Setting Up VLAN and QoS for VOIP on SG200-18

Question

We recently purchased the SG200-18 smart switch to replace a Netgear unmanaged switch. We're moving our phone service to VOIP through our local ISP as well. 
I've currently got the VOIP phone plugged into Port 17 on the SG200-18 (it's a Grandstream cordless VOIP phone).
I want to put the VOIP phone on a separate VLAN from the rest of the network and optimize the QoS settings so that the VOIP phone has exceptional audio quality even during intense network traffic.
Here's my questions:
1. Do I need to adjust anything on the type of port for Port 17 (since it looks like some form of Combo port)?
2. How do I go about isolating the VOIP phone on it's own VLAN (I'm seeing VLAN and Voice VLAN settings, not sure which one to use; I tried setting a VLAN and broke Internet connectivity to the phone until I went in and removed it)?
3. Do I need to adjust any QoS settings on the switch to better optimize the VOIP phone?
A couple of additional questions about the GS200-18 in general:
1. Do I need to adjust any of the System Time Settings on the switch? I'm in Central Time.
2. Do I need to adjust any of the Green Ethernet/Energy Saving settings or should I stick with the defaults?
Also, a couple of "getting started" side questions to Cisco:
1. I've registered a My Cisco account. What do I need to do to register my switch with Cisco and associate it with my My Cisco account?
2. What are the benefits of taking out a Cisco Small Business Support Contract, and about how much would it cost on the SG200-18 (I ordered it from Provantage)? I'm curious to see if it's worth the money.
Here's my "specs":
Switch: SG200-18
VOIP phone: Grandstream DP715 and 710 expandable handsets
Plugged into: Port 17 on the SG200-18
ISP: Local ISP (Direclynx)
Connection type: 3M down/500k up DSL, moving to a wireless connection coming up which will give us faster speeds
VOIP backend provider: VOIP Innovations
Router: Apple Airport Extreme AC model (I run all Macs and iOS devices and OS X Server on the network, so using the Apple router makes setup easier, since it doesn't QoS, trying to QoS and VLAN at the switch level)
Thanks everyone!

Answer 1

Hello,
Lots of different questions here so I'll try to make sure I don't miss anything.
1. Do I need to adjust anything on the type of port for Port 17 (since it looks like some form of Combo port)?
   The way the combo ports work is you can either use the SFP slot for a fiber connection or the copper ethernet port, but not both at the same time.  Other then that they just function as normal network ports.
2. How do I go about isolating the VOIP phone on it's own VLAN (I'm seeing VLAN and Voice VLAN settings, not sure which one to use; I tried setting a VLAN and broke Internet connectivity to the phone until I went in and removed it)?
   It sounds like you created the VLAN correctly and assigned the phone, however there wasn't anything doing any routing for that VLAN.  You would need to have a VLAN capable router or a layer 3 switch so that something would act as the default gateway for the voice VLAN and route the traffic for you.  Since there was nothing like this your phone lost it's connectivity to the internet when you placed it in the new VLAN.  I don't think the Airport is VLAN capable, but we will come back to that.
3. Do I need to adjust any QoS settings on the switch to better optimize the VOIP phone?
   Once you have a seperate VLAN setup for the phone properly you only have to tell the switch what your Auto Voice VLAN is going to be and it will automatically apply recommended QoS settings for the Voice VLAN and prioritize the voice traffic.  There are ways to do this manually and even with the phone in the same VLAN however the are considerably more complicated.
1. Do I need to adjust any of the System Time Settings on the switch? I'm in Central Time.
   The system time isn't always very important.  You can set the correct time zone, however you should know the switch does not have a battery in it to keep track of time, so if/when it reboots or loses power the clock will reset.  If you would like the switch to maintain accurate time you should setup an NTP server so the time is automatically updated from the internet.  The switch will keep your timezone settings once you save them.  Time is mostly important for logging and things like that, so you can configure it if you like but it is not necessary.
2. Do I need to adjust any of the Green Ethernet/Energy Saving settings or should I stick with the defaults?
   Green ethernet simply reduces the power usage of the switch slightly, so unless you are having odd issues where ports are disconnecting, I would just leave them at the defaults.
1. I've registered a My Cisco account. What do I need to do to register my switch with Cisco and associate it with my My Cisco account?
   There isn't really a way to associate your Small Business devices with your Cisco account.  If you ever call in for technical support we will use your Cisco account and your serial number to create a support case, but even then they aren't linked together.  If you decide to buy a support contract, that will be linked to your switch's S/N and your Cisco ID, so in a way that would associate them together.  Devices being associated with Cisco accounts is something more common with Enterprise equipment, and mainly has to do with technical support cases.
2. What are the benefits of taking out a Cisco Small Business Support Contract, and about how much would it cost on the SG200-18 (I ordered it from Provantage)? I'm curious to see if it's worth the money.
   There are a few advantages to a Support Contact.  Your switch comes with a Limited Lifetime warranty that includes 1 year of technical support and return to factory hardware.  With a service contract you get 3 years of technical support and next business day Advanced Replacement of the switch if it need to be replaced.  I just did a quick google search, and it looks like a contract (part #CON-SBS-SVC2) costs about $50.
So there are a few other things to consider however.
As a frame of reference the average VOIP call uses about 64 - 128 kbps max.
Since you don't have a VLAN capable router or a layer 3 switch, a separate voice VLAN may not be an option.   You also mention that the Apple Airport does not do QoS, meaning we will only be prioritizing the voice traffic while it is on the switch.  When it is passed off to the Airport to be routed out to the internet all of the QoS settings will be lost, and normal network traffic will get the same priority as voice, since that is all up to the Airport.
With one phone the hassle of getting more equipment and setting up advanced QoS isn't really worth it, especially if the link to the internet isn't going to be participating in QoS.
One last thing I wanted to mention is you are switching to a wireless internet connection.  I would ask them how their latency and jitter is, as these two network statistics greatly effect voice quality, and usually wireless performs worse when it comes to voice traffic.
I hope this information helps, if you have any more questions just let me know.
Thank you for choosing Cisco,
Christopher Ebert - Network Support Engineer 
Cisco Small Business Support Center