Michael McNamara

technology, networking, virtualization and IP telephony

How much uptime is too much?

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A quick story for everyone…

We generally perform software upgrades on all our routers and switches twice a year. It really helps to keep our network infrastructure current and it also helps to reduced unscheduled downtime.

Last fall we decided to skip the bi-yearly maintenance because there were just too many projects on the docket. This spring we came across a very interesting issue that we had never seen in the past. We started to notice that multiple Nortel Ethernet Switch 460/470 switches/stacks were rebooting themselves all over our network. It took us a few hours to realize that every switch that had rebooted had just eclipsed approximately 500 days of uptime. All the affected switches were running FW 3.6.0.6 with SW v3.6.4.08. The switches were literally rebooting themselves in the same order in which they had been upgraded almost 500 days earlier.

I’m currently trying to confirm with Nortel that this “bug” has been removed from the 3.7.x software release.

This was one occasion where the network was just too good for itself.

Cheers!

Update: Tuesday June 10, 2008

I received a formal response from Nortel today that included the following:

Analysis of the issue :-
When the BS-470 switches reaches 497 days the system time rolls over and during this period management communication will be lost. This is caused by the use of a 32 bit counter, which when it rolls back to 0, initiates an internal software synchronization to align all timers. This is only loss of IP management and not switching functionality.

This issue still open and can be fixed by rebooting the switches before reaching the 497 day mark.

When I inquired if the problem had been resolved in the v3.7.x software release I was told it had not. It would seem that a lot of folks just don’t expect switches to be running that long these days.

Cheers!

Update: Wednesday November 4, 2008

Last week Nortel released a technical service bulletin entitled, “Ethernet Routing Switches: SysUpTime approaching 497 days can cause the switch or stack to behave in some unexpected way“. They also released a video that documents a workaround to the problem.

Let me save you the time and effort of downloading either. Nortel solution is truely masterful; reboot the switch.

While I’ve been know to defend Nortel there’s just no defense for this. I’m completely floored at Nortel’s response.

Cheers!

Succession Signaling Server – Tips Part 2

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1146283_66136726 In the first part of this two post series I gave you a small sample of some CLI diagnostic commands that are available in the Succession Signaling Server v4.5. In this post I’m going to get a little more detailed and focus on some very specific commands used for troubleshooting voice quality in a VoIP network.

For the purpose of this post we’ll assume that we’re using and i2004 (Phase 2) phone. These commands are available on i2002,i2004, and i2007 (Phase 2 phones only). And also available on the 1120e/1140e and 1150e (they might be available on the i2050 softphone).

With the phone online you can remotely command the phone to perform a number of basic network troubleshooting commands as well as retrieve detailed network statistics. From the CLI interface of the Succession Signaling Server you can issue the following commands;

rPing <TN | IP>, <dest>[,<count>]
This command will instruct the phone to ping an IP address.

oam> rPing 10.1.198.50, 10.1.240.40, 5
27/05/2008 18:16:34 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
64 bytes packets received from IP 10.1.240.40
27/05/2008 18:16:34 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
ICMP sequence is 0
27/05/2008 18:16:34 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
round trip time in ms: 20
27/05/2008 18:16:35 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
64 bytes packets received from IP 10.1.240.40
27/05/2008 18:16:35 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
ICMP sequence is 1
27/05/2008 18:16:35 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
round trip time in ms: 20
27/05/2008 18:16:36 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
64 bytes packets received from IP 10.1.240.40
27/05/2008 18:16:36 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
ICMP sequence is 2
27/05/2008 18:16:36 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
round trip time in ms: 20
27/05/2008 18:16:37 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
64 bytes packets received from IP 10.1.240.40
27/05/2008 18:16:37 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
ICMP sequence is 3
27/05/2008 18:16:37 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
round trip time in ms: 20
27/05/2008 18:16:38 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
64 bytes packets received from IP 10.1.240.40
27/05/2008 18:16:38 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
ICMP sequence is 4
27/05/2008 18:16:38 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
round trip time in ms: 20
27/05/2008 18:16:38 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
64 bytes packets received from IP 10.1.240.40
27/05/2008 18:16:38 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
5 packets transmitted 5 packets received, 0 packets lost
27/05/2008 18:16:38 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
minimum round trip time in ms: 20
27/05/2008 18:16:38 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
average round trip time in ms: 20
27/05/2008 18:16:38 LOG0006 VTM:rPing Report from set (10.1.198.50)
maximum round trip time in ms: 20
oam>

rPingStop <TN | IP>
This command will instruct the phone to stop pinging.

