Provision an Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) IP Phone

Provisioning lets Cloud Voice hand a phone its extension and settings automatically, so an Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) handset comes online without anyone typing in SIP (Session Initiation Protocol, the standard phones use to register and place calls) account details by hand. How you do it depends on how many phones you are setting up. The walkthroughs below use an ALE M3 running firmware 2.13.39.000.2217 as the worked example; the same flow applies to the other supported models.

Supported models and firmware

Provisioning works only when both the handset and the PBX (Private Branch Exchange, your Cloud Voice phone system) meet the minimum firmware shown here. Find your model and confirm both versions before you begin.

Model	Minimum phone firmware	Minimum PBX firmware
ALE-2	2.51.04.000.3530 or later	84.11.0.30 or later
ALE-3	2.51.04.000.3530 or later	84.11.0.30 or later
H2	2.10.00.0001083 or later	84.9.0.18 or later
H2P	2.10.00.0001083 or later	84.9.0.18 or later
H3P	2.12.43.010.2272 or later	84.9.0.18 or later
H3G	2.12.43.010.2272 or later	84.9.0.18 or later
H6	2.12.43.010.2272 or later	84.9.0.18 or later
M3	2.13.37.000.2202 or later	84.9.0.18 or later
M3s	2.15.10.000.3000 or later	84.18.0.18 or later
M5	2.13.37.000.2202 or later	84.9.0.18 or later
M5s	2.15.10.000.3000 or later	84.18.0.18 or later
M7	2.13.37.000.2202 or later	84.9.0.18 or later
M7s	2.15.10.000.3000 or later	84.18.0.18 or later
M7s-Pro	2.15.10.000.3000 or later	84.18.0.18 or later
M8	2.13.32.000.1535 or later	84.9.0.18 or later

Caution

If either the phone or the PBX is below the version listed for your model, provisioning can fail or the phone may register incorrectly. Update the older side first.

Choose a provisioning method

Pick the approach that matches the size of your rollout.

Setting up	What to do
A single ALE phone	Add the phone in the PBX, then paste the provisioning link the PBX generates into the phone’s own web interface. The phone pulls its configuration from that link.
Several ALE phones at once	Add each phone in the PBX, then publish the provisioning link through DHCP option 66. DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is the network service that hands out IP addresses, and option 66 is the field in that service used to point devices at their configuration. Every phone on the subnet receives the link automatically when it boots and configures itself.

Provision a single phone manually

Before you start

• Confirm the provisioning template for your model has already been downloaded to the PBX. You manage templates under Auto Provisioning > Resource Repository > Default Templates.

• If the handset has been in service before, factory-reset it so no leftover configuration gets in the way.

  Caution

  A factory reset erases every setting on the phone, including any existing account and network configuration. Only reset a handset that is unused or that you are deliberately repurposing, never one that is live on another system.

• Have the phone’s vendor, model, and MAC (Media Access Control) address on hand. You enter them when you add the device.

Step 1: Add the phone in the PBX

Adding the phone tells the PBX to build a configuration file keyed to that handset’s MAC address.

1. Sign in to the PBX web portal and go to Auto Provisioning > Phones.

2. Click Add > Add.

3. In the IP Phone section, identify the device.

   

   • Vendor: Choose Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.

   • Model: Choose your phone model. In this example, choose M3.

   • MAC Address: Type the phone’s MAC address.

     Caution

     The PBX matches each phone to its configuration file by MAC address. Type it exactly as printed on the phone’s label. A wrong or mistyped address means the phone never finds its configuration and provisioning silently fails.

4. In the Options section, set the provisioning details.

   

   • Template: Select a template from the drop-down list.

     Note

     You can use the default template that matches your phone model, or build a custom one. See Create a Custom Auto Provisioning Template for details.

   • Provisioning Link: Generated automatically. It points to where the phone’s configuration file lives.

     Note

     Copy the provisioning link and keep it handy, you need it in Step 2.

5. In the Assign Extension section, choose the extension to bind to this phone.

   

   Tip

   If the extension you want is missing from the drop-down list, it is already tied to another phone. You have two ways forward:

   • Free the extension from its current phone first, see Release an Extension from a Provisioned IP Phone.
   • Keep the existing association and turn on concurrent registration for the extension. By default the PBX lets an extension register with only one SIP endpoint, so enabling concurrent registration lets it register on this phone as well.

