VOIP no VLAN - issues with conversation dropping out

[fiza]

In DNA be on the Home Screen with the list of PCs. Right click your school name, Settings, Auto Discovery, Untick enabled then save and propagate to all machines.

 

Unfortunately it looks like its not DNA causing the issue as Auto Discovery is already switched off.

[Al_NetSupport]

Unfortunately it looks like its not DNA causing the issue as Auto Discovery is already switched off.

 

I forgive you @fiza - Hope you get your network issue sorted.

 

Al.

[gh5000]

Unfortunately it looks like its not DNA causing the issue as Auto Discovery is already switched off.

 

Maybe try turning in on at the root then off again and propagating the off change to all computers.

 

Or check settings further down the tree to see if it's enabled at a department level.

[fiza]

Maybe try turning in on at the root then off again and propagating the off change to all computers.

 

Or check settings further down the tree to see if it's enabled at a department level.

 

Its only a small Primary. Currently we only have the IT Suite and 2 Admin computers with Agents on. I have actually stopped the DNA services for the moment to see if the phone situation improves.

[gh5000]

Or update to 4.40.4 as @Al_NetSupport says it is resolved on that release. At least that rules it out

[fiza]

Or update to 4.40.4 as @Al_NetSupport says it is resolved on that release. At least that rules it out

 

I upgraded to 4.40.4.717 last night. I have asked the school to let me know if there are any issues with the phones today.

[Davit2005]

Why can't it happen in the short term? How long is it going to take? Configure a scope, configure your switches. 40 phones and 70 computers you should have that done inside an hour.

 

Depends if he has any vlans already how easy this is going to be. Even if he does he'd need to move the phones to over which is going to cause disruption for end users.

 

Personally I'd rather do this in out of hours so system can be tested :-) .

[mavhc]

Also would you need to apply QoS to those VLANs?

[fiza]

Still haven't got to the bottom of why the phones keep dropping out. With the help of the guys at NetSupport we ruled out DNA and looked at a few devices that were broadcasting, eliminated those but this morning the phones still drop out.

 

Our ISP provided the phones and they say they have checked their end and all is fine. So its something this end. I spoke to them about moving the phones to their own VLAN but I was told that as the computers connect via the phones to the network this would not be possible. If we want the phones on their own VLAN then the computers need their own port to the network. Now this seems a bit ridiculous to me but I don't know much about VLANs. Can anyone tell me if this could be true?

 

The phones are Polycom VX300s I think.

 

Thanks to @Al_NetSupport and Andy on the Netsupport helpdesk for assisting me.

[colly72]

It's perfectly possible to VLAN phones and PCs, even if the PC is connected via the phone. We use Avaya here and many of our PCs connect in exactly the same way. The phone is in a completely separate VLAN to the PC.

[mavhc]

Our ISP provided the phones and they say they have checked their end and all is fine. So its something this end. I spoke to them about moving the phones to their own VLAN but I was told that as the computers connect via the phones to the network this would not be possible. If we want the phones on their own VLAN then the computers need their own port to the network. Now this seems a bit ridiculous to me but I don't know much about VLANs. Can anyone tell me if this could be true?

 

It's perfectly possible, LLDP is normally used.

 

Did you find out if calls from one local phone to another also have issues?

[gh5000]

Our ISP provided the phones and they say they have checked their end and all is fine. So its something this end. I spoke to them about moving the phones to their own VLAN but I was told that as the computers connect via the phones to the network this would not be possible. If we want the phones on their own VLAN then the computers need their own port to the network. Now this seems a bit ridiculous to me but I don't know much about VLANs. Can anyone tell me if this could be true?

 

As with @colly72 vLans should be possible on any good phone system. Ours is a Panasonic and you can, on the phone, set a vlan for the phone and a vlan for the computer so that Ethernet traffic is passed in the right direction.

 

Had a quick look around the Polycom manuals etc and can't find similar instructions but can't believe that that is the final answer...

[fiza]

It's perfectly possible, LLDP is normally used.

 

Did you find out if calls from one local phone to another also have issues?

 

Yes internal calls are also affected.

[colly72]

Not sure how your phones work but for ours, from memory we untag the port on the switch with the PC VLAN, and tag the same port with the phone VLAN. Then we have some additional scope options in our VOIP DHCP scope to identify the voice VLAN.

[fiza]

As with @colly72 vLans should be possible on any good phone system. Ours is a Panasonic and you can, on the phone, set a vlan for the phone and a vlan for the computer so that Ethernet traffic is passed in the right direction.

 

Had a quick look around the Polycom manuals etc and can't find similar instructions but can't believe that that is the final answer...

 

Is this the kind of thing you are referring to ? [FAQ] Utilizing VLAN's with Polycom phones - Polycom Community

[colly72]

Yes, I was just about to send that link! That looks like what you need to do from the DHCP side of things.

[FN-GM]

On Cisco using Switchport voice vlan does it. No need for LLDP Edited June 5, 2017 by FN-GM

[fiza]

These are all Cisco small business switches.

[FN-GM]

Not sure of the CLI on those, but it will be similar on the GUI.

[fiza]

I'm hoping that I can do one phone first to make sure I can do it so as not to disrupt all telephony in the school.

[FN-GM]

That will be possible.

[mavhc]

Create the voice vlan on the switches, the vlan number doesn't matter. Are there multiple switches? You'll need trunks set up between them. Then grab 2 spare phones, assign the ports they're on on the switch to the voice vlan, then get them to working. Then put each phone on a different switch to test trunking. Next set up the auto vlan detect for those 2 phones, test that, and test that PCs don't go to the wrong vlan. Then set auto detect on all switch ports.

[fiza]

Create the voice vlan on the switches, the vlan number doesn't matter. Are there multiple switches? You'll need trunks set up between them. Then grab 2 spare phones, assign the ports they're on on the switch to the voice vlan, then get them to working. Then put each phone on a different switch to test trunking. Next set up the auto vlan detect for those 2 phones, test that, and test that PCs don't go to the wrong vlan. Then set auto detect on all switch ports.

 

There are multiple switches. What do you mean by set up auto VLAN detect?

[fiza]

I'm going to attempt one phone tomorrow hopefully.

[fiza]

So checking the switches - If I do "show VLAN" I see there are 3 configured. When I do "Show Int vlan " I can only see an IP address for VLAN 3. This is the IP I use to connect to the switch. Should the other 2 VLANs have IPs associated with them?