[cisco-voip] 8832s

Tue May 1 14:32:15 EDT 2018

Mmmmm, popcorn.

I feel like it's less about the word "support" for me, and more about the
delivery of phone firmware.  Ryan R. just happened to address that one
piece, of the larger thing I was saying.  I feel passionate about the OP's
story, since I too have been impacted by the phone firmware
upgrade/downgrade process; I'm going through that pain right now with the
Webex Room Kit Device Pack.

Latest device pack for CUCM 11.0 is 11.0(1.24087), which contains 8832
12.0(1) firmware, but 12.0(1)SR3 has been out for 5 months, and therefore,
I too would break my phones, if I didn't prevent my phones from updating
during the Device Pack process.  All just to add the one model.  I'm just
saying: the process is not as good as it could be, and I'm trying to voice
my opinion on it.  There are some people reading this, who don't deal with
this process very often, and may learn that it's not as easy or simple as
one might think.

On Tue, May 1, 2018 at 12:27 PM Ryan Huff <ryanhuff at outlook.com> wrote:

> [image: image1.jpeg]
>
>
> On May 1, 2018, at 13:17, Anthony Holloway <
> avholloway+cisco-voip at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks, now I want to watch that movie again.  It's been a looong time.
>
> I can agree that support is not black and white.  Though, do consider the
> Cisco Partner's perspective, when Customers ask for recommendations on what
> they should be doing.  Our responses should always be motivated by keeping
> them on supported combinations of: configurations, hardware, and software.
>
> And back to my original point, having firmware delivered via CUCM upgrades
> and Device Packs is hurting that effort, because the collateral upgrading
> which is occurring, is seldom what you want.  I.e., Production is not ready
> for the new firmware, or it's older than what you are already running.
>
> Case in point: I have a customer right now with ones of thousands of
> phones, looking to add support for the Webex Room Kit device, so we need a
> Device Pack, but they are not ready to roll out a major firmware upgrade
> from 11.x to 12.x on all of their 78/8800 series phones.  Therefore, I have
> to now dance around the firmware upgrade, in what should be an otherwise
> easy task of applying support for just this specific device model.
>
> I'd be curious to know how many people are actually delivering phone
> firmware via Device Packs, versus CUCM upgrades, versus COP files, versus
> ZIPs.
>
> For me, it goes like this:
>
> 1. CUCM Upgrades are for upgrading CUCM, I typically freeze the existing
> phone firmware upgrades (and will do them pre- or post-upgrade of CUCM)
> 2. Device Packs are for adding support for newer models, I typically
> freeze the existing phone firmware upgrades
> 3. COP Files are almost never used for upgrading phone firmware, they
> change the device defaults, when my intention is never to upgrade 100% of a
> model right from the start (pilot first)
>     *If COPs didn't change device defaults, I'd likely use these over ZIP
> files.  Do these restart TFTP automatically?  I cannot recall.
> 4. ZIP Files are my preferred approach, because they are low risk because
> I can easily control their distribution in the environment (like running a
> pilot first)
>
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 30, 2018 at 12:45 PM Ryan Ratliff (rratliff) <
> rratliff at cisco.com> wrote:
>
>> Since Cisco already drops *support* for all firmware older than the most
>> recent firmware:
>>
>>
>> “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it
>> means”.
>>
>> In all seriousness, and as the author of the document you quoted, there’s
>> a reason why the bulk of that document is dedicated to explaining the fact
>> that that the word “support” can mean many things, and even lists examples
>> to highlight this point.
>>
>> I would also like to point out the fact that said document describes
>> itself as a “policy”, and policies don’t exist in a vacuum. They exist
>> because there are situations that require them to be applied, and it’s
>> generally helpful when a company you work with to publicly document
>> whatever policy they are applying to you. Equally important is that you are
>> told exactly how and why that policy is being applied to your situation.
>>
>> All of that said my point is that the word “support” gets thrown around a
>> lot in the customer *support* business. We all should be certain to
>> explain exactly what version of the word we mean when using it, and if you
