All new here

[martynch]

Hi everyone and thanks for providing such a huge forum, I’m completely new to any kind of programming and new here to so unsure where to post my first post.

I’m looking to interrogate a Cisco phone and return its MAC address and then insert it into a URL, could you let me know which forum I need to post a detailed post into and what tools I need to start programming, we have a decent budget at work.

Cheers all.

Martyn

[techgnome]

First, hello and welcome.
secondly, in the future, try to make sure that the subject line has something to do with the post itself. "All New Here" belongs on a post introducing yourself in the chit chat forum... in this case something like "Need to get MAC Address, how to?" would have been more appropriate.
thirdly, this sounds like something that belongs in the networking area (I'll ask a mod to move it for you)

-tg

[martynch]

oops bad start to the forums... Sorry

[gep13]

Hello,

I have to agree that I don't think that this is the right forum, but I am also not sure that the Networking Forum is the correct one either

Let's start out there, and see where we get to.

martynch, I think it might help if you provide more information about the problem. How are you connecting to the phone?

Thanks for the report tg.

Gary

[Doogle]

What Language are you intending to use ?

[martynch]

Thanks for moving this thread and I will try to explain how we connect

OK what we have is Call Manager 7.1 that is running extension mobility, this is where a user is required to log on to their IP phone every morning, they could be located at a different site on a different pc or Wyse Terminal but the user would still get their own extension number when they log in, they will always be connected to the phone by either the PC or Wyse Terminal

Because its easier for a user not to log in this happens quite a lot so we want to make it easier for them to log in by either a web page when their PC starts up, they can enter their username and pin number and that logs them in or some kind of script that will log them in automatically.

The Call Manager is where the users ID and pin are located and the user ID are syn’d with AD

I have found a way of logging into the same phone along with the same PC but not different phones on different PC/Wyse Terminals.

To log in directly using the same phone and pc I just put the following in a browser replacing the MAC ADDRESS, USER and PIN with the relevant credentials: -

http://172.29.2.10:8080/emapp/EMAppServlet?device=<MAC ADDRESS>&userid=<USER&seq=PIN>

The constants are the user ID and Pin but it’s the MAC address that could change every time, as the PC or wyse terminal will be connected directly to the phone the scrip or web page would need to query the phones Mac, not sure if there is another way of doing this but it can be done using CDP which is Cisco Discovery Protocol, this way once its got its MAC address then it can be placed in the above URL and the user is able to log on.

I hope this explains it a little more for you and my apologies for being a little vague earlier.

Thanks for you time

Martyn

[martynch]

What Language are you intending to use ?

I have no idea at the minute, I'm just putting feelers out.

Thanks

[Doogle]

Hi Martyn,

I'm not sure about the Wyse Terminals, I assume they're thin clients, but if the terminal session 'looks like' a normal PC you could use something like the GetAdaptersInfo API which returns, amongst other things, the IP and MAC Addresses of devices connected to network adapters on the device. (You might not even have to use the API with the .Net languages)

Presumably each PC / Wyse Terminal has a network adapter for local connection to the LAN, and either another for the 'phone, or a 'virtual adapter' that looks like a real one to the System (eg if connected via USB), so you could use the IP Address to identify the adapter to which the 'phone was connected (eg if the IP Address of the adapter is not the local IP Address, or 'localhost' then it must be the 'phone) or, perhaps, use the Description returned by the API

I'm guessing here, but I suspect if you want to use CDP you'll have to log on to a Router, in which case you'd be replacing one unknown with another, and / or get so many responses that you'd not be able to distinguish one 'phone from another !

You could try a 'proof of concept' using a WMI script to return the Adapter Information (if you have WMI enabled), there's example scripts here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...(v=vs.85).aspx

If it gets what you want (for both a PC and Wyse Terminal Session) then the API solution should be a goer. (wouldn't recommend WMI for 'production' use as it's a bit slow and 'flakey' in some areas.)

If you've got VB6 laying around there's an example of getting Network Adapter info here: http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?cod...lipaddress.htm

For VB.Net there's something in the Codebank (http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...getadapterinfo) which could (excuse the pun) be adapted.

I'd be interested to know how you get on.

Of course, if all else fails, there's always the low-tec solution; sticky label with the MAC Address on in big letters, stuck to the 'phone

EDIT: This is quite an undertaking for someone 'new to programming' so be prepared to burn the midnight oil and if you do run into problems, well, that's what we're here for.

[martynch]

Thanks for your reply, I will wade through all your suggestions and start at looking for a solution, guess is going to ruin most of my weekends now.

Yep all new to this world but with the help of these forums I will try and get through it, if proves too much of an issue I will just let it go as I do not want to be here day after day annoying people with silly questions all the time.

Thanks for your help so far.

Martyn

[Doogle]

I do not want to be here day after day annoying people with silly questions all the time.

I'm not sure I've seen many silly questions here, just people looking for help in understanding something new.