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Here at Phonism, we value simplicity and ease-of-use. Below you will find that we have outlined the easiest ways to get your Polycom phone configured.
There are 2 major methods to configuring any VoIP phone, manually or using a centralized provisioning server. Which method will you be using? If you’re not sure which route is best for you, don’t worry, we will go over the pros and cons of both.
As a rule of thumb, we recommend you only provision manually when configuring less than 10 phones. If you are frequently deploying new devices and supporting existing ones, you might want to skip ahead to the section on using a centralized provisioning server.
Note: This guide applies to the following Polycom phone models: VVX & Soundpoint IP
When provisioning a polycom phone manually, you have two options.
This is exactly what it sounds like, manual & time consuming.
If all went well, your phone should have connected using the settings and authentication credentials you entered above. Line 1 should read the label you entered. Do you hear dial tone when you pick it up?
Congrats! How long did that take? Did you time it? Imagine installing 1,000 of these manually.
I know what you’re probably thinking, it wasn’t THAT hard… You may be right. Manual provisioning can be effective, but mostly when you are dealing with a small number of phones. There is little upfront work required and with 10 phones or less, it shouldn’t take long.
With that being said, many companies tend to outgrow this model quickly.
Here’s why:
Now that you’ve learned how to provision the ol’ fashioned way… Let’s take a look at how you could speed up this process with a centralized provisioning server.
If you’re using a provisioning module built into your PBX, a third party provisioning server (like Phonism), or a redirect server like Polycom ZTP, you will need to follow the steps below. You can learn more about centralized provisioning servers here.
Using a central server to provision and manage devices has many benefits. Not only will all of your information be stored and accessible in one place, but you will also benefit from:
When using a central server, you will be configuring the device settings through the server’s GUI. Since that varies between different solutions (Broadsoft, CoreDial, Phonism, etc..), we will help you get your phone pointed to that server. From there, we recommend you refer to your server documentation.
There are 4 ways you can point your phones to your server:
Note: Obviously a Cisco server will be different from a Microsoft server. Below we have included some generic instructions for configuring options 66 in your server. If you run into trouble, please consult the documentation specific to your server.
This can be a powerful tool for for Polycom users. Most customers use ZTP to set their provisioning server address. However, users can also use this to configure line 1 and perform software updates.
Note: This tool is intended primarily as a one-time step at initial deployment.
For instructions on using Polycom ZTP to set your provisioning server address, please visit the official Polycom ZTP Documentation.
Now that you have pointed your phones to a central provisioning server, you can use that to configure specific settings on your devices. Methods of configuration will vary depending on the tool that you’re using. We recommend that you refer to the documentation for your specific tool.
We typically recommend our customers use DHCP Option 66. This is the most efficient, scalable method.
Of course there are some pitfalls associated with central provisioning servers.
We have tried to lay out the variety of methods that will help guide you to dial-tone. However, it’s important to note that every organization has different needs. Manual provisioning can be cost effective early on, but as you grow you will quickly realize it won’t be that way for long. In the long run, using some type of central server will be your best bet.
Third-party solutions like Phonism are helping service providers automate and streamline their provisioning process, saving engineers hours of headaches and hair pulling.
Learn how one service provider was able to scale their business by using a device management solution