Setting Up VLAN and QoS for VOIP on SG200-18

[mallardnathan]

We recently purchased the SG200-18 smart switch to replace a Netgear unmanaged switch. We're moving our phone service to VOIP through our local ISP as well. 

I've currently got the VOIP phone plugged into Port 17 on the SG200-18 (it's a Grandstream cordless VOIP phone).

I want to put the VOIP phone on a separate VLAN from the rest of the network and optimize the QoS settings so that the VOIP phone has exceptional audio quality even during intense network traffic.

Here's my questions:

1. Do I need to adjust anything on the type of port for Port 17 (since it looks like some form of Combo port)?

2. How do I go about isolating the VOIP phone on it's own VLAN (I'm seeing VLAN and Voice VLAN settings, not sure which one to use; I tried setting a VLAN and broke Internet connectivity to the phone until I went in and removed it)?

3. Do I need to adjust any QoS settings on the switch to better optimize the VOIP phone?

A couple of additional questions about the GS200-18 in general:

1. Do I need to adjust any of the System Time Settings on the switch? I'm in Central Time.

2. Do I need to adjust any of the Green Ethernet/Energy Saving settings or should I stick with the defaults?

Also, a couple of "getting started" side questions to Cisco:

1. I've registered a My Cisco account. What do I need to do to register my switch with Cisco and associate it with my My Cisco account?

2. What are the benefits of taking out a Cisco Small Business Support Contract, and about how much would it cost on the SG200-18 (I ordered it from Provantage)? I'm curious to see if it's worth the money.

Here's my "specs":

Switch: SG200-18

VOIP phone: Grandstream DP715 and 710 expandable handsets

Plugged into: Port 17 on the SG200-18

ISP: Local ISP (Direclynx)

Connection type: 3M down/500k up DSL, moving to a wireless connection coming up which will give us faster speeds

VOIP backend provider: VOIP Innovations

Router: Apple Airport Extreme AC model (I run all Macs and iOS devices and OS X Server on the network, so using the Apple router makes setup easier, since it doesn't QoS, trying to QoS and VLAN at the switch level)

Thanks everyone!

[chrebert]

Hello,

Lots of different questions here so I'll try to make sure I don't miss anything.

1. Do I need to adjust anything on the type of port for Port 17 (since it looks like some form of Combo port)?

   The way the combo ports work is you can either use the SFP slot for a fiber connection or the copper ethernet port, but not both at the same time.  Other then that they just function as normal network ports.

2. How do I go about isolating the VOIP phone on it's own VLAN (I'm seeing VLAN and Voice VLAN settings, not sure which one to use; I tried setting a VLAN and broke Internet connectivity to the phone until I went in and removed it)?

   It sounds like you created the VLAN correctly and assigned the phone, however there wasn't anything doing any routing for that VLAN.  You would need to have a VLAN capable router or a layer 3 switch so that something would act as the default gateway for the voice VLAN and route the traffic for you.  Since there was nothing like this your phone lost it's connectivity to the internet when you placed it in the new VLAN.  I don't think the Airport is VLAN capable, but we will come back to that.

3. Do I need to adjust any QoS settings on the switch to better optimize the VOIP phone?

   Once you have a seperate VLAN setup for the phone properly you only have to tell the switch what your Auto Voice VLAN is going to be and it will automatically apply recommended QoS settings for the Voice VLAN and prioritize the voice traffic.  There are ways to do this manually and even with the phone in the same VLAN however the are considerably more complicated.

1. Do I need to adjust any of the System Time Settings on the switch? I'm in Central Time.

   The system time isn't always very important.  You can set the correct time zone, however you should know the switch does not have a battery in it to keep track of time, so if/when it reboots or loses power the clock will reset.  If you would like the switch to maintain accurate time you should setup an NTP server so the time is automatically updated from the internet.  The switch will keep your timezone settings once you save them.  Time is mostly important for logging and things like that, so you can configure it if you like but it is not necessary.

2. Do I need to adjust any of the Green Ethernet/Energy Saving settings or should I stick with the defaults?

   Green ethernet simply reduces the power usage of the switch slightly, so unless you are having odd issues where ports are disconnecting, I would just leave them at the defaults.

