Enhanced Line Mode on the 8800 series phone

Just upgrade my lab UCM to 11.5.1.10000-6 and trying out some new features.  One of them is the new Enhanced Line Mode on the 8800 series phone.  Previously you can only use the 5 keys on the left as programmable line keys, and the 5 keys on the right are session keys and not programmable.  With Enhanced Line mode, you can convert the 5 session keys into programmable line keys as well.

Firmware version in my lab:


This is the device specific configuration under my 8861 phone.  The list configuration item is the new Line Mode feature.



There is a warning for you that certain features will be missing if you configured your phones in ELM.



After that you will see all 10 keys are now programmable!



Just to randomly configure some features there...



And this is how the phone looks like:

"Record" button on Cisco IP phone

This is how the "Record" button on the IP phone works from the end user perspective.  Make sure you have select "Selective Call Recording Enabled" in "Recording Option" under your DN.  In my lab I am using UCM 9.1 and MediaSense 9.1, and if you using BiB active recording it doesn't support video today because the BiB only support voice.  If you are using CUBE SIP media folking it should works with video, however I haven't tried yet.

Home Energy Control - On / Off AP via IP Phone

I have done this little trick at home and reason is to save energy and doesn't want to have my wireless network always on at home.  With this little trick, now I am managed to on / off my IOS AP with a single click.  :)

Demo Video (English)

Demo Video (Cantonese)

UCM - Find Phone Type via CLI SQL statement

To find the phone type that is supported on UCM, one of the way is to run the following SQL statement on UCM CLI:

run sql select * from typemodel where name like '%7975%'



For newer phones that are not found in the UCM database, QED definition file is required to install in order to show up in UCM

Changing Background Image for CME IP phones

To change the background image of IP phone for CME is quite similar to UCM, I am using a 7965 as an example to illustrate how to get it done.

7965 resolution

Actual Background Image - 320x212

Image Thumbnail - 80x53

Create 2 images based on above resolution.

1. Create directory on CME router

mkdir Desktops

cd Desktops

mkdir 320x212x16

cd 320x212x16

2. Compose a List.xml file, here the example:

Then copy the List.xml, voice-large.png and voice-small.png to flash:Desktops/320x212x16/

3. allow tftp-server file access on CME

tftp-server flash:Desktops/320x212x16/List.xml

tftp-server flash:Desktops/320x212x16/voice-large.png

tftp-server flash:Desktops/320x212x16/voice-small.png

Check out the phone User Preference > Background image, and you will see the thumbnail image.  Choose it and you can change to the new background image!

For UCM, you can use the JQ Phone iPhone app to use the iPhone image to IP phone background!  Check it out here:

http://pandaeatsbamboo.blogspot.com/2011/09/jq-phone-customize-your-cisco-ip-phone.html

Another iPhone app for CME Config generation:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cme-config-generator/id453025819?ls=1&mt=8

Ring Ring Ring - Remote Control your Cisco IP Phone to make outbound calls from iPhone, using iPhone address book entries

Ring Ring Ring is an iPhone application that remote your Cisco IP Phone to make outbound call, base on the address book entries on your iPhone!  Your iPhone address book now becomes your Cisco IP phone address book!

Key features: 

- Remote control your phone to make outbound call, 1-click to call

- Information that has been entered are saved, no need to input every time 

- Support up to 5 phone entries from your iPhone address book 

- Support all Cisco IP phones 

- Support Cisco UCM

Check it out:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ring-ring-ring/id469551311?ls=1&mt=8

Demo Video:

Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ring-Ring-Ring/262260447142438

Screen capture:

JQ Phone - Customize your Cisco IP Phone by iPhone

JQ Phone is an application that allows you to change your Cisco IP Phone background and customize it into an unique phone.  You can use the iPhone library or take a picture live and send it to IP phone as background image.  You can view it as the iPhone version of phone designer.  It works with Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

JQ = IP + 1, when you add something to your IP phone, it will become a totally unique phone for you

Key features:
- Support background photos from media library in iPhone or take live pictures from iPhone
- Support most color IP phones, including 9971, 9951, 8961, 7975, 7971, 7970, 7965 and 7945
- Save your settings so that you don't need to enter over and over again

Check it out:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jq-phone/id460091669?ls=1&mt=8

Demo Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZMEjGMQc4

Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/JQ-Phone/142119685882763

Taking Screenshot on Cisco IP Phone and Cius

Try to access this link from your browser:

http://your-ip-phone-address/CGI/Screenshot

Enter your end user username and password, you will see the phone screenshot in your browser.

