Cisco Unified IP Phones and Telephony Networks

Phone and Telephony Networks Overview

The Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone enables you to communicate by using voice over a data network. To provide this capability, the conference phones depend upon and interact with several other key Cisco Unified IP Telephony components, including DNS and DHCP servers, TFTP servers, and switches.

For related information about voice and IP communications, see this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/us/partner/products/sw/voicesw/index.html

This chapter provides an overview of the interaction between the conference phone and other key components of a Voice over IP (VoIP) network. It also describes options for powering conference phones.

Cisco Unified IP Communications Product Interactions

To function in the IP telephony network, the conference phone must be connected to a networking device, such as a Cisco Catalyst switch. You must also register the phone with a Cisco Unified Communications Manager system before sending and receiving calls.

Interactions with Other Cisco Unified IP Telephony Products

To function in the IP telephony network, the Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone must be connected to a networking device, such as a Cisco Catalyst switch. You must also register the conference phone with a Cisco Unified Communications Manager system before sending and receiving calls.

Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Interaction

Cisco Unified Communications Manager is an open and industry-standard call processing system. Cisco Unified Communications Manager software sets up and tears down calls between IP devices, integrating traditional private branch exchange (PBX) functionality with the corporate IP network. Cisco Unified Communications Manager manages the components of the IP telephony system—the conference stations, the phones, the access gateways, and the resources necessary for features such as, call conferencing and route planning. Cisco Unified Communications Manager also provides:

  • Firmware for conference stations and phones

  • Authentication and encryption (if configured for the telephony system)

  • Configuration file using the TFTP service

  • Conference phone registration

  • Call preservation, so that a media session continues if signalling is lost between the primary Communications Manager and a conference phone

For information about configuring Cisco Unified Communications Manager to work with the IP devices described in this chapter, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide, Cisco Unified Communications Manager System Guide, and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Security Guide.


Note

If the conference phone model that you want to configure does not appear in the Phone Type drop-down list in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration, go to the following URL and install the latest support patch for your version of Cisco Unified Communications Manager:

http://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/navigator.html?mdfid=282677102&i=rm

For more information, see "Software Upgrades", Cisco Unified Communications Operating System Administration Guide

Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone and VLAN Interaction

When Voice VLAN (VVLAN) is disabled, the egress SW port packets are not tagged and only untagged packets are accepted on the ingress direction.

When VVLAN is configured as 1-4094, the egress SW port packets are tagged with the VVLAN. For ingress packets, if VLAN is different from VVLAN, only the packets that match the VVLAN are accepted. If VLAN equals VVLAN then both packets that match the VVLAN and untagged packets are accepted.

When VVLAN is set to 0, 802.1p is enabled. The egress SW port packets will be tagged with 802.1p. On the ingress side, both 802.1p tagged packets and untagged packets are accepted.

For more information, see the documentation included with a Cisco switch. You can also access switch information at this URL: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/index.html

Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express Interaction

If supported, when the phone works with the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (Unified CME), the phone must go into CME mode.

When a user invokes the conference feature, the tag allows the conference phone to use either a local or network hardware conference bridge.

In CME mode, the conference phones either only partially support, or do not support the following actions:

Table 1. Supported Phone Features for CME Mode
Action Support Level
Barge Not supported.
Conference Only supported in the connected call transfer scenario.
Direct Transfer Not supported.
Hold Supported using the Hold softkey.
Join Supported using the Conference softkey.
Select Not supported.
Transfer Only supported in the connected call transfer scenario.

Conference Phone Power

The Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone can be powered with external power or with Power over Ethernet (PoE). External power is provided through a separate power supply. PoE is provided by a switch through the Ethernet cable attached to a conference phone.


Note

When you install a phone that is powered with external power, connect the power supply to the phone and to a power outlet before you connect the Ethernet cable to the phone. When you remove a phone that is powered with external power, disconnect the Ethernet cable from the phone before you disconnect the power supply.

