Online StoreConfiguring Cisco 7960 Phones with trixbox CE / Pro
While Cisco does not support using the 79xx series of phones on third-party IP PBX platforms such as Asterisk/trixbox, it is possible to get them to work with a little effort. If you do not have the SIP firmware for the phones, this will be your biggest hurdle as the only way to get it is to have a support contract with Cisco, or to have someone that does have a support contract get the firmware for you, then you may have to jump through a bunch of firmware hurdles to get the right version installed. It can really be an awful lot of work depending on the condition of the phone when you get it. I always recommend staying away from these phones and using the newer SPA5xx series phones which are supported for use with third-party IP PBX systems. If you still want to go for it, then this is the guide for you.
What you will need
In order to get these phones setup, you will need to be using a DHCP server that will push out Option 66 to the phones. This is fairly simple if you are using Microsoft’s DHCP server. However, not all small routers that act as DHCP servers can offer DHCP Scope Options, if your DHCP cannot, you will need to solve that problem before continuing. The DHCP Server will need to have Option 66 set to the IP Address of the phone system or other tftp server in order for the phone to pick up it’s configuration files.
Setting up the Extension
This is a critical set of steps to make sure you have the correct settings for these phones. If you do not have the settings just right, the phones will never register with your system and Asterisk will be throwing “Unauthorized” messages.
With trixbox Pro you will need to add the phone device via the Phones manager with the correct MAC address. Then, when you are assigning the phone to a particular extension, you need to check the Advanced Settings in the bottom right hand corner.
The first setting, NAT need to be set to No. The default setting is Yes so you need to make sure you change this.
The second setting is Qualify this should already be set to Yes but you should double-check to make sure it is.
If both of these settings are correct, then we can go about setting up our configuration files for the phones.
Using the PBX configuration tool we need to create a new extension. The extension number will be used for the authentication later on, the Secret field will be the authentication password, and again we need to set the same options for NAT and Qualify that we did before.
Under the Device Options change nat to No and make sure Qualify is set to Yes.
These settings are critical in getting the Cisco 7960 to register properly.
The Configuration Files
With the DHCP server working and the extension configured, we now need to create the configuration files. I prefer using NotePad++ to edit the files under Windows and WinSCP to copy the files to the server. You could also use Putty to connect to the box and use VI or Nano to create the files directly on the PBX machine. There are two files we need to create, SIPDefault.cnf and then a config file for each individual phone.
SIPDefault.cnf
In this sample file we are only concerned with the first three settings. The first line of the file, image_version, sets what firmware version we are going to use. This needs to match either the firmware version already loaded on the phone or the firmware version that you have available in the tftp folder for the phone to upgrade to.
The second setting, messages_uri sets the extension number that the phone will dial to access the voicemail system. With trixbox Pro this will be 8555, with trixbox CE it will be *97.
The third setting, proxy1_address, sets the IP address for the phone system so the phone knows where to send it’s registration information. The rest of the file should go unchanged for both trixbox CE and trixbox Pro.
image_version: P0S3-07-2-00
# Extension to dial for voicemail
messages_uri: “8555″
# Proxy Server
proxy1_address: “192.168.5.44″
proxy2_address: “”
proxy3_address: “”
proxy4_address: “”
proxy5_address: “”
proxy6_address: “”
proxy1_port: 5060
proxy2_port: 5060
proxy3_port: 5060
proxy4_port: 5060
proxy5_port: 5060
proxy6_port: 5060
proxy_register: 1
timer_register_expires: 600
preferred_codec: g711ulaw
tos_media: 5
dtmf_inband: 1
dtmf_outofband: avt
dtmf_db_level: 3
timer_t1: 500
timer_t2: 4000
sip_retx: 10
sip_invite_retx: 6
timer_invite_expires: 180
dial_template: dialplan
tftp_cfg_dir: “”
sntp_server: “”
sntp_mode: directedbroadcast
time_zone: EST
dst_offset: 1
dst_start_month: April
dst_start_day: “”
dst_start_day_of_week: Sun
dst_start_week_of_month: 1
dst_start_time: 02
dst_stop_month: Oct
dst_stop_day: “”
dst_stop_day_of_week: Sunday
dst_stop_week_of_month: 8
dst_stop_time: 2
dst_auto_adjust: 1
time_format_24hr: 1
dnd_control: 0
callerid_blocking: 0
anonymous_call_block: 0
dtmf_avt_payload: 101
sync: 1
proxy_backup: “”
proxy_backup_port: 5060
proxy_emergency: “”
proxy_emergency_port: 5060
enable_vad: 0
nat_enable: 1
nat_address: “”
voip_control_port: 5060
start_media_port: 16384
end_media_port: 32766
nat_received_processing: 0
outbound_proxy: “”
outbound_proxy_port: 5060
cnf_join_enable : 1
semi_attended_transfer: 1
telnet_level: 1
services_url: “”
directory_url: “”
logo_url: “”
http_proxy_addr: “”
http_proxy_port: 80
dyn_dns_addr_1: “”
dyn_dns_addr_2: “”
dyn_tftp_addr: “”
remote_party_id: 0
call_hold_ringback: 0
stutter_msg_waiting: 0
call_stats: 0
SIP<macaddress>.cnf
Each phone requires its own configuration file based on the MAC address of the phone. If our MAC address is 00175989A49E, then our configuration file will be named SIP00175989A49E.cnf. For the Cisco 7960 phones, this is a pretty easy file to configure and you basically repeat the same information for each of the available lines that you want to configure.
