Comments on: DHCP Parse Error http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/ technology, networking and IP telephony Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:06:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Michael McNamara http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1451 Michael McNamara Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:26:46 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1451 Hi Simon, I responded to your post on the forums; <a href="http://forums.networkinfrastructure.info/nortel-ip-telephony/ip-phone-dhcp-problem/" rel="nofollow">http://forums.networkinfrastructure.info/nortel-ip-telephony/ip-phone-dhcp-problem/</a> Let's keep the discussion on the forums and I'll try to help you along. Cheers! Hi Simon,

I responded to your post on the forums; http://forums.networkinfrastructure.info/nortel-ip-telephony/ip-phone-dhcp-problem/

Let’s keep the discussion on the forums and I’ll try to help you along.

Cheers!

]]> By: Simon http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1450 Simon Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:46:47 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1450 Hi Michael, We are running Nortel CS1KE with Succession 5 and have mixed phones of 2004P2, 1140 and 1150. We are using full DHCP to configure all of the phones and this has been working fine for several months. The last couple of days however, the vast majority of phones are dropping the connection and displaying 'DHCP Server unreachable' We can ping the phone from the DHCP server fine. Rebooting the phones does not make any difference, nor does deleting the lease from DHCP server or rebooting the DHCP server. After an hour or so the phones come back of their own accord?? I have never seen anything like this, and it does not effect all of the phones. Has anyone experienced this, or any ideas on a possible cause/solution? Many thanks, Simon Hi Michael,

We are running Nortel CS1KE with Succession 5 and have mixed phones of 2004P2, 1140 and 1150.

We are using full DHCP to configure all of the phones and this has been working fine for several months. The last couple of days however, the vast majority of phones are dropping the connection and displaying ‘DHCP Server unreachable’

We can ping the phone from the DHCP server fine. Rebooting the phones does not make any difference, nor does deleting the lease from DHCP server or rebooting the DHCP server. After an hour or so the phones come back of their own accord??

I have never seen anything like this, and it does not effect all of the phones.

Has anyone experienced this, or any ideas on a possible cause/solution?

Many thanks, Simon

]]> By: Chris Johnson http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1384 Chris Johnson Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:08:02 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1384 I completely agree with you that anything to minimize the human interaction with deployment is a must. The difficulty comes with the end users IT department. I am the voice guy, he is the data guy, it's his network, his policies his job on the line if he upsets his manager.. the voice guy has to move. The voice guy isnt allowed to touch or interfere with the customers network configurations, but is expected to get the phone working regardless... and at no additional capital cost. This customer, as with all public school environments, wants the port locked down. Sticky MAC and 2 devices must stay, else the Nortel solution will be thrown away. At the same time, the Cisco educated IT people want the phones to deploy and work like Cisco... (lets give them analog POTS then) :). with the port device count at 2 and sticky MAC on, there is no way this side of armagedon, that any Nortel IP set will register with a full DHCP and VLAN = Auto setting. The set being sent to the Voice VLAN (191) will not function, the port already has two devices registering. Sticky MAC makes it doubly worse, because the MAC address of the set is already discovered and associated with the access VLAN. LLDP doesnt make it work ither, as long as the port settings are as stated. Compromise has to occure, two extra key presses on initail set deployment, to manually set the VLAN tag ID, or disable sticky MAC and increase the port device count to 3. I have had access to a lot of interoperability documents and this topic is not covered. I doubt Cisco will ever approuch it as the attitude there is "you fit in with us". Customers cant afford to pay for a study trial. So the fact we have any (Nortel) documents at all is a bonus. Just another big vendor running roughshod over customer choices... There is as yet, no such thing as a zero touch IP set deployment... thats why students get to make a few bucks on big deployments. This customers issues are for the future. i.e. when and if the set user moves to another physical location in a different logical subnet and wants to keep the phone and the number. The reason the post ended up here? Because unfortunately there are not enough event error strings available to split the symptoms into smaller groupings when a set deployment fails. DHCP parse error.. DHCP server unreachable... how may causes? This is just another one and the only current solution choice availabale given the scenario. By the way.. I wish all blogs and forums were as informative as yours.. keep up the very good work I completely agree with you that anything to minimize the human interaction with deployment is a must. The difficulty comes with the end users IT department. I am the voice guy, he is the data guy, it’s his network, his policies his job on the line if he upsets his manager.. the voice guy has to move. The voice guy isnt allowed to touch or interfere with the customers network configurations, but is expected to get the phone working regardless… and at no additional capital cost. This customer, as with all public school environments, wants the port locked down. Sticky MAC and 2 devices must stay, else the Nortel solution will be thrown away. At the same time, the Cisco educated IT people want the phones to deploy and work like Cisco… (lets give them analog POTS then) :).
with the port device count at 2 and sticky MAC on, there is no way this side of armagedon, that any Nortel IP set will register with a full DHCP and VLAN = Auto setting. The set being sent to the Voice VLAN (191) will not function, the port already has two devices registering. Sticky MAC makes it doubly worse, because the MAC address of the set is already discovered and associated with the access VLAN. LLDP doesnt make it work ither, as long as the port settings are as stated. Compromise has to occure, two extra key presses on initail set deployment, to manually set the VLAN tag ID, or disable sticky MAC and increase the port device count to 3. I have had access to a lot of interoperability documents and this topic is not covered. I doubt Cisco will ever approuch it as the attitude there is “you fit in with us”. Customers cant afford to pay for a study trial. So the fact we have any (Nortel) documents at all is a bonus. Just another big vendor running roughshod over customer choices…
There is as yet, no such thing as a zero touch IP set deployment… thats why students get to make a few bucks on big deployments.
This customers issues are for the future. i.e. when and if the set user moves to another physical location in a different logical subnet and wants to keep the phone and the number.
The reason the post ended up here? Because unfortunately there are not enough event error strings available to split the symptoms into smaller groupings when a set deployment fails. DHCP parse error.. DHCP server unreachable… how may causes? This is just another one and the only current solution choice availabale given the scenario.

