Before the PBX can be linked to CDESK, it must be fully operational on its own: it must have a licence, a telephone line and extensions for the people who will be making calls. This chapter walks you through the steps on the 3CX side in the order in which you will carry them out. Detailed instructions can be found in the official 3CX documentation, to which we link.
Where can the switchboard operate?
3CX can be operated in several ways:
Hosted by 3CX – the PBX is operated directly by 3CX, which takes care of the operating system, updates and monitoring. However, you set up the telephone lines and the PBX yourself.
In your custom cloud – the PBX runs on your virtual server, for example on Azure, Google Cloud or Amazon.
On your own server – installed on Windows or Linux within your network. This requires a public IP address, a manageable DNS service and a firewall on which ports can be opened for VoIP.
For CDESK, it does not matter which option you choose. What is important is that the PBX is accessible via the internet at its address (FQDN) over HTTPS and that the CDESK server can access it.
The PBX must be a dedicated instance – hosted by 3CX, by another provider, or on your own server. Shared trial and SMB cloud instances of 3CX do not provide an API for integration, so it is not possible to test the integration on them.
Licence
3CX is licensed per system, not per user – the price depends on the edition and the quantity of concurrent calls. In version 20, the SMB Free, Basic, PRO and AI editions are available.
Integration with CDESK requires a 3CX AI Edition licence, which provides access to the Configuration API and Call Control API. With a lower edition, CDESK will not connect to the PBX or will display the status ‘Connected without Call Control’.
According to the 3CX documentation, these interfaces are available with an AI Edition licence for 8 or more concurrent calls. Integration has been confirmed on this edition (3CX V20 Update 9, 8 concurrent calls). CDESK does not check the edition; it simply views it once the connection has been verified. The licence can also be upgraded at a later date, for example via Inova Logic, s.r.o., an official 3CX partner.
If you are starting with a PRO trial licence, you must make a change to the AI edition before testing the integration. Some of the data that CDESK reads is only available in newer updates of version 20 – for example, the Supervisor role is available from V20 Update 7, and on older PBX systems the extension role will be viewed as ‘Unknown’ in CDESK. You should therefore keep your PBX up to date; however, do not install test versions (Alpha, Beta) on a production PBX.
Quantity of active calls
The 3CX licence is sold based on the quantity of simultaneous calls. When sizing the system, it is not sufficient to compare this with the quantity of operators. A concurrent call is also occupied by a caller waiting in the queue, a call in the voice menu, a call received by the PBX’s AI assistant, and automated calls from CDESK. For example, when deploying the system in a larger call centre, it was necessary to increase the licence from 8 to 16 concurrent calls.
The actual quantity of concurrent calls is not determined by the licence alone. The settings for the line and telephone numbers are equally important:
A SIP trunk in 3CX has its own custom limit on concurrent calls. If this is lower than the licence limit, the PBX will neither accept nor make any further calls.
The line provider limits the quantity of channels per line or per number as specified in the contract. This limit is not visible in 3CX – the caller will hear a busy tone before the PBX registers the call.
Each number (DID) can have its own settings with the operator – how many calls it can receive at once, and whether further calls are declined or forwarded. Where there are multiple numbers on a single line, the channels are shared amongst them.
The resulting limit is always the lowest of these figures. If callers are unable to get through, even though operators are available, first check the line and number settings with the operator and the trunk settings in 3CX. CDESK cannot log a call that the switchboard has not received.
How to proceed
Provided by 3CX, set up your 3CX PBX with an AI Edition licence.
Order a telephone line (SIP trunk) and connect it to the PBX – see SIP trunks and telephone numbers.
Create users, extensions and groups – see Users, Extensions and Groups in 3CX.
Set up API access for CDESK – see API access for CDESK.