Here there is a bigger difference between trixbox CE and trixbox Pro. While trixbox CE uses the extension number as the authentication name, trixbox Pro uses the MAC address as the authentication name. Here are two snippets demonstrating the difference between the two.
trixbox Pro with extension 7002
phone_label: “Kerry”
line1_name: “7002″
line1_shortname: “7002″
line1_displayname: “7002″
line1_authname: “00175989A49E”
line1_password: “GzssknrEQ6w7″
Note that in the above example, the extension number is used on the display of the phone itself, but the MAC address is used for authentication with the phone system.
trixbox Pro with extension 200
phone_label: “Kerry”
line1_name: “200″
line1_shortname: “200″
line1_displayname: “200″
line1_authname: “200″
line1_password: “123456abc”
In the trixbox CE example, the extension is used for everything except for the password.
Multiple Line Appearances
If you multiple lines on the phone to be active, you need to create entries in the configuration file for each available line. The following is a complete configuration from trixbox Pro showing three of the six lines configured as extension 7002.
phone_label: “Kerry”
line1_name: “7002″
line1_shortname: “7002″
line1_displayname: “7002″
line1_authname: “00175989A49E”
line1_password: “GzssknrEQ6w7″
line2_name: “7002″
line2_shortname: “7002″
line2_displayname: “7002″
line2_authname: “00175989A49E”
line2_password: “GzssknrEQ6w7″
line3_name: “7002″
line3_shortname: “7002″
line3_displayname: “7002″
line3_authname: “00175989A49E”
line3_password: “GzssknrEQ6w7″
line4_name: “UNPROVISIONED”
line4_shortname: “UNPROVISIONED”
line4_displayname: “UNPROVISIONED”
line4_authname: “UNPROVISIONED”
line4_password: “UNPROVISIONED”
line5_name: “UNPROVISIONED”
line5_shortname: “UNPROVISIONED”
line5_displayname: “UNPROVISIONED”
line5_authname: “UNPROVISIONED”
line5_password: “UNPROVISIONED”
line6_name: “UNPROVISIONED”
line6_shortname: “UNPROVISIONED”
line6_displayname: “UNPROVISIONED”
line6_password: “UNPROVISIONED”
line6_authname: “UNPROVISIONED”
Summary
While it isn’t exactly rocket science to get the Cisco 7960 phones to work with trixbox CE or trixbox Pro, there can be some head-banging moments trying to get the right firmware loaded. Unfortunately, Cisco does not allow us to distribute the firmware files so you are on your own to get them. If you can get them working, they are pretty solid phones although lacking in support of some features that are available in newer phones that were designed for SIP from the ground up.
VoipStore.com: Fonality/trixbox Features Solutions Page
888VoipStore.com: trixbox Products Page
Thanks for posting this great information, Kerry. Even though Cisco phones aren't officially certified by Fonality for trixbox Pro, we understand that there are literally thousands of them in operation. I get questions from resellers all the time about it and will direct them to this post.
By the way, if you are planning to use Cisco phones with trixbox Pro, keep in mind that neither voice announce intercom nor paging through the phones will be operational.