rTraceRoute <TN | IP>, <dest>, <count>
This command will instruct the phone to trace the route of the destination address.

oam> rTraceRoute 10.1.198.50, 10.1.240.40, 3
27/05/2008 18:22:56 LOG0006 VTM: rTraceRoute Report from set (10.1.198.50):
1 -- 10.1.198.1: 0ms  0ms  0ms
27/05/2008 18:22:56 LOG0006 VTM: rTraceRoute Report from set (10.1.198.50):
2 -- 10.1.144.40: 20ms  20ms  20ms
27/05/2008 18:22:56 LOG0006 VTM: rTraceRoute Report from set (10.1.198.50):
3 -- 10.1.144.8: 20ms  20ms  20ms
27/05/2008 18:22:56 LOG0006 VTM: rTraceRoute Report from set (10.1.198.50):
rTraceRoute completed !
oam>

rTraceRouteStop <TN | IP>
This command will instruct the phone to stop the trace route.

RUDPStatShow <TN |IP>[, <clear>]
This command will display the RUDP statistics from the phone.

oam> RUDPStatShow 10.1.198.50
27/05/2008 18:27:19 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Number of Message Sent: 451
27/05/2008 18:27:19 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Number of Message Received: 153149
27/05/2008 18:27:19 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Number of Retries: 1
27/05/2008 18:27:19 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Number of Resets: 0
27/05/2008 18:27:19 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Uptime of Current TPS Registration: 0days 4hours 19minutes 8seconds

You can also append a value of 1 to the previous query to clear the statistics;

oam> RUDPStatShow 10.1.198.50, 1
RUDPStatShow: clear statistics after RUDPStatShow
27/05/2008 18:29:04 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Number of Message Sent: 0
27/05/2008 18:29:04 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Number of Message Received: 0
27/05/2008 18:29:04 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Number of Retries: 0
27/05/2008 18:29:04 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Number of Resets: 0
27/05/2008 18:29:04 LOG0006 VTM:RUDPStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Uptime of Current TPS Registration: 0days 4hours 20minutes 53seconds

eStatShow <TN | IP> [, <clear]
This command will display the Ethernet statistics from the phone.

oam> eStatShow 10.1.198.50
27/05/2008 18:30:55 LOG0006 VTM:eStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Duplex Mode: 1
27/05/2008 18:30:55 LOG0006 VTM:eStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Auto Negotiate Protocol Received: 0x3
27/05/2008 18:30:55 LOG0006 VTM:eStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Interface Speed: 1
27/05/2008 18:30:55 LOG0006 VTM:eStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
LAN Priority Bit: 0
27/05/2008 18:30:55 LOG0006 VTM:eStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
VLAN ID: 1
27/05/2008 18:30:55 LOG0006 VTM:eStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Packet Collision Peg Count: 0
27/05/2008 18:30:55 LOG0006 VTM:eStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
CRC Error Peg Count: 0
27/05/2008 18:30:55 LOG0006 VTM:eStatShow Report from set (10.1.198.50)
Frame Error Peg Count: 0

As with the RUDPStatShow command you append a value of 1 to the query to clear the Ethernet statistics. I’ll skip the example but the command would be “eStatShow 10.1.198.50, 1”.

isetInfoShow <TN | IP>
This command will display the phone configuration and server information.