1. I've registered a My Cisco account. What do I need to do to register my switch with Cisco and associate it with my My Cisco account?

   There isn't really a way to associate your Small Business devices with your Cisco account.  If you ever call in for technical support we will use your Cisco account and your serial number to create a support case, but even then they aren't linked together.  If you decide to buy a support contract, that will be linked to your switch's S/N and your Cisco ID, so in a way that would associate them together.  Devices being associated with Cisco accounts is something more common with Enterprise equipment, and mainly has to do with technical support cases.

2. What are the benefits of taking out a Cisco Small Business Support Contract, and about how much would it cost on the SG200-18 (I ordered it from Provantage)? I'm curious to see if it's worth the money.

   There are a few advantages to a Support Contact.  Your switch comes with a Limited Lifetime warranty that includes 1 year of technical support and return to factory hardware.  With a service contract you get 3 years of technical support and next business day Advanced Replacement of the switch if it need to be replaced.  I just did a quick google search, and it looks like a contract (part #CON-SBS-SVC2) costs about $50.

So there are a few other things to consider however.

As a frame of reference the average VOIP call uses about 64 - 128 kbps max.

Since you don't have a VLAN capable router or a layer 3 switch, a separate voice VLAN may not be an option.   You also mention that the Apple Airport does not do QoS, meaning we will only be prioritizing the voice traffic while it is on the switch.  When it is passed off to the Airport to be routed out to the internet all of the QoS settings will be lost, and normal network traffic will get the same priority as voice, since that is all up to the Airport.

With one phone the hassle of getting more equipment and setting up advanced QoS isn't really worth it, especially if the link to the internet isn't going to be participating in QoS.

One last thing I wanted to mention is you are switching to a wireless internet connection.  I would ask them how their latency and jitter is, as these two network statistics greatly effect voice quality, and usually wireless performs worse when it comes to voice traffic.

I hope this information helps, if you have any more questions just let me know.

Thank you for choosing Cisco,

Christopher Ebert - Network Support Engineer 

Cisco Small Business Support Center

[mallardnathan]

Thanks for the response! I have a few additional questions/comments I'll share with you:

1. Sounds good about the combo port. So I can just plug the VOIP phone in and go with it, correct?

2. Thanks for the info on the VLAN/QoS. I don't believe the Apple Airport Router supports VLAN either. 

My setup primarily works like this:

Three Macs, DAVIS Weather Station using WeatherLink IP, StarDot NetCam XL (configed as a WeatherBug HD Cam), TiVo, and a single Grandstream VOIP phone (with a couple of handsets that feed off the base) plugged into the SG200-18. The three Macs have Wi-Fi fallback connections in the event the Ethernet connections are lost, plus I have an iPhone, iPad, and Roku Streaming Stick that connect over Wi-Fi to the Airport.

So provided my network setup wouldn't cause too much interference with the VOIP phone, I'd rather not invest in additional network gear right now if I didn't need to. My office is out of my home office, so we're mainly using this as a replacement for home phone service to replace our old landline phone service. While I may do some business calls over the VOIP phone, 99% of my business calls come over my iPhone, and I have a booster in my home office that gives me good in building coverage.

In the event I considered upgrading my router to a Cisco Small Business Router that fully supports VLAN/QoS to connect to the SG200-18, what would be a good model to look into? Additionally, could I somehow set the Apple Airport to work with the Cisco Small Business Router so I could use it as the Wi-Fi access point, but bridge something so it doesn't cause a double NAT? The Apple Airport gives us excellent wireless performance, so I'd hate to give it up 100%. I may consider getting a Cisco Small Business Router to use in conjunction with it down the road if I wanted to improve the routing backend with the VLAN/QoS stuff, but right now, I may not need it. I would want it to have Gigabit Ethernet on it. Dual WAN wouldn't be necessary since we only have one feed coming in. VPN is mice but not 100% necessary since we have VPN running on a server in house and subscribe to a cloud VPN service.

3. Thanks for the info on the NTP/Time Settings. If I wanted to go ahead and try setting up NTP, how hard is it and what would I need to do? I may want to give it a quick try.

4. Sounds good about the Green Ethernet settings. I'll leave them all as default.

5. Sounds good about not needing to tie my switch to my Cisco Account. Do I still need to complete some form of product registration with Cisco before calling into Support?

