Michael McNamara

I just recently learned that the majority of 802.11n products in design will likely out pace the current 13-15 watts of power provided by the 802.3af specification. It seems the IEEE is already working on 803.at, a new specification labeled "PoE+" by some.

What does this mean for the thousands of PoE (802.3af) ports already deployed throughout organizations?

Here's a good article, A Look at POE Plus, in Network Computing by Peter Morrissey.

There are also some interesting articles over at Network World regarding 802.11n.

I'm not sure about everyone else out there but I won't be rushing to deploy 802.11n or 802.3at gear anytime soon. We've actually standardized on using PoE capable network switches throughout the network going forward. The price cost between a PoE switch and a non-PoE switch is almost negligible when you consider the time and effort required to replace that switch in the future if PoE is required for some new application.

If you're seriously thinking about deploying 802.11n you'll need to consider how you're going to power those devices.

Cheers!

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.

I'd like to take some time to discuss Voice over IP and share some of my real world experiences with the technology. I should note to everyone that my experiences with VoIP are strictly limited to Nortel equipment. While I'm somewhat knowledgeable about Cisco Callmanager (mostly thanks to my cousin who maintains the Call Center for a large automotive manufacturer) my personal experiences are limited to Nortel.

We've been using VoIP for almost the past 6 years with very good success. Our first forey into VoIP was using Nortel's IP Line ITG (Internet Telephony Gateway) with a Nortel Meridian 1 Option 61C switch. We had Nortel's first generation i2004 phones (the purple "barney" phones as we fondly referred to them). A few hardware and software upgrades later that same system is now known as Nortel's Succession 4.5 1000M Call Server. We've been running IP Trunks (H.323) between 5 different Succession 4.5 1000M Call Servers for well over 4 years now with great success. We've only just in the past year started really rolling out VoIP to the desktop where it makes sense (example; new construction).

What do you need to run VoIP with Nortel?

These days you can run VoIP on all sorts of different platforms from small office (BCM 50) to very large multi-site enterprises (CS 2100). I'll describe the equipment that I'm currently using;

• Nortel Succession 4.5 Call Server 1000M
• Nortel Succession 4.5 Signaling Server (two for high availability)
  
• Nortel Succession Voice Gateway Media Cards (five for high availability and capacity)
• Nortel Succession Internet License (Incremental Software Management - ISM)

You'll need a phone of course;

• Nortel i2002 Internet Telephone
• Nortel i2004 Internet Telephone
• Nortel 1140E Internet Telephone
• Nortel i2050 Software internet Telephone

You'll also need some back-end network electronics/switches;

• Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 (core)
  
• Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 5520 PoE (edge)
  

And to make life easy you'll also need a DHCP server which you can configure with custom vendor DHCP options.

If your a data person you're most likely going to need some help from either a voice/telecom person or voice reseller. Likewise if your a voice/telecom person you're going to need some help from either a data person or a data reseller. I happen to be a data person that has learned the voice/telecom side of things from my years of exposure and from the failure of several voice resellers, nothing like picking up the books and learning something new.

Since I'm a data person I'm going to focus on the actual network electronics and the phone configuration. In the past year I've deployed more than 250 IP phones at more than 5 locations. That number doesn't include the 100 or so Nortel 2211 Wireless Internet Telephones which we'll discuss at some later date.

I currently have a Nortel 1140E (pictured right) on my desk at work along with a Nortel i2007 on my desk at home (Nortel 1150 VPN Router with Branch Office Tunnel - BOT) and an i2050 software IP phone on my laptop with a USB headset adapter that really makes the phone work.

We recently built a health center with 140+ IP phones which are all connecting to a hospital that is more than 17 miles away. We built a 10GB Wide Area Network over dark fiber utilizing Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8600s with 8683XLR cards and 10GBase-ER/EW XFP GBICs. We also installed and provisioned a Nortel 1000B Branch Office at the health center to provide a failover solution should the IP phones get disconnected from the Main Office Call Server. This site has been live for the past 5 months now and I'm very satisfied with the result of our work and efforts. The solution is very reliable and thanks to the design of the data network we've yet to experience an unscheduled outage.

Stay tuned for more...