In this post I’d like to cover the DHCP options you’ll need to automatically configured the Nortel i2002/i2004 Internet Telephones as they boot. These DHCP options will actually work with any of Nortel’s Internet Telephones including the i2002/i2004/i2007/1120E/1140E and 1150E.
You’ll need to add a custom vendor DHCP option with a code of “128″ as a string value. You should name this DHCP option as “Call Server Information”. The value of this DHCP option will use the following format;
Nortel-i2004-A,iii.iii.iii.iii:ppppp,aaa,rrr;iii.iii.iii.iii:ppppp,aaa,rrr.
Where the following values are;
- “Nortel-i2004-A” = Option #128 begins with this string for all Nortel IP phone sets
- “iii.iii.iii.iii” = the IP Address of the Call Server (S1 or S2)
- “ppppp” = port number for the Call Server
- “aaa” = the Action for the Server
- “rrr” = the Retry Count for the Server
The IP Address must be separated from the port number by a colon (:). The parameters for the Primary (S1) and the Secondary (S2) Call Servers are separated by a semicolon (;). The string must end a period (.).
For this example, enter the following:
Nortel-i2004-A,10.1.1.10:4100,1,5;10.1.1.20:4100,1,5.
This would equate with the following values;
- Call Server S1 = 10.1.1.10
- Port S1= 4100
- Action S1= 1
- Retry S1= 5
- Call Server S2 = 10.1.1.20
- Port S2 = 4100
- Action S2 = 1
- Retry S2 = 5
You can use the vendor class of “Nortel-i2004-A” if you’d like to build different scopes within your DHCP server. A default scope for all general devices and then a specific scope for any device that requests the vendor class of “Nortel-i2004-A”.
Let me make this comment… if your DHCP server mistakenly returns a DHCP response that does NOT include DHCP Option 128 the IP phone will just sit at the “Starting DHCP…” prompt. You need to make sure that you return DHCP Option 128 in the DHCP response to the phone.
This all assumes that you’ve setup a DHCP relay on the Voice VLAN on the core ERS 8600 switch or whichever switch you might be using as the router for that VLAN.
I’ll review the basic configuration of the ERS 8600 (core) in a subsequent post as it applies to the example configuration I’ve laid out in the past few posts.
Please feel free to drop a line if you have questions.
Cheers!
Related posts:
network architect and security professional, excited about helping folks make the most out of what technology as a whole has to offer.
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#1 by Anonymous on January 22, 2008 - 10:04 pm
Dear Michael,
did I get it right that you may but need not define an option code string value starting other than “Nortel-i2004-A” for any of the IP phones you listed?
What I am especially interested in is the value used for the i2033 IP Phone, which I could not find anywhere.
Your answer would be a great help to me. Thanks in advance
Sabine
#2 by Michael McNamara on January 25, 2008 - 1:59 am
Hi Sabine,
The i20033 IP conference phone is a really nice product. I believe it is configured in the Call Server as an i2001 IP telephone.
I was unable to “officially” confirm that it uses the same DHCP vendor class “Nortel-i2004-A” and same DHCP option code “128″. With that said I would suspect it does use those same DHCP vendor class and DHCP option code.
In fact I believe every IP phones uses the same DHCP vendor class with the exception of the Nortel IP Wireless Phones (2210,2211) which use “Nortel-221x-A”.
If you have an account with Nortel’s website you can find a lot of very good information in this document;
http://www142.nortelnetworks.com/techdocs/IP2033/pdf/553-3001-368_26.00_IPLDIO.pdf
You could also use a sniffer to capture the DHCP request and see what DHCP vendor class the phone is using along with what DHCP options it is requesting.
Let us know if you’re having any issues getting the i2033 running.
Cheers!
PS: If your not already aware I believe you need to strike the three soft keys while the phone is booting and “Nortel” is shown on the display in order to get into the configuration mode.
#3 by Anonymous on January 27, 2008 - 9:38 am
Hi Michael,
thanks a lot for the very helpful information!
According to the document you mentioned, “Nortel-i2001-A” in fact seems to be the right entry. I´ll have that tried out (because I myself am no networking specialist but a technical writer having to mention that entry in some documentation) and report to you whether it worked.
Cheers
Sabine
#4 by Kenneth, dk on January 28, 2008 - 8:14 am
If anyone should happen to copy and paste as I did :)
Just remember the semicolon is important in this string : Nortel-i2004-A,10.1.1.10:4100,1,5;10.1.1.20:4100,1,5.
You will get a DHCP parse error if u dont.
Besides from this it actually works. Thanks
#5 by Michael McNamara on January 28, 2008 - 10:06 am
Hi Kenneth,
Good catch! I’ve fixed the original post!
