Provisioning Polycom Trio 8800s – A Better Way

In a previous blog, I walked through how to ensure Trio meeting room devices received the right configuration file from the Polycom Provisioning Server. Whilst the approach I outlined then is still valid, I’d like to share a much simpler way that minimises the possibility of incorrect configuration making it onto your Trio devices.

The old method relied on creating a dedicated configuration file for each new Trio device introduced to an environment. This would ensure that, on boot up, the Trio would be redirected to the correct Trio configuration file, while any Polycom VVX handsets that leveraged the same Polycom Provisioning Server would use the default master configuration file (000000000000.cfg) to locate their correct configuration. The logic was as follows:

Due to there being a manual step to create a new configuration file every time a Trio device was added to a deployment, it was common to come across Trios installed post initial deployment which were loading incorrect VVX configuration. This was a sure fire way to ensure users did not get a consistent experience when moving between Trio enabled rooms, and in some cases custom configuration designated for VVX devices would break the Trio altogether.

Surely, there has to be a better way?

The Solution

With a slight tweak of the default master configuration file (000000000000.cfg), we can now direct VVX and Trio devices to their own respective configuration file, without the need for custom configuration files per Trio. Prior to this, the following configuration file would be created per Trio MAC address (in this example, 0004F2FCC770.cfg), which would in turn point the Trio at its own specific configuration:

Now, using only the default master configuration file, I am able to specify a different configuration file per device type:

This ensures that whenever a new Trio device is introduced to an environment, there’s no need to manually add additional configuration files to the Polycom Provisioning Server. Also, you will notice in the above screen grab that the location of software updates for different device types has been modified: separate folders for each firmware type. Not a requirement, but does make it easier to tell which config belongs to which device.

Damien Margaritis

Insync Technology