oam> isetInfoShow 10.1.198.50
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report (DHCPConfig) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Terminal Type: i2002 Ph2
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report (DHCPConfig) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Firmware Version: 0604DBG
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report (DHCPConfig) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Hardware ID: 18-001765ffe0fc-6602
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
Firmware ID: 0x02
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
Manufacture Code: 0x001765
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
Color Code: 0x66
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
PEC Code: NTDU91AA
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
DHCP Server IP: 10.1.198.10
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
VLAN Priority: 6
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
VLAN ID: 14
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
Set IP Address: 10.1.198.50
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
Set Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
Set IP Gateway Address: 10.1.198.1
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report from Set (10.1.198.50)
Boot Mode: 47
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Server 1
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Server IP = 10.1.240.40
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Port Number = 4100
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Action = 1
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Retry = 5
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Server 2
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Server IP = 10.1.240.40
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Port Number = 4100
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Action = 1
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Retry = 5
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Server 3
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Server IP = 0.0.0.0
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Port Number = 0
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Action = 1
27/05/2008 18:36:34 LOG0006 VTM:isetInfoShow Report(Server Info) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Retry = 0

RTPStatShow <TN | IP>
This command will display network metrics and QoS values.

NOTE: You’ll need to be in PDT to execute this command from the CLI interface of the Succession Signaling Server. In order to enter PDT simply hold down the <CTRL> while typing the letters “PDT”.

pdt> RTPStatShow 10.1.198.50
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 shell: RTPStatShow: IP 10.1.198.50 is not an active set, displays the statistics from previous call
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Far End IP address: 10.1.240.45
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Far End Port: 5224
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Packet Sent: 57
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Packet Received: 0
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Packet Received out of order : 0
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Pkt Loss: 0%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Average Jitter: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Latency: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Listening R: 93
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Vocoder Type: 0
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Avg Net Loss Rate: 0.00%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Avg Discard Rate: 0.00%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Avg Burst Density: 0.00%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Avg Burst Length: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Gap Density: 0.00%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Gap Length: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Avg End System Delay: 5ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Avg Noise Level: 0dBm
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Avg Signal Power: 0dBm
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Round Trip Time Avg: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Local Round Trip Time Avg High: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Listening R: 0
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Avg Net Loss Rate: 0.00%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Avg Discard Rate: 0.00%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Avg Burst Density: 0.00%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Avg Burst Length: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Gap Density: 0.00%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Gap Length: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Avg End System Delay: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Avg Noise Level: 0dBm
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Avg Signal Power: 0dBm
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Round Trip Time Avg: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Round Trip Time Avg High: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Packet Loss: 0%
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Average Jitter: 0ms
27/05/2008 18:42:10 LOG0006 VTM:RTPStatShow Report (RTCP-XR) from Set (10.1.198.50)
Remote Latency: 0ms

Well by now you’re probably asking yourself what does all this mean. Well hopefully you aren’t completely lost. The first few commands are used to test basic connectivity, rPing and rTraceRoute. You would use these commands to make sure that an IP phone could communicate with a VGMC (Voice Gateway Media Card) or perhaps even another IP phone. Once you know you have basic network connectivity then you might need to look at some of the network statistics. Perhaps there is an auto-negotiation issue or perhaps there is too much packet loss leading too poor voice quality.

Note: did you know that you can perform pings an trace routes from the phone itself? After the phone has successfully booted and is connecting to the Nortel Call Server just press the “Services” key twice and select “Network Diagnostic Tools”.

Cheers!

Succession Signaling Server – Tips Part 1

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communication_server_1000_200x107 I thought I would share some of the more useful CLI commands that be found in the Nortel Succession 4.5 Signaling Server. You can access the CLI interface by TELNETing into the Signaling Server. You can also issue may of these commands from Element Manager, the web based GUI.

isetShow – display all IP phones connected (registered) to this signaling server.