Thanks,
Mike
#6 by Michael McNamara on July 2, 2008 - 6:01 pm
Rick left the following message comment (just before I migrated the blog to WordPress);
I’m trying to get the phone menu to partially lock down (config and diagnostics) on an 1140e phone via DHCP, and keep getting parse errors because the format isn’t right.
Do you know where to slide in “PARTSECURE” in the string, assuming only one s1 address?
thanks! Rick
It’s going to partly depend on which version of firmware the phones are running Rick. If you are running a firmware prior to 0625C4N (for the 1140E) you’ll need a DHCP string similar to the following;
“Nortel-i2004-A,10.1.1.10:4100,1,5;10.1.1.20:4100,1,5;0.0.0.0:0,0,0;0.0.0.0:0,0,0;PARTSECURE.”
Please make sure to end the string with a period.
I’ll honestly say I haven’t tested this so please let me know what you find. It’s my understanding the that SECUREMENU or PARTSECURE options need to appear after the S4 value. In the above example I have real values for S1 and S2 but dummy values for S3 and S4.
With firmware 0625C4N or later you can use the Nortel-i2004-B format which is documented in my post Nortel IP Phones – UNIStim release v2.3.
Nortel has since release UNIStim v3.0 which expands support for the new Nortel-i2004-B format to the i200x series phones.
Good Luck!
#7 by Rick on July 3, 2008 - 1:29 pm
M&M,
Thanks for the assistance. I think you’re right about the string syntax, because when I put in the dummy s2-4 info, I no longer get the parse errors, but it still doesn’t lock down the phone’s config menu. I am using firmware 0625C3C, which I am not sure even allows for this command. NoTell, er, Nortel, isn’t much help in the matter. I think we’ll have to manually lock the menu for each phone we deploy until we get the latest and greatest code and go with the -B format. Mahalo for helping out. -Rick
#8 by Michael McNamara on July 5, 2008 - 10:16 am
Thanks for the follow-up Rick.
I will test this feature and let you know what I find. Nortel can be very helpful, but just like any large organization it can be difficult getting to the “right” people. And the voice resellers can be equally frustrating, again depending on whether you get to the “right” people.
I’ll let you know what I find.
Mike
#9 by Sean on January 8, 2009 - 7:39 am
Hi Michael, was wondering if you could help me with the DHCP scopes for the 1230 phone? I have configured option 191 and option 128 on my DHCP server. I have placed option 191 in the data scope and then configured option 128 in the voice scope. This seems to work fine for the 2002 model, but with the 1230, it just sits at “DHCP START”. I have tried placing both options in each scope but when I try that it gets an IP address on the data scope, but doesn’t seem to send the release request and try to get itself an IP address on the voice scope.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks
#10 by Michael McNamara on January 9, 2009 - 12:33 am
Hi Sean,
I’m not very familiar with the 1230 phone, the majority of my expertise is with the other Nortel IP phones. Are you sure the 1230 even supports those DHCP options? What does your DHCP server log say? (You may need to run your DHCP server in debug mode to see what’s really going on) I’ll do some digging in the documentation and see if I can find anything of interest.
Thanks for the comment!
#11 by Sean on January 9, 2009 - 9:50 am
Hi Michael. I’m not sure, no, I just assumed! On the phone configuration, it gives me the option to set it to full, partial or no DHCP so I assume if I set it to full, it should pick it up like the rest of them. I’ve discovered that if I give it a partial address and assign the VLAN ID manually, that it picks up an IP address within the voice scope so it seems to be some problem with the phone reading the VLAN ID in “Option 191″, even though the 2002 model phones are able to read this perfectly.
When looking at the DHCP log, I can see a DHCP request, offer & acknowledgment, but the phone then doesn’t seem to send a release to take itself out of the data scope and send a new request for an address on voice scope.
Could this be some sort of firmware issue?
#12 by Joe Amico on February 5, 2009 - 4:02 pm
Sean,
You must have options 128 and 191 in the data scope and only option 128 in the voice scope. The 1230 Telephones come configured with FULL DHCP and DHCP Voice Vlan set out of the Box. Since the Telephone boots up without a VLAN Tag the Data Scope must respond with options 128 & 191 otherwise the Telephone will reject the response. After the Phone gets the DHCP response containing options 128 & 191the phone will then Release the IP address it obtained from the data scope and issue a IP renew with VLAN tag to get an IP address from the Voice Scope. I have Successfully tested the SecureMenu option from the DHCP Server with the Following DHCP String:
Nortel-i2004-A,192.168.37.75:4100,1,2;192.168.5.75:4100,1,7;0.0.0.0:5000,0,0,SECUREMENU,1.
