Avaya Desk Phones blocking return DHCP traffic to data devices.

Issue is that the PC does not obtain DHCP lease information. I found this by checking the port the device was connected and monitoring it's network activity. Impacted devices will show that they did send out a DHCP lease request to (Our DHCP Server) but received 0 bytes of data in return. - This indicates that the request itself went through but the device connected to the Phone did not obtain DHCP leasing information. - This also indicates that this potentially is NOT a networking issue as the network itself is doing everything correctly. - A better way to put this would be "Devices connected to Avaya Phones do not obtain DHCP leasing information" Basically the computer does not have permission to access the internet. It still is connected and would show up as connected.

The ongoing solution/temporary fix is to either bounce the port or power the phone off and on. There are a few reasons why this works.

• When you bounce the port or restart the phone.. It requires the phone itself to obtain DHCP leasing on a Voice VLAN.
• The speed at which the phone obtains this leasing info is much slower than that of a PC
• During the reboot process of the phone, since the phone has no leasing info and has not fully connected.. The phone then becomes a switch and the DHCP request and return information goes through uninterrupted.
• Once that phone obtains it's leasing information. Any device requiring DHCP leasing info on a data VLAN WILL NOT WORK.
• You can verify these findings by disconnecting the ethernet cable from the computer. Cycling the port or restarting the phone.. Waiting for the phone to come back up and connect fully and then connecting the PC. You will achieve the same results (PC will not obtain DHCP leasing information and will not be able to connect to the internet)

I do not believe this to be a networking issue as if it were one the following wouldn't happen.

• I would not be able to see DHCP lease requests
• The internet would not show connectivity
• The phone wouldn't work
• We would not be able to "Resolve" this issue by bouncing the port or restarting the phone.
• Restarting the phone as the "Solution" strongly suggests it isn't a networking issue because one you remove the "problem" out of the equation. Network functionality returns and everything works as intended.

You will have to forgive me if my terminology is wrong. I know the issue. I just don't know how to fix it. I am Level 2 Help desk, not a networking engineer.

Basically everyone is fighting over whos fault this is. I'm just trying to get people to quit calling the help desk.

We use Meraki.