Troubleshooting PoE Negotiation between CP-8865 with CP-BEKEM (Cisco WebEx Calling) and 3rd Party PoE+ Switch

[pharvin]

QUESTION: What tools are available to me to troubleshoot a PoE issue on a CP-8865 phone connected to Cisco WebEx Calling (formerly Spark Calling)? Is there a way to enable SSH on the phones if they are connected to Cisco WebEx Calling? (I cannot seem to find a way to enable it).

CONTEXT: I am running Cisco WebEx Calling with a CP-8865 phone. The CP-8865 standalone operates property using PoE when connected to my existing 3rd Party Switch (UniFi Switch 24 POE-250W), which claims to be 802.3at compliant.

When I connect a CP-BEKEM to the CP-8865, only the CP-8865 will power on (not the CP-BEKEM). I must connect a power brick to the CP-8865 in order to get the CP-BEKEM to power on. The 3rd party switch is reporting that is connected to the phone+KEM via POE+, which I understand the be the same as 802.3at. I also should have plenty of PoE budget to spare. Per my reading of the CP-8865 data sheet, 802.3at should be able to get the CP-8865 with 1 CP-BEKEM to operate.

I would like to find a way to check what level of PoE the CP-8865 believes has been negotiated with the 3rd party switch. I do not seem to be able to SSH into these phones. From my reading, if I were running a local Call Manager, I think I would need to enable SSH, but I cannot find a way to enable SSH on Cisco WebEx Calling (formerly Spark Calling).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, so I don't have to purchase unnecessary power bricks!

[Jonathan Schulenberg]

Even if you could SSH to the phone the CLI isn’t documented; you would still need TAC assistance to debug it. Perhaps start from the UniFi switch since it’s more accessible: what does it claim the phone advertised/requested for POE class? What did it offer to the phone?

[pharvin]

Thanks for the information! It's useful to know that it may very difficult to troubleshoot this issue from the Cisco phone side without involving TAC. I think my next step will be to try a different switch to see if that resolves the issue, before I try to figure out UniFi Switch PoE debugging or bother TAC with this.

RE: PoE+ (802.3at) Negotiation problems between UniFi Switch 24 POE-250W (firmware 4.0.21.9965) and CP-8865 with one (1) CP-BEKEM running Cisco WebEx Calling.