This password protects the configuration Menu after Bootup. Note if the Menu is unlocked by entering the Password you must manually relock it from the Lock Menu Option “4″
Hope this is usefull.
#13 by Michael McNamara on February 5, 2009 - 6:51 pm
If I were to have a guest writer it would be Joe. He’s one of the most knowledgeable people I know with respect to Nortel Telephony and Nortel IP Telephony.
Thanks for the post Joe!
#14 by Marian Klenk on February 20, 2009 - 9:24 am
We are in the process of moving our VOIP phones to dhcp. We are testing them right now, but we can’t get the phones to take their addresses from the right scope. They are picking the first scope. We have the Nortel string entered that is in this article. How do you get the phones to pick up from the right scope.
thank you
#15 by Michael McNamara on February 20, 2009 - 5:31 pm
Hi Marian,
This will really depend on the DHCP server that you’re using. You may need to delete/clear the current DHCP lease from the DHCP server before it will pick-up a new DHCP lease from the proper scope (vendor class). I’m very familiar with VitalQIP which running based on the ISC DHCP server. If the phone picks up a “regular” address we must delete that lease and then restart the DHCP server (process).
Good Luck!
#16 by G Singh on February 25, 2009 - 6:59 pm
Hi Michael,
We are using VitalQIP to support DCHP requirement for 1140E and we use cisco to infrastructure . I’m getting DHCP parse error I understand you are experieced with VitalQIP and your send send screen shot for config.
Our VLAN: 193
Please confirm if I have the config correct.
Option 191
VLAN-A:193.
Option 128
Nortel-i2004-A,10.10.25.10:4100,1,5.
thanks
#17 by Michael McNamara on February 25, 2009 - 7:22 pm
Hi G Singh,
You may want to review the DHCP Parse Error post if you haven’t already. I would suggest you take a few steps back and simplify your configuration. Remove the Voice VLAN option (set the configuration option in the phone for the Voice VLAN to disabled). Once that is complete make sure your DHCP server is prepared to offer Option 128 to requests with a vendor class of “Nortel-i2004-A”.
I’ve seen the phone respond with “DHCP Parse Error” when the DHCP server offers the phone Option 128 without first offering it Option 191. You need to be careful that you’ve setup your DHCP scopes properly within the data and voice VLANs. In our data VLAN scope you need to offer Option 191 and then in your voice VLAN scope you need to offer Option 128. If you’re not making any ground troubleshooting I would suggest that you take a few steps back and disable the voice VLAN support. Then reconfigure your DHCP server to provide just Option 128 in the data VLAN (the only VLAN since we’ve disabled voice VLAN support).
If you have debug turned on within your VitalQIP DHCP server you can examine the logs (C:\QIP\LOGS) to see what options the phone is requesting and what options the server is returning. You can also get the same information by performing a packet trace using WireShark or some other packet sniffer.
You may want to look at LLDP-MED as a better alternative to using DHCP Option 191.
Good Luck!
#18 by Mostafa Kamar on March 25, 2009 - 4:55 pm
Hi guys,
I had this issue, and by the way I was reading the blogs of Mr. McNamara which was so helpful, but trial and error gave me new results and conclusions:
First, you can add the VLAN ID option 191 for the Voice traffic in both DHCP Data and Voice scopes or only the Data scopes, same results, both working fine of course along with option 128 which must reside in both Data and Voice Scopes.
Second, on the phones you must make sure that you have the (full) DHCP mode along with VLAN ID on (DHCP) mode, not None.
This way, you don’t have to do the LLDP MED option which ignores option 191, and also you will not need to put the node IP or the VLAN manually.
Third, if you didn’t configure the VLAN on the phone to be on DHCP mode, the phone might stay on the default VLAN ID 4095 and pick up IP from the Data Scope, and will work also fine but will confuse your DHCP network administrators as both phones and PC’s will register themselves in the same Data Scope, so make sure you see (VLAN Enabled, Yes) which will promptly make the VLAN ID pickup right and the Phone Set IP is in the right VLAN Scope.
Good Luck!!!
#19 by Colin Schmalz on April 16, 2009 - 7:41 pm
Hello Michael,
I just recently found this blog and it’s been tremendously helpful in guiding me through DHCP setup and scope options needed to support “zero configuration” on my Nortel 1120E phones. I have several running DHCP w/option 128 and option 191 in a test environment and so far it’s very promising. However I do have one concern that I havent yet found an answer for:
what happens to the phone when it goes through the DHCP lease expiration/renewal process and a user has a live call ongoing? I have had one report of the call being dropped while the phone renews it’s lease. Is this a known issue? Any recommended fixes?