It is working for both IP phone and Cius.

IP Communicator 8.6.1 - Network settings are grayed out

My environment:  IP Communicator 8.6.1 on Windows Vista

I am playing around with the new IP Communicator 8.6.1 in my lab and I've found the network settings are grayed out when I try to change the tftp server address.

You need to right-click on the desktop IP communicator icon and choose "run as administrator" in order to change the network settings in this new release.

Bring your dead Cisco IP phone back to live

I have an old post talking about how to factory reset your Cisco IP phone:
http://pandaeatsbamboo.blogspot.com/2008/02/ip-phone-factory-reset.html

However in a lot of cases, after you entering the 3491672850*# sequences twice, you phone looks dead.  The right topmost line key will have a orange flash then the screen is dark.  In this scenario you need to:

1. Make sure you have DHCP server configured and your phone can get an IP address
2. Make sure you have option 150 ip configured so that the IP phone knows where to get the firmware
3. Finally, you need to change your switchport to "speed 100" manually!!!!!  I have four phones recovered from "seems dead" state and it seems to be the trick.

After you make sure you have done the 3 steps above, restart the factory reset steps and you can recover your dead phone!

Adding 3rd party SIP phone in CUCM

A quick how-to on how to add a 3rd party SIP phone in CUCM, for version 5.0 or above. The environment I'm having here is CUCM 6.1 + X-Lite 3.0 on RH FC8 Linux.


1. From Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration page, from the menu select User Management > End User and click add new button. Create an user in LDAP if you have done the LDAP integration.

2. Create a user with the following parameters:

- User ID: 1099
- Password: abc123
- PIN: 123456
- Last name: Panda
- First name: SIP
- Telephone number: 1099

3. Click Save.

4. From Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration page, from the menu select Device > Phones and click add new button.

5. For the phone type select Third Party SIP Device (basic), and click Next.

6. On the Phone configuration page, use the following parameters:

- MAC Address: AABBCCDDEEFF (MAC address of your NIC)
- Phone button template: Third-Party SIP Device (Basic)
- SIP Phone security profile: Non Secure SIP Profile auth by string
- SIP Profile: Standard SIP Profile
- Owner ID: 1099
- Digest User: 1099

7. Click Save and OK

8. Click Line [1]-Add a new DN.

9. Use the following parameter for Directory number configuration:

- Directory number: 1099

10. Click Save.

11. On your laptop, run the X-Lite IP Phone application, and configure the X-Lite to use the following parameters:

- Enabled: Yes
- Display Name: Panda SIP
- Username: 1099
- Authorization user: 1099
- Password: abc123
- Domain/Realm: 192.168.1.1 (Your CUCM address)
- SIP Proxy: 192.168.1.1 (Your CUCM address)
- Out Bound Proxy: 192.168.1.1

The X-Lite Phone will register and login with the Communications Manager.

To Download X-Lite, go here: http://www.counterpath.com/

Configuring PLAR on CUCM

In some cases, you might want to allow the phone automatically dial a pre-configured number when the user goes off-hook. PLAR is the way to go.

1. Create a partition.


2. Create a CSS and assign the partition you've just created to it.


3. Create a translation oattern and assign the CSS and partition you've created in step 1 and 2 to it. Under "Called Party Transformation Mask", enter the number that you want the phone to dial when it goes off-hook.

4. Finally, you need to select the CSS that you configured in Step 2 for the PLAR phone's CSS.

Converting your favorite MP3 song to Cisco IP phone ringtone

You can do it, for free on your Linux box with lame and sox. Here ya go:

1. lame --decode she_bangs.mp3 she_bangs.wav
2. sox -t wav she_bangs.wav -t raw -r 8000 -U -b -c 1 she_bangs.raw resample -ql

Then you can use the raw file for your Cisco IP phone!

IP Phone Factory Reset

This little trick can help you come across frustrating period, like the phone keeps rebooting without any reason....

Step 1 Unplug the power cable from the phone and then plug it back in.

The phone begins its power up cycle.

Step 2 While the phone is powering up, and before the Speaker button
flashes on and off,

press and hold #.

Continue to hold # until each line button flashes on and off in sequence
in amber.

Step 3 Release # and press 3491672850*#.

You can press a key twice in a row, but if you press the keys out of
sequence, the factory reset will not take place.

After you press these keys, the line buttons on the phone flash red and
the phone goes through the factory reset process.

Do not power down the phone until it completes the factory reset process
and the main screen appears.