Power Guidelines

The following table provides guidelines for powering the Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone.

Table 2. Guidelines for Powering the Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone
Power Type Guidelines

External power: Provided by an external power supply.

The Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone uses the CP-PWR-CUBE-3 external power supply.

When using a sound base in Linked Mode, the primary sound base must be connected using the CP-PWR-CUBE-3 external power supply.

External power: Provided through the Cisco Unified IP Phone Power Injector.

The Cisco Unified IP Phone Power Injector may be used with any Cisco Unified IP Phone or Conference Phone. It functions as a mid-span device to deliver inline power to the attached phone. The Cisco Unified IP Phone Power Injector is connected between a switch port and the IP Conference Phone and supports a maximum cable length of 100m between the unpowered switch and the IP Phone.

External power: Provided through inline power patch panel WS-PWR-PANEL.

The inline power patch panel WS-PWR-PANEL is compatible with the Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone.

PoE power: Provided by a switch through the Ethernet cable attached to the conference phone.

  • The Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone supports IEEE 802.3af Class 3 power on signal pairs and spare pairs.

  • When using a sound base in Linked Mode, the primary sound base must be connected using the CP-PWR-CUBE-3 external power supply.

  • To ensure uninterruptible operation of the conference phone, make sure that the switch has a backup power supply.

  • Make sure that the CatOS or IOS version running on your switch supports your intended conference phone deployment. Refer to the documentation for your switch for operating system version information.

Power Outage

Your access to emergency service through the phone requires the phone to receive power. If an interruption in the power supply occurs, Service and Emergency Calling Service dialling do not function until power is restored. In the case of a power failure or disruption, you may need to reset or reconfigure equipment before you can use the Service or Emergency Calling Service dialling.

Power Reduction

You can reduce the amount of energy that the phone consumes by using Power Save or EnergyWise (Power Save Plus) mode.

Power Save Mode

In Power Save mode, the backlight on the screen is not lit when the phone is not in use. The phone remains in Power Save mode for the scheduled duration or until the user interacts with the device. In the Device Configuration window on Cisco Unified Communications Administration, configure the following parameters:

Days Display Not Active

Specifies the days that the backlight remains inactive.

Display on Time

Schedules the time of day that the backlight automatically activates. on the days listed in the off schedule.

Display on Duration

Indicates the length of time that the backlight is active after the backlight is enabled by the programmed schedule.

Display Idle Timeout

Defines the period of user inactivity on the phone before the backlight is turned off.

EnergyWise Mode

The conference phone supports Cisco EnergyWise (Power Save Plus) mode. When your network contains an EnergyWise (EW) controller (for example, a Cisco switch with the EnergyWise feature enabled), you can configure these phones to sleep (power down) and wake (power up) on a schedule to further reduce power consumption.

Set up each phone to enable or disable the EnergyWise settings. If EnergyWise is enabled, configure a sleep and wake time, as well as other parameters. These parameters are sent to the phone as part of the phone configuration XML file.

Additional Power Information

For related information about power, see the documents listed in the following table. These documents provide information about these topics:

  • Cisco switches that work with the conference phone

  • The Cisco IOS releases that support bidirectional power negotiation

  • Other requirements and restrictions regarding power

Table 3. Related Power Documentation
Document Topics URL
PoE Solutions http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns147/ns412/networking_solutions_package.html
Cisco Catalyst Switches http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/lan/index.htm
Integrated Service Routers http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/index.html
Cisco IOS Software http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/products_ios_cisco_ios_software_category_home.html

Phone Configuration Files

The TFTP server stores the conference phone configuration files that define parameters for connecting to Cisco Unified Communications Manager. In general, any time you make a change in Cisco Unified Communications Manager that requires the conference phone to be reset, a change is made to the conference phone configuration file automatically.

Configuration files also contain information about which image load the conference phone should be running. If this image load differs from the one currently loaded, the phone contacts the TFTP server to request the required load files.