By the way.. I wish all blogs and forums were as informative as yours.. keep up the very good work

]]> By: Michael McNamara http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1381 Michael McNamara Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:00:18 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1381 Hi Chris, This might be acceptable for a handful of phones but when you start approaching the hundreds or thousands of phones, hard coding the phones for a specific VLAN ID is sure to be problematic down the road. Have you reviewed the configuration of the <a href="http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2009/01/lldp-with-cisco-3750/" rel="nofollow">Cisco 3750E with LLDP</a>? As a side note the majority of people with "DHCP Parse Error" have both DHCP options configured with-in the same scope. Only option 191 is required in the data VLAN scope while option 128 is required in the voice VLAN scope. Cheers! Hi Chris,

This might be acceptable for a handful of phones but when you start approaching the hundreds or thousands of phones, hard coding the phones for a specific VLAN ID is sure to be problematic down the road. Have you reviewed the configuration of the Cisco 3750E with LLDP?

As a side note the majority of people with “DHCP Parse Error” have both DHCP options configured with-in the same scope. Only option 191 is required in the data VLAN scope while option 128 is required in the voice VLAN scope.

Cheers!

]]> By: Chris Johnson http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1376 Chris Johnson Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:36:44 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1376 DCN , Unistim 3.4, is the current level at GA. Nortel has just retired a lot of the not so older versions. Like the sets I am having delivered come with D9B loaded which is no longer available to download, let alone be supported. Dont get caught out. DCN , Unistim 3.4, is the current level at GA. Nortel has just retired a lot of the not so older versions. Like the sets I am having delivered come with D9B loaded which is no longer available to download, let alone be supported. Dont get caught out.

]]> By: Gord http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1375 Gord Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:27:45 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1375 Andy - DBL is also about 7 releases behind what is available now for the Phase 2 2004. Andy – DBL is also about 7 releases behind what is available now for the Phase 2 2004.

]]> By: Chris Johnson http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1373 Chris Johnson Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:57:48 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1373 An issue noted when configuring Nortel IP sets within a Cisco data environment. The symptoms of failure are DCHP parse error or DCHP server unreachable. Both option 128 and 191 are configured as DHCP standard option strings and formatted as detailed in above notes (wWindows 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 through 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. An issue noted when configuring Nortel IP sets within a Cisco data environment.
The symptoms of failure are DCHP parse error or DCHP server unreachable.
Both option 128 and 191 are configured as DHCP standard option strings and formatted as detailed in above notes (wWindows 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 through 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.

]]> By: Andy Ivancic http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1367 Andy Ivancic Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:33:50 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1367 I forgot to mention that Partial DHCP provisioning works OK. I forgot to mention that Partial DHCP provisioning works OK.

]]> By: Andy Ivancic http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1366 Andy Ivancic Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:06:28 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-1366 Oscar, I tried your suggestion under MS DHCP v5.2 (Win2003 sp2) but there is no provision to encapsulate text (only Decimal or Hex data). When I tried option type of string I would get a DHCP parser error message. Telephone Terminal Type: 2002P2 Firmware: 0604DBL Any other suggestions to get this going? Oscar, I tried your suggestion under MS DHCP v5.2 (Win2003 sp2) but there is no provision to encapsulate text (only Decimal or Hex data). When I tried option type of string I would get a DHCP parser error message.

Telephone Terminal Type: 2002P2
Firmware: 0604DBL

Any other suggestions to get this going?

]]> By: Oscar Badilla http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-970 Oscar Badilla Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:01:33 +0000 http://maddog.mlhs.org/blog/2008/06/dhcp-parse-error/#comment-970 Success!, this is what I did: 1. Changed option type from string to encapsulated. 2. Configured option 128 and 191 on both vlan´s scopes (Data and Voice). option 128: "Nortel-i2004-A,10.0.0.5:4100,1,5;10.0.0.5:4100,1,5." option 191: "VLAN-A:2." Notes: ----- -both options without quote marks! -be sure to remove "00" code at beginning. -use mnemonic "VLAN-A", others seems not to work. 3. I have configured switch port to "untag PVID only" (PVID pointing to Data vlan) to permit me connect later a pc on that port without problems. thks and rgds, Success!, this is what I did:

1. Changed option type from string to encapsulated.
2. Configured option 128 and 191 on both vlan´s scopes (Data and Voice).

option 128: “Nortel-i2004-A,10.0.0.5:4100,1,5;10.0.0.5:4100,1,5.”
option 191: “VLAN-A:2.”

Notes:
—–
-both options without quote marks!
-be sure to remove “00″ code at beginning.
-use mnemonic “VLAN-A”, others seems not to work.

3. I have configured switch port to “untag PVID only” (PVID pointing to Data vlan) to permit me connect later a pc on that port without problems.

thks and rgds,

]]>