Cisco 8841

FreePBX Endpoints
1

I’m new to FreePBX (and phone systems in general) but I’m setting up a new system for a local school and need some help. The school currently has a Cisco system that never really worked so I said that a FreePBX solution would be great. I’m in the process of setting it up but have run into a snag - Cisco 8841 phones.

I did some research before purchasing the FreePBX system and saw that Cisco was supported. I’ve also been a user of the 8841 phones in multiple companies over the years and assumed (I know) that they were pretty standard and should work with FreePBX.

Reading some of the other posts here I’m beginning to realize that the 8841 phones are the devil and I shouldn’t use them. However, the school has ~20 units in use today and I would like to not have to purchase new phones if at all possible.

Does anyone have a step-by-step guide on how to get the 8841 phones working with FreePBX 16? I’ve been a computer programmer for 30 years so I’m pretty comfortable with Linux servers and XML files, but I just don’t really know where to start with phone systems.

Thanx!
Richard

2

If the 8841’s are anything like the 79XX series, you will need to set up a TFTP server.
I’m not sure on your extent of knowledge, but i’ll just generalized a few things.

  • DHCP for the phones, DHCP setting’s Call Manager should point to the new server’s IP
  • You should be able to set up the freepbx server to be a TFTP server.
  • AFAIK, the default directory on freepbx is: /tftpboot
  • The files in the above directory should say something like SEP001EXXXXXX.xml. The info after SEP is the mac address of the phone (you can create this)
    e.g. SEP001EE7A33664.xml
  • The file will need to be opened in notepad/notepad ++
  • Each file will need to be edited according to each phone
  • ProcessNodeName in that file should be the IP of your freepbx server
  • SipPort/securedSipPort should match your server settings accordingly

Details can be found here: Asterisk phone cisco 79x1 xml configuration files for SIP - VoIP-Info

This is under the assumption that your model works the same as a 79xx.

3

They are not. 30 seconds of Google searching could have told you this and you would not have needed to waste your time typing your incorrect response.

Seriously, why bother doing a quick search to check your understanding when you can make an assumption?

anyway…

https://wiki.freepbx.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=216182415

Requires you to get the multiplatform SIP firmware loaded if it’s not already; if you’ve got the CallManager firmware and can’t convert you are probably out of luck.

1 Like
4

Thanks for all the suggestions. However, looking into it a bit further it appears as if I have the “enterprise” phones and not the 3PCC version. :frowning_face: So, I think my only option is to purchase new phones. :cry:

Oh well. Another reason to hate Cisco. :grimacing:

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