend that you backup to Google Storage buckets. To use Google Storage buckets you need to create an account first and set it up. Schedule backup or restore for off-peak hours, as 3CX services are stopped during these operations. Alternatively, check our guides for using an FTP server on Windows and Linux.

Set Backup Location

Set a local or remote location in “Backup and Restore” to store and restore backups from.

1. Click on “Location” to set the backup “Location Type” as:

• “Local disk” - browse to select a local backup path with appropriate filesystem permissions.
• “Google Storage” - upload your saved JSON key and click “Connect” to select a path in a Google Cloud storage bucket. See more info on how to configure Google Cloud storage.
• “FTP” - set the FTP server path with the appropriate username and password. Supported protocols are FTP, FTPS and FTPES.
• “SMB” - set the path to the Windows share and use your domain, username and password to connect.
• “SFTP - SSH FIle Transfer” - set the SSH (Secure SHell) server path with the appropriate username, password and/or OpenSSH key. See more info on how to create and/or convert OpenSSH keys. Note: The below SFTP services are not supported:

1. Amazon S3 buckets
2. AWS Transfer for SFTP managed service
3. MS Azure Blob Storage

2. Click “OK” to save the backup location.

Backups stored in this location can be downloaded or removed via the “Backup and Restore” function.

⚠ Important:

• Do not set the backup location to any of the 3CX Phone System local installation folders, as these are removed during uninstall.
• Setting a local backup path in Linux requires the specified directory to be owned by the
  phonesystem
  user and have proper permissions to be writable by the PBX.
• Due to recent changes to the Google API User Data Policy, GDrive support is deprecated. For more information read here.

Create a Backup

1. Click the “Backup” button and specify a name for the backup.
2. Select the items to include in the backup.
3. Click “OK” to start the backup immediately and get notified via email to the admin’s address when the backup completes. The new backup appears in the backup repository window.

Scheduled Backup

To schedule a backup in “Backup and Restore”:

1. Click the “Backup Schedule” button and enable the “Enable Schedule Backup” option.
2. Choose what to backup, a “Daily” or “Weekly” schedule and the time.
3. Choose a backup rotation, i.e. the number of backups to keep before overwriting the oldest.
4. Click “OK” to schedule your backup.

Restoring a Backup

You can restore a backup immediately when moving 3CX to another server or upgrading from an old version. Alternatively, you can schedule a restore and optionally specify whether the 3CX services start after the restore or not. The main purpose of a scheduled restore is to keep a second system on standby with up-to-date configuration and user data.

💡 Tip: Store backups from a previous version or another installation in a common backup location to use them for restore.

Immediate Restore

1. Select the backup to restore and click the “Restore” button.
2. Click “OK” to confirm the restore and stop all 3CX services during the operation.
3. The management console logs you out until the restore is completed, after which you can log back in.

⚠ Important when restoring from a previous version:

• Backups from previous versions can only be restored during the PBX installation.
• To restore installs below version 15.5 follow this conversion path:

• v12 SP 6.1: upgrade to v12.5, then to v14 SP3.
• v12.5 SP2: upgrade to v14 SP3.
• v14 SP3: upgrade to v15.5 directly.

• v15.5: upgrade to v18 directly.
• V16: to upgrade to v18 read the guide.

Scheduled Restore

Set a scheduled restore in “Backup and Restore” to keep a second server on standby and updated with the latest data and configuration:

1. Click on the “Restore Schedule” button and enable the “Enable Schedule Restore” option.
2. Set a daily or weekly schedule and the time for the restore.
3. You can optionally set the 3CX services to not restart once the restore is complete.
4. Set an optional password to decrypt an encrypted backup.
5. The latest scheduled backup
   3CXScheduledBackup.zip
   , is to be restored automatically on the defined schedule. Manually created backups are NOT restored automatically.

For Backup and Restore using the Command line take a look at our guide.

Managing your PBX security

3CX safeguards your PBX from malicious operators with these built-in security functions:

• “Automatic Global 3CX IP Blacklist” - enable this option in “Security > Anti-Hacking” section and keep your PBX protected by participating in the automatically updated 3CX list of attacking IPs.
• “Enable PCI compliance SSL/SecureSIP Transport and Ciphers” - enabled by default for compliance with TLS (Transport Layer Security) v1.2. Disable for compatibility with TLS v1.0 and legacy devices.
• “Allow Access from specific IP Addresses” - enable this option in “Security > Console Restrictions” section to enable access to 3CX Management Console only to specified IP addresses and networks, e.g. “192.168.10.0/24” to allow access to this internal network.
• IP blacklist ‘Export’ and ‘Import’ - these options in “Security > IP Blacklist” enable you to export your IP blacklist and then import on another PBX to secure.
• “Extension Security Advisor” - monitors the security level of your extensions and provides alerts for necessary action(s).
• A Management Console session expires after one (1) hour of idle time, controlled by the expiry of the associated browser cookie on your machine.

To learn more on how to increase the security of your PBX read the 3CX PBX Security guide.

Disk space management

To minimize the impact of a busy PBX system on system resources, especially disk space for call logs and voicemail, these system administration best practices are recommended:

• Set a daily or weekly backup process.
• For efficient disk use and optimal performance:

• Enable “Remote Archiving” (Pro+) in “Recordings > Location” to off-load recording files to FTP, SMB, SFTP and Google Storage.
• Set “Auto Cleaning Options” for recordings in “Recordings > Quota” and for voicemails in “Settings > Voicemail > Voicemail Quota” and set the number of days for the files to be kept before deleting.
• Download and delete recorded conversations directly from the ‘Recordings’ function.