A conference phone accesses a default configuration file named XmlDefault.cnf.xml from the TFTP server when these conditions exist:

  • You have enabled autoregistration in Cisco Unified Communications Manager

  • The conference phone has not been added to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Database

  • The conference phone is registering for the first time

If autoregistration is not enabled and the phone has not been added to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Database, the phone registration request will be rejected. In this case, the conference phone will reset and attempt to register repeatedly.

If the conference phone has registered before, the conference phone will access the configuration file named SEPmac_address.cnf.xml, where the mac_address portion of the filename is the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the conference phone.

Phone Startup Process

When connecting to the VoIP network, the conference phone goes through a standard startup process, as described in the following table. Depending on your specific network configuration, not all of these process steps may occur on your conference phone.

  1. Obtain power from the switch. If a conference phone is not using external power, the switch provides in-line power through the Ethernet cable attached to the conference phone. For more information, see Conference Phone Power.

  2. Load the stored conference phone image. The conference phone has non-volatile flash memory in which it stores firmware images and user-defined preferences. At startup, the conference phone runs a bootstrap loader that loads a conference phone image stored in flash memory. Using this image, the conference phone initializes its software and hardware. For more information, see .

  3. Configure VLAN. If the Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone is connected to a Cisco switch, the switch next informs the phone of the voice VLAN defined on the switch port. The phone needs to know its VLAN membership before it can proceed with the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) request for an IP address.

  4. Obtain an IP address . If the Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone uses DHCP to obtain an IP address, the phone queries the DHCP server to obtain one. If you do not use DHCP in your network, you must assign static IP addresses to each phone locally.

  5. Access a TFTP server. In addition to assigning an IP address, the DHCP server directs the Cisco Unified IP Conference Phone to a TFTP server. If the phone has a statically defined IP address, you must configure the TFTP server locally on the phone. The phone then contacts the TFTP server directly.


    Note

    You can also assign an alternative TFTP server to use instead of the one that DHCP assigns.

  6. Request the configuration file. The TFTP server has configuration files, which define parameters for connecting to Cisco Unified Communications Manager and other information for the conference phone. For more information, see Phone Configuration Files.

  7. Contact Cisco Unified Communications Manager. The configuration file defines how the conference phone communicates with Cisco Unified Communications Manager and provides a conference phone with its load ID. After obtaining the file from the TFTP server, the conference phone attempts to make a connection to the highest priority Cisco Unified Communications Manager on the list. The conference phone makes a non-secure TCP connection.

    If the conference phone was manually added to the database, Cisco Unified Communications Manager identifies the conference phone. If the conference phone was not manually added to the database and auto-registration is enabled in Cisco Unified Communications Manager, the conference phone attempts to auto-register itself in Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

    Auto-registration is disabled when security is enabled on Cisco Unified Communications Manager. In this case, the conference phone must be manually added to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager IP Phone Addition Methods

Before installing the conference phone, you must choose a method for adding conference phones to Cisco Unified Communications Manager database. Be aware that each phone type requires a fixed number of device license units and the number of unit licenses that are available on the server may impact phone registration. For more information about licensing, see "Licenses for Phones" section in the Cisco Unified Communications Manager System Guide.

The following table provides an overview of these methods for adding conference phones to Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

Table 4. Methods for Adding IP Phones to Cisco Unified Communications Manager Database
Method Requires MAC Address? Notes
Autoregistration No Results in the automatic assignment of a directory number to the conference phone, and provides no control over directory number assignment to conference phones.

Not available when security or encryption is enabled. In this case, the conference phone must be manually added to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager database.

Autoregistration with the Tool for Auto-Registered Phones Support (TAPS) No Requires autoregistration and the Bulk Administration Tool (BAT).

This method updates the Cisco Unified Communications Manager database with the MAC address and DNs for the device when user calls TAPS from the conference phone.

