Wireless Access

Hi folks,

desparately looking for a configuration-guide/whitepaper for configuring a VAP for Avaya 3641/3645 VoWiFi-handsets with standard QoS (PBX is a Nortel CS 1000 running V4.5 and one on V5.5).

Already tried http://goo.gl/IwRqO to no avail. SVP-variant from this guide works perfectly in unison with Nortel SVP-Server, though, but adding a SVP-Server is not an option.

Worst thing about it: competition from big C managed to get this up and runningin in no time with their APs - but they had a whitepaper on how to configure them ;).

Any ideas and/or suggestions highly welcome!

Thx in advance and best wishes,

Mike

Please search for Spectralink in the guide here:  www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/technology/DG_Roaming.pdf

Well,

From what I have read Nortel systems (now Avaya) use a proprietary protocol to do the handshake, then switch over to a RTP stream. So, what you are going to need to do is figure out what ports Nortel uses for the RTP stream and create a new policy and do "Classify Media" to match those ports. As long as you are running 6.x or above, it should see the RTP stream.

I haven't tried it yet, because they wont buy me a wifi Nortel/Avaya phone to test out. Let me know if you get it working!

@cjoseph: thanks a million for pointing me to that solution guide. I'll give it a try ASAP.
@zjennings: thanks for your valuable hints as well. The controller already is on AOS 6.1.2.x, btw.

I'll keep you posted on how this worked out.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Mike

These phones, though use a proprietary signaling protocol, the QoS mechanism they use is either SVP or WMM based.

So we they don't use SVP, they are using WMM for prioritization which should help prioritize the voice traffic with VO.

@cjoseph: went through the design-guide mentioned and found the config-template on pages 61-62.  Problem is: the setup in the DG is using SVP and not standard QoS (WMM). As mentioned in my original post SVP is not an option for the customer, they want to use standard QoS (WMM). The standard QoS-approach in Polycom's whitepaper mentioned in my initial post isn't working though - at least not an Aruba. On big C's APs it does. :-/

BTW this is how it's done on big C's APs if this is of interest to anybody else:

---

sh run
Building configuration...

Current configuration : 2066 bytes
!
version 12.4
no service pad
service timestamps debug datetime msec
service timestamps log datetime msec
service password-encryption
!
hostname ap
!
enable secret 5 $1$va9F$P2IxrYASpE3b81jr/g4HW1
!
no aaa new-model
!
!
!
dot11 ssid vidic
   authentication open
   guest-mode
!
dot11 arp-cache
power inline negotiation prestandard source
!
!
username Cisco password 7 02250D480809
!
!
class-map match-all _class_WMM1
 match ip dscp cs5
class-map match-all _class_WMM0
 match ip dscp ef
!
!
policy-map WMM
 class _class_WMM0
  set cos 6
 class _class_WMM1
  set cos 4
!
bridge irb
!
!
interface Dot11Radio0
 no ip address
 no ip route-cache
 !
 ssid vidic
 !
 power local 2
 power client 2
 channel 2462
 station-role root
 dot11 qos class video local
    transmit-op 3008
 !
 dot11 qos class voice local
    transmit-op 1504
 !
 dot11 qos class video cell
    transmit-op 3008
 !
 dot11 qos class voice cell
    transmit-op 1504
 !
 bridge-group 1
 bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
 no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
 service-policy input WMM
 service-policy output WMM
!
interface Dot11Radio1
 no ip address
 no ip route-cache
 shutdown
 !
 ssid vidic
 !
 no dfs band block
 power local 2
 power client 2
 channel dfs
 station-role root
 bridge-group 1
 bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
 no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
 service-policy input WMM
 service-policy output WMM
!
interface FastEthernet0
 no ip address
 no ip route-cache
 duplex auto
 speed auto
 bridge-group 1
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
 service-policy input WMM
!
interface BVI1
 ip address 10.100.69.216 255.255.0.0
 no ip route-cache
!
ip http server
no ip http secure-server
ip http help-path http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/smbiz/prodconfig/help/eag
bridge 1 route ip
!
!
!
line con 0
line vty 0 4
 login local
!
end

ap#

---

This seems to be pretty straight forward.

Besides the usual chit-chat they
* assign channel 11 in the 2.4GHz band and use DFS for channel assignment in the 5GHz band

* match ingres and outgres traffic to DSCP cs5 and ef and set the corresponding COS-flags to 4 and 6

* configure the CAC transmit opportunites for wired and wireless for voice to 1504 and for video to 3008 for the corresponding QOS-classes

So far so good.

Now there's only one question left: how can I accomplish something this simple, yet sophisticated on an Aruba infrastructure without messing up the wrong of those gazillion options in the profiles and GUI-menus... ;)

Any hints, suggestions and/or help on this would, of course, be highly appreciated. :)

I'll keep you posted on any further progress I may make.

Thanks for reading and kind regards,

Mike

When you say "not working" what do you mean?  Does the phone even connect to the WLAN?  

Okay from the Cisco it seems that you are using open for encryption.  You should be able to setup an Open SSID on Aruba and it should at least get an ip address.  Where are you stuck?

Phone associates to the VAP/SSID (open, WEP, WPA-PSK or even WPA2-PSK), immediately get's an IP-address via DHCP and starts to talk to the Nortel PBX. During the initiation-phase of the VoIP-session (I see UDP going back and forth between the phone and the PBX) the phone just sits there for a while doing nothing, sometimes even displaying error messages pointing to connection errors, then after 5-15 minutes suddenly works for like 1 call and then suddenly  kind of resets the network connection, meaning it re-associates to the SSID, sends DHCP REQUESTs, and so on.

