Chapter 8: DHCP Server Administration

Avaya IP Telephones are usually configured remotely to enable downloading the appropriate configuration files. Normal, dynamically assigned IP configurations need a DHCP server to allocate IP addresses to the telephones, as opposed to static assignment. The DHCP server can either be a separate Windows/Linux server or be configured on the same server as the Avaya IP Telephone File Server Application.

The DHCP server also allows the HTTP server address, meaning the IP Telephone File Server Application server, to be set for the telephones.

Important: The most important setting is to ensure that the telephone knows the correct IP address of the HTTP settings file download from the IP Telephone File Server Application server.

For information about DHCP setup and for general administrative information, see the Avaya one-X Deskphone Edition for 9600 Series IP Telephones Administrator Guide or the 4600 Series IP Telephone Administrator Guide as applicable. The guides are available on the Avaya support site http://avaya.com/support.

For more information about setting up the DHCP server on RedHat Linux, see the RedHat manual by typing man dhcp-options in a command shell window.

Essentially you need to:

1. Configure the /etc/dhcpd.conf file to the required settings for your specific IP address assignments. A text editor like KWrite can be helpful.
2. Start the dhcpd daemon and ensure that it starts automatically on reboot.

Here is a simple example of a /etc/dhcpd.conf file:

# A simple config file
 
default-lease-time 720;
 
max-lease-time 86400;
 
option subnet-mask 255.255.0.0;
 
option broadcast-address 192.168.255.255;
 
option routers 192.168.0.254;
 
option domain-name-servers 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2;
 
option tftp-server-name “MV_Server1”;
 
range 192.168.0.10 192.168.0.253
 

To ensure that the dhcpd daemon runs on startup, access the Service Configuration application from the GUI. Select Menu, System Settings, Server Settings, and Services. Verify that the “dhcpd” service is checked.