• Periodically purge old call logs, voicemail and recordings that have been safely backed up.

Managing phone system recordings

The ‘Recordings’ function enables you to search for, manage, download and delete call recordings and optionally set up the retention policy:

1. “Location” - enter or browse to set the local recording location, excluding the disk root, and set remote archiving options.
2. “Download” - select single or multiple recordings to download.
3. “Archive” - if Remote Archiving is enabled, archive selected recordings.
4. “Quota” - set the retention policy options to delete call recordings and conserve disk space.
5. “Purge” - delete local and/or archived recordings or move everything to archive.

Set the Recording and Archiving location

1. “Local Recording Folder” - set the local recording location, excluding the disk root directory.
2. “Enable Remote Archiving” - enable to set remote archiving options.
3. “Location Type” - select to move archived recordings to:

• “FTP” - set the appropriate server network path (ftp://, ftps://, ftpes://), user and password to store recordings on the remote FTP server.
• “SMB” - set the SMB (Server Message Block) server network path with the appropriate domain, username and password for the Windows share.
• “SFTP - SSH File Transfer” - set the SSH (Secure SHell) server path with the appropriate username, password and/or OpenSSH key. See more info on how to create and/or convert OpenSSH keys. Note: The below SFTP services are not supported:

1. Amazon S3 buckets
2. AWS Transfer for SFTP managed service
3. MS Azure Blob Storage

• “Google Storage” - upload your saved JSON key and click “Connect” to select a path in a Google Cloud storage bucket. See more info on how to configure Google Cloud storage.

4. “Archive Schedule Policy” - enable automatic archiving of all recordings on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule.
5. Click on “OK” to apply your settings.

⚠ Important:

• Do not set the recording location to any of the 3CX Phone System local installation folders, as these are removed during uninstall.
• Setting a local recordings path in Linux requires the specified directory to be owned by the
  phonesystem
  user and have proper permissions to be writable by the PBX.

Set Retention Policy for recordings

Click on “Quota” in the ‘Recordings’ function to set the retention policy options for call recordings and conserve disk space:

1. “Quota for Recordings (GB)” - set the quota limit for call recordings in gigabytes (GB) to stop recording when this is reached.
2. “Auto Cleaning Options” - enable to keep recordings for the set the number of days and then delete.
3. “Email Notification” - enable and set the quota threshold level for email notification when recordings reach this size.
4. “Compression” - enable to compress recordings in ADPCM format 256Kb to further conserve disk space.

📄 Notes:

• Ensure that the “Automatic Archiving” and “Automatic Cleaning” schedules are not conflicting to avoid deletion of un-archived recordings.
• Recordings are not written to disk when “Disk Protect Mode” is enabled in “Settings > Email > Notifications > Events > Hard disk is at or near capacity”. This is triggered on less than 500MB free disk space with email notification to the administrator.

Import & Export of phonebook entries

To import up to 1000 phonebook entries you need a CSV file with column headers on the first line and each contact entry on a single line with fields separated by a comma, e.g.:

To import the company phonebook entries into 3CX via the Management Console:

1. Download the sample phonebook CSV file and populate it with your phonebook entries.
2. Go to “Contacts” and select “Import”.
3. Browse and select your saved CSV file to import your contact entries into 3CX Contacts.

To export 3CX Contacts entries to a CSV file:

1. Go to “Contacts” and select “Export”.
2. Click “Save” to export.

Caller ID to Contact Matching

Use “Contacts > Options” to configure caller ID to contact matching:

• Specify to match the exact or minimum number of caller ID digits.
• Set the caller ID displayed on your IP phone, i.e. First Name, Last Name or vice versa.
• Specify if the Group, Queue, or DID rule name should be appended, prepended or not to the caller ID.

Emergency Number Management

When an emergency number is dialed, the PBX prioritizes this number and ignores any outbound, in-office or out-of-office rules. Use the ‘Emergency Numbers’ section in “Settings > General” to set:

1. A new emergency number. Click on “Add” and specify:

1. “Name” and “Number” - enter a descriptive name and the emergency number.
2. “Calls from Extensions” and/or “Groups” - enter the extension(s) and/or extension group(s) that can call this emergency number. Not specifying an extension / group allows all extensions to call the emergency number.
3. “Routes” - set the mandatory first route and up to 4 alternative routes for calls to the emergency number.
4. “Outbound Caller ID” - for each route you can optionally set a custom entry to override the default caller ID.
5. Click on “OK” to save the emergency number options.

2. A ‘Template’: Customize these options for the notification sent when an emergency number is called:

1. “From (Display Name)” - the name to use for sending email notifications, if supported by the email server.

📄 Note: The 3CX SMTP server does not support alternate ‘From:’ names.

2. “Subject” - the subject for notifications via email.
3. “Body” - the message text to send when an emergency number is called, using the available email template parameters. HTML tags are not supported.
4. Click “OK” to save the template settings.

3. ‘Notifications’: Click to set the notification options when an emergency number is called:

1. “Send email to one or more email addresses” - enable and specify one more email address separated by commas.
2. “Send chat notification to” - enable and select to notify group managers and group members via chat message.
3. “Play announcement (Extension/Ring Group)” - call an extension or ring group and playback the selected audio announcement.
4. Click “OK” to save the notification options.

See also

• Learn how to Create and Convert OpenSSH Keys
• Connecting 3CX Phone Systems (Bridges)
• See how to use the Activity Log to identify why a call is not reaching its destination
• Supported IP Phones
• See how to Enable Callback on Unsuccessful Blind Transfer.
  

Last Updated

This document was last updated on 2 June 2023

https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/advanced/