>> find yourself on the receiving end of a policy that limits some form of
>> support for which you feel you are entitled, you owe it to yourself and the
>> other person to ask for clarification.
>>
>> Anyone that can’t provide that clarification or context is either being
>> lazy or doesn’t know what they are talking about.
>>
>> -Ryan
>>
>> On Apr 30, 2018, at 9:06 AM, Anthony Holloway <
>> avholloway+cisco-voip at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I wish CUCM didn't ship with newer phone firmware.
>>
>> Since Cisco already drops support for all firmware older than the most
>> recent firmware:
>>
>> - For each IP Phone model, once Cisco releases a new firmware version,
>> the older versions are no longer supported.
>> - Cisco expects customers who encounter a problem on an older version of
>> firmware to test the latest firmware on a subset of phones in order to
>> confirm that the problem still exists.
>> Source:
>> http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/collaboration-endpoints/unified-ip-phone-7900-series/116684-technote-ipphone-00.html
>>
>> And most people agree that you should upgrade firmware before a CUCM
>> upgrade anyway, just remove firmware from CUCM.
>>
>> Not too mention it clutters up TFTP.
>>
>> I also think that the firmware should be decoupled from the Device
>> Packs.  When adding support for a single model phone, rarely am I also
>> trying to upgrade 100% of the phones in the environment too.
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 29, 2018 at 8:22 PM Charles Goldsmith <wokka at justfamily.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Since the 8832 is a dual bank phone, shouldn't it have the old image on
>>> it in the backup bank?  Maybe hardcoding the old image on the phone
>>> configuration and doing a reset will cause it to boot from it?
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Apr 29, 2018 at 7:06 PM Ryan Huff <ryanhuff at outlook.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Sounds like the ole’ ‘step upgrade’ issue that plagued the 79xx series
>>>> back in the 8.x days ....
>>>>
>>>> My guess is they don’t actually need RMA’ed, just the easiest way to
>>>> deal with it ....
>>>>
>>>> I’d flash the phones and advertise an isolated tftp server to them with
>>>> the firmware load and XML bootstrap file. The phones aren’t working now, so
>>>> flashing them and then still not getting them to load right isn’t going to
>>>> make it any worse.
>>>>
>>>> Use DNS in the DHCP scope in your isolation network with the TFTP
>>>> server and pcap/debug the DNS queries to see the bootstrap and load files
>>>> it’s looking for.
>>>>
>>>> In the 79xx series back in the day when I would perform this Lazarus
>>>> trick for some lucky customers; the bootstrap filename was
>>>> XMLDefault.cnf.xml. Not sure if it’s the same nowadays though.
>>>>
>>>> Here is the Cisco doc on the procedure for the older stuff .... worth a
>>>> shot but not sure if it still works on the newer gear.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/unified-communications/unified-communications-manager-callmanager/200582-Update-Cisco-IP-Phone-Firmware-through-T.html
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -Ryan-
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 29, 2018, at 18:53, Jason Aarons (Americas) <
>>>> jason.aarons at dimensiondata.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I have a customer with four 8832 conference room phones. Their CUCM was
>>>> running version 12.0.1 of the 8832 firmware. These phones shipped with
>>>> version 12.0.1SR2. When they registered the first two phones they
>>>> downgraded from 12.0.1SR2 to 12.0.1 and are now unusable. They sit on
>>>> “Connecting” after booting up. They do not get an IP address. You cannot
>>>> set an IP address manually. If you reset the phone it doesn’t fix it, nor
>>>> does a factory reset
>>>> <https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cuipph/8832/english/adminguide/cs88_b_conference-8832-admin-guide-cucm/cs88_b_conference-8832-admin-guide-cucm_chapter_01011.html> allow
>>>> the phone to revert to the firmware they shipped with. Cisco TAC says they
>>>> must be RMA’d. We upgraded CUCM to 12.0.1SR3 and the other two phones
>>>> upgraded fine from 12.0.1SR2 to 12.0.1SR3.
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone have any ideas on what we could do to fix these phones
>>>> other than RMAing them?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/ghei36>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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