Cisco Systems OL-14587-01 User Manual

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Preparing to Install the Cisco Unified IP Phone on Your Network

Cisco Unified IP Phones enable you to communicate using voice over a data network. To provide this capability, the phones depend upon and interact with several other key Cisco IP Telephony and network components, including Cisco Unified Communications Manager, DNS and DHCP servers, TFTP servers, media resources, Cisco prestandard PoE, and so on.

This chapter focuses on the interactions between the Cisco Unified IP Phone 7931G and Cisco Unified Communications Manager, DNS and DHCP servers, TFTP servers, and switches. It also describes options for powering phones.

For related information about voice and IP communications, refer to this URL (you must be a registered Cisco.com user):

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

This chapter includes these topics:

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• Understanding Interactions with Other Cisco Unified IP Communications

Products, page 2-2

• Providing Power to the Phone, page 2-4

• Understanding Phone Configuration Files, page 2-6

• Understanding the Phone Startup Process, page 2-8

• Adding Phones to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Database,

page 2-11

• Determining the MAC Address of a Cisco Unified IP Phone, page 2-15

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Chapter 2 Preparing to Install the Cisco Unified IP Phone on Your Network

Understanding Interactions with Other Cisco Unified IP Communications Products

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

This section includes these topics:

• Understanding How the Cisco Unified IP Phone Interacts with Cisco

Unified Communications Manager, page 2-2

• Understanding How the Cisco Unified IP Phone Interacts with the VLAN,

page 2-3

Understanding How the Cisco Unified IP Phone Interacts with Cisco Unified Communications Manager

2-2

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 phones, integrating traditional PBX functionality with the corporate IP network. Cisco Unified Communications Manager manages the components of the IP telephony system—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 phones

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

• Configuration file and CTL file, via TFTP service

• Phone registration

• Call preservation, so that a media session continues if signaling is lost

between the primary Communications Manager and a phone

Cisco Unified IP Phone 7931G Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager 6.1

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Chapter 2 Preparing to Install the Cisco Unified IP Phone on Your Network

Understanding Interactions with Other Cisco Unified IP Communications Products

For information about configuring Cisco Unified Communications Manager to work with the IP devices that described in this chapter, refer to Cisco

Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide, Cisco Unified Communications Manager System Guide, and to Cisco Unified Communications Manager Security Guide.

For an overview of security functionality for the Cisco Unified IP Phone, see the

“Understanding Security Features for Cisco Unified IP Phones” section on page 1-14.

Note If the Cisco Unified IP 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/kobayashi/sw-center/sw-voice.shtml

Understanding How the Cisco Unified IP Phone Interacts with the VLAN

The Cisco Unified IP Phone 7931G has an internal Ethernet switch, enabling forwarding of packets to the phone, and to the access port and the network port on the back of the phone.

If a computer is connected to the access port, the computer and the phone share the same physical link to the switch and share the same port on the switch. This shared physical link has the following implications for the VLAN configuration on the network:

• The current VLANs might be configured on an IP subnet basis. However,

additional IP address might not be available to assign the phone to the same subnet as other devices connect to the same port.

• Data traffic present on the data/native VLAN may reduce the quality of

Voice-over-IP traffic.

• Network security may indicate a need to isolate the VLAN voice traffic from

the VLAN data traffic.

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Providing Power to the Phone

You can resolve these issues by isolating the voice traffic onto a separate VLAN. The switch port that the phone is connected to would be configured to have separate VLANs for carrying:

• Voice traffic to and from the IP phone (auxiliary VLAN, on the Cisco Catalyst

• Data traffic to and from the PC connected to the switch through the access

Isolating the phones on a separate, auxiliary VLAN improves the quality of the voice traffic and allows a large number of phones to be added to an existing network where there are not enough IP addresses for each phone.

For more information, refer to the documentation included with a Cisco switch. You can also access related documentation at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/tsd_products_support_ category_home.html

Power Outage

Your accessibility to emergency service through the phone is dependent on the phone being powered. If there is an interruption in the power supply, Service and Emergency Calling Service dialing will not function until power is restored. In the case of a power failure or disruption, you may need to reset or reconfigure equipment before using the Service or Emergency Calling Service dialing.

Power Guidelines

Table 2 -1 provides guidelines that apply to external power and to PoE power for

the Cisco Unified IP Phones 7931G.

Table 2-1 Guidelines for Powering the Cisco Unified IP Phones 7931G

Power Type Guidelines

External power— Provided through a Cisco external power supply.

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

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

The CP-PWR-CUBE-3 external power supply may be used with the Cisco Unified IP Phones 7931G.

The Cisco Unified IP Phone Power Injector may be used with any Cisco Unified IP Phone. Functioning as a midspan device, the injector delivers inline power to the attached phone. The Cisco Unified IP Phone Power Injector is connected between a switch port and the IP Phone, and supports a maximum cable length of 100m between the unpowered switch and the phone.

• The Cisco Unified IP Phones 7931G supports IEEE 802.3af Power

over Ethernet.

• To ensure uninterruptible operation of the phone, make sure that the

switch has a backup power supply.

Providing Power to the Phone

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• Make sure that the CatOS or IOS version running on your switch

supports your intended phone deployment. Refer to the documentation for your switch for operating system version information.

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