There are a few different options available but I’m afraid all of them are going to require some leg work. There’s no magic bullet to reconfiguring 500+ IP phones.

This might be a case of just leaving your existing IP phones alone the way they are currently configured and then moving forward making sure to develop a standard configuration process. You can certainly use LLDP-MED with the Cisco 3750 and 3650 switches and the Nortel IP phones. I’ll refer you to another post I made sometime back (LLDP with Cisco 3750) for the Cisco configuration details.

If you have the IP phones upgraded to the latest and greatest software/firmware you might want to try the Nortel-i2004-B DHCP option.

I standardized sometime ago using ADAC/LLDP-MED with DHCP (Nortel-i2004-A) because I have dozens of sites to support. I needed to have the ability for a technician to take a spare i2002/i2004, with a standard configuration, to any site, plug it in and have it work. That’s where we are today… ADAC/LLDP-MED provides separation of the voice and data VLANs and automatically configures the VLAN and QoS settings on the Nortel Ethernet Routing Switches and provides the voice VLAN ID to the IP phones via LLDP-MED. The technician only needs to configure the node and TN information.

We have around 500 phones that has been configured with manual vlan and other information

Can you please let me know what is the best possibility to get what is currently setup on the phone and use LLDP and DHCP to get the phone configured with auto settings to avoid lots of manual work?

Is there a way that we can factory reset I2004 phones remotely or locally?

I think you are the best one to get this info

We have complete CISCO switches with Nortel phones deployed

Thanks
Chandru

Nortel has put together a great document which should help get you going. Here’s the link;

2008_02_15_Nortel_IP_Phone_Set_InterWorking_With_Nortel_ES_and_ERS_Switches_TCG_NN48500517_J.pdf

If you are already using the Nortel-i2004-A then you shouldn’t need to-do to much.

Just as a point of discussion I’m not using the Nortel-i2004-B option. I’m still using the older Nortel-i2004-A option in conjunction with LLDP/ADAC on the ERS 5520 switches. I recently deployed over 425 i2002/i2004 phones with this configuration. I would strongly suggest that you upgrade the phone firmware to 0604DCJ before you get too far.

Good Luck!

Yes i was referring to 0604DCD

Can you give me any documentation which will help me setup this?

Chandru

You don’t need LLDP but it’s advisable for the cleanest integration with large scale deployments.

What phone are you talking about? I’m not familar with 0640DCD (perhaps you meant 0604DCD?). The Nortel i2004-B DHCP option is supported on firmware release 0604DBP and later for the i2001, i2002 and i2004 (Phase II only) phones.. I would strongly suggest that you upgrade you phone firmware to that latest release before you get too far.

Good Luck!

Thanks!! i found all the information on your site are very useful

I would like to know more about auto provisioning and can i use i2004-B DHCP option for the phones with firmware 0640DCD

Do i need to LLDP on the switch for auto provisioning?

Chandru

It sounds like we ought to just use the i2004-B DHCP scope options which is fine for our purposes.

Thanks.

I found the following reference concerning the display of the Nortel-i2004-B string from the local diagnostics menu;

“DHCP Response String information in IP Phone’s local diagnostic screen does not yet support the Nortel-i2004-B option string (applies to IP Phone 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007,1110, 1120E, 1140E, 1150E, 1210, 1220 and 1230)

The new Nortel specific DHCP option type (“Nortel-i2004-B”) that was introduced in UNIStim firmware release 2.2 on the IP Phone 2007, 1100 series IP Phones and 1200 series IP Phones and in UNIStim firmware release 2.3 for the Phase II IP Phones (2001, 2002, and 2004). However, support for the new option type, did not include support within the local diagnostics menu. The “DHCP Response String” under the Local Diagnostics’ “IP Set and DHCP Information” menu does not display information if the Nortel-i2004-B option type is received.
Of special note, although it is recommended to either remain with the existing option type of Nortel-i2004-A or move to the new option type of Nortel-i2004-B, but not both, the firmware will accept both option types. In the event that the IP Phone receives both option types, values provisioned with the new option type of Nortel-i2004-B will have a higher priority than
values provisioned with the old option type Nortel-i2004-A. But since the DHCP Response String does not yet support the Nortel-i2004-B option type, if the IP Phone receives both option types it will wrongly display the Nortel-i2004-A option type even though the Norteli2004-B has higher priority.”

Cheers!

I believe you are making reference to a known issue that was documented in one of the UNIStim releases where an IP phone can have issues if its not running the proper firmware version and returned the very long DHCP string.

I would advise that you make sure you have the latest and greatest firmware versions before going to far, the problem might have already been resolved in the latest release. I believe Nortel has just released their UNIStim v3.2 firmware;

- 0604DCJ for Phase II IP Phones (2001, 2002 & 2004),
- 0621C6M for IP Phone 2007,
- 0623C6N, 0624C6N, 0625C6N and 0627C6N for IP Phone 1110, 1120E, 1140E and 1150E respectively and
- 062AC6N for IP Phone 1210, 1220, and 1230

If you’ve already done that you might want to setup a port mirror and use WireShark or any other packet sniffer to confirm that the DHCP server is sending the correct number of DHCP options.

Thanks for the comment!
Cheers!