Pilot - Nortel VoIP phones connecting to Cisco 6500

May 13, 2008 1 Replies
K

We have been supporting Nortel VoIP trunk traffic (PBX to PBX w/VGMC) for several years now without any issues. We are now about to embark on our first VoIP to the desktop pilot using Nortel 1140/1150 handsets along with a CS1000E switch. We use all Cisco networking equipment in our infrastructure. This initial pilot will consist of several 6500E (sup32) closet switches utilizing WS-X6148A-GE-45AF (PoE) modules.



I was wondering if anyone has any experience or know of any design guides that speak to how Nortel VoIP phones interact with Cisco switching equipment. There are a lot of considerations (i.e. PoE, voice VLAN, DHCP parms, QoS etc.) I don't have any prior Cisco VoIP phone experience but have heard of some caveats (i.e. CDP can't be used) between Nortel and Cisco when connecting IP phones.



Any suggestions would be welcome Keith


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T

Not sure of any guide for this, but it should not be much different than your old configuration. CDP doesn't work since its proprietary, but the rest of your questions are architectural in nature. Separate voice from data vlans, use 'secondary vlans' on ports where a desktop will connect directly to the phone to ensure that phones are in one vlan, and anything daisy chained off goes in a voice vlan. You'll want to setup QoS (most likely using dscp) on the ports and through your routers for any WAN links that may be traversed, and there are plenty of guides out there for that kind of setup. Other than not supporting cdp, I don't see any difference from a layer 2/3 switch side in supporting any kind of voice over IP phone, since it is just another networked device.

QOS

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Other
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Configuring Voice VLANs
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