Mass Deployment XML configuration files

Using the XML configuration mechanism, parameters and their values are written into configuration files. These files can be stored on a normal file server (UNIX, Windows or whatever) and will be downloaded into the phone where its database will be updated. The format is based on XML syntax, the definition ("tags")can be taken from [???].
The same mechanism can be also used to trigger the phone for downloading new application software. This deployment process may be applied initially while bringing the phone into operation, but it may be repeatedly used to modify or enhance the configuration during the whole life cycle.

The XML file based deployment requires the following steps:

1. Define the parameters that shall be deployed to the phones (e.g. some parameters have initial or default values that may already fit into the configuration, thus need not to be included in the configuration files).
2. Decide about parameters that are common to a phone model (e.g. you may want to define a certain SW version for all optiPoint 410 standard S phones). These parameters need to be written only into a single file (system wide file) and not in each (device specific) configuration file.
3. Read the MAC address from the label on the phone’s box (or on the bottom side of the phone, if the box is not available). The MAC address is used to identify an individual phone and is therefore part of the device specific configuration file name.
4. Create the required configuration files and put them on your (centralized) file server. There is no stand alone tool available for creating the files, since this normally requires integration into various customer relation management systems or other systems maintaining subscriber data. Creating XML configuration files is quite simple and often existing tools can be easily enhanced to achieve this task. Some management systems (e.g. of application servers) have integrated this feature for various phone types and vendors.
5. Prepare the local area network: The server storing the XML configuration files will have individual IP addresses or DNS names. The optiPoint phones allow to automatically obtain this address by using the DHCP option 43. Make sure that this option is setup correctly before installing phones. This may be done on the DHCP server running on a Windows or UNIX server in the user’s local area network. In smaller networks, the DHCP feature is sometimes provided in CPE (router/modems), which need to be configured.

Some activities are only required once (like setting up the centralized file server), others are required once per user group (like configuring the DHCP option) and others need to be done for each phone (creating the configuration files).

This file based mechanism allows the service provider putting optiPoint SIP phones into operation and maintaining them with parameters and software without user interaction. However, the mechanism supports various scenarios, depending on the customer’s needs and the capability in the user’s local area network. These scenarios are described in more detail here.