Michael McNamara

In this post I'll try to outline how you can configure the Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 5520 in a VoIP environment using Nortel i2002/i2004 Internet Telephones (this procedure will also work the same with the i2007/1120E/1140E phones).

You'll obviously need a ERS 5520 switch and you'll need SW 5.0.6.22 or later and FW 5.0.0.3 or later (there are known issues with earlier software versions that create inconsistent results using LLDP with the i2002/i2004 phones). I would strongly advise that you start with a default configuration. From the CLI issue the following commands to reset the switch to factory defaults;

5520-48T-PWR> enable
5520-48T-PWR# boot default

The switch should reboot with a default configuration. Let's proceed with the configuration;

5520-48T-PWR> enable
5520-48T-PWR# configure terminal

Enable AUTOPVID;

5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan configcontrol autopvid

We'll be uplinking this switch using a MultiLink trunk on ports 47 and 48 so we'll enable tagging on the fiber uplinks;

5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan ports 47,48 tagging enable

Let's create the data VLAN (VID 100) and management VLAN (VID 200) on the switch;

5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan members remove 1 ALL
5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan create 200 name "10-1-200-0/24" type port
5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan members add 200 47,48
5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan create 100 name "10-1-100-0/24" type port
5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan members add 100 1-48
5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan port 1-46 pvid 100
5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan port 47,48 pvid 200

Let’s make VLAN 200 the management VLAN and assign the IP address;

5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan mgmt 200
5520-48T-PWR (config)# ip address switch 10.1.200.10 netmask 255.255.255.0 default-gateway 10.1.200.1

Let’s setup Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP);

5520-48T-PWR (config)# snmp-server authentication-trap disable
5520-48T-PWR (config)# snmp-server community ro
5520-48T-PWR (config)# snmp-server community rw
5520-48T-PWR (config)# snmp-server host

Let’s configure the logging so it will overwrite the oldest events;

5520-48T-PWR (config)#logging volatile overwrite
5520-48T-PWR (config)#logging enable

Let’s setup Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP);

5520-48T-PWR (config)# sntp server primary address
5520-48T-PWR (config)# sntp server secondary address
5520-48T-PWR (config)# sntp enable

Let’s setup the MultiLink trunk that will connect the switch back to the backbone;

5520-48T-PWR (config)# mlt 1 disable
5520-48T-PWR (config)# mlt 1 name "MLT-8600"
5520-48T-PWR (config)# mlt 1 learning disable
5520-48T-PWR (config)# mlt 1 member 47,48
5520-48T-PWR (config)# mlt 1 enable

Let’s setup ADAC (Automatic Detection and Automatic Configuration) for our i2002/i2004 phones. We’ll using VLAN 50 as our voice VLAN and we’ll use port 48 as our uplink (the switch will add 47 automatically because of the MLT configuration).

5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac voice-vlan 50
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac op-mode tagged-frames
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac uplink-port 48
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac mac-range-table low-end 00:18:b0:00:00:00 high-end 00:18:b0:ff:ff:ff
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac mac-range-table low-end 00:16:ca:00:00:00 high-end 00:16:ca:ff:ff:ff
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac mac-range-table low-end 00:17:65:00:00:00 high-end 00:17:65:ff:ff:ff
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac mac-range-table low-end 00:0a:e4:75:00:00 high-end 00:0a:e4:75:ff:ff
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac mac-range-table low-end 00:14:c2:00:00:00 high-end 00:14:c2:ff:ff:ff
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac mac-range-table low-end 00:19:69:00:00:00 high-end 00:19:69:ff:ff:ff
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac mac-range-table low-end 00:19:e1:00:00:00 high-end 00:19:e1:ff:ff:ff
5520-48T-PWR (config)# adac enable

We need to strip the 802.1q tag from any packets in the PVID VLAN from going to the phone. In this design we’re expecting to connect IP phones to ports 1 – 46.

5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlan port 1-46 tagging untagpvidOnly

Let’s configure LLDP for the ports we expect to connect IP phones (1 – 46);

5520-48T-PWR (config)# interface fastEthernet 1-46
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# vlan ports 1-46 filter-unregistered-frames disable
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# lldp tx-tlv port-desc sys-cap sys-desc sys-name
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# lldp status txAndRx config-notification
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# lldp tx-tlv med extendedPSE med-capabilities network-policy
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# poe poe-priority high
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# spanning-tree learning fast
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# adac enable
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# exit

The option in RED above was added after an issue was discovered when trying to upgrade the firmware on the IP phones. The “filter-unregistered-frames” is enabled by default and should be disabled to avoid and issues with upgrading the firmare on the IP phones. We are attempting to investigate further with Nortel and our voice vendor Shared Technologies.

Let’s disable the two remaining ports that share the GBIC interfaces incase we need those in the future;

5520-48T-PWR (config)# interface fastEthernet 45-46
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# shutdown
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# exit

Let’s setup a QoS interface group to trust all traffic that will ingress on the fiber uplinks. By default the ERS 5520 switch will strip all QoS tags on all ports. Thankfully ADAC will take care of the QoS settings for all VoIP traffic.

5520-48T-PWR (config)# qos if-group name allUpLinks class trusted
5520-48T-PWR (config)# interface fastEthernet 47,48
5520-48T-PWR (config)# qos if-assign port 47,48 name allUpLinks
5520-48T-PWR (config)# exit

Let’s set the SNMP information;

5520-48T-PWR (config)# snmp-server name "sw-icr1-1east.sub.domain.org"
5520-48T-PWR (config)# snmp-server location "Acme Internet Phone Company (ICR1)"
5520-48T-PWR (config)# snmp-server contact "Network Infrastructure Team"

Let’s enable rate limiting for all broadcast and multicast traffic to 10% of the link;

5520-48T-PWR (config)# interface fastEthernet ALL
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# rate-limit both 10
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# exit

Let’s setup VLACP (Virtual Link Aggregation Protocol) on the uplinks to the core;

5520-48T-PWR (config)# interface fastEthernet 47,48
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# vlacp port 47,48 timeout short
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# vlacp port 47,48 enable
5520-48T-PWR (config-if)# exit
5520-48T-PWR (config)# vlacp enable

That's it your done! Well hopefully your done.

In my next post I'll tell you what DHCP options you'll need to configure on your DHCP server in order for the phones to boot properly and connect to the Nortel Call Server.