Swapping stations in Cisco Unified Comm. Manager

[dudecrush]

I'm running a Cisco UCM 6.1 system for one of our remote locations. I'm used to the Avaya Definity command sets that I run at our main location. I have a user who wants to swap out his phone for another (both are the same model). Since the Cisco locks the MAC address to the IP address, I have to tell the employee to unplug the phone he wants, delete it from the database, then change the MAC address of the phone assigned to his extension. (In the Avaya, a simple "Swap Stations" command would've done this in about 10 seconds.) I can't believe there isn't a command in Cisco that can't do this simple adminisitrative task. Can anyone tell me if there is a tool that can swap MAC addresses with extensions?

 

[whykap]

all you have to do is replace the mac address of the old phone with the new and update the device.
No need to delete the phone or anything like that.
Doesn't get any easier than that.

 

[dudecrush]

Nein. I'm aware of that trick, but that isn't the issue. I am trying to swap MAC addresses, true, but this is the caveat: Both phones are plugged in - thus, both are registered with call manager, both have extensions. If you delete one of the phones, it automatically re-registers with call manager. Thus, if you try and change MAC addresses, the update will not succeed because "another phone" (the one you just tried to delete) is in the database because it re-registered with call manager. Maybe I'm going at this the wrong way - is there a way to "Swap extensions

 

[trvlr1]

just reprogram the numbers on the individual phones. In Call Manager go to Device/Phone find directory number xxxx click to open the appropriate record. On left of screen you will see the numbers etc associated with the phone, open the number you want to change and then fill in the appropriate info in the main area and save/reset. Do the same for the other phone and you should be done.
Just out of curiosity, if these are both the same phones, why the swap?

 

[dudecrush]

trvlr1 - Thanks. I had thought about doing that too, but I was hoping for a utility that could do it for me. You've answered my ultimate question - there is no administrative tool and its a manual process. Typical of Cisco - they just don't understand telephony administration.....

Why do they want to swap phones if its the same model? Good question. I was told a phone was "broken" and needed to be replace. Common sense would tell you a broken phone is removed from service. What a surprise (sarcasm) that the "broken" phone is still being used. My take: The other phone was newer (cleaner, prettier) than the phone they had and wanted to switch. Typical infantile pettiness that I find with some end users....

 

[DallasBPF]

If they are the same phone model, go into one and change the MAC address to like 112233445566 then go into the other one and give it the new MAC address, now go back to the other one and give it the currect MAC


current MAC new MAC
phone1 FA######## 112233445566
phone2 FA******** FA##########

now go back to phone 1 and give it FA**********


I have done it this way for the VERY few times this scenario has occurred...

------------------------------------
Dallas, Texas
Telecommunications Tech
CCVP, CCNA, Net+

CCNP in the works

 

[pndscm]

You might also want to turn off auto-registration. It is more secure with that turned off in that no one can go to eBay, buy a phone and plug it into your network.

 

[dudecrush]

Dallas and pndscm - Thanks for your tips. It didn't occur to me to try either of those things. In retrospect, I wonder why I didn't think of it. I must be gettin' old....