atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Nortel Telephones & Systems should I use a fixed IP address for my BCM?

Well, thanks to a couple of guys on the forum here, and a little reading of the manual(imagine that!)I finally got the BCM going and working just fine. I actually plugged it right into my home network and it came right up. I plugged an IP phone and it works just fine. I am getting ready to take it out to the customer site on Wednesday. They will have digital phones on site, and use two IP phones at off site locations. I have told the customer they will need to set up a VPN for the IP phones to work, and their data guy is working on it. Do you guys typically turn off DHCP on the BCM50? Does it work better using a static IP, or does it just not matter. I thought it might be complicated to set up the IP phones, but once the VPN is up, it would appear that the phone will auto recognize the BCM50 on the network. Does this sound right? My thought is to plug the two IP phones into the LAN at the customer site and make sure all the functions are working properly. This way I know the phone is configured correctly.

You need a static IP for BCM.

Typically I use a 3rd party router, I don't use the BCM and turn of DHCP. Yes a static IP is a must if you are going to have remote connections.

Okay.... I understand why I need a static..... the system has been off for a few days, and I wanted to fire it back. Everything turn on okay, but the IP phone would not find the server. I couldn't log in using EM on the network either. To make a long story short, the original IP address I started with got changed. So am I correct in assuming that the IP address that the Nortel IP phones first see when they are hooked up to the network, that is, the IP address of the server, is that the address they look for from now on? Once I reset the IP address back to the original one I used, the phone came right up. I guess to simplify my question..... When I install the BCM into the customer site, they are going to give me a different IP address than what I am using on my test bench. I understand how to change that. How do I tell the IP phones to go look for the new IP address? I hope all this makes sense.

Thanks

Z-man

You need to program the ip phone with the static ip of the BCM. You access the the config when you power up the phone. The instructions should be in the IP telephony setup & install.

definitely give the BCM a static IP and turn off DHCP server. take your laptop to custoemr figure out their IP address scheme and then PICK an IP. test with ping to see that nothing else is using it. inform any IT people you are going to use that IP.

what type of IP phone are you using, do you know how to configure the IP phone's IP addr, default gateway and server address, port?

with i2004, you press 4 specific buttons in sequence when you see Nortel Networks after powering up phone. there is also another way without removing power. long sequence of buttons that brings up the menu.

for a remote phone all IP addresses would be on local network except for the Server address (the BCM) which would be at the home office (via VPN)

The phones are 1140E IP phones.

Why not turn on DHCP for phones only? That way they'll auto-provision...