Meraki & Nortel/Avaya IP Deskphones

[Shadius]

Hi Merakians,

We've recently upgraded our switches to MS350s and we're encountering some major issues with our Nortel/Avaya IP Deskphones.

The issue is that the phones do not boot up with the correct VLAN IP address when the DHCP Scope is enabled on our Windows Server. We've had to put our data VLAN on our Windows Server and our voice VLAN on the Meraki switch. We'd like to have both on our Windows Server.

Is there anything that I can do to get this working on the Windows Server?

Any information is appreciated.

[rhbirkelund]

What VLAN does the IP phones get an IP address from?

Have you verified that the corrent VLAN is set on the port connecting to the IP phones - either as Access VLAN or Voice VLAN?

What happens if you configure an access port in the Voice VLAN, and connect a PC? Does it get the expected IP lease?

If the DHCP server is on a separate network, you might need to configure an IP helper/DHCP relay.

[Shadius]

@rhbirkelund 

We have VLAN 56 for data and VLAN 218 for voice. The phones are supposed to get their IP address from voice VLAN 218. The PCs get their IP addresses from data VLAN 56.

Yes, we've set the VLAN as an access port.

If I connect a PC into the port configured with VLAN 56 and Voice VLAN 218, I get a .56 IP address.

We did create a VLAN 219 for testing with the same Scope options and it worked, so I'm not really understanding why it's not working on VLAN 218.

The DHCP Server is on the .56 network.

Could it be the Scope options?

[DarrenOC]

 

Hi @Shadius , for one customer utilising Avaya we set option 242 on their scope. Look familiar? 

 

[DarrenOC]

Hi @Shadius , can you share a screenshot of your VLAN/interface config for VLAN 218?

[BlakeRichardson]

@Shadius  we have Avaya handsets, we has setup our phone system so that the PBX handles the DHCP for the phones.

We have not had any trouble with using Avaya on Meraki switches. 

[Shadius]

@DarrenOC 

This is the screenshot from the Meraki switch. We've had to run the DHCP server from the switch since it's not working from Windows.

We have Option 232 and Option 244 on the DHCP options.

[cmr]

@Shadius you need to send the DHCP requests to the PBX, use this setting as @BlakeRichardson  said or set option 242 as @DarrenOC said:

 

[Shadius]

@cmr 

Yes, I've tried to do that and it still doesn't work.

[cmr]

@Shadius what doesn't work, does the PBX not get the DHCP request, or does the phone get the IP from the PBX but not work?

[Shadius]

@cmr 

The phones do not boot up. They display the message "Server Unreachable".

[cmr]

And is this with getting an IP from the PBX or getting it from the Meraki, with option 242 set, or both?

[Shadius]

@cmr 

Option 244 has the PBX IP address for s1ip and s2ip.

The phones do not boot up when we use VLAN 218.

We tested VLAN 219 with the same exact settings. All I did was literally change Voice VLAN from 218 to 219 and it works, but not VLAN 218. I don't know why. Nothing has changed except changing 218 to 219.

[Shadius]

@cmr 

Is it supposed to be Option 242 or 244?

[cmr]

242 according to this Avaya page:

 

[Shadius]

@cmr 

Can you post this link, please?

I'd like to read through it.

[Shadius]

@cmr 

This is what we have as our options:

Option 232: VLAN-A:218.

Option 244: Nortel-i2004-B,s1ip=172.16.218.10;p1=4100;a1=1;r1=255;s2ip=172.16.218.10;p2=4100;a2=1;r2=2;

[rhbirkelund]

Are the switchports connecting the the IP phones and PCs configured ála this?

Also, you'll need to set DHCP relay on the interface on the switch. Make sure the interface IP address isn't in use some where else. I see in your screenshot that you use .1 addres for the interface.

You'll also need to ensure you have connectivity to the server. This means that VLAN218 is allowed on trunk links further upstream.

Also, regarding DHCP options, make sure it is someting along the lines of;

That is, Type is text.

In principle, you should be able to put a Laptop on VLAN 218, and if you get an IP address you should be able to Ping the PBX, assuming there isn't any ACLs in place. If you are not getting an address, but you get one by creating an identical VLAN 219, you'll need to examine the path of communicaitons. Maybe 218 isn't allowed on the trunk?

Edit: Perhaps you could try to connect a PC to a normal access port in vlan 218, and perform er packet dump from wireshark, to determine if you get the correct DHCP options?

[Shadius]

@rhbirkelund 

Yes, the switch ports are configured exactly like that.

When I set "Relay DHCP to another server" and then input the IP address of our Windows DHCP Server, that's when things break. The phones don't boot up and just display the "Server Unreachable" message.

I'm curious to know if Option 242 is for Avaya IP Office, or is it for Nortel CS1000?

I'm not sure where we got Option 244 from either. Might've been from our Telecom department.

[rhbirkelund]

I honestly can't remember what the option 242 was for. It was about 3-4 years since I installed it. But I think it's Avaya IP Office.

[cmr]

@Shadius the page is here and there are links to the required options to set etc., hopefully it works for your PBX: https://downloads.avaya.com/elmodocs2/one-X_Deskphone_Edition/R1.2/output/16_300698_3/admn0513.html

[DarrenOC]

Hi @Shadius , we have customers using MS350’s with Avaya phones and have no trouble.

As indicated by @rhbirkelund do you need to set an IP helper, DHCP relay