As I have a couple old, locked down Cisco ATAs, from time to time I have to reset one of them to put into use, but have to play hours figuring out how to reset and how to upgrade them correctly, here is a howto. As DHCP, I’ve used isc-dhcpd
– Press “function” key on the ATA188
– Enter 322873738# (FACTRESET)
– Enter the reset PIN, then #
– Check the dhcpd server’s log on the ATA’s IP address
– If using SIP 3.1.1 firmware, open http://ip_address/dev/
– If using SIP 3.2.1 already, open http://ip_address
– Download ata18x_pack.tgz package, which includes the latest 3.2.1 SIP firmware and the associated Linux tools
– If You want to upgrade the firmware via the built-in Linux tool, simply run sata186us.linux with the required parameter, and dial in the *100*etc keys on the connected phone
– If You want to upgrade the firmware via DHCP, see below. This is also useful if You want to configure / use your ATA via automatic configuration via TFTP.
Required dhcpd.conf parameters:
option tftp-server-name "10.1.1.213";
next-server 10.1.1.213;
Filename is not required. The ATA will automatically look for ata.cfg or atadefault.cfg, in this order.
Required files:
– test.txt – this is the example configuration file
– ptag.dat – this is the descriptor listing
– cfgfmt.linux – this is the actual binary that creates the binary configuration file for the ATA
You can configure the SIP parameters also in ‘test.txt’.
If You’ll be using the ATA behind NAT, it is advisable to set SipRegInterval=60 for keepalives. This puts a small burden on the PBX, but it won’t really hurt.