IP Office Essential Edition w/DECT 4 and Cisco Meraki Switch - LLDP Issues

[jokermia]

IP Office R11.1.2.1(3) Essential Edition, 1416 Phones, and DECT 4 w/3730 Cordless sets.

Customer recently switched from Aerohive to Cisco Meraki network switches, and they did away with a separate Voice VLAN when switching to the Meraki. Previously we had the IPO and Base Stations set up with static IP addresses on specific ports on the Aerohive that the IT department had configured for the Voice VLAN, but now the Meraki can be set up for both voice and data VLAN on the same port. I'm told that the Meraki can assign the devices to either the voice or data VLAN based on the LLDP info that it receives from the device, but that the phone system and base stations aren't providing any LLDP information, so the Meraki isn't assigning them to the voice VLAN, which causes the phone system and Master base station not to talk, which means the 3730 phones won't work. I'm also told that it's only the IPO and base stations not providing this info, as all other devices are properly sending the LLDP info to the Meraki and being assigned to the correct VLAN.

Per the customer's IT group, they're not receiving any LLDP information from the IPO and base stations, so the switch can’t tell that they're a voice device and it's putting them on the data VLAN instead of the voice VLAN. They also noted that the static IPs don't matter in terms of which VLAN a device is assigned to, only the LLDP info matters.

As far as I can research, there's no LLDP setting in the IPO to turn "on". Are there any settings on the IPO (and base stations if necessary) that can be changed to signal to the Meraki that the IPO and base stations are voice devices and need to go on the voice VLAN? Please let me know if you need further info from me in order to make a recommendation, and thanks in advance for your help!

 

[nnaarrnn]

Set your phone's vLANs in the DHCP string.

Something like this on your DATA vLAN's DHCP server (use option 242): L2Q=1,L2QVLAN=10,VLANTEST=0 (where 10= the Voice vLAN on the Meraki switches)

And then something like this on your Voice vLAN's DHCP server (use option 242 again): MCIPADD=1.1.1.1,MCPORT=1720,HTTPSRVR=1.1.1.1,HTTPPORT=80,VLANTEST=0 (where 1.1.1.1 is your IP Office)

 

[jokermia]

Thanks for the reply, nnaarrnn. However, the desk phones are digital sets (1416s) while the 3730s are DECT sets. The only thing I could find researching on LLDP w/IP Office would be the IP sets, which doesn't apply here. Would your 2nd step (Voice VLAN DHCP server steps) work to at least ID the IPO as a Voice device on the Meraki?

 

[derfloh]

You have to use access ports in the Voice VLAN.

IP Office remote service
IP Office certificate check
CLI based call blocking
SCN fallback over PSTN

 

[jokermia]

would you mind explaining that further, derfloh? If the Meraki can have either Voice or Data VLANs on the same port and just needs a signal from the device to assign it to either VLAN, what would be the access port in the Voice VLAN as you mention above?

 

[derfloh]

In Meraki Dashboard you can configure each switch port. You can set the type to Trunk of Access. You need an Access port with the Voice VLAN as the only VLAN in it.

IP Office remote service
IP Office certificate check
CLI based call blocking
SCN fallback over PSTN

 

[nnaarrnn]

I'm not familiar with the 3730s, but if they're DECT, then the only "voice vlan" piece would be the IP networked base station, am I correct? Just have them set those switch ports to pVID as your Voice vLAN, and you should be good to go.

 

[jokermia]

Thanks for the replies. I was just told by the IT department that the base stations are behaving normally and identifying themselves as voice devices, so they're ok. It's only the IPO control unit that's not identifying itself correctly.

The IT group was looking for another solution other than configuring the IPO port as Voice only, as they figured that virtually all computer & telecom devices have the ability to pass through LLDP information. However, I believe amriddle said in another thread on these boards that phone systems aren't VLAN aware as they don't pass data through themselves like a handset would. I have no idea if that's still true, as the thread I saw it in is pretty old (2015), but amriddle is an extremely respected poster on these forums, so I tend to believe what amriddle says (assuming technology hasn't changed since that post).

 

[CalgaryJeff]

The IP Office itself is still not vlan configurable and does not do lldp. The only good way to deal with it is for them to set the switch port to the correct vlan. I have personally have found every brand of switches seem to deal with lldp differently and have never found it to be reliable.

http://www.atcomsystems.ca

ACSS,AIPS