Michael McNamara

Nortel has just recently released v5.1 software for their Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 5500 Series.

There are some enhancements that affect how ADAC/LLDP function on the ERS 5520 switch. From the release notes;

IEEE 802.1ab and ADAC linkage
Nortel introduced the 802.1ab and Auto Detection Auto Configuration(ADAC) features to Release 5.0 to address converged applications. In Release 5.1, the functionality of 802.1ab and ADAC is combined: ADAC uses 802.1ab/LLDP as the detection mechanism to determine the identity of the attached device (that is, a Nortel IP phone that supports 802.1ab Media Endpoint Devices type, length, and value descriptions [MED TLV]). The Auto Configuration functionality of ADAC applies the configuration to the port.
Configurable using NNCLI, ACG, and Device Manager.

It looks like it will no longer be necessary to maintain the list of MAC prefixes for all Nortel Internet Telephones. If you recall from some of my previous posts I needed to manually update the list of MAC prefixes used by my ERS 5520 switches in order to get many of my i2002/i2004 Internet Telephones to be detected properly. The default list of MAC prefixes usually didn't cover all the i2002/i2004/i2007/1140e Internet Telephones I had installed throughout my organization. In previous articles we enabled ADAC like so;

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

I haven't actually tested this myself yet but supposedly if LLDP detects an Internet Telephone it will pass that information to ADAC without the need of evaluating the device's MAC address.

The 5.1 release also now supports the 1000Base-BX SFP;

BX SFP support
Many customers have high density gigabit requirements, but lack the fiber density to deploy. BX SFPs helps alleviate this issue by allowing a single strand of fiber to facilitate communication.
Nortel introduces support for 1000BaseBX10 module with release 5.1. The modules are single fiber, bidirectional SFP transceivers. Two types of modules are available:
• 1310nm (BX10-U) transceiver
• 1490nm (BX10-D) transceiver
The 1000BaseBX10-D device is always connected to a 1000BaseBX10-U device with a single strand of standard single-mode fiber. The operating transmission range is up to 10 km. The fiber uses a GBIC LC connector on each end.
If the 1000BaseBX10-U is not connected to the 1000BaseBX10-D device, the signals are not received properly and the Link LED does not illuminate. You can configure BX SFP Support through the NNCLI, ACG, or Device Manager.

The 1000BASE-BX bidirectional SFPs provide Gigabit Ethernet connectivity over a single fiber.

As shown in the figure, the transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) paths share the same fiber by using two different wavelengths. One model transmits at 1310 nm and receives at 1490 nm, while the mating model transmits at 1490 nm and receives at 1310 nm. You can only connect a mating pair.

You can use 1000BASE-BX SFPs to double the number of your fiber links. For example, if you have 20 installed fiber pairs with 20 conventional ports connected, you can use 1000BASE-BX SFPs to expand to 40 ports, using the same fiber.

The long wavelength optical transceivers used in these models provide variable distance ranges using single mode fiber optic cabling.

Cheers!

We generally deploy just two phone models, the Nortel i2002 and the Nortel i2004. The phones support the exact same feature set, the only difference being the size of the display and the number of "keys" or appearances. The Nortel i2002 supports the following features;

Here's a picture of the Nortel i2002 Internet Telephone.

• 4x24 Character LCD
• Headset Jack
• Handsfree speaker phone
• 802.3af PoE (Class 2)
• Internal Switch (10/100Mbps)
• XAS (Application Gateway) support

Here's a picture of the Nortel i2004 Internet Telephone.

• 8x24 Character LCD
• Headset Jack
• Handsfree speaker phone
• 802.3af PoE (Class 2)
• Internal Switch (10/100Mbps)
• XAS (Application Gateway) support

You can see that both phones are fairly similar and they run the same software/firmware. We use a single CAT5e/CAT6 cable drop to connect the phone and then connect the end-user's desktop/laptop to the PC port on the phone. We employ QoS to guarantee that the voice VLAN gets the appropriate priority and queuing over the data VLAN.

How do you get started?

