Michael McNamara

It would seem a great many people are running into this error so I thought I would post a quick article that would help all those looking for a solution to their problem. The Nortel i2002/i2004 (any Nortel IP phone) will return the error "DHCP parse error" if the DHCP server returns DHCP option 128 with an invalid format.

In one of my first blog posts entitled "DHCP Options (VoIP)" I outlined the DHCP options and the format that the phone expected. Kenneth quickly pointed out that I had fat-fingered the example DHCP string omitting the semicolon between the values for the primary Call Server (S1) and the secondary Call Server (S2). (I've since fixed the original post)

Here's the format the DHCP option code 128 which the IP phones expects to be returned from the DHCP server when the IP phone is configured for "Full DHCP";

Nortel-i2004-A,iii.iii.iii.iii:ppppp,aaa,rrr;iii.iii.iii.iii:ppppp,aaa,rrr.

Where the following values are;

• “Nortel-i2004-A” = Option #128 begins with this string for all Nortel IP phone sets
• “iii.iii.iii.iii” = the IP Address of the Call Server (S1 or S2)
• “ppppp” = port number for the Call Server
• “aaa” = the Action for the Server
• “rrr” = the Retry Count for the Server

The IP Address must be separated from the port number by a colon (:). The parameters for the Primary (S1) and the Secondary (S2) Call Servers are separated by a semicolon (;). The string must end a period (.).

If you are using an ISC DHCP server (this is generally included with any of the Linux distributions) you can refer to my article entitled "ISC DHCP Server (Nortel VoIP)" for information on how to setup and configure the ISC DHCP server to work with Nortel IP Telephony.

Cheers!

I can remember searching for hours trying to located these two "default" passwords for the i2007 and 1100E series IP phones. Hopefully this will make someones jobs a little easier.

In order to access the configuration menu of the Nortel i2007 IP phone while the phone is booting you'll be challenged to enter the "Administration Password". The following key sequence should work;

2, 6, 5, 6, 7, *, 7, 3, 8, OK

In order to access the configuration menu of the Nortel 1110/1120E/1140E/1150E IP phone while the phone is booting you'll be challenged to enter the "Administration Password". The following key sequence should work;

2, 6, 5, 6, 7, *, 7, 3, 8, Down

If the Nortel 1110/1120E/1140E/1150E IP phone is already running (connected to a Nortel Succession Call Server / Success Remote Gateway) you access the configuration by pressing the Services key twice and select the Network Configuration option.

Cheers!

In this post I'd like to cover the DHCP options you'll need to automatically configured the Nortel i2002/i2004 Internet Telephones as they boot. These DHCP options will actually work with any of Nortel's Internet Telephones including the i2002/i2004/i2007/1120E/1140E and 1150E.

You'll need to add a custom vendor DHCP option with a code of "128" as a string value. You should name this DHCP option as "Call Server Information". The value of this DHCP option will use the following format;

Nortel-i2004-A,iii.iii.iii.iii:ppppp,aaa,rrr;iii.iii.iii.iii:ppppp,aaa,rrr.

Where the following values are;

• “Nortel-i2004-A” = Option #128 begins with this string for all Nortel IP phone sets
• “iii.iii.iii.iii” = the IP Address of the Call Server (S1 or S2)
• “ppppp” = port number for the Call Server
• “aaa” = the Action for the Server
• “rrr” = the Retry Count for the Server

The IP Address must be separated from the port number by a colon (:). The parameters for the Primary (S1) and the Secondary (S2) Call Servers are separated by a semicolon (;). The string must end a period (.).

For this example, enter the following:

Nortel-i2004-A,10.1.1.10:4100,1,5;10.1.1.20:4100,1,5.

This would equate with the following values;

• Call Server S1 = 10.1.1.10
• Port S1= 4100
  
• Action S1= 1
• Retry S1= 5
• Call Server S2 = 10.1.1.20
• Port S2 = 4100
  
• Action S2 = 1
• Retry S2 = 5

You can use the vendor class of "Nortel-i2004-A" if you'd like to build different scopes within your DHCP server. A default scope for all general devices and then a specific scope for any device that requests the vendor class of "Nortel-i2004-A".

Let me make this comment... if your DHCP server mistakenly returns a DHCP response that does NOT include DHCP Option 128 the IP phone will just sit at the "Starting DHCP..." prompt. You need to make sure that you return DHCP Option 128 in the DHCP response to the phone.

This all assumes that you've setup a DHCP relay on the Voice VLAN on the core ERS 8600 switch or whichever switch you might be using as the router for that VLAN.

I'll review the basic configuration of the ERS 8600 (core) in a subsequent post as it applies to the example configuration I've laid out in the past few posts.

Please feel free to drop a line if you have questions.

Cheers!