Cisco 7960 Webb interface

Assuming you are talking about a Personal Address Book (not corporate directory) this can easily be done fomr a Web inerface.  Here is what you do:

1. Point your browser to:
http://HOSTNAME/ccmuser/logon.asp; where hostname is the name of the CallManger.  IP address will also suffice.

2. Login using the username and password setup for you in CallManager.
3. Select the device profile you would like to edit... If you are only assigned to one phone, only one entry will appear.  Other entries may appear for extension mobility and softphone devices.
4. A menu will appear, look for: "Configure your Cisco IP Phone Services".  Select this and the services configured on the CallManager for IP Phones will be shown in a list on the left side.  If Personal Address Book is shown, select it and provide a Username and PIN number for your PAB... and click Subscribe.
5. Once subscribed to the service, the PAB will appear in the main menu.  Click on it and begin adding your entries.

You can also use the web interface to configure speed dials, subscribe to any other available services, forward calls, view user manuals, etc.

Let me know how this works out for you.

Hi rwotherspoon

Do those instructions work if you're not got Cisco CallManager?

Muskett said that he didn't have it, and didn't want to buy it.

Cisco CallManger is required in order to use CIsco IP Phones... running either on a server or on a router.  Perhaps he is running CCME... in any case, if he has a working Cisco IP Phone, he has to be running CCM or CCME.

Hmm - from what I've read, it's possible to use them without and specify your SIP settings manually.
I think that you loose a load of the features though.

I'd love to know what Muskett's environment is - I've been tempted to get a Cisco IP phone myself, but it'll just be for home use :)

Scamphb, you are correct. I am using the the Cisco in a SOHO environment. I configured it manually and it works fine.

One other reason for not buying call manager is that I have heard that it does not run under XP, not 100% sure that is correct.  Anyway, I currently do not have it.
For your info I run the 7960 on a 600/300 cable connection, permanent IP address. I have a Cisco router where the router is connected directly. All other workstations ae connected vai a switch. This is because although the Cisco router has 4 netork ports, the connection is only 10 mps, the switch is 100.
I have tried several VoIP services providers in the UK and voice quality on all is good. Reason is that I am in Spain but want virtual UK presence, the UK VoIP providers give me a UK number.

Concluson.
My question is still open, perhaps someone can say "no, you cannot/ Yes you can (an here is how) do what you want without callmanager"  and,
Yall manager version ??? does / does not work under XP.

I have cranked up the points too! Thanks
Muskett

Hi Muskett - I'm glad I'm paying attention :-)

Can you please let me know who you're using as your UK provider?  I'm in the UK and have been evaluating a few.  Oddly enough, I'd quite like a virtual presence in Spain - do you know of any SIP providers there?

Sorry I've not been able to give you a definate "it does/it doesn't" work - all I can say is that I've not found anything that says you can.

And I thought it was the states that led technology!
OK, I have tried:
Nplusone.net sold through www.ednet.co.uk
to be hones a nice crowd but not really selling a proper solution that encompasses sip functionality. To me, VoIP does not seem to be top of their priorities.

WWW.calluk.com
my original VoIP provider and I am still with them. They promised the world but so far the service is basic. I like tem for 2 reasons.
1) Tech support is superb
2) They can combine the account with a calling card account that gives out your VoIP number, in my case a London number, great when travelling. Voice mail alerts to email
3) www.telappliant.com If you can wade through their very complicated website you will find they have some good packages.
Better to go directly to their sister site www.voiptalk.org and look around.
I have a pre-pay silver account and a London number. Been with them for about 2 months and the only thing that does not work is CFD but that is no big deal as when I am out calls go to email. I am seriously thinking about going for the telcentrex account as it gives the functionality I want.

Advice? Go for Voiptalk.
As far as virtual Spain is concerned, I do not think so, yet. Many cable companies offer very good calling rates and therefore the savings for VoIP and not so great. If I find anything I will let you know.

I think that the Call manager solution is probably the way to go but it is a hell of a lot of money for a small convenience. AND, I am not sure it works on XP. I have seen call manager on ebay.com (USA) quite cheap buut iff it doesnt work....
Anybody confirm?

Dave

Hi,
Especially for scampgb but also of interested in anyone who is searching for a VoIP provider anywhere in the world,
http://www.voipproviderslist.com/
Use http://www.google.co.uk/translate_t to translate stuff you cannot understand.

scampgb :
the only one that seems interesting for you is www.peoplecall.com but also check out the others, I do not have time to read properly.