I will outline how we configure the i2002/i2004 phones for LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol / 802.1ab) and LLDP-MED for the voice VLAN assignment. We configure every phone with the same configuration throughout the enterprise. We rely on LLDP and DHCP to provision the phones with site specific information such as voice VLAN, IP address, Succession Call Server, etc.
You can of course statically configure all that information into the phone manually but then you'd need to visit the phone anytime you needed to make a change and if you had to replace a phone you'd need to re-program it to match the original settings (assuming you had them documented somewhere).

As of August 3, 2007 the phones are shipping with firmware 0604D31. This firmware does NOT support LLDP and will not have an option to enable LLDP. In order to properly deploy LLDP on the Nortel i2002/i2004 Internet telephones you'll need to be running firmware 0604DBG or later. In order to upgrade the phone you'll need to get it to connect to the Call Server (that means you'll probably need to static the configuration through the phone). Once the phone connects to the Call Server it will automatically pull down the latest firmware that has been installed on the Call Server.

If you don't have a PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch you'll need to use a power supply to power the phone. As the phone is booting you’ll need to strike the four soft buttons at the bottom of the display window while the text “Nortel Networks” is being displayed. This will allow you to confirm that the phone is configured properly from the factory.


You should configure the i2002/i2004 IP phone as follows; (depending on what version of firmware is installed on the phone you might not see all the options below)

• EAP Enable? [1=Y, 0=N]: 0 (Default - no EAP authentication)
• LLDP Enable? [1=Y, 0=N]: 1 (we are going to need LLDP)
• DHCP? [0-No, 1-Yes]: 1 (we are going to need DHCP)
• DHCP: 0-Full, 1-Partial: 0 (we want to get a full DHCP response)
• Speed[0-A,1-10,2-100]: 0 (Auto negotiation)
• Cfg XAS? [0-No, 1-Yes]: 0 (Default - we don't use XAS)
• Voice 802.1Q[0-N,1-Y]: 1 (Default - mark voice VLAN pakcets with 802.1Q tags)
• Voice VLAN? [0-N, 1-Y]: 1 (we want a Voice VLAN since we'll be attaching a PC to the PC port)
• VLAN Cfg? 0- Auto, 1-Man: 0 (Automatically configure the Voice VLAN)
• LLCP MED? 0-No, 1-Yes: 1 (Voice VLAN will be configured using LLDP-MED)
• LANFILTER? [0-No, 1-Yes]: 1 (filter Voice VLAN packets from the PC port)
• Ctrl pBits[0-7,8-Au]: 8
• Media pBits[0-7,8-Au]: 8
• PC Port? [0-OFF, 1-ON]: 1 (Default - leave PC port enabled)
• Speed[0-A,1-10,2-100]: 0 (Default - leave Autonegotiation enabled on PC port)
• Data 802.1Q[0-N,1-Y]:1 (Default - mark data VLAN packets with 802.1Q tags)
• DATA VLAN? [0-N, 1-Y]: 0 (Default - we're going to use the PVID on the switch port)
• Data pBits[0-7,8-Au]:8
• PCUntagAll? 0-No, 1-Yes: 0
• DUPLEX [0-AUTO, 1-FULL]: 0
• GARP Ignore? [0-No, 1-Yes]: 0
• PSK SRTP? [0-No, 1-Yes]: 0 (Default - you can encrypt the RTP stream if necessary)

If everything has been setup and configured properly (including the Call Server, network switch, DHCP server, etc) the phone will boot and will prompt you for a "Node Number" and "TN".

I've jumped the gun by telling you how to configure the phone before configuring all the back-end equipment, including the Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 5520 PwR and the DHCP server. In my next installment I'll cover how to configure the Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 5520 PwR and what you'll need to configure in your DHCP server.

Troubleshooting

If the phone hangs with “Starting DHCP…” on the display for more than 60 seconds you’ll need to start troubleshooting. You'll need to confirm that the phone is configured properly and you'll need to confirm that it's grabbing the proper IP address from the DHCP server. Just remember that the MAC address can be found on the back of the phone.