DLS capabilities?

[TipandRingtoSIP]

So my network team has decided that they need to change the IP address ranges at all of our remote sites. Great right? So I have 3 remote sites with a total of 5 AP shelves between them. Once the address of my STMI's change, all of the phones need to get updated with the new gateway address.. Is this something that the DLS would be able to do?? I have a DLS but long story, I have no documentation on it and I have not had any training on it.. I used to do some very minor tasks with it such as uploading software to the Optipoints, but that's about it.. Thanks!

 

[donb01]

Click on the FAQs link above and go to software downloads. That will get you to the Tonido site.

I have an older DLS training course on there that I was given permission to share.

The answer to your question is Yes. You should be able to go into your Gateway settings in DLS and modify the IP addresses of the gateway boards. The numbers (such as 17-1 or 5-4) should stay the same and the templates and profiles should stay the same.

One of two things should happen. Either you will reboot the phones (which you can cheat and do by shutting down the POE on the switches and then turning it back up) and the DLS will give out the new information when the phone says hello to it at boot time, or you will have to select blocks of phones by what profile they are in and tell it to reapply the profiles. It should be good otherwise.

I would strongly caution you to be careful you don't change the IP addresses of your "back end" stuff, such as the processors, CC-A, CC-B, CC-C if you have APEs. There is a lot involved in that process and you could take the whole system down. It will also be challenging if you have APE processors at any of your remote sites, because you can't just go in and change those IP addresses either.

At my remote sites there is a VLAN and an IP block for each specific site, and all the phones, gateway boards, APEs, etc at each site all run on that same IP block. I *SO* wanted to avoid the complexity and hassles of making that kind of change that when we closed down one of our sites and moved the equipment to a new building I forced them to move the entire VLAN to that building so nothing would have to change....

Also note that you can register for access to the Unify Customer Support Portal at:

https://unify.com/en/support/customer-support-portal?sc_lang=en

And from there you can download any documentation you need, new phone firmware, certain client software, etc. It can be a fun process to search for what you need, but it's on there. You might be able to find links to system software as well, but you will be blocked from downloading it. For whatever you download that is not documentation I also strongly suggest downloading and reading the release notes before you try to use anything, and make sure it is released for General Availability (GA).

Good Luck!

Don Bruechert, Voice Comm Analyst II
CareTech Solutions @ Holy Family Memorial
Manitowoc, WI, USA

 

[LoPath]

DLS is simply magical! But I do recommend getting the online training on it. It's a lot easier playing with someone else's system than breaking your own.

LoPath
Maintain HiPath 4000 V5 & V6, OpenScape Xpert V4 & V6, OpenScape Xpressions V7, OpenScape Contact Center V8, OpenScape Voice V9

 

[TipandRingtoSIP]

Thanks so much guys.. Yes Don, I have APE's at all 3 of the sites they want to do this at......I'm going to get my boss to get me the online training for the DLS.. My DLS was moved a year ago to a virtual server and upgraded to a new version, but I do not believe that the configuration was done.. When I get into it and try to bring up an extension, it says "not found in DB" or something like that..Thaks again.

 

[LoPath]

You can setup the DLS to scan a range of IP addresses and automatically add everything it finds. You can also set a phone's DLS server and do it one at a time. Then they should appear in searches.

LoPath
Maintain HiPath 4000 V5 & V6, OpenScape Xpert V4 & V6, OpenScape Xpressions V7, OpenScape Contact Center V8, OpenScape Voice V9

 

[donb01]

DLS won't let you reconfigure your APEs and Processors. If you try to change their IP addresses you will have a mess on your hands, because that information is so intertwined in everything. If you have a Simplex system you have a CCA, with a Duplex you add a CCB, and each APE appears as a CCC. These are the servers that normally run everything. Either A or B will be the primary (unless Simplex), and if the connection to the remote site fails and the APE takes over it functions as CCC. These IP addresses are buried into your NCUI cards, and several places in your main system, and possibly some of it is in the STMI cards but I don't remember completely. If your 4K is V6 or higher I would strongly suggest professional help, but before you do anything you are going to want to make numerous types of backups of your system, especially creating a "recovery disk" which you can do from the maintenance tab in the portal. It is especially important to get yourself a Toshiba 250GB hard drive of the name part number that is used in the system (although I have used a Seagate equivalent). The recovery disk is a clone of how your system is at that point and time. Unfortunately if you change settings in your NCUI card (which you can also download onto a laptop using the serial port on the board for a backup) those settings are saved in CMOS/NVRAM on the board. Each processor also has a "firstload" file stored in the linux platform that has all the key settings for that processor and the other processors in your system.... What you are thinking about doing has to be well thought out. That said, ALL of my phones at the main 4000 location are on different VLANs than the processors, and how that works is part of your DHCP scopes in your network. I also have one shelf that is on one VLAN and I have some phones at that location that are on a different VLAN (that the network guy is too lazy to fix). I think you will be safe if you only mess with the phones and do not try to change any of the Processor/APE IP addresses. Changing the IP on the STMI boards can be OK with the aforementioned changes to the gateway board addresses in the DLS. If you still have access to the old DLS there were probably some backups on there if it was set up correctly - you might be able to restore the data - otherwise it can do a search, but you have to make sure you set it up so your E164 (station) numbers match how you have them in the PBX...



Don Bruechert, Voice Comm Analyst II
CareTech Solutions @ Holy Family Memorial
Manitowoc, WI, USA