For all of you, I have tried to contact Cisco re my problem.
Hopeless!
So the question is still open,
Looking at the Cisco site it seems that Call manager espress might be the way to go.
Anyone enlighten me.

Thanks
Dave

Hello all,
It seems that I am not generating much interest so how about I crank up the points, I need some help here.

Dave

Hi Muskett

Sorry that I've not been around much - and thank you *so* much for your advice on SIP providers.  I think I'll give VoIPTalk a try, as you suggested.

Anyway - I've been researcing Cisco CallManager Express, and the news isn't good.
It's designed for a "corporate" IP telephony environment where you've got loads of IP phones and a central gateway router (such as a 3600 with voice cards).  The CCME sofware gets installed on the router itself, and not on your PC.

So - I'm afraid that won't work for you :-(

You said above that you have a router, I assume that's a fairly standards DSL gateway-type device?  Either way, you said that you've got the phone configured in your SOHO environment to communicate directly with the SIP server.

It seems very disappointing that you can't do what you want - although I suppose Cisco build the phones specifically for use in their full telephony environment.

I'll keep looking for options, but I don't hold out much hope.

Incidentally - the doc I've been reading about this recently is: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps5207/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a00801f12ab.html

Actually the router just happens to be a Cisco ubr 900 but it is part of the cable package. The only thing you need to be aware of is that the router must be SIP enabled.

When you come to set up I can talk you through it to save the pains I had.
However, once you get over the learning curve its fine.

I thought so - your router won't support CCME.
You'd probably have to enable SIP on the router to allow the SIP and voice traffic through.

Thanks for the offer of help.  I'm just waiting for the call credit to be added now :)

Muskett / scampgb -

Frankly, I must apologize for providing incoherent SIP information above.  ..... And have learned some reading the thread on the message.  Thanks!

I can answer one question though:  CallManager only runs on Win2K - and a specific build provided by Cisco.  So XP is completely out of the question.

Muskett - Can you provide some more detail on the equipment terminating both ends of your connection ?  I may be able to offer some advice if I knew a little more about your architecture.

Tx - rwotherspoon

scampgb -

Excellent guidance indeed.... However, the DHCP option for TFTP should be 150 ... rather than 66.

rwotherspoon: Glad you liked it :-)

I read quite a bit about the DHCP options as well.  The 7960 uses DHCP option 150 when it's talking to Cisco CallManager.  However, when it's in SIP-only mode it uses option 66.

I don't understand why either.  I've forgotten where I read it, but I'll dig it out if it's needed.

This is a very interesting question for me - I'm learning quite a lot about these particular phones, and wish I had one to play with! :-)

SIP is fairly new to me, so I am learning along with you.  The other protocols I am pretty strong with though.  Thanks again.

Well that's it. Call manager wont work! End of story. But not quite thanks to Scampgb there is a solution.
For me I am not going to even attempt to do all the stuff mentioned in  http://www.voip-info.org/tiki-view_cache.php?url=http://www.wheely-bin.co.uk%2Fcisco%2F
simply becaue for me its just too complicated and I am not a programming expert. I use software and get scared playing!

One day someone will implement the idea in a commercial package.
Would be nice to keep the thread open as I thing the debate will help many people considdering VoIP. For me, I have been sucessfully using VoIP in a business environment fro almost a year and the detup I have now is fine.
FYI set up summary:

** Cisco 7960 phone manually configured for 2 separate VoIP servie providers (was 3)
** Cisco ubr 900 router, part of my ISP package but arrived SiP enabled, which I understand standard
** ISP is cable recently upgraded to 600/300 kbps but VoIP worked fine on 300/150 provided you were not downloading lage files, minor browsing seemed fine.
** UK (London) number sip routed to my sip address.

Am I satisfied, YES, it saves me a fortune!

Only thing is that the superb Cisco 7960 lacks user friendliness. If someone implements the scripts suggested in scampgb link then it will be just superb. Think of having an incoming call and the Outlook contact poping up.

Thanks all, especially scampgb and keep contributing.

Well done scampgb! ... And thanks Muskett.  There is an application from CIsco which proivides screen pops from Outlook, but it requires CallManager.  Good luck to you, I must get back to looking after my house as Hurricane Frances is pounding us now.

Yep, thats where I got the idea from, I have actually seen it in action, its good.
Good luck to you and all in the lovely part of the world that is getting battered!!!!!

Hi Muskett.

Thanks for the "A".  Sorry that I couldn't help any further.

