Learn How To Set Up a DHCP for your IP network - CXtec

By Jim Burns, Senior Product Engineer

You know how important it is to set up a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for your IP network. It can greatly increase your efficiency by eliminating the need to manually configure every device. If you're assigning DHCP options to Avaya 9600 Series or Avaya 4600 Series phones, we have a resource that can really help you out.

You know how important it is to set up a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for your IP network. It can greatly increase your efficiency by eliminating the need to manually configure every device.

If you're assigning DHCP options to Avaya 9600 Series or Avaya 4600 Series phones, we have a resource that can really help you out.

This video shows how to assign DHCP options to Avaya 96XX and Avaya 46XX Series IP phones. It includes option numbers, IP address, port number designation, TLS server, HTTP server, and TFTP server protocols.

Different Options

When it comes to DHCP servers, there can be a number of different ways you can set them up. In the scenario from the video above, we have an Avaya G430 that is running a DHCP server internally on it.

You can have a DHCP server on a separate server from your actual voice network. As long as they are in the same subnet, you can use that DHCP server to direct the phones where they need to go and to give them IP addresses.

The video shows where the options are so you understand where you actually assign them. First you go to DHCP IP Address Pools then you click View Subnet.

Option 176

You will then have several different options because there are options for different series of phones. Option 176 is used for the 46XX phones. And the option gets assigned in an exact syntax.

Call Server

You put in quotes "MCIPADD=" and this is going to be your call server that you have assigned to your system. This can vary depending on network, so you need to make sure that you have the right IP address and port number.

There's different ways that you can change these, but you have to make sure that in the DHCP server itself, it's assigned to the one that you are using and you need to use to connect the phone.

TLS, HTTP, and TFTP Servers

Then you have the TLS server, which is the same server as your HTTP server. And the TFTP server, which is your file server. In this instance, you'll need to have the correct IP address, so that any files or firmware you load on to the phone, or any configuration files that go on each phone, are routed correctly.

Then it will assign the IP address, given the pool that has been assigned. And it's also going to pass all of these different credentials to the phone so the phone will know what server it's trying to hit. It will know what TFTP servers it's trying to hit and automatically know what files it needs from that server. And it's important to make sure that on your TFTP server, you have those files labeled appropriately.

Option 242

Option 242 is used for the 96XX phones. Then after that, you have the same syntax and the same settings assigned to 242 as you have for option 176. However, for option 242 you also need the file serve. The 9600's ask for that as well.

SIP

If you're using SIP, there are other options as well that you need to have assigned. The first four options are the same as the previous ones, but then you also have to specify the directory as SIP, which is the default. The TLS and HTTP directories are also assigned as SIP.

Lease Time

You can also set the range that you are using, and the default lease time and the max lease time. The default lease time is always going to be assigned to every phone, but if you have a phone that's going to be on the network for an extended period of time and it needs that IP for an extended period of time, you can increase this number as well.

That is a very high level description of how you assign DHCP options to the Avaya 9600 and the Avaya 4600 Series phones. If you ever have any questions, please let us know.