oam> isetShow
Set Information

    IP Address      NAT  Model Name                       Type      RegType  State         Up  Time       Set-TN       Regd-TN           HWID           FWVsn  UNIStimVsn SrcPort DstPort
------------------ ---- -------------------------------- ---------- ------- ------------ -------------- ------------ ------------ -------------------- ------- ---------- ------- -------
10.1.1.146              IP Phone 1150E                   IPACD      Regular online           7 10:00:30 152-00-00-09 152-00-00-09 18-001bbaf1cf58-66     C4L      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.123              IP Phone 2004 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 10:00:30 152-00-00-26 152-00-00-26 18-000ae4754301-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.124              IP Phone 2004 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 10:00:20 152-00-00-18 152-00-00-18 18-000ae4753f65-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.122              IP Phone 1140E                   i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 10:00:14 152-00-00-05 152-00-00-05 18-001365ff6c03-66     C4L      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.111              IP Phone 2004 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 10:00:12 152-00-00-04 152-00-00-04 18-000ae4753fc9-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.118              IP Phone 2004 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 10:00:04 152-00-00-20 152-00-00-20 18-000ae4753fba-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.133              IP Phone 2007 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:59:41 152-00-01-02 152-00-01-02 18-000ae4769cc1-66     C4J      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.119              IP Phone 2004 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:59:40 152-00-00-27 152-00-00-27 18-000ae4754009-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.112              IP Phone 2004 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:59:36 152-00-00-19 152-00-00-19 18-000ae4753fe6-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.120              IP Phone 1140E                   i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:59:26 152-00-00-01 152-00-00-01 18-001365ff5e4f-66     C4L      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.121              IP Phone 1140E                   i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:59:18 152-00-00-02 152-00-00-02 18-001365ff717a-66     C4L      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.130              IP Phone 2004 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:57:18 152-00-00-08 152-00-00-08 18-000ae47544d3-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.127              IP Phone 2004 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:57:13 152-00-00-21 152-00-00-21 18-000ae4753fc5-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.106              IP Phone 2002 Phase 2            i2002 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:57:13 152-00-01-13 152-00-01-13 18-001bbaf40445-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.131              IP Phone 2004 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:56:58 152-00-00-24 152-00-00-24 18-000ae4754088-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.107              IP Phone 2002 Phase 2            i2002 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:56:42 152-00-01-14 152-00-01-14 18-001bbaf4a628-66     DBG      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.117              IP Phone 1140E                   i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:54:48 152-00-00-00 152-00-00-00 18-001365ff6d7e-66     C4L      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.100              IP Phone 1140E                   i2004 Ph2  Regular online           7 09:54:45 152-00-01-16 152-00-01-16 18-001365ff1a9c-66     C4L      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.151              IP Phone 1150E                   IPACD      Regular busy             7 02:14:56 152-00-00-30 152-00-00-30 18-001bbaf1cf96-66     C4L      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.2.119              Nortel WLAN 2211 Handset         i2004      Regular online           1 08:33:34 152-00-00-12 152-00-00-12 30-00907a0284f8-66     071      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.5.58               IP Phone 2007 Phase 2            i2004 Ph2  Regular online           0 10:24:58 152-00-00-10 152-00-00-10 18-000ae4769cc8-66     C4J      2.9      5100    5000
10.1.1.154              IP Phone 1150E                   IPACD      Regular online           0 04:14:49 152-00-01-28 152-00-01-28 18-001bbaf1cfd2-66     C4L      2.9      5100    5000
Total sets = 22
oam>

electShow – display all registered and unregistered components.

oam> electShow
Node ID       : 1
Node Master   : Yes
Up Time       : 7 days, 10 hours, 9 mins, 47 secs
TN            : 000 00 00 00
Host Type     : ISP 1100
TLAN IP Addr  : 10.1.140.20
ELAN IP Addr  : 10.1.139.20
Election Duration       : 15
Wait for Result time    : 35
Master Broadcast period : 30
===== master tps =====
Host Type   TN            TLAN IP Addr
ISP 1100    000 00 00 00  10.1.140.20
Next timeout    : 16 sec
AutoAnnounce    : 1
Timer duration  : 60 (Next timeout in 3 sec)
====== all tps ======
Num  TN            Host Type   ELAN MAC           TLAN IP Addr     ELAN IP Addr     Up Time       NumOfSets  TimeOut
001  000 00 00 00  ISP 1100    00:02:b3:f6:52:0a  10.1.140.20    10.1.139.20    007 10:09:47  27         0
002  000 00 00 00  ISP 1100    00:02:b3:f6:50:9c  10.1.140.21    10.1.139.21    125 22:37:09  25         0
003  052 00 01 00  SMC         00:20:d8:d0:d9:a1  10.1.140.43    10.1.139.43    125 22:07:13  0          0
004  036 00 12 00  SMC         00:20:d8:d0:d0:fb  10.1.140.42    10.1.139.42    125 22:17:13  0          0
005  008 00 12 00  SMC         00:20:d8:d0:fc:83  10.1.140.45    10.1.139.45    125 22:15:12  0          1
006  016 00 04 00  SMC         00:20:d8:d1:12:63  10.1.140.41    10.1.139.41    125 22:15:13  0          0
007  052 00 07 00  SMC         00:20:d8:d0:dc:4d  10.1.140.44    10.1.139.44    004 13:43:53  0          1
====== All cards in node configuration are registered ======

