The Thing With CUCM Device Packs

To add a new phone on CUCM, whether it is a Cisco phone or one of the free softphones on the Internet, you go to Device –> phone. Sometimes the phone you want to add does not exist in the drop box, because the device model is new or the CUCM version is a bit old. What you can do here is to download a Device Pack of the new phone and install it.

A Device Pack is a set of firmwares contained in a single file. Generally, it has the extension “sgn”. A Device Pack for phone X not only contains a load for it, but also loads for many other phone models.

This is important to know because, once you install a Device Pack in CUCM, your existing phones by default will install the new version of their respective loads. I encountered a case where, after installing a Device Pack, some phones no longer worked. So I had to note down the “Active Load” and put it in the Device Defaults page.

CUCM Device Pack download

To download a Device Pack, you need to have a valid Cisco Channel Partner account. A PICA account or a CCO account is not enough.

Once you have a valid Cisco Partner account, you can download the Device Pack for CUCM at the following path:

Downloads Home -> Products -> Unified Communications -> Call Control -> Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) -> Unified Communications Manager Version xxx

cucm-device-package-download-page

CUCM Device Pack compatibility

Not any Device Pack can work for your CUCM installation. You must check the CUCM version you have and download a Device Pack file that has that version in its name.

For example, a Device Pack file name “cmterm-devicepack8.6.2.24123-1.cop.sgn” is compatible with CUCM version 8.6.2.

Installation

I’m going to assume that you have a CUCM cluster of two CUCM servers.

  • install an FTP server on your machine. My favourite is 3CDaemon.
  • set an FTP user account. Set its home directory.
  • Put the Device Pack file in the home directory of your FTP user
  • go to Pub
  • go to OS Administration
  • Install/Upgrade
  • Install Software
  • configure an FTP transfer
    • choose “/” as the file directory
  • Follow the instructions.
  • the installation will take a while.
  • Once finished, do a restart
    • on OS Administration, go to Version then click on Restart
  • Wait until the node fully restarts. You can do a “utils service list” to check if all services are started.
  • Now do the same with the Subscriber.
  • check if you can add the new phone model (Device -> phone)
  • check if your existing phones are working fine, after they downloaded the new loads.

References and further reading

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