I'd love to set up some sort of web-based service for providing the above, but I don't have a Cisco 7960 to play with - nor can I afford one!

However, there would be a problem with doing this type of thing over the Internet.  The TFTP protocol (used for loading the config) is insecure and does not allow for authentication.  As all the settings for your SIP provider will be in this file, someone unauthorised could obtain these settings.

An alternative would be just to have the XML directory info available through a website, but the problem here is that you can't set the XML directory path manually on the phone.

Essentially, the Cisco 7960 is designed for a "corporate" market - and Cisco push their CCM product.  If you were implementing a small-office environment and using something like Asterisk, then it would be relatively straightforward to implement the above "recipe" of DHCP, TFTP and XML page.

I don't think you'll see an "all-in-one" package designed for Windows XP for a while.  I doubt that there are many people using such a high-spec phone in a single-user environment such as yours.

Anyway, this has proven to be a very interesting discussion indeed.  I must admit, I've learnt quite a lot along the way myself!

Very welcome, help and suggestions appreciated.

You can buy the 7960 for about £150 occasionally on Ebay, best go to ebay.com. The very superb coulour one 7970 is quite a bit more expensive though.
Cheers
Dave

I know this is closed but I believe that the Cisco web based phone can interface to the 7960 but I am really struggling to set it up.
Wehn I have time I will try and post the results

--==Informational==--
Cisco has two Softphone (Cisco IP Communicator & Cisco SoftPhone) offerings none of which are SIP compliant. Both of the SoftPhone agents use the SCCP "Skinny" Protocol.

For the users that are looking for a small office solutions,  Cisco offers a product called CallManager Express (http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps4625/index.html)  and Unity Express (http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps5520/index.html). These two products come on WAN Modules for the Cisco Multiservice Routers, the support up to 200 Ip phone users, and give the users the full set of features for personalizing thier phones. Also allows for subscription services based on the 7900 IP Phone Cisco built-in XML browser.

There are also a lot of thirdparty providers of Application Gateways that serve up pre-packaged customizable Phone applications also known as "IP Phone Services".

Partner/Testing/Tested IP Phone Application Gateway Products
AAC Inc. - PhoneTop K-12 v3.2.2
Aptigen Inc. - Aptigen Design Studio Lite TM
Aptigen Inc. - Aptigen Design Studio Enterprise TM, version 2.2
Aptigen Inc. - Aptigen Application Server, version 2.2
Berbee - InformaCast
CalAmp - ExtendTime 3.1
Captor NV - Efficient Phone, version 4.1
Checkmate Management - Checkmate Abridge Realtime Online v1.0
Checkmate Management Ltd - Realtime Online v2.0
Cistera Networks - Cistera Quick Record(TM), version 1.4.2
Cistera Networks - Cistera RapidBroadcast(TM), version 1.2
Digital Animations Group - Visitor Management System v1.0
Digital Dynamics Software, Inc. - Custom IP Telephony Application Suite, version 2.2
Dimension Data - Call Authorization Application, version 2.3.2
Dimension Data - Project/Client Codes Application, version 2.4.2
IPcelerate, Inc - Norstan IP Applications (NIPA) Server, Version 3.3.1 (1)
LANGTREE SKILLSCENTER LTD - Alerts, version 1.0
LiteScape - CallTrack with Secure Remote Access, version 3
LiteScape Technologies - KIDS (Knowledge Information Delivery System), version 3.1
LSSI CORP. - Directory Assistance 1.0
Net6, Inc - Net6 Transformation Gateway 2.7
STONEVOICE SRL - Stonevoice SPEEDY, version 2.1
Twisted Pair Solutions - Envoy 1.1


 

   

Thanks for your info. As you note most people use the 7960 in a large environment. THis is changing.
Anyway, it seems most (not checked all) of the companies you list are into call manager configurations. That is not what I want.

Anyway, I will re-post the question and if I fail to get an answer will sell the Cisco and buy something that has better support.
Thanks for your info, I will post any replies

Dave,

I've got a very similar setup - 7960 on a cable line using SIP.  However, I have managed to get a phone book working so that I can edit it via the web using the instructions on voip-info.org.

When I've got a little bit of time (planned for June), I'm going to be changing our setup to use LDAP.  This is a server based directory system that can be queried by Outlook / Thunderbird / other email clients, and to which I'm going to connect our Cisco SIP phones.  If you're interested in testing / specifying this, then perhaps you could get in touch?

Rob