Regards, Colin
#20 by Michael McNamara on April 16, 2009 - 11:23 pm
Hi Colin,
This is a common misconception of the DHCP protocol… if DHCP is configured and working properly the device should never be interrupted, be it an IP phone or a desktop/laptop browsing the Internet. I use a lease time of 90 days with the DHCP scopes that are setup for my IP phones. I actually use 90 days as a standard across my entire organization for any DHCP address with the exception of my wireless networks which are configured for 30 days (just too many wireless devices these days pounding on the network).
WIthout getting into all the specifics of DHCP, you can probably find a much better source on the Internet, the client DHCP device will attempt to reserve/refresh it’s current IP once half the lease time has elapsed. Assuming that you don’t have your DHCP server setup like some ISPs your DHCP devices should generally get the same address all the time unless they are left turned off and/or disconnected from the network for an extended period of time. So if my IP phone has been running for 45 days it will attempt to contact the DHCP server and reserve it’s current IP address for an additional 90 days. While it’s technically possible to have the scenario you describe occur, it’s highly unlikely so long as the DHCP server is configured per best practices.
Cheers!
#21 by Chad on April 23, 2009 - 4:21 pm
I have my phones correctly configuring the voice vlan via dhcp (ISC Server). I would like to set the data vlan via dhcp also. Is there a way to do this with the vendor class Nortel-i2004-A?
#22 by Michael McNamara on April 23, 2009 - 7:55 pm
There’s really no need to “set” the data VLAN on the phone. The data traffic from the phone will be bridged to the PVID that the port is assigned to. The voice VLAN traffic will be tagged (802.1q) while the data traffic will be untagged (no 802.1q VLAN header).
Hopefully I’ve that makes sense… :)
#23 by Craig on May 1, 2009 - 12:24 am
Chad states that he has the voice vlan working properly. Is there an order that the options must be placed in the dhcp string. I am using a Cisco advance IP switch to do the dhcp.
sample config:
ip dhcp pool 1
network 10.12.1.0 255.255.255.0
default-router 10.12.1.1
option 128 ascii “Nortel-i2004-B,s1ip=10.12.1.2;p1=4100;a1=1;r1=3;vq=y;nis=10;nid=f;pc=y;pcs=10;pcd=f;blt=4;menulock=f.”
option 191 ascii “VLAN-A:1.”
#24 by Chad on May 1, 2009 - 2:16 pm
Craig,
I am not able to use the Nortel-i2004-B string because my phones are not at the proper firmware. so i am using
Global Config in ISC DHCP Server
option NortelVoIPPhoneIdentifier code 128 = text;
option NortelVoIPVLANIdentifier code 191 = text;
Subnet Config in ISC DHCP Server
option NortelVoIPVLANIdentifier “VLAN-A:6.”;
option NortelVoIPPhoneIdentifier “Nortel-i2004-A,10.205.10.4:4100,1,5;10.205.10.4:4100,1,5.”;
I set the VLAN-A in the subnet due to the fact that in some of subnets (we are using a layer 3 switched network) the vlans are not all the same. It can be a global config as well as the option 128 config string. As far as I can tell it does not matter what order they given to the phone in. The phone just knows it gets a option 128 and 191 and then deals with it.
#25 by jacob on May 31, 2009 - 9:13 pm
What is the difference between Option 144 and Option 128 and which one should we use and when?
#26 by Michael McNamara on June 1, 2009 - 12:12 am
Hi Jacob,
In short Option 128 allows you to pass the various configuration information to the phone. Option 144/191 provide the ability to use DHCP to set the Voice VLAN. A large number of folks, including myself, having migrated away from Option 144/191 and are now using ADAC with LLDP (802.1ab).
Here’s the second part of the original post concerning DHCP option 144/191;
http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2007/10/dhcp-options-voip-part-2/.
Cheers!
#27 by Jason on July 7, 2009 - 7:46 am
Hi Michael,
Very useful information thanks for the above.
I’m new to Nortel VOIP but am quite comfortable with concepts and experience doing this with Avaya handsets.
My question is that we have passthrough switchports on some i2004 handsets for the PC’s to plug in to. Do you know if the i2004 will actually pass through the upstream switchport’s native VLAN to the embedded switchport given that we plan to set the Voice VLAN using Option191? or is there some way we can define this for the handset using the Option128 string we pass to it?
Thanks in advance for any insights.
Regards,
Jason.
