Is it possible to configure a cisco phone based on an existing polycom configuration file?

[philip]

Hello,

Does anyone know if it would be possible to configure a cisco phone based on an existing polycom configuration file?

We have 12 spa509g phones that are barely working with our provider (voxox). VOXOX does not provide any support for cisco phones, only polycom, and the details of the provisioning that they have provided for me are not enough to enable some of the features that are not working.

My provider gave me the config files that are used to set up polycom phones as those are the only phones they support.

Features that currently work: incoming calls, outgoing calls, blind transfer, voicemail, call hold

Features that do not work: call presence - solid orange lights, attended transfer, paging 

I've upgraded the firmware to 7.5.6 and configured the phone through the GUI as much as i can but I can't seem to enable the above features.

Any help would be highly appreciated as I'm about to buy polycom phones if we can't figure the configuration out.

Attached are the configuration files from voxox concerning polycom phones. confidential data says "removed"

If anyone thinks that this is possible, I can send a copy of my current cisco configuration file.  Also, if there is a more appropriate forum please point me to it.

Thanks,

Philip

** UPDATE: I've been going line by line of the polycom configuration file and have been able to restore attended transfers and group paging. Still working on paging  which I think is represented by this line of xml : 

<voIpProt.SIP.alertInfo voIpProt.SIP.alertInfo.1.class="ringAutoAnswer" voIpProt.SIP.alertInfo.1.value="Ring Answer" />

I have auto answer turned on in two places but have yet to figure out how to set a paging ext with this non asterisk non broadsoft server.

Also, BLF call presence is not yet working and I haven't identified the buddy watch or the lines in the config file that address this. Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Dan Lukes]

I'm about to buy polycom phones if we can't figure the configuration out

Well, in such case start with ONE Polycom phone. Configure it, then catch SIP packets between them and Voxox switch. It may help you/us to discover proper configuration. In the worst scenario you can buy another 11 Polycom phones later.

According 'paging' feature, do you mean an intra-office paging ? It has nothing to do with Voxox or a PBX. It's Polycom's proprietary implementation using multicasts thus limited to single LAN. SPA5xx have similar proprietary feature implemented, follow it's Administrator guide, paragraph "Enabling Paging".

[philip]

We used to be with Cbeyond and they had all the features with these current spa509g phones working flawlessly. The paging feature is enabled but something with the sip still isn't right. There seems to be a lot of setting to configure even with the packet capture from a polycom phone in our office.

But the main problems are that polycom uses "buddy watch" for BLF's, and I supposedly have all the settings right for attended transfers except they are still failing while blind transfers work. 

I really wish there was a more elegant solution than breaking down sip packets on a whole new phone and translating that information to an xml config file or the spa GUI. 

[Dan Lukes]

I really wish there was a more elegant solution than breaking down sip packets

Of course. It's why the standards exists. As long as your VoIP provider will describe you the feature requirements in the terms of standard SIP protocol, it should not be so hard to create appropriate configuration with no reverse engineering necessary.

We have just proprietary names ("buddy watch" is Polycoms marketing name for BLF, unfortunately, we don't know the exact flavor of BLF) and configuration files in proprietary format.

But I wish someone did the job in the past and will give you an advice.

[Dan Lukes]

BLF call presence is not yet working and I haven't identified the buddy watch or the lines in the config file that address this

You have feature.1.name="presence" feature.1.enabled="1" included in your <PHONE_CONFIG></PHONE_CONFIG> It is "generic enable" for so called "buddy watch" feature. But then, you need to configure who's your buddy.

It is part of phone's directory, e.g. [MAC address]-directory.xml file, but you have no such file. I assume your directory (so buddy list as well) is empty. The file in question looks like

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<directory>
    <item_list>
        <item>
            <ct>110</ct>
            <lb>Toby Flenderson</lb>
            <bw>1</bw>
            <sd>1</sd>
        </item>    
        <item>
            <ct>106</ct>
            <lb>Edna Abbot</lb>
            <bw>1</bw>
            <sd>2</sd>
        </item>
</directory>

The bw is acronym for "buddy watch". Phone directory records with bw=1 are your buddies. It's status is monitored by Polycom phone then.