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Cisco CME Configuration

This is the challenges, commands, and process used to configure Cisco Call Manager Express (CME) running on a 2800 router with 7940 series IP phones.

Switch Configuration

My switch is a 24 port Cisco 3500XL with inline power (POE before POE). It is running a very old version of IOS (12.4) so some commands might be different on newer versions.

Trunk Port to Connect to CME Router

The trunk port will be used to connect to port Fa0/0 on the router running CME

  1. enable
  2. configure terminial
  3. interface FastEthernet 0/1
  4. description CONNECTION TO ROUTER-ON-A-STICK CME ROUTER
  5. switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
  6. switchport mode trunk
  7. switchport trunk native vlan 110
  8. end
  9. write

VLAN Configuration

  1. enable
  2. vlan database
  3. vlan 115
  4. vlan 115 name VOICE
  5. vlan 110
  6. vlan 110 name DATA
  7. apply
  8. exit
  9. write

Assigning Switchport to a VLAN

  1. enable
  2. configure terminial
  3. interface fastEthernet 0/2
  4. switchport mode access
  5. switchport access vlan 110
  6. switchport voice vlan 115
Note

To configure multiple switchports at once use interface range <interface>

Router Configuration

I have a Cisco 2800 router running IOS version 12.4

Resetting Router Password

Its been a few years since I've used this router and i don't remember the password. I roughly followed this guide to reset the password. These steps can also be used to factory reset the router if you do the opposite of what the warning says at step 8.

  1. Turn off the router with the power switch
  2. Remove the CF card and power on the router
  3. The router will boot into ROMMON mode
  4. Type confreg 0x2142 at the rommon 1> prompt
    • This will bypass the startup config where the passwords are stored
  5. Insert the CF card and type boot at the rommon 2> prompt
    • The router will boot and ignore the saved config
  6. Type no after each setup question, or press Ctrl-C to skip the initial setup procedure
  7. Type enable at the Router> prompt
  8. Type configure memory or copy startup-config running-config in order to copy the nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) into memory
    • Danger

      Do not enter copy running-config startup-config or write at this point. These commands erase your startup configuration

  9. Type configure terminal
  10. Type enable secret <password> to change the enable secret password
  11. Issue the no shutdown command on every interface that you use
  12. Type config-register 0x2102
  13. Press Ctrl-z or end in order to leave the configuration mode
  14. Type write memory or copy running-config startup-config in order to commit the changes

Disabling annoying log messages

One of the fans on my router is broken, which causes an error message to be sent to the console roughly every 15 seconds. This gets very annoying after a while.

To disable logging errors to console:

  1. Type configure terminial to enter global configuration mode
  2. Type no logging console to disable logging to console
  3. Type exit to leave global configuration mode
  4. Type write memory to save the configuration

Setting the correct time

Make sure you use 24 hour time (military time) when setting the clock

  1. enable
  2. clock set <hh:mm:ss> <day> <month> <year>
    • In my case the command was: clock set 23:44:00 18 April 2026
  3. write

Interface & VLAN Configuration

I will be using interface Fa0/0 to connect to the phones. VLAN 115 will be the voice VLAN and 110 will be the data VLAN.

  1. enable
  2. configure terminial
  3. interface FastEthernet 0/0 enters configuration more for interface Fa0/0
  4. no ip address remove IP address from interface
  5. interface fa0/0.115 enters configuration more for interface Fa0/0.115
  6. description ROUTER INTERFACE VOICE VLAN add description to interface
  7. encapsulation dot1q 115
  8. ip address 192.168.115.1 255.255.255.0 sets the interfaces IP address
  9. exit
  10. interface fa0/0.110 enters configuration more for interface Fa0/0.110
  11. description ROUTER INTERFACE FOR DATA VLAN add description to interface
  12. encapsulation dot1q 110 native
  13. ip address 192.168.110.1 255.255.255.0
  14. end
  15. write

DHCP Server Configuration

The DHCP server will be configured to give addresses on the 192.168.110.0 network. I used this guide.
To configure the DHCP server:

  1. enable
  2. configure terminial
  3. ip dhcp excluded-address 192.168.115.1 192.168.115.10
  4. ip dhcp excluded-address 192.168.110.1 192.168.110.10
  5. ip dhcp pool VOICE-POOL
  6. network 192.168.115.0 255.255.255.0
  7. default-router 192.168.115.1
  8. option 150 ip <ip-address>
    • This tells the phones the address of the TFTP server to download configs from.
    • This should be the CME router's IP address
  9. dns-server 192.168.115.1
  10. exit
  11. ip dhcp pool DATA-POOL
  12. network 192.168.110.0 255.255.255.0
  13. default-router 192.168.110.1
  14. dns-server 192.168.110.1
  15. end
  16. write

TFTP Server Configuration

The TFTP server is how the phones will get their configurations as well as ringtones or any other files they need. The specific file names and paths can vary depending on the version you have, make sure to double check they are correct. The phones are very picky about it.

  1. enable
  2. configure terminial
  3. tftp-server flash:7940-7960/8-1-1/P00308010100.bin
  4. tftp-server flash:7940-7960/8-1-1/P00308010100.loads
  5. tftp-server flash:7940-7960/8-1-1/P00308010100.sb2
  6. tftp-server flash:7940-7960/8-1-1/P00308010100.sbn
  7. end
  8. write

Telephony Service Configuration

Finally getting to the good part!

  1. enable
  2. configure terminial
  3. telephony-service
  4. max-ephones 10
  5. max-dn 20
  6. ip source address 192.168.115.1

Resources

how to configure cme.pdf
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express System Administrator Guide
Configuring VLANs on Cisco Switches