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Whether you’re migrating from On Prem Call Manager to WebEx Calling, Spark to WebEx Calling or just have some old phones you want to add to your WebEx Calling Deployment; you will need to convert your phones from their Enterprise Firmware to the cloud supported MPP firmware.

First you need to go over the steps needed to convert the phones to MPP and make sure that you have all bases covered. There’s nothing worse than starting the task and then realizing halfway that those phones won’t work.

Below is a highlight of the actions needed:

• Check WebEx Calling supported phone models and hardware revision to make sure that the phones will work in a WebEx Calling Deployment.
  
  
• Make sure those phones are running the minimum firmware version required to convert them to the MPP firmware
  
  
• Network Requirements
  
  
• Verify that you have access to the WebEx Control Hub.
  
  
• Make sure you have Webex Calling Licenses.
  
  
• Migration Methods: CUCM Registered Phones vs DHCP (Staging Phones)
  
  
• If you’re phones are not currently registered to a Call Manager, you need access to your DHCP server to setup a few parameters.

1. Devices Support for Firmware Conversion
   

• 7821 & 7861 requires a V03 or later hardware to convert to MPP.
  
  
• 7841 requires a V04 or later Hardware version to convert to MPP
  
  
• You can check the label on the back of the phone to find your version (VID).
  
  

• You can also press on Applications on the phone, and select Status > Product Information and check the full model number.

II. Phones Minimum Version

A. Call Manager Registered Phones

If the phones are running an older version then follow the below steps:

1. Go to CUCM Administration → Device →Phone
   
   
2. Scroll download to Phone Load Parameter and enter the phone load that is relative to your phone type
   
   
   
   3. Scroll further down to Load Server and enter cloudupgrader.webex.com
   
   
   
   4.Save Changes. Apply Configuration and Reset Phone. If the network is configured properly as shown in the next section then the phones should upgrade to the phone load stated in step 2.

B. Staging Phones

If the phones are running an older version, then you need to upgrade the firmware using a DHCP/TFTP server.

III. Network Requirements

If you are using a firewall only, note that filtering traffic using IP addresses is not supported, as the IP addresses used by Cloud Upgrader are dynamic and may change at any time. If you firewall supports URL Filtering, whitelist the following URLs:

• Cloudupgrader.webex.com, ports 6970/443
• Activate cisco.com, ports:443
• Activation.webex.com, ports:443
• *.wbx2.com, ports 443.
  
  

Note that WebEx Calling have other ports and network requirements to successfully register your phones to WebEx Calling, check them out below:

https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/b2exve/Port-Reference-Information-for-Cisco-Webex-Calling

Other Network requirements are DNS, Internet connectivity from Voice VLAN and DHCP Options (if you’re using the Staging Phones migration method).

IV. WebEx Control Hub

Verify that you have access to the WebEx Control hub by logging into admin.webex.com and then into the Organization that you want to register the phones in.

Once you’re logged in, follow the below steps:

1. In the WebEx Control Hub Pane, Click on Users.
2. Make sure that there are users available to associate with the phones you want to convert.
3. If you want to associate them with Workspaces, Click on Workspaces and check if the Workspaces have been created
4. Next step is to have locations configured, Click on Calling and then Locations. You will need to assign of these locations to the phone’s you’re converting over.
   
   A. Assigning Webex Calling License to a User
   1. Go to users and search and click for the user you want to associate the phone to.
   2. Click on Edit Licenses, a new window opens displaying current selected licenses. Click Edit Licenses again
   3. Click on Calling and make sure to Select Webex Calling and Professional under it. Click Next
   4. Select the Location where the user is, the phone number and type in the extension. Click Save.
      
      B. Assigning Webex Calling License to a Workspace
      1. Click on Workspaces à Locate and click on the workspace you want to associate the phone to.
      2. Click on temporarily manage calling settings from the classic view.
      3. A side window opens, Click on Calling and then on Primary. Assign a number to the Workspace.
      
      
      
   5. Next step is to have locations configured, Click on Calling and then Locations. You will need to assign of these locations to the phone’s you’re converting over.
      
      
   1. V. CUCM Registered Phones Migration

1. Login to WebEx Control Hub on admin.webex.com
   
   
2. Under services, click on Updates & Migrations and then on Get Started in Migrate Enterprise Phones to MPP Firmware Box.
   
3. Click on Start New Task under Step 2. Enter Task Name and Select for Migration Option: Generate Device License and add device. Click Next
   
   
   
   
4. Click on Download CSV Template
   
   
   
5. In the CSV file, fill out the following fields:
   1. If the phone belongs to a user, enter the email address of that user under the username. If the phone belongs to a workspace, just enter the workspace name.
   2. For Type, enter USER if this phone belongs to a user, and WORKSPACE, if it belongs to a Workspace.
   3. If the Phone belongs to a Workspace, enter the extension, if User don’t enter anything.
   4. Keep the Phone Number field empty
   5. Device Type Enter IP.
   6. Enter device Model under model.
   7. Enter the Mac Address
   8. Enter the location where the phone will reside.
   9. Save Excel
      
      
6. Back to WebEx Control Hub, on the same page, Click Upload and browse for the CSV file. Select it and Click Open.
   
   
7. Check the Upload Status, if there are 0 errors, Click Next.
   
   
   
   
8. Verify that the device is eligible for conversion, if you get an unknown result, you can still proceed with the migration as it may success. If not Illegible, that means you can’t proceed with phone conversion. Click on Prepare for Migration.
   
   

12. Once the phone takes the MPP firmware, it will convert to a cloud phone and register to the WebEx Calling Org.

13. Same procedure can be done in Bulk if you have a large number of phones.

VI. Staged Phones

1. Complete the same steps 1-9 in the Call Manager Registered Phones.
   
   
2. You need access to the DHCP server that is servicing the phones.
   1. Set DCHP Option 150 to 3.14.211.49
   2. Alternatively, if Option 150 is not used set Option 66 to cloudupgrader.webex.com
   3. You may need to reboot the phones so they can pickup the new DHCP Configuration.
      
      
3. Phones will download the config and upgrade/restart several times.
   
   
4. As soon as the migration process is completed, the phones should register

As always if you have any questions on Webex Calling and would like to schedule a free consultation with us, please reach out to us at sales@lookingpoint.com and we’ll be happy to help!