How to set the time server with a configuration file on the boot server

You need to edit two files to do this.

Polycom delivers two generic configuration files, phone1.cfg and sip.cfg. Because these are overwritten when you update your software, you should not keep any changes in them. Instead you create a third file that includes your local changes (the file is called local-settings.cfg in this example). You have to instruct the phone to look for this third file by putting its name in a master configuration file, 000000000000.cfg. In Step 6 Method 3 we will also update 000000000000.cfg with an entry that tells the phone to download an additional file that contains the changes unique to that phone. When the phone boots it gets your new settings from these files, and then all the generic settings from the original phone1.cfg and sip.cfg

  1. Create a local-settings.cfg file on the boot server. You can call it what you want. It holds the changes to the generic configuration that apply to the entire site. For now we’ll just put in the time server info.

    1. Copy the following lines and paste them into a new file called local-settings.cfg:
      <sip>
        <tcp_ip>
          <sntp
            tcpIpApp.sntp.address=”0.us.pool.ntp.org”
            tcpIpApp.sntp.gmtOffset=”-21600″
          />
        </tcp_ip>
      </sip>
    2. There are several pools – use the one appropriate for your region – see www.pool.ntp.org.
    3. The gmtOffset is easy to calculate. First find out what your time is relative to UTC, then multiply it by 3600 to convert it to minutes. For the US, EST is -5*3600=-18000 , CST is -6*3600=-21600, PST is -8*3600=-28800.

  2. Edit the 000000000000.cfg file on the boot server to load your local configuration files.

    1. Make a backup copy of 000000000000.cfg so you can restore it later if needed.
    2. Open 000000000000.cfg in your favorite editor and find the string:

      CONFIG_FILES=”phone1.cfg, sip.cfg”
    3. Add to this string a reference to the local-settings.cfg file:

      CONFIG_FILES=”local-settings.cfg, phone1.cfg, sip.cfg”
    4. Unplug the phone power cord and plug it in again. The screen says Welcome, 12 seconds to reboot.
    5. A couple of minutes later the phone screen says Welcome, then with any luck shows the right date and time.

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