Spectralink 3626 and multiple access points

[tmckeown]

Does anyone have any experience with the Spectralink 3626 WIFI IP phone? We have 4 of them and 5 Cisco 1231 access pointa (over 23 acres) . It works pretty well, but I'm running into a bit of roaming difficulty.

When a user moves from one area to another, the 3626 phones don't seem to be jumping to the nearer access point. Is there a setting that may need to be changed in the phones that I'm unaware of? All the access points are setup the same, other than their host name and transmitting frequency. I can take an Apple Powerbook and walk around. The Powerbook will jump to the strongest access point without missing a beat. I can't say the same for the phones. Maybe they are not intended for this, but I've seen some installation where they are used in hospitals, so I figure they must be able to hop around access points. When I move into a different area, I can shut the phone off and then turn it back on to get it to jump to the nearer access point. There must be a way it can do this without a reboot. BTW, the access points are all set as Access point root.

Can anyone shed a little light on this?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Yaze]

Have you tried static IPs on the phones ?

My two cents.

Yaze.
Chaos, Panic and Disorder, my work here is done.

 

[tmckeown]

Yes,
All the phones have static IP addresses.

 

[Yaze]

I've installed 60 of thoose phones spread on 12 cisco 1200 series AP's on one site and i had no roaming problems... I'll check my install sheet tonight to see if something either in the phone config or in the ap's config pops to my eye.


Yaze.
Chaos, Panic and Disorder, my work here is done.

 

[tmckeown]

Thanks for the help.

 

[JayNEC]

Are they all in the same VLAN?

 

[tmckeown]

Yes,
everything phone related is on the same vlan.

 

[mikem501]

The roaming is co-ordinated by the SVP server which you must have installed somewhere on the network. Your APs must be Voice Interoperability for Enterprise Wireless (VIEW) Certified.
Our friend's Cisco 1200 are SVP certified but I do not find your 1231 model in the list, maybe you just need to upgrade your AP software.

Cheers.

 

[tmckeown]

Hi Mike,
Can you fill me in a bit on what VIEW certified is? When we purchased all the pieces for the phone system, we were told that these Cisco 1231 were the best choice.

 

[mikem501]

Hi tmckeown,

3600 series phones need an SVP server. If you look at the spectralink website under the SVP server portfolio there is a best practises datasheet and this is mentioned.
I have an old datasheet with a list of approved APs, but with new software releases on the SVP things might have changed a little bit.
You can go here to download the best practices document for more info.

http://www.spectralink.com/files/literature/NetLink_Best_Practices_122105_01.pdf

This statement is part of the document:
Information regarding VIEW Certified wireless LANs and APs that are compliant with SVP can be found on SpectraLink’s website. Configuration notes for specific AP models are also available on the SpectraLink website and should be closely followed to ensure a proper deployment for voice.

Hope it helps you.
Cheers.

 

[Yaze]

I ve check on the config of the phones and AP's everything is pretty basic on it as long as it s the same SSID and network key you should be able to roam...

What is the firmware version you re running on the phones, Ap's and SVP Server, could you post your SVP server config ?


Yaze.
Chaos, Panic and Disorder, my work here is done.

 

[tmckeown]

Thanks for the replies.

Mike,
We have an Avaya Wireless Voice Priority Processor. I'm assuming that is the SVP. Manager calls it an AVPP. I'll read the pdf you sent. Thanks

Yaze,
All access point have the same SSID. I don't know enough about keys to give you an answer on the second item. I'm also not sure how to check the SVP config.

Here is what I do know:
subnet 10.11.0.0 mask 255.255.0.0
IP412: 10.11.1.11
AVPP: 10.11.1.14
VMpro: 10.11.1.13
3626 IP Phone: 10.11.3.3

When I check the firware of the 3626, it reads like this:
OAI IP 255.255.255.255
00:90:7A:03:AB:F8:110.017.096.040.106.011

Call server 10.11.1.11 port 1719

How do I get to the config of the SVP? I'm sorry I don't have more answers. I did not do the original install of this system.

Thanks

 

[mikem501]

You can configure the SVP via the console or via telnet.
Configuration is straightforward. Make sure that you have the latest software on the SVP, if not upgarde it sometimes it makes difference.

 

[Yaze]

To access your SVP you can either telnet the ip of the svp or go through the console port with a serial cable.

But i would make also sure you have the latest firmware for the Avaya 3626 phone release 2005-10-04 and for your svp server release 2006-04-18.



Yaze.
Chaos, Panic and Disorder, my work here is done.

 

[tmckeown]

OK,
Thanks guys,
Give me a day to check it all out and see what's what.

Thank you.

 

[tmckeown]

I'm still having trouble getting into the SVP server. I use tenet and it takes the user name fine, but I can't type anything in for the password. I restarted it, but still no luck. I'll have to hit it again next week.

 

[mikem501]

the default user is admin and the password is admin. If you changed them, note that passwords are case sensitive.

 

[tmckeown]

Thanks Mike. It was set for the default.

Here are some settings from the SVP and some questions too.

SVP-II Configuration
Hostname: [slnk-03af64], address: 10.11.1.14
Phones per Access Point: 4
802.11 Rate: Automatic
First Alias IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Second Alias IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Enable H.323 Gatekeeper: N
SVP-II Mose: Netlink IP
Ethernet link: auto-negotiate
System locked: N
Maintenance Lock: N
Inactive Timeout (min): 20
QoS Configuration (blank)

SVP Type: 100
Hardware version: 33/02
Factory Page: 230.009
Downloader: 71.002
Table of Contents: 173.022
Functional Code: 174.022
File System: 175.022

Gatekeeper is not enabled

SVP WT Load Map
This feature is unavailable on SVP100s.

Network Configuration
Ethernet Address: 00:90:7A:03:AF:64
IP Address: 10.11.1.14
Hostname: slnk-03af64
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway: 10.11.1.11 (address of IP412)
SVP-II TFTP Download master: 10.11.1.13 (server running manager)
PRIMARY dns SERVER: NONE
Secondary DNS Server: none
DNS Domain: none
WINS Server: none
Workgroup: none
Syslog server: none
Maintenance lock: N


From the above, what does it tell you? Should there be entries for DNS and our domain? Is there something else missing?

Thanks for the help.
Tom

 

[cobragb]

It looks okay to me. The only issue I see is that you will need a real TFTP server for the spectralink phones. Manager will not work correctly.

 

[tmckeown]

Yes, you're right. We had to setup a separate TFTP server for the phones when the phones were first configured. I did not do it, but I remember it had to be done.