Mass update of Yealink phone firmware with an Intermediate Firmware Required

[VITD]

Hi All,

We have an onsite 3CX server with Yealink T41S handsets.

The handsets have fallen out of "supported" firmware and as part of a (new) regular maintenance, we would like to bring these machines up to the latest firmware.

However...
They are running 66.83.0.55 firmware which requires an intermediate firmware (66.84.0.25) before it can accept any later versions. (https://www.3cx.com/docs/custom-ip-phone-templates/#h.1hbz7u6js2gq)

3CX does not offer this firmware as an option, and I've been unable to find any way to perform a mass update outside of 3CX, or to trick 3CX into providing a link to the appropriate rom to the phones.

I have 120+ phones that need these updates. Is the only option to perform 240+ manual firmware update to get the fleet up to date?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi @VITD

We do offer intermediary firmware, take a look at our guide here, it's Step 1
https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/yealink-t4-series/

You will have to do some extra work to achieve what you want, but it should be doable massively.

1. Go to the guide and download the file I mentioned
2. Access the filesystem of your 3CX server, and find the current file with this name in the FW folders
3. Make a backup of that file, you will need it later
4. Replace it with the rom you got from your guide
5. Go to the management console and initiate a firmware update
6. The phones should now receive the intermediary file instead of the latest one
7. Once all the phones are upgraded, remove the intermediary file and restore the latest one we backed up earlier
8. Initiate another firmware update and the phones should now finally reach the supported version

Windows FW Locations:
C:\ProgramData\3CX\Instance1\Data\Http\Interface\provisioning\{random_id}\firmware\yealink
C:\ProgramData\3CX\Instance1\Data\Http\Interface\provisioning\{random_id}\firmware_new\yealink


Linux FW Locations:
/var/lib/3cxpbx/Instance1/Data/Http/Interface/provisioning/{random_id}/firmware/yealink
/var/lib/3cxpbx/Instance1/Data/Http/Interface/provisioning/{random_id}/firmware_new/yealink


Warnings:

• Make a full backup of 3CX BEFORE this operation
• Do not upgrade all the phones at once!
• Perform this method on a single phone as a test, to verify that it will be successful
• If successful, proceed to repeat the steps with the rest of the phones in smaller batches

This will help you verify that the method works, and it will also prevent you from overwhelming your server with excessive traffic.

Let me know if you have any questions at all before you proceed, and I will be happy to assist you!

 

[VITD]

Thanks for your assistance.
I'm finding that firmware updates pushed through the console (even with the intermediate firmware replacing the "Real" version) are failing to do anything.

1) Is there anywhere I can find logs to determine what is happening once I submit the firmware request?
2) Is it possible the SSL cert problem raised here is preventing this? https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/firmware-update-through-console.65938/

Thanks

 

[JohnS_3CX]

No there are no logs that will help you with this, you need to run a wireshark capture if you want to know what happened. Please give us some more information

- How are the phones provisioned? (LAN/SBC/STUN ?)
- Are you using a custom FQDN or a 3CX one?
- Is the cert currently expired?