6. Thanks for the info on the Service Contract. Is that something I'd need to order directly from Cisco, or would I get that from my Cisco Partner (Provantage)? After the three years is up, do you offer renewals or does it just lapse? Is there a certain timeframe I have to purchase the Service Contract in before I'm ineligible?

7. Sounds good about how much data VOIP calls use. Doesn't sound like too much. :-)

8. Thanks for the information about the Wireless Internet. I'll ask my ISP. They run a bunch of VOIP lines over Wireless Internet connections, so I guess the voice quality and jitter is OK. They haven't received any major complaints on it. Our DSL lines here are pretty old and getting worse by the day, so from what they've showed me, their wireless is a better connection over what we can get on DSL, but I'll still double check.

Thanks again for your assistance!

[chrebert · Accepted solution]

Hello,

I will just go through the list again:

1. Sounds good about the combo port. So I can just plug the VOIP phone in and go with it, correct?

Yes, just plug into the ethernet on the combo port and it will work. 

2. Not a question, but I agree, Apple likely does not support QoS or VLAN.

3. Thanks for the info on the NTP/Time Settings. If I wanted to go ahead and try setting up NTP, how hard is it and what would I need to do? I may want to give it a quick try.

To setup NTP on the switch is fairly straightforward.  Go to Administration >> Time Settings >> System Time and check the boxes to enable Main Clock Source (SNTP)

Then switch to the SNTP settings page and add a new entry with the IP address of an NTP server.  There is a list of NTP servers available here:

http://www.pool.ntp.org/en/

You will also need to make sure the switches Administrative Default Gateway is set correctly (it should be set the to default gateway, probably the Airport) so the switch can contact the NTP server.  That option is set under Administration >> Management Interface >> IPv4 Interface.  Change the default gateway to user defined and enter the IP of your Airport (or whatever your default gateway is for your network)

4. Sounds good about the Green Ethernet settings. I'll leave them all as default.

Yeah, best to just leave those unless you have any odd issues with ports disconnecting, those can sometimes be caused by Green Ethernet, but if there is nothing like that leave it on and save a few watts.

5. Sounds good about not needing to tie my switch to my Cisco Account. Do I still need to complete some form of product registration with Cisco before calling into Support?

There isn't any registration for support.  The only thing we would have you do is create a Cisco Account, but you have already done that, so if/when you call into support you just need your Cisco ID (also called a CCOID sometimes) and the serial number of your switch.

6. Thanks for the info on the Service Contract. Is that something I'd need to order directly from Cisco, or would I get that from my Cisco Partner (Provantage)? After the three years is up, do you offer renewals or does it just lapse? Is there a certain timeframe I have to purchase the Service Contract in before I'm ineligible?

 Support Contracts are purchased through a Cisco Partner, or you can get them online from CDW or Newegg for example.  Basically you have until your current support expires to purchase a new contract.  For example, right now your switch comes with 1 year of technical support.  You can only buy a contract while that is still active.  Once your three year contract is about to run out you are in the same situation.  You can renew it before it expires, however if you let is lapse you won't be able to put another contract on it.  Contracts are not my specialty however, so you may want to check with your partner for the complete details.

7. Sounds good about how much data VOIP calls use. Doesn't sound like too much. :-)

I would agree, one voice call isn't much traffic.  From everything you have described you probably won't run into any issues, although of course I can't guarantee that.

8.  Since it is from your provider and they specifically mentioned VOIP I'd say you'll be fine there. 

You had also asked about possibly using your Airport as an access point behind a small business router.  I want to say that is possible, a lot of wireless routers have an option to put them into access point only mode or something like that, but you would have to check with Apple on how to do that. 

As far as a Small Business router if you decide to upgrade for VLAN or QoS options I would recommend the RV180, or possibly the RV320.  Both of those models are available with or without wireless depending on what you decide to do with the Airport.

I think I got all the questions, but if not just let me know,

Christopher Ebert - Network Support Engineer

Cisco Small Business Support Center

*please rate helpful posts*

[mallardnathan]

Sounds good. Thanks for all the info! I'll try the NTP settings, as well as all your other answers sound great. I have a couple more side questions, then I should be all set.

