IP Office phones randomly going into Discover Mode

[gkittelson]

I have an IP Office re-deployment where the old client went out of business and the phones, switches, and IP Office have been moved to a new location. The phones are mostly 5610s with two 5621s and the IP Office is at 5.0 (18).

Different phones will randomly go into "Discover Mode" on the network. The network and gateways that I'm using aren't going down and are always up. The switches were in use before as well as the IP Office and shouldn't be the issue.

This is driving me nuts and my client isn't happy that phones are doing this.

This isn't happening to all 60 phones at the same time but to different phones seemingly at random and at different times of the day and on different days.

Does anyone have any questions or suggestions for me that might help me with this issue? I have tried switching the gateway on the phones to a different address. I have switched the cable and the port that the phone system is on. I am out of ideas to try!

 

[tlpeter]

The phones and the ipoffice cannot see each other once in a while.
It is really an network issue.

BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[gkittelson]

I understand that, but the computers aren't going offline and nothing else in the network seems to be having issues either. It's also just a few phones at a time.

 

[tlpeter]

It is about a keep alive.
The phone sends a keep alive and when the phones do not get any response then they go in to discover and will reboot a little while later.
This way it will connect again.


BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[gkittelson]

Is there any way to review and or change the keep alive? Can the keep alive be tested? Could anything else be interfering with those packets?

 

[tlpeter]

What is the iprange of the phones and what ipaddress does the ipoffice have?


BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[gkittelson]

The IP office is 10.0.1.5 with SM of 255.255.0.0 and GW of and phones are set with static IPs at 10.0.2.100 and up. DHCP is set for the phones at 10.0.3.x so if a phone isn't programmed it won't interfere with the statically addressed phones.

There is no primary trans.IP address and RIP 1 mode is enabled.

There are two IP routes:
0.0.0.0
255.255.0.0
10.0.1.99
Dest Lan1

192.168.99.0
255.255.255.0
0.0.0.0
Dest RemoteManager

The GW is 10.0.1.99 which goes to a 198.249.52.x network. The two phones on that network don't seem to have any issues.

 

[tlpeter]

Why isn't the ipo in the network where the phones are?
There are too many different networks.
That is why it does not work.

BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[gkittelson]

This is all one network except for the 198.249.52.x. They are all in the same subnet. 10.0.1.0 to 10.0.255.255 are all in one network.

I have separated them within the one network but it's all the same.

 

[davea2]

If the subnet mask is 255.255.0.0 then perhaps they ARE all on the same network.
I would check that all devices have a class B mask though
Usually when we have issues like this its something on the network flooding it with traffic.
last time was a PC with a virus

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UK Based IP Office Discussion

Twitter twitter.com/davea66
MSN davea123ATlive.co.uk
____________________________________
beauty is in the eye of the beer holder

 

[gkittelson]

I made sure they all have a Class B mask. If they didn't they would never be able to see the phone system.

Please keep the suggestions coming! I know someone will see something I've missed.

I am strongly leaning towards the virus and I am researching what tool I could use to determine this. Does anyone have any ideas on that? What could I use to find it if that's the trouble?

 

[tlpeter]

I would rake a look at the 192 network.
Is that the router?
I would chang the iproute.
Change the subnet to 0.0.0.0


BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[davea2]

Firstly, I would set a running ping from a PC on the network to the IPO and see what results I got.

Not much of a Virus expert I'm afraid,l but get a good network AV solution

http://www.ipofficeforum.co.uk

UK Based IP Office Discussion

Twitter twitter.com/davea66
MSN davea123ATlive.co.uk
____________________________________
beauty is in the eye of the beer holder

 

[CarGoSki]

let the goose chase begin...

 

[amriddle01]

Possibly a duplicate IP address, that causes issues like this. Start a ping to the IPO address and leave it running then disconnect it from the network, if it continues that's the issue, even if it doesn't check the ARP cache for multiple MAC's against that address

ACSS (SME)
APSS (SME)

http://www.ipoffice.tel

"I'm just off to Hartlepool to buy some exploding trousers

 

[JeSTeROCK]

Monitor is your friend.

Check H323 phone status. You can see when the last registration was and how many times an extension has registered.

Is there any VLAN's setup on the switch ?

You will be able to identify extensions IP address' that are having problems, software versions etc.

Good luck

 

[jonjoeni]

Why is it always the telecoms guys fault when IP phones go down? If this was down to a few phones you could mirror a few ports & run WireShark to see the problem. On one site we ended up seperating the whole network so the IP500 was connected to its own switches with only the IP phones connected.The customer agreed to live without phone managers for a week & guess what no problems all phones stayed up. Therefore back to his IT department to solve the problem with their network.

Good Luck

Jon

 

[mforrence]

You essentially have one gonzo large network with broadcast traffic to match. We ALWAYS put voice on a VLAN to eliminate exactly these issues. We make good money fixing implementations such as this.
Mike

 

[gkittelson]

I want to thank Jesterock for his suggestion. This shows me that it is a segment of the network that is connected via fiber that is having the most problems. It might be the fiber optic GBIC or the fiber itself or the switch there.

The other phone or two in the main facility might just have a problem with the cabling or interference.

Thank you for your suggestion! I believe that I am also going to try mforrence's suggestion to separate the phones via a VLAN. It can't hurt

 

[gkittelson]

I was able to determine that the root cause of the issue is what the gateway being used in the network was also used with some static IP addresses for routers. Our ISP provided all through one network jack.

By changing that to use a router and eliminating the internal IP address of the router the network issues went away. This is particular to Cbeyond, and I am ashamed that I didn't think of this earlier.