This only happens when using QoS (setup according to Polycom-whitepaper).

When using the SVP variant (after setting up the required SVP-server and attaching it to the network, of course) with all other properties of all other profiles (AAA, SSID, radio) left unchanged everything works like a charm.

We first thought that this might be a SW-issue on the handset or the PBX - until the Cisco-guys stepped on the scene with everything working perfectly fine. I was lucky to snatch that config off the AP, but that's what was on there.

Maybe I'm making this too complicated, but.... when operating in SIP mode, that phone requires a DHCP option that points the phone to a tftp server that has the configuration for the phone's SIP extension, as well as firmware update files.  Does the customer already have that tftp server enabled, or is this a new installation?

No, you are most definitely _not_ making this too complicated. Many thanks for sharing your thoughts! :)

These phones don't use SIP. After establishing the IP-connection to the PBX they seem to be using a proprietary protocol to establish the actual VoIP-Session. Using wireshark I see UDP going back and forth and then suddenly a DHCP REQUEST and then everything starts all over again.

When using the SVP variant the phones establish their IP-connections to both the PBX and the SVP server, establish their sessions and just work.

It seems that there's something wrong with the way the QoS is behaving when set up as illustrated in Polycom's whitepaper. That's why I think I should first set up a VAP having it's QoS behaving exactly like on the Cisco AP and then progress from there.

The only thing is that Cisco uses a different approach here. They're matching packets and attaching the corresponding QOS/COS/CAC settings in one go, while on Aruba these specific QoS functionalities seem to be split up into user role/policy (PEFNG) for the packet matching part and a multitude of options in the AP-group, VAP, SSID-profile, radio-profile, etc. for the QOS/COS/CAC part.
But I suspect that's exactly where I might be making this too complicated. :)

The protocol is called Unistim:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIStim

I have spent hours and hours researching this, in order to try to get some sort of visibility on my Aruba controller when a Nortel phone is plugged into a RAP. I gave up, because at the time Aruba didn't have an ALG for RTP. I haven't tried to do it since RTP support was implimented (AOS 6.something).

As far as the DHCP option, here is what we are using for our CS1000: Option 128: Nortel-i2004-A,10.a.a.a:4100,10.b.b.b:4100

Where 10.a.a.a is the first CS1000, and 10.b.b.b is the IP of the second CS1000. This option is what tells the VoIP phone where to go.

Hope this helps.

@zjennings: thanks for solving yet another mistery and sharing your tipps on the DHCP-settings. May I ask if you are using QoS or SVP?

Nope. No QoS or SVP at all. Just checked my phone config, QoS Voice tagging is disabled. :smileyhappy:

But that's not my department.

That answer just solved yet another mistery. I was told that either QoS or SVP was mandatory - giving me a very hard time trying to understand why on earth I would need QoS on a VAP being used exclusively by those handsets.
I hope this does not sound too impertinent, but may I ask if you use any other settings specific to those handsets/this application at all?

The reason I'm asking is because I initially set up a non-descript 'standard' VAP for this application and the handsets behaved just like in the QoS-scenario described before, sitting there like lame ducks, being able to maybe receive or place a call after a while and then resetting their network connection. That's when I started to do some deeper research, came up with that whitepaper from Polycom and ... well, you already know the rest. ;)

A attachment with tech support and AP tech support would help validate your config.

If QoS, is Mandatory with Wifi option instead of SVP, we need to have some settings on the VAP on the controller.

Check if the EDCA profile for AP and STA under VAP is configured for ACM bit to 1 for VO and VI.

Check if the wmm inactivity interval is set to 30000msec in the Advanced ssid profile..

@skale: VAP is configured according to http://supportdocs.polycom.com/PolycomService/support/global/documents/support/user/products/voice/VIEW_Aruba_Mobility.pdf, so yes ACM settings for voice and video in both EDCA profiles have been set to 1. P. 27 of this guide says WMM inactivity interval should be set to 300.000msec whereas you stated it should be 30.000msec. Does this make a difference?

Hi,

we are installing an AVAYA PBX with wi-fi phones model 3641, I configured a Vlan and allow access by MAC address authentication, the phones have IP configured manually. The phones connect but when I move to another AP area, the phone disconnects and lose the call. Seems like a roaming problem.

Does anyone have an example configuration for Aruba Controller or have experienced this behaviour ?

Help greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Alfredp

Can you do a ping to see how many drops during the ROAM?  Did you use the link in the post above you to configure the Aruba WLAN?

Just to wrap things up: problem solved.

Solution: when using Avaya/Nortel/Polycom-Spectralink VoFi-Handsets via Unistim with an Avaya/Nortel PBX make sure the RUDP retries-parameter on the PBX is set sufficiently high. And that the guys supporting the PBX are not the ones trying to sell any competitor's WLAN solution to that very customer at the same time. :smileywink:

I'd also like to explicitely thank Shawn Adams of Aruba Networks for lending a helping hand on this!

I have read all the threads but now in the new OS 6.4.1 that I will use I need to understand shoud I Create SVC-SVP ip access list and AVPP access list as I saw this in VRD for phones :

user-role voice
session-acl sip-acl
session-acl noe-acl
session-acl svp-acl
session-acl vocera-acl
session-acl skinny-acl
session-acl h323-acl
session-acl dhcp-acl
session-acl tftp-acl
session-acl dns-acl
session-acl icmp-acl

now AVPP is not listed and also from 3645 IP phone it support WMM so should I enable it or disabel it?