[asterisk-users] Polycom, TFTP, and DHCP

[Kevin Smith]

I would double check and make sure what "next-server" is referring to. 
I'm not 100% sure of how these phones are configured besides what the 
Admin manual has, we use 601's in the office. I do know you need to tell 
the phone where the FTP server is located. If it doesn't know how to 
contact the server you won't get anywhere.

You can also setup a domain name for the FTP server, but then you need 
to make sure your DHCP server (or something that handles DNS internally) 
can handle the DNS requests and point the phone in the correct 
direction. I would say if possible, get the FTP server configured with a 
static IP and just point the phones at it. I think in the long run it 
may save you some headaches. That way, you don't need access to the DHCP 
server and you know exactly where the TFTP server is located. Domain 
names are nicer however since if you need to adjust the IP address, you 
don't have to redo all the phones with the new address, the DHCP server 
will take care of it, but they are a bit more work.

Kevin


Michael Welter wrote:
>
>
> Kevin Smith wrote:
>> Michael,
>>
>> Maybe I am not understanding your question, are you saying that when 
>> you configure your phone with a static IP address, you cannot find 
>> the boot server and when in DHCP you can? 
>
> The phone uses DHCP to get its IP address.  In the phone's server 
> params, I enter the IP address of the tftp server.  Without the 
> "next-server" entry in the DHCP configs, the phone says it cannot find 
> the boot server (and uses the previous configuration).  However, when 
> "next-server" in DHCP is set with the tftp IP, the phone loads its 
> configuration from tftp and boots normally.
>
> I'd like to not have to set the tftp address in DHCP, because I don't 
> always have access to the DHCP server.  Is there someway to tell the 
> phone to override the DHCP server setting?  Is there something I'm 
> missing with the phone's network config?
>
> Thanks
>
> If you are having problems with the
>> phone having a static IP address, make sure it is getting the correct 
>> IP, subnet, gateway and DNS. If your DNS is incorrect for example, 
>> you won't be able to find the server you entered, since there will be 
>> nothing to point the phone where to go.
>>
>> If you are talking about the actual boot server location, that needs 
>> to be static as far as I know. It isn't like DHCP addressing where it 
>> gets the DNS information from the host. It's a parameter that needs 
>> to be set. If your TFTP server is changing IPs I would strongly 
>> suggest giving it a static IP. It will make your life a lot easier.
>>
>
>