#28 by Michael McNamara on July 8, 2009 - 3:12 pm
Hi Jason,
You are correct in your assumption that the PC port on the back of the Nortel IP phones will simply pass the frame untagged (by default) up to the network switch. The frame will then be bridged by your network switch onto the “native” VLAN or PVID. When you use Option 191 or LLDP/ADAC the phone will tag the voice frames with a specific 802.1q VLAN ID. When the data frames arrive at your network switch they are bridged onto the native VLAN while the voice frames are bridged on the voice VLAN. You obviously need to have both VLANs defined on the port in order for this to work.
You can also statically configure the voice VLAN ID from the phone itself and in later versions of firmware for the Nortel IP Phones you can statically configure the data VLAN ID and tag the data frames with an 802.1q VLAN ID header if you so desire.
The original DHCP option 128 string, Nortel-i2004-A, only allowed you to define the Call Server IP address, and port. The newer Nortel-i2004-B allows you to automatically configure a lot of the programmable options. You can read this post for additional information on the Nortel-i2004-B string. Just a word of warning that you’ll need to be running a fairly recent version of firmware on the IP phones.
Good Luck!
#29 by Gil on August 9, 2009 - 9:16 am
We recently migrated to a Windows 2008 server and noticed the 128 DHCP option is not available. How do you create a custom DHCP option for 128 on a Windows 2008 DHCP server?
#30 by Michael McNamara on August 9, 2009 - 3:03 pm
Hi Gil,
I’m not intimately knowledgeable with the DHCP service in Windows 2008 but I know that it can be done. You just need to add custom DHCP options to the scope. I’m guessing that you’ve done a quick Google but didn’t find anything good?
In Windows 2003 there was an option under the Action menu called “Set Predefined Options” from within the DHCP administrator tool. From there you could define custom DHCP options, after which those custom DHCP options would show up under the scope settings.
Good Luck!
#31 by NestIP on September 24, 2009 - 8:23 pm
Hello Michael,
I have a Windows 2003 Server with DHCP options activated. Then I have the followings Nortel IP Phone; 1120E, 1110, 1230, 2004 and 2033.
I have seen problems only on the 1120E and 1110 Telephones, becouse I’ve discovered that if I give it a partial address and assign the VLAN ID manually, that it picks up an IP address within the voice scope.
Too I have seen that sometimes the telephones with full DHCP options they stay in DHCP Starting, and they never pass to NODE and TN confirmation.
I have the Windows DHCP Server with:
1) Vlan Data Scope with 191 option.
2) Vlan Voice Scope with 128 option.
Thanks.
#32 by Michael McNamara on October 3, 2009 - 11:48 am
Hi NestIP,
You need to make sure that your DHCP server isn’t serving up an DHCP object that doesn’t have option 191 and/or option 128.
I have most of the IP phone models you mention and really haven’t see any issues although I’m running the latest and greatest firmware. I would suggest that you upgrade your firmware. You could also perform a packet trace to see why the phone is just sitting at “Starting DHCP…”. When I’ve run into that condition I’ve always found 1) either the phone is mis-configured 2) the DHCP address offered by the DHCP server didn’t have the proper options.
Please feel free to post your specific problems over on the forums; http://forums.networkinfrastructure.info/nortel-ip-telephony/
Good Luck
#33 by Chris Johnson on October 25, 2009 - 7:09 pm
(Former Nortel I&A and GTAC for Enterprise Global)
Posted elsewhere, but relevent here.
An issue noted when configuring Nortel IP sets within a Cisco data environment. Set firmware, anything supporting 802.1Q.
The symptoms of failure are DHCP parse error or DHCP server unreachable.
Both option 128 and 191 are configured as DHCP standard option strings and formatted as detailed in above notes (Windows Server 2003 so no “” marks).
Port security and “sticky MAC” were the cause of the problems. Setting a device count of 2, one for the phone and one for the PC, each in different VLANs and setting the port to remember MAC address of devices, causes the registration process to fail. The phone originally gets its address lease from the data range. The set should then react to the VLAN-A 191 option and throw away the data subnet address and be leased a voice VLAN address. However, the Cisco switch sees this activity as another device, a third device, attempting to register on the port and is barred. With port settings at 3 devices, and ceasing the sticky MAC process, the set registration works and the set ends up in the Voice VLAN.
If it is imperative forthe port security to be set at 2 devices and sticky MAC to be implimented, then the following should be observed.
Remove option 191 in DHCP and when setting up the phone, manually enter the 802.1Q Voive VLAN option by inserting the tag number. The set will then be directly steared to the correct DHCP scope and attain a Voice subnet IP address lease.
So for full DHCP and VLAN tagging, Cisco sticky MAC should be set to NO and port device count greater than 3.