On Wednesday December 8th, 2021 3CX released 3CX version 18 Service Pack 2 (SP2). This release did not go through the regular 3CX beta process and thus provided no opportunity for us to test SP2 prior to the release by 3CX.
We strongly urge our customers to turn off 3CX automatic updates
SP2 changes how voicemails are handled by 3CX. This change breaks several features in Voicemail Manager and On Call Manager. The change removes our ability to detect when a new voicemail has been created or heard. We have identified a workaround and are currently in the process of making the necessary changes. These changes will require an update to the VoIPTools Relay.
An emergency update to the Relay will be provided in the next day or two. The initial fix will make it possible to detect when new voicemails are created. The production release, expected in about a week, will address the ability to detect when a voicemail has been heard.
Voicemail Manager
Symptoms: Voicemails are not added, group voicemails are not propagated to group members, and voicemails that have exceeded the escalation policy will not be forwarded to managers.
Currently we are unable to add new voicemails to Voicemail Manager. This will be fixed by the emergency release. The production release will address issues with enhanced group voicemail features and escalation.
On Call Manager
Symptom: No notifications will be sent for monitored voicemail boxes.
SP2 does not impact live answer (queues). But for monitored voicemail boxes, we will be unable to detect when a voicemail has been created or heard. Detecting when a voicemail is created will be addressed in the emergency release. This will make it possible to send out a single notification with no escalation. Detecting when a voicemail has been heard will be addressed in the production release.
Technical Details
Prior to SP2, 3CX created two files for each voicemail. One file was a .wav file containing the audio of the voicemail, and the other file was a .XML file containing details about the voicemail including if/when a voicemail was heard. Our Relay currently watches for changes to the XML files. In SP2, 3CX has eliminated the XML files entirely.
To replace the approach of monitoring XML files, we will subscribe to real-time 3CX voicemail box events. These events, pushed to us by 3CX, identify that an extension has changes to voicemails. Unfortunately, these events do not provide what voicemail was created or updated. As a result, it is now far more complicated to identify what the actual change was. It will take about a week to implement all the necessary modifications to our code. These modifications will be made to the Relay. Once the Relay is updated, the affected tools will start working again without modification.
In the future
This is the first time in 14 years that a 3CX service pack has broken one of our tools. We have urged 3CX to provide a beta release of new service packs in the future to ensure we have time to test and make necessary fixes BEFORE the public release of a 3CX update. Whether 3CX will do this is outside our control.
We have always strongly urged our customers turn off 3CX Automatic Update to give us time to test new 3CX updates with our tools and ensure you avoid any temporary outages. We are working diligently to get the updates released quickly. Please monitor our download page for updates.