If I decide to upgrade to a small business router, the RV180 looks pretty good. It's affordable and seems to have a lot of features on it.

I'm talking with my contact at Apple, and he's telling me how to put the Airport into access point only mode in the event I decided to go with the RV180.

Here's my questions about that:

1. Does the RV180 support NAT-PMP or UPnP? I would want to ensure it would work OK with iCloud's Back to my Mac without any issues (see: http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/back-to-my-mac/) since the Airport works flawlessly with it right now.

2. Could I also configure all the port forwarding so it works OK with OS X Server (see: http://www.apple.com/support/osxserver/). We keep OS X Server running on the network and are working to put it through the firewall for outside access.

3. If I got the RV180, how hard would it be to put the VOIP phone on its own VLAN? Just create a VLAN and specify auto voice VLAN like you mentioned above?

4. Question about the VPN features on the RV180. Does it run over Cisco IPSec, and could I connect an iOS device to the RV180 VPN running on it using the built-in Cisco IPSec client on iOS?

Also, just tried the SNTP settings. Got it syncing with a US server. Two quick questions about that:

1. What Time Zone Setting do I need to use for Central Time? -5:00? That's what I've got selected now.

2. Do I need to configure the Daylight Savings Settings?

Thanks again for all your help!

[chrebert]

Hello again,

Sorry for the long delay, let's see what I can come up with.

1. Does the RV180 support NAT-PMP or UPnP? I would want to ensure it would work OK with iCloud's Back to my Mac without any issues (see: http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/back-to-my-mac/) since the Airport works flawlessly with it right now.

  The RV180 does support UPnP.  I myself don't use any Apple services, however I do know an engineer that has a 180 and uses this service, and he didn't have to do anything special to make it work.

2. Could I also configure all the port forwarding so it works OK with OS X Server (see: http://www.apple.com/support/osxserver/). We keep OS X Server running on the network and are working to put it through the firewall for outside access.

   You can absolutely configure port forwarding on the RV180 to access your server over the internet.  As long as you know what port numbers you need it is an easy process.  If you ever decided to get a second public WAN IP the RV180 can also do one-to-one NAT.

3. If I got the RV180, how hard would it be to put the VOIP phone on its own VLAN? Just create a VLAN and specify auto voice VLAN like you mentioned above?

   To put the phone on it's own VLAN you would simply create a new VLAN in the 180 and the switch, then configure the auto-voice-VLAN setting on the switch.  You may also need to manually configure the port connected to the phone to be in the correct VLAN.  Then you configure the port connecting the 180 to the switch as a trunk carrying both VLANs.  When/if you do get the RV180, we can help you set that up if you do have any issues.

4. Question about the VPN features on the RV180. Does it run over Cisco IPSec, and could I connect an iOS device to the RV180 VPN running on it using the built-in Cisco IPSec client on iOS?

    The RV180 doesn't specifically support the Cisco VPN client, however there are ways to setup the Client-to-Gateway IPSEC options to work with the built in Cisco VPN client on Macs.  PPTP is also an option for Macs needing VPN access.

1. What Time Zone Setting do I need to use for Central Time? -5:00? That's what I've got selected now.

   From a quick web search it looks like Central is -5:00.

2. Do I need to configure the Daylight Savings Settings?

   Daylight savings is up to you.  The clock on the switch is really only useful for having correct timestamps on log messages, so an hour off isn't a huge deal, but if you want you can enable DST settings.  Since you are in the US (I'm just guesing from Central time zone) you can just enable DST and select the USA radio button, the dates and offsets are already programmed into the switch.

Hope everything works well for you,

Christopher Ebert - Advanced Network Support Engineer

Cisco Small Business Support Center

*please rate helpful posts*

[mallardnathan]

Thanks for all your info! Much appreciated! I believe I'm good to go for now. It's good to know that the RV180 does UPnP, VLAN, and Port Forwarding OK. Once I get it, I'll holler back here if I need any additional assistance setting it up.

Sounds good about the VPN stuff as well. If I decide to use any, I'll holler back here if I need assistance setting it up.

On the Time Zone/DST stuff, I did get this one resolved. Central Time is actually -6:00, plus you do have to enable the DST option in order for it to be accurate. Doing those works perfectly.

Thanks again for all your help!