6. Click Save.

Step 2: Point the phone at the provisioning server

Enter the PBX’s provisioning link in the ALE phone’s own web interface.

1. Log in to the phone’s web interface.

   

   1. Type the phone’s IP address into your browser’s address bar.
   2. Enter the username admin and its password. In this example, the default password is 123456.
   3. Click Login.

   Caution

   123456 is the factory default password. Change it after provisioning so the phone is not left open to anyone on the network.

2. In the left navigation bar, go to Provision > Auto Provision.

3. Paste the provisioning link into the DM URL field.

   Note

   DM URL stands for Device Management URL. It is the field where the phone stores its auto-provisioning address, so the provisioning link belongs here.

   

4. Click Submit.

5. Click Auto Provision Now.

Result

Note

Some phones reboot on their own. If yours does not, reboot it manually so the new configuration takes effect.

Once the phone restarts, it downloads its configuration from the PBX and applies the settings, and the assigned extension registers on the handset. To confirm, open Auto Provisioning > Phones in the PBX web portal and check the registration status.

Provision multiple phones automatically

Before you start

• Make sure the subnet where the phones are deployed has only one DHCP server, or the phones may fail to get IP addresses.

  Caution

  Only one DHCP server may be active on the subnet where the phones live. A second DHCP server can hand out competing settings, and the phones may fail to receive an IP address or the option 66 link at all.

• Confirm the provisioning template for your model has already been downloaded to the PBX (Auto Provisioning > Resource Repository > Default Templates).

• Factory-reset any handset that has been in service before.

  Caution

  A factory reset erases every setting on the phone. Only reset handsets that are unused or that you are deliberately repurposing, never any that are live on another system.

• Have each phone’s vendor, model, and MAC (Media Access Control) address ready.

Step 1: Add each phone in the PBX

Add every phone so the PBX builds a configuration file for each MAC address. Repeat these steps for each handset.

1. Sign in to the PBX web portal and go to Auto Provisioning > Phones.

2. Click Add > Add.

3. In the IP Phone section, identify the device.

   

   • Vendor: Choose Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.

   • Model: Choose your phone model. In this example, choose M3.

   • MAC Address: Type the phone’s MAC address.

     Caution

     The PBX matches each phone to its configuration file by MAC address. Type it exactly as printed on the phone’s label. A wrong or mistyped address means the phone never finds its configuration and provisioning silently fails.

4. In the Options section, set the provisioning details.

   

   • Template: Select a template from the drop-down list.

     Note

     You can use the default template that matches your phone model, or build a custom one. See Create a Custom Auto Provisioning Template for details.

   • Provisioning Link: Generated automatically. It points to where the phone’s configuration file lives.

     Note

     Copy the provisioning link and keep it handy, you need it in Step 2.

5. In the Assign Extension section, choose the extension to bind to this phone.

   

   Tip

   If the extension you want is missing from the drop-down list, it is already tied to another phone. You have two ways forward:

   • Free the extension from its current phone first, see Release an Extension from a Provisioned IP Phone.
   • Keep the existing association and turn on concurrent registration for the extension. By default the PBX lets an extension register with only one SIP endpoint, so enabling concurrent registration lets it register on this phone as well.

6. Click Save.

Step 2: Configure DHCP option 66

On the subnet where the phones live, publish the provisioning link through option 66 on your DHCP server. Option 66 is the DHCP field that tells each phone where to fetch its configuration when it boots.

1. In the PBX web portal, open a phone’s detail page and copy its provisioning link.

   

2. On the DHCP server, set option 66 to the provisioning link. The example below shows a typical router configuration.

   

Result

Note

Some phones reboot on their own. If yours does not, reboot it manually so the new configuration takes effect.

After each phone restarts, it obtains an IP address from the DHCP server, downloads its configuration from the PBX over the provisioning link, and applies the settings automatically. The assigned extension then registers on the handset. To confirm, open Auto Provisioning > Phones in the PBX web portal and check the registration status.