Automatically Configuring Cisco Unified IP Phone

Another option to add phones to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager database is using CUCM auto-registration. By enabling auto-registration, you can automatically add a Cisco Unified IP Phone to the CUCM database when you connect the phone to your IP telephony network. During auto-registration, the Cisco Unified Communications Manager assigns the next available sequential directory number to the phone.

In many cases, you might not want to use auto-registration; for example, if you want to assign a specific directory number to a phone. Of course, manual registration is the preferred way from a security point of view, as in this case, you will be managing all of your phones manually, and if some device appears in your network, it will be unusable until it is configured.

Enabling auto-registration carries a security risk in that “rogue” phones can automatically register with Cisco Unified Communications Manager. You should be able to enable auto-registration only for brief periods when you want to perform bulk phone adds.

Another possible scenario to use auto-registration is when you have to configure some phone or multiple phones in a remote branch and you don’t have their MAC addresses. In this case, you can configure the auto-registration option to register the phones and to assign them some numbers, but to keep them in a default device pool where they cannot initiate any calls, except emergency. Configuring the automated registration in such way will guarantee that unauthorized devices can not use your IP Telephony network.

 

Task 1: Configure Auto-registration for SCCP Phones

Enable Auto-registration on Cisco Unified Communications Manager and register all IP phones in the San Jose site.

Activity Procedure

Complete these steps:

1. Go to Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration page and from the menu select System > Cisco Unified CM and click the Find button.
2. From the list, there will be one Communications Manager.
3. Click on publisher server (CM_CCM).
4. On Cisco Unified CM page, under the Auto-registration Information, use the following parameters:
   – Universal Device Template: Auto-registration Template
   – Universal Line Template: Sample Line Template with TAG usage Examples
   – Starting Directory Number: 2001
   – Ending Directory Number: 2002
   – Uncheck Auto-registration disabled on this Cisco Unified Communications Manager checkbox to enable auto-registration.
5. Click Save.
6. Verify that auto-registration for the Cisco Unified Communications Manager group is enabled. From the menu, select System > Cisco Unified CM Group, and click Find button.
7. Click on Communications Manager Group called Default and ensure that Auto-registration Cisco Unified CM Group is checked. (Check box will be greyed out if only one CM group is defined.)
8. Start your Cisco IP Communicator softphones and make sure that their TFTP Server configuration is pointing to the CUCM node – 10.1.1.10.
9. IP Phone1-1 and Phone1-2 will register automatically with the Cisco Unified Communications Manager server.
10. On the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration page, from the menu, select Device > Phone. On Find and list phones, click Find button to list all IP phones that have been configured in the cluster.
11. Click the Device Name of the phone with the Description “Auto 2001”
12. Change the following parameters in the device-level configuration:
    – Description : Phone1-1
    – Phone Button Template: Standard CIPC SCCP
    – Device Pool : SanJose
    – Device Security Profile: Cisco IP Communicator – Standard SCCP Non-Secure Profile
13. Under External Data Locations Information part, clear the content of all fields.
14. Click Save and then Reset the phone.
15. Repeat steps 10 – 14 for Phone1-2, too.

 

Activity Verification

You have completed this task when you attain these results:

• Any call can be made between the auto-registered phones using the 4-digit numbers.