Using Cisco 7961/7941 Phones with Switchvox

[plainsimple]

I have setup the free edition of Switchvox PBX and have upgraded two Cisco phones to SIP 8.5(4) images and they come up successfully, however they never appear in the Switchvox system. What am I missing???

The phones come up, pull the appropriate SEPMAC.cnf.xml, dialplan.xml and softkeys.xml files, show the extension assigned and say "Registering" (for about 2 minutes) before sitting there.

I have checked the advanced logs on the switchvox and no problems and have checked the phone error logs with the only error being "Error updating Locale".

Help?

[rt]

I am having the same problem, spent ages checking everything over and over in the config file, do these phones work with Switchvox? Did you find a solution?

[edit] Oops just realised you posted this today!

[rt]

I have fixed my problem, forgot to disable NAT on the extensions it was trying to regsiter with in Switchvox.!

[plainsimple]

I finally got the Cisco 7961/7941 phones working, part of the problem was the NAT being enabled on the extension and on the phone config file (SEPmac.cnf.xml).

[plainsimple]

If anyone is interested, I can send the files and information necessary to get up and running with switchvox and cisco IP phones.

[shaker242]

I think I'm missing something. I'm using Switchvox Free 1.0 version, but it's WUI only so how do you load the SEP files? There I have a Cisco 7961G and a Cisco 7940, neither of which work with Switchvox. Apparently only my softphone x-lite will function... I've turned off natting and I'll test it again when I get back to the office, but I don't have high hopes.

How did you get SEPxxx/dialplan/etc uploaded to the server? Docs suck too, everything is based off SOHO or SMB.

[shaker242]

Okay, I finally figured it out... Switchvox Free version needs the phone to do all the configuring and then it just logs into the PBX. After going through the manual via Cisco's website I entered all the correct settings on the phone and it reached the PBX and now works well. I say "well" because incoming calls are intermittent, sometimes calls inbound to my extension do not connect but timeout and go to voicemail.

I can't paste any configs for the phone, sorry... but all of my setting parameters are under Settings > Network Configuration & SIP Configuration.

[dcourter2]

Could any one give me some help on this ??? My phones are stuck at the registering state and i have tried turning off NAT in the ext settings and in my config file...could use an example config or something.

[mutineer612]

I have spent many hours working with the Cisco 7960 series phone and Switchvox. Below are my notes in the hope that it might help some other users with initial setup and phone programming. Good Luck!

*** For Switchvox the extension configuration must have 'Phone NAT Traversal' set to 'Never' in order for the phone to register.

# Reset to factory defaults using the following steps:
1.) Unplug the power cable from the phone, and then plug in the cable again. The phone begins its power up cycle.
2.) Running Skinny firmware press and hold # while the phone boots. The phone will indicate the reset sequence has been detected.
3.) Release the # key. The Headset, Mute, and Speaker buttons begin to flash in sequence.
4.) Press 123456789*0# within 60 seconds after the Headset, Mute, and Speaker buttons begin to flash.
5.) If you enter this key sequence correctly, the phone displays this prompt: Keep network cfg? 1 = yes 2 = no
6.) Press 2 and the phone goes through the factory reset process.

# Unlock the phone to configure the network settings manually:
When configuring the phone manually you must first unlock the phone. By default, the network parameters are locked to ensure that end users cannot modify settings. I Manually set the TFTP server address to upgrade the Cisco sip firmware, since I did not have a DHCP server to pass this information via Option #150. The phone will not let you manually set the TFTP address until the DHCP option is set to NO.

1.) The lock icon in the upper right can be unlocked by pressing **#
2.) Press Settings > (3) Network Configuration > (30) DHCP Enabled and use **# to unlock the parameter and change the value from YES to NO and save.
3.) Press Settings > (8) TFTP Server 1 and set the IP address of the TFTP server.

# Upgrading Cisco sip firmware from to latest release 8.12.
Cisco 7960's are unable to upgrade directly to the latest firmware. The phone needs to be upgraded to 7.5 and then 8.12. Follow the same steps below for 8.12. You will need to change some of the files to reference the correct POS3-XX-X-XX.* files. I would have attached samples to the forum but it's not accepting my tar.gz file. If you want samples just reply and I'll can post them separately. As for the actual firmware, you will need to download from Cisco... or perhaps google may find you a copy.

1.) Copy unzipped firmware files into tftp dir using Cisco firmware for 7960 series
OS79XX.TXT ; This file always contains the universal application loader image.
POS3-07-5-00.loads ; Universal application loader and application image, 3rd character = 0 for SCCP, and S for SIP.
POS3-07-5-00.sb2 ; Application firmware image, where a represents the application firmware image: 0 for SCCP, and S for SIP.
P003-07-5-00.bin ; Nonsecure universal application loader for upgrades from images earlier than 5.x.
P003-07-5-00.sbn ; Secure universal application loader for upgrades from images 5.x or later.

2.) Copy the following config files in the tftp dir
SIPDefault.cnf ; Common config options relating to all SIP phones
xmlDefault.CNF.XML ; Allow the phone to boot and load the SIP firmware from the server
XMLDefault.cnf.xml

Due to inconsistent coding by Cisco, different firmware may look for different case-sensitive versions of the same xmldefault.cnf.xml file, thus the need for at least the two variations above to cover new phones and a good portion of older one's.

Dialplan.xml ; Used to control specific phone behavior
SIPXXXXYYYYZZZZ.cnf ; Where XXXXYYYYZZZZ is the MAC address of the phone.
SEPXXXXYYYYZZZZ.cnf.xml ; Allow the phone to boot the latest SIP firmware version from the server
CTLSEPXXXXYYYYZZZZ.tlv

Due to more inconsistent coding by Cisco I've found the phone request a CTLSEPXXXXYYYYZZZZ.tlv file. To get the phone to actually load the firmware I had to put an empty file with this name in the TFTP server and then after loading the sip firmware move this file out of the tftp folder and let the phone continue to boot. The phone appears to load the firmware twice while loading both 7.5 and 8.12.

3.) Check that the upgrade was completed after phone boots:
a.) Settings > Status > Firmware Versions
b.) Confirm application is at POS3-8-12-00

# Post SIP firmware upgrade config changes
After upgrading the SIP firmware the interface changes from the default Cisco phone interface. To make config changes you will need to Unlock the config using the password setup in the SIPDefault.cnf file.

1.) Select Settings > (9) Unlock Config and enter the password. This will remove the lock icon from the screen and allow you to change the network and sip config settings.

2.) Change the tftp server ip addres back to 1.1.1.1 unless you plan to centrally manage the phones. You cannot leave the tftp server value blank and 0.0.0.0 is not an acceptable value. After saving the 1.1.1.1 value the phone will actually display 0.0.0.0.

3.) Select Settings > (30) DHCP Enabled and select YES.