What is Zero Config in Grandstream UCM series and how to configure Zero Config in UCM

What is Zero Config

The UCM630X provides a Plug and Play mechanism to auto-provision the Grandstream SIP devices in a zero-configuration manner by generating an XML config file and having the phone download it within the LAN area. This provisioning method will ease the deployment of Grandstream SIP devices, especially in a mass deployment scenario.

There are 3 layers for endpoint configuration in Zero Config –

Global (lowest priority)
Model
End-device (highest priority)

Bear in mind that whenever there is an overlapping configuration, UCM will always take the highest configuration.

By default, Zero Config will always be enabled, and 3 types of auto-provisioning will be in use –

SIP Subscribe (using SIP NOTIFY message to push the config file to the phone)
DHCP OPTION 66 (Only in Route mode. Phone will send a DHCP discover to UCM, and UCM will return with a DHCP OFFER with the zero config path in Option 66. And the phone will download the config file through this path)
mDNS (Phone will send a mDNS query to get the TFTP server address, and UCM will respond with its address. The phone will then send a TFTP request to download the config file from UCM)

Since UCM is not a router, I will never encourage anyone to use UCM in route mode. Hence, most of the time, we will be using SIP Subscribe method.

How to configure Zero Config

Here is an example of how I configure two parameters through the model template –

Changing the Web UI language of my GRP2616 from English to Chinese
Changing the Time Format to 24 hours using P-code

Make sure that Enable Zero Config is checked under UCM web UI > Other Features > Zero Config > Zero Config Settings. If any other subnets will need to use zero config, make sure you insert the subnet under Subnet Whitelist.

2. Create a model template for GRP2616 under Zero Config > Model Templates. Make sure you set this template as Active. Click on Save and Options will be shown.

3. Go to Zero Config, find the GRP2616 and click on Edit. Make sure you move the newly created model template to the right-hand side.

4. There are several settings in the dropdown list from Options. Since we are changing the language, we navigate to Localization, and set the Language from ‘English’ to ‘Simplified Chinese’.

5. Now we will change the time format. You can easily use the dropdown list from the Time Format field, like how we do it for Language. But let us try to use P-code. Each option in the phone’s setting bears a P-code (Parameter Code). For example, P122 is the P-code for Time Display Format. And it can be configured to a value of ‘0’, which represents 12 hours; or ‘1’, which represents 24 hours. To find the mapping of the P-code, you can download the config template here. Click Add New Field under Custom Parameters, and key in ‘P122’ as name and ‘1’ under Value. Click on Save.

6. Now go back to the zero-config main page and click on the ‘Update’ button for that device. Click OK on the popup page. You will see a small popup saying ‘Sending Notify… Please wait a while.’