I bought the EPM module I have set up my Polycom 501 and 601 phones. For some reason none of the phones set up through the EPM are able to set the time off an NTP server. Any of the phones I configured manually work just fine.
Any ideas here?
After lots and lots of reading, I think I found the solution / workaround. This also applies to a 501 / 601 that is constantly rebooting itself.
For some reason DHCP is the culprit. I had no end of configuration issues with DHCP enabled, once I switched to static IP’s and rebooted the phones everything worked just fine. This was the case for all but one 501 phone. For that one I had to force a reset of the firmware. Here is another hard to find trick for Polycoms (not sure which ones this works on but try). Use the key sequence to get into the setup mode when your phone reboots (on the 501 it is 4 - 6 - 8 - *). When the phone asks for your password DO NOT enter 456, instead enter the MAC addr of your phone. Note no spaces, no dashs or periods. All letters much be in lower case. If this works your phone will reset everything.
With that said, I offer this insight:
Putting the phones into the pool will reset their IP addresses randomly once the IP lease runs out. The DHCP server’s options CAN be set to never give out the same IP address even if requested. While most phones will request the old IP address again during renegotiation, some don’t. Also, if the IP address they get after the request is not their current address, the phone should reset/reboot. You can overcome this problem by assigning static IP addresses in DHCP using the MAC address of the phone.
Whenever I set up a DHCP server in a network with phones, I always create a special section just for the phones. This area will include things like Option 66 and Option 120 settings specifically for whatever phones I’m using. It may also include special “Next-Server” and other options that make the phones’ lives easier. It maximizes your flexibility and give you the central control that you want from DHCP.