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Cisco 79XX phones and 3cx

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dynamic

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I have a client with a Cisco UC520 system that I would love to convert over to 3cx. The client has quite an investment in Cisco phones, so if possible, I'd like to keep them, and change them out when necessary.

I have a few questions for those who may have experience doing this already. I have a 7941 phone available for testing. From my research, a firmware file has to be uploaded to the phone using DHCP to point to a TFTP server.

  • Where can the firmware files be obtained?
    Is it possible to revert the phone to it's original firmware when done testing?
    Is there a way to backup the current phone firmware?
    Are there any compatibility issues to watch out for?
    Is there any functionality lost?
    Do the sidecars still work as before?

Thank you for your help in advance.
 
I can answer some of your questions, other I have not had to deal with.

dynamic said:
Where can the firmware files be obtained?

Read through here, it explains how to convert the sets, the download (in # 4) contains the SIP firmware.

Is it possible to revert the phone to it's original firmware when done testing?

I'm not sure if the sets retain a copy of the original firmware or not.

Is there a way to backup the current phone firmware?

Not that I'm aware of.

Are there any compatibility issues to watch out for?

Compatibility in what way? Version 12 of 3Cx is designed to work with the sets. And if provisioned, will work with earlier versions. Templates are not included in earlier 3CX versions. I haven't tested all features, so someone else would have to answer that.

Is there any functionality lost?

It is possible if there is a feature specific to your current PBX that 3CX does not support, or handles in a different way.

Do the sidecars still work as before?

Sorry, haven't tried them, but I don't see why not. It may require some manual editing of the config file.
 
Thanks. You mentioned:

Read through here, it explains how to convert the sets, the download (in # 4) contains the SIP firmware.

But I don't see what you are referencing. Thanks.
 
Sorry, it's STEP 2, # 4 There is a link to this file..... http://downloads.3cx.com/downloads/misc/CiscoOS79XXSIP.zip
 
I followed the guide and can't get it to work.

I setup the DHCP server with option 66 and TFTP server.

The phone picks up an ip, I see incoming requests to the TFTP server.

CTLSEP002290B96209.tlv file not found

SEP002290B96209.cnf.xml transfer complete

/mk-sccp.jar file not found

/g3-tones.xml file not found

Phone is stuck as registering!
 
Did you attempt to convert the phone to SIP before having it pick up the config files that are created when you "build" a new extension.

I found that I had to do a "factory" reset on the phone before it downloaded the SIP firmware.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/voice-unified-communications/unified-ip-phone-7900-series/15254-7960-default.html
 
The guide you were referencing was here: http://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/cisco-7940g-7960g/

I spent many hours on this not realizing that when you do a factory reset (soft reset) on the phone, it still needs to be connected to the network. When doing a reset it will replace the firmware with whatever firmware you have in the TFTP directory.
(For anyone else reading this, you do a reset by powering on the phone, holding # until the lights next to the screen flash, then press 123456789*0#.)

Even when I had managed to get the SIP firmware on there that I downloaded directly from Cisco, I still could not do the update to the one I downloaded from 3CX without getting the AUTH failed. The trick was to do the factory reset with the files downloaded from 3CX in the TFTP directory. After the firmware installed the phone rebooted and provisioned itself. Hurrah! I finally have it working! I was even able to create and upload a custom background! Thank you for your help.

I have a couple of questions though if I may.

In the upper right hand corner it says 3CX. Is that field configurable? Can it be configured with the user's extension number?

The two buttons on the right hand on the screen both say the user's name. I have all BLF options off? How do I remove the second one?
 
dynamic said:
The trick was to do the factory reset with the files downloaded from 3CX in the TFTP directory.

Sorry, I sort of assumed you were doing that.

dynamic said:
In the upper right hand corner it says 3CX. Is that field configurable? Can it be configured with the user's extension number?

The two buttons on the right hand on the screen both say the user's name. I have all BLF options off? How do I remove the second one?

I've only used the 7960 and 7961, so other than 4 additional line keys, it should be the same.(79X0 is a different animal)

I found that if you specified a single extension, all the keys end up with that extension number. What I did is to edit the XML file using XML Copy Editor http://xml-copy-editor.sourceforge.net/

Before you begin editing the XML file, I suggest backing it up somewhere else, just in case. Otherwise you have to create the extension in 3CX all over again.

You can just delete the reference to line 2, then save the file and have the phone pick it up again. You'll find the "3CX" in there as well and can put in anything you want.

By changing the name of the file (MAC address part) and the extension user and password, you can create multiple config files to match extension that you've created, although 3CX will also do this for you

A lot of the options are explained on this site, quite a good resource. http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/Asterisk+phone+cisco+79x1+xml+configuration+files+for+SIP

About halfway down this page there is an example of a diallplan.xml file, along with a lot of other interesting information. That file will be used by all of the extensions. (There is also a ringtone file, but I never got into that)

You can copy it into the XML editor, then modify it, to work with your particular dialling plan. It saves having to wait for timeout, or hitting the dial key.
 
You're referencing the SEP{MACADDRESS}.cnf.xml file that is in the TFTP directory, the provisioning file created by 3CX.

Thanks, I found what I was looking for under <siplines><line button="2">.

I also changed the <phonelabel> field from 3CX to 3CX-Ext #.

Now I thought I was smart, and I updated the phone to the latest firmware. It didn't provision properly. Took it back down to 8.5.2 and it's still not working. After loading the SEP*.xml file, it's looking for a CTL*.tlv file. Any ideas?
 
Figured it out. I damaged my SEP file. Deleted it and created a new one.
 
To answer my own question, you can go back to SCCP firmware by downloading it here with a free Cisco ID.

http://software.cisco.com/download/type.html?mdfid=280083379&flowid=46209
 
dynamic said:
Now I thought I was smart, and I updated the phone to the latest firmware. It didn't provision properly. Took it back down to 8.5.2 and it's still not working. After loading the SEP*.xml file, it's looking for a CTL*.tlv file. A

I would be very cautious when upgrading firmware. In most cases, 3CX has been tested to work with certain releases and may not "behave" properly with a newer release, as some have found out the hard way. This applies to all makes and models of SIP devices.

Personally, I don't do a firmware upgrade unless there is a good reason to. If I'm having an issue, and I know that there is a bug fix, and the release has been out long enough that other users have had a chance to evaluate it, then I will consider it. I'm not one that has to have the latest, for the sake of a higher number release, especially if all is working properly.
 
The client has some 7975 phones. Do you think these will work if I can get the SIP firmware?
 
I can't speak with any experience on these particular sets. It does appear that they can be converted to SIP but I have not tested, or even checked, if they are compatible with what is in the 3CX Cisco set-up files.

You may have to do a lot of the set-up manually. While different Cisco sets probably share a lot of common setting, there will no doubt be settings specific to certain models.

Came across an article (it's 5 years old) on the sets. http://www.888voip.com/configuring-cisco-7975-ip-phones-for-sip/

A lot of the information has to do with the 79XX series in general, so it is worth a read in understanding these sets.
 
There's great information in there! Thanks!
 
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