Using Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Yes Requires you to add conference phones individually.
Using BAT Yes

Allows for the simultaneous registration of multiple conference phones of the same model.

Allows you to schedule when conference phones are added to Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

Autoregistration IP Phone Addition

If you enable autoregistration before you begin installing conference phones, you can:

  • Automatically add a conference phone to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager database when you physically connect the conference phone to your IP telephony network. During autoregistration, Cisco Unified Communications Manager assigns the next available sequential directory number to the conference phone.

  • Add conference phones without first gathering MAC addresses from the conference phones.

  • Quickly enter conference phones into the Cisco Unified Communications Manager database and modify any settings, such as the directory numbers, from Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

  • Move autoregistered conference phones to new locations and assign them to different device pools without affecting their directory numbers.


Note

Cisco recommends that you use autoregistration to add fewer than 100 conference phones to your network. To add more than 100 conference phones to your network, use the Bulk Administration Tool (BAT).

Autoregistration is disabled by default. In some cases, you might not want to use autoregistration; for example, if you want to assign a specific directory number to the phone, or if you plan to implement authentication or encryption. For information about enabling autoregistration, see "Enable Autoregistration" section in the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide. For information about authentication or encryption as it pertains to autoregistration, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager Security Guide.


Note

When you configure the client for mixed mode through the Cisco CTL client, autoregistration is automatically disabled. When you configure the cluster for nonsecure mode through the Cisco CTL client, autoregistation is automatically enabled.

Autoregistration and TAPS IP Phone Addition

You can add phones with autoregistration and TAPS, the Tool for Auto-Registered Phones Support, without first gathering MAC addresses from phones.

TAPS works with the Bulk Administration Tool (BAT) to update a batch of conference phones that were previously added to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager database with dummy MAC addresses. Use TAPS to update the MAC addresses and to download predefined configurations for conference phones.


Note

Cisco recommends that you use autoregistration to add fewer than 100 conference phones to your network. To add more than 100 conference phones to your network, use the Bulk Administration Tool (BAT).

To implement TAPS, dial a TAPS directory number and follow voice prompts. When the process is complete, the conference phone has downloaded the directory number (DN) and other settings. The conference phone has also been updated in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration with the correct MAC address.

Autoregistration must be enabled in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration for TAPS to function. You can do this from System > Cisco Unified CM.


Note

When you configure the client for mixed mode through the Cisco CTL client, autoregistration is automatically disabled. When you configure the cluster for nonsecure mode through the Cisco CTL client, autoregistation is automatically enabled.

For more information, see "Bulk Administration", Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide and "Tool for Auto-Registered Phones Support", Cisco Unified Communications Manager Bulk Administration Guide.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Conference Station Addition

You can add conference phones individually to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager database by using Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration. To do so, you first need to obtain the MAC address for each conference phone.

After you collect MAC addresses, in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration, choose Device > Phone, and then click Add New to begin the addition process.

For complete instructions and conceptual information about Cisco Unified Communications Manager, see the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide and the Cisco Unified Communications Manager System Guide.

BAT IP Phone Addition

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Bulk Administration Tool (BAT) enables you to perform batch operations, including registration, on multiple conference phones. To access BAT, choose the Bulk Administration drop-down menu in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration.

Before you can add conference phones using BAT only (not in conjunction with TAPS), you must obtain the MAC address for each conference phone. If you have a large number of conference phones to register you can use dummy MAC addresses and update them later via TAPS.

For detailed instructions about using BAT, see "Bulk Administration", Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide.

Conference Phone MAC Address Determination

Several procedures described in this manual require you to determine the MAC address of a conference phone. You can determine the MAC address for a conference phone in any of these ways:

  • From the conference phone, press Apps, select Phone Information, and look at the MAC Address field.

  • Look at the MAC label on the bottom of the conference phone.

  • Display the web page for the conference phone web page, and select Device Information. For information about accessing the conference phone web page, see Access Web Page.