vtrkShow – display the virtual trunk status and available channels

oam> vtrkShow
---------------------------
VTRK Summary
---------------------------
VTRK status   : Active
Protocol      : H323
D-Channel     : 30
Customer      : 0
Channels Idle : 146
Channels Busy : 11
Channels Mbsy : 0
Channels Pend : 0
Channels Dsbl : 0
Channels Ukwn : 0
Channels Total: 157
Chid ranges   : 1 to 157
VTRK State = Active
---------------------------
VTRK Status = Enabled
---------------------------

umsPolicyShow – display the available firmware for each phone model

oam> umsPolicyShow
Total policies = 1
Name             Upgrade      Protocol  Retries
---------------  -----------  --------  -------
DEFAULT          ANY          UFTP     -1
Available firmware:
FW ID  FWVsn  Model                             Policy Name      File name
-----  -----  --------------------------------  ---------------  --------------
0x00   B76    IP Phone 2004 Phase 0/1           DEFAULT          /u/fw/x00.fw
0x00   B76    IP Phone 2002 Phase 1             DEFAULT          /u/fw/x01.fw
0x02   DBG    IP Phone 2004 Phase 2             DEFAULT          /u/fw/x02.fw
0x02   DBG    IP Phone 2002 Phase 2             DEFAULT          /u/fw/x02.fw
0x02   DBG    IP Phone 2001 Phase 2             DEFAULT          /u/fw/x02.fw
0x10   S58    IP Audio Conference Phone 2033    DEFAULT          /u/fw/x10.fw
0x21   C4J    IP Phone 2007 Phase 2             DEFAULT          /u/fw/x21.fw
0x24   C39    IP Phone 1120E                    DEFAULT          /u/fw/x24.fw
0x25   C4L    IP Phone 1140E                    DEFAULT          /u/fw/x25.fw
0x27   C4L    IP Phone 1150E                    DEFAULT          /u/fw/x27.fw
Total firmware = 8

While I won’t go into every single command I will highlight a few additional commands;

ping – very useful for troubleshooting basic connectivity
routeShow – display the routing table including ELAN and TLAN

In a future post I hope to cover the remote iset diagnostic commands that are available for the IP phones.

Cheers!

Nortel IP Phones – UNIStim release v2.3

by

i2007 Nortel has just released UNIStim firmware release v2.3. There were some major enhancements made in firmware release v2.2 that enhanced DHCP provisioning for the 1100 series and i2007 phones. With release v2.3 the same new enhanced DHCP provisioning is now available for the i2001, i2002 and i2004 (Phase II only) phones.

While I haven’t personally started testing the new firmware release I’d like to discuss the new DHCP options that will be available to phones running this software release. It’s really important that we not confuse the legacy DHCP options with these newly available DHCP options. Unless your phone is running a firmware release documented below you should ignore this post entirely!

  • 0604DBP for i2001, i2002, i2004 (Phase 2 Only)
  • 0621C4V for i2007
  • 0623C4N, 0624C4N, 0625C4N and 0627C4N for 1110, 1120E, 1140E and 1150E respectively
  • 062AC5L for 1210, 1220 and 1230

Nortel Internet Telephones running the firmware documented above will support a new DHCP option and vendor class “Nortel-i2004-B”. The format of the newly defined “Nortel-i2004-B” DHCP option is;

