Phone firmware update over http

Question

Hi all,
a former colleague of mine told a customer that starting CUCM 9 phone firmware updates would happen over http and no longer using tftp. Now that customer is asking me about it, and I can't seem to find any indication there to support this. Am I not looking in the right places?
Kind regards,
Tom

Answer 1

Hey Guys,
This definetly seems poorly documented. Although you can find a reference here that it does exists.
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/port/9_0_1/CUCM_BK_T98E8963_00_tcp-port-usage-guide-90/CUCM_BK_T98E8963_00_tcp-port-usage-guide-90_chapter_01.html
Endpoint or Gateway
Unified CM
6970 / TCP
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) between master and proxy servers.
HTTP service from the TFTP server to phones and gateways.
Apparently CME folks did a much better work document this. I would file a documentation bug if I were you. 
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucme/admin/configuration/guide/cmeadm/cmesystm.html
HFS Download Support for IP Phone Firmware and Configuration Files
Legacy IP phones access the TFTP server to download firmware and configuration files but Cisco Unified CME 8.8 enhances download support for SIP phone firmware, scripts, midlets, and configuration files using the HTTP File-Fetch Server (HFS) infrastructure.
In Cisco Unified CME 8.8 and later versions, SIP phones use an HTTP server as the primary download service when it is configured and access a TFTP server as a secondary or fallback option when the HTTP server fails.
Note When the HFS download service is not configured, SIP phones automatically access the TFTP server.
The following scenario shows a successful download sequence using an HTTP server:
An IP phone initiates TCP connection to port 6970. A connection is established and an internal request for a file is sent to the HTTP server. The phone receives the HTTP response status code of 200, signifying that the download is successful.
The following scenario shows a download sequence that begins with an IP phone using an HTTP server to download files and ends with a TFTP server as a fallback option when the initial download attempt fails:
An IP phone initiates TCP connection to port 6970 but is unable to establish a connection. The phone contacts the TFTP server and sends an internal request for a file. The file is successfully downloaded from the TFTP server.
The following scenario shows how a download sequence that starts with an HTTP server does not always fall back to the TFTP server when the initial download attempt fails:
An IP phone initiates TCP connection to port 6970. A connection is established and an internal request for a file is sent to the HTTP server. The phone receives the HTTP response status code of 404, signifying that the file requested could not be found. Because the file cannot be found, the request is not sent to the TFTP server.
Note The configuration files are shared by the HTTP and TFTP servers. However, the firmware files are different for each server.
Enabling the Service
To enable the HFS download service, the underlying HTTP server must be enabled first because the HFS infrastructure is built on top of an existing IOS HTTP server.
Router(config)# ip http server
This HFS infrastructure enables multiple HTTP services to co-exist. The HFS download service runs on custom port 6970 but can also share default port 80 with other services. Other HTTP services run on other non-standard ports like 1234.
Router(config)# ip http server
Router(config)# ip http port 1234
The HFS download service starts when the following is configured in telephony-service configuration mode.
For the default port:
Router(config-telephony)# hfs enable
For the custom port:
Router(config-telephony)# hfs enable port 6970
Note If the entered custom HFS port clashes with the underlying IP HTTP port, an error message is displayed and the command is disallowed.
In the following example, port 6970 is configured as the IP HTTP port. When the HFS port is configured with the same value, an error message is displayed to show that the port is already in use.
Router (config)# ip http port 6970
Router (config)# telephony-service
Router (config-telephony)# hfs enable port 6970
rror Message Invalid port number or port in use by other applicationxplanation The HFS port number is already in use by the underlying IP HTTP server.
Recommended Action Use an HFS port that is different from the underlying IP HTTP port.
Note Because IP phones are hardcoded to use port 6970 to connect to Cisco Unified CME, you must search for other applications running on port 6970 and assign them with ports different from 6970 to prevent a failure in connecting to Cisco Unified CME.
For configuration information, see the “SIP: Enabling the HFS Download Service” section.