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Cisco Unified IP Phone 6901 and 6911 Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8.5 (SCCP and SIP)
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Chapter 2 Preparing to Install the Cisco Unified IP Phone on Your Network
Providing Power to the Cisco Unified IP Phone
• Data traffic present on the VLAN supporting phones might reduce the quality of Voice-over-IP
traffic.
• Network security may indicate a need to isolate the VLAN voice traffic from the VLAN data traffic.
You can resolve these issues by isolating the voice traffic onto a separate VLAN. The switch port that
the phone is connected to would be configured to have separate VLANs for carrying:
• Voice traffic to and from the IP phone (auxiliary VLAN on the Cisco Catalyst 6000 series, for
example)
• Data traffic to and from the PC connected to the switch through the access port of the IP phone
(native VLAN)
Isolating the phones on a separate, auxiliary VLAN increases the quality of the voice traffic and allows
a large number of phones to be added to an existing network where there are not enough IP addresses
for each phone.
For more information, refer to the documentation included with a Cisco switch. You can also access
switch information at this URL:
http://cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/index.html
Related Topics
• Understanding the Phone Startup Process, page 2-6
• Configuring Settings on the Cisco Unified IP Phone, page 4-1
Providing Power to the Cisco Unified IP Phone
The Cisco Unified IP Phone 6901 and 6911 can be powered with external power or with Power over
Ethernet (PoE). External power is provided through a separate power supply. PoE is provided by a switch
through the Ethernet cable attached to a phone.
Note When you install a phone that is powered with external power, connect the power supply to the phone
and to a power outlet before you connect the Ethernet cable to the phone. When you remove a phone that
is powered with external power, disconnect the Ethernet cable from the phone before you disconnect the
power supply.
The following sections provide more information about powering a phone:
• Power Guidelines, page 2-4
• Power Outage, page 2-4
• Obtaining Additional Information About Power, page 2-5