Nortel-i2004-B,param1=value1;param2=value2;param3=value3;…

PARAMETERVALUEDESCRIPTION
s1ip0.0.0.0 – 255.255.255.255Primary Server IP Address
p10 – 65535Primary Server port number
a10 – 255Primary Server action code
r10 – 255Primary Server retry count
s2ip0.0.0.0 – 255.255.255.255Secondary Server IP Address
p20 – 65535Secondary Server port number
a20 – 255Secondary Server action code
r20 – 255Secondary Server retry count
xip0.0.0.0 – 255.255.255.255XAS Server IP Address
xp0 – 65535XAS Server port number
xaCharacter string up of the following of the following character “g” graphicalXAS Server action code
unidCharacter string up to 32 charactersUnique network identification
menlock(f)ull lock or (p)artial lock or (u)nlockMenu lock mode
vq(y)es or (n)oEnable 802.1q for voice VLAN
vcp0 – 15802.1q control p bit for voice stream
vmp0 – 15802.1q media p bit for voice stream
vlanf(y)es or (n)oEnable VLAN filter on voice stream
pc(y)es or (n)oEnable PC port
pcs(a)uto negotiation
(10)Mbps
(100)Mbps		PC port speed
pcd(a)uto negotionation
(f)ull duplex
(h)alf duplex		PC port duplex
dq(y)es or (n)oEnable 802.1q for PC port
dv(y)es or (n)oEnable VLAN for data
dvid0 – 4095VLAN ID for data VLAN
dp0 – 15802.1q p bit for data stream
pcuntag(y)es or (n)oStrip 802.1q tags on packets forwarded to PC port
lldp(y)es or (n)oEnable 802.1ab LLDP
pk1Character string of 16 characters representing 16 hexadecimal digitsS1 PK
pk2Character string of 16 characters representing 16 hexadecimal digitsS2 PK
cacheip(y)es or (n)oEnable cached IP
igarp(y)es or (n)oIgnore GARP
srtp(y)es or (n)oEnable SRTP-PSK
dim(y)es or (n)oEnable screen dimmer
bt(y)es or (n)oEnable Bluetooth (1140E and 1150E only)

The above table was taken directly from the Nortel release notes.

An example configuration string would look something like the following;

Nortel-i2004-B;s1ip=47.11.62.20;p1=4100;a1=1;r1=255;s2ip=47.11.62.21;p2=4100;a2=1;r2=2;xip=47.11.62.147;xp=5000;xa=g;unid=Main-tower;menulock=p;vq=y;vcp=3;vmp=4;vlanf=y;pc=y;pcs=a;pcd=a;dq=y;dv=y;dvip=60;dp=5;pcuntag=y;lldp=y;pk1=438A64FC24127C23;pk2=64FC23CD24AB1413;cachedip=y;igarp=n;srtp=n;dim=y;bt=y;

You’ll obviously need to be careful with using the “lldp” option in DHCP because it could hang the IP phone if you don’t have the network switch setup properly.

Cheers!

Nortel VPN Router 1700 Restore Backup

by

VPNRouter1750 We recently had an issue were the configuration of a Nortel VPN Router 1700 became corrupt causing the VPN router to continually core dump and reboot itself. The solution required us to boot the VPN router from a floppy boot disk (the floppy disk was a previously created emergency recovery diskette – the floppy drive can be accessed by removing the front bezel). After we booted from the floppy disk we could factory reset the configuration and then restore the configuration from the previous night’s backup.

We needed to assign a temporary IP address from the serial interface and then use Internet Explorer to connect to the temporary IP address. We then selected the option to “Restore” the configuration from a backup. The backup needs to be an FTP site with the appropriate username and password.

VPNRouter1

The restore took about 30 minutes to complete and never really gave any indication that it was working other than the IE logo just swirling in the upper right hand corner of Internet Explorer. We were able to use Nortel’s Java Device Manager to confirm that there was a lot of data moving over the Ethernet switch port connecting the Nortel VPN Router so we knew it was probably working.

I should point out that the Nortel VPN Router 1010, 1050 and 1100 do not have floppy drives although they may support a PROM based recovery option which would need to be executed from the CLI (serial) interface while the router booted.

It also seems that Nortel will be manufacture discontinuing the Nortel VPN Router 600, 1010 and 1100 at the end of December 2008. You can find the announcement here.

Cheers!

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