Multimedia Communication Portfolio Media Application Server Meet me audio conferencing Basics NN MCP 2.0 Standard (03.

Transcription

1 Multimedia Communication Portfolio Media Application Server Meet me audio conferencing Basics NN MCP 2.0 Standard (03.02) December 2003

2

3 Overview Contents of this chapter This chapter is organized as follows: Overview Hardware and OS System scalability Services and features OAM&P Overview The Meet me audio conferencing service provides reservation-less audio conferencing based upon the Media Application Server platform. Meet me audio conferencing service users have their own private conferencing resource available for meetings at any time. Use of this personal conference resource is controlled by the conference owner, the chairperson, who has been provisioned with the service by an administrator. The chairperson provides the meeting details to the desired participants whenever a conference meeting is needed. Participants are given the Meet me audio conferencing service dial-in number, an access code that uniquely identifies the particular conference, and the date and time. Participants who dial in early are put on hold and connected to an audio stream of music, advertisements, and/or information as configured by the administrator. The conference is activated only by arrival of the chairperson. The administrator can configure whether or not the conference may continue after the chairperson leaves. For more information about the services that the Meet me audio conferencing service provides, refer to Services and features on page 7. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

4 4 Hardware platform and OS The Meet me audio conferencing service runs on the Media Application Server platform. The Media Application Server utilizes commercial hardware platforms and the Windows 2000 Server Operating System (OS). No specialized hardware or DSPs are required. The supported hardware platform for the Media Application Server is the IBM X335. Figure 1 shows a rack-mountable IBM X335 machine. Figure 1 IBM X335 Table 1 lists the required X335 hardware configuration for the Media Application Server. Table 1 Required X335 configuration for single server Media Application Server Description Quantity 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 Xeon CPU 2 Windows 2000 Server 1 1GB RAM 1 38GB EIDE Hard Drives 1 Dual Fast Ethernet NIC (10/100/1000Mbps each) 1 System scalability The Meet me audio conferencing service has no built in limitations on how many simultaneous conferences can exist on the system or how many participants may be in each conference. The maximum number of participants in a single conference is limited only by the number of channel licenses purchased and/or the capacity of the scaled system. Conferences have no explicit guaranteed minimum or maximum port limits. Ports are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis until the license keys are exhausted or available capacity is exceeded. The overall Meet me audio conferencing service must be engineered to account for server capacity (which may be limited by licensing). The NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

5 5 system should be over engineered given the unpredictable usage patterns of meet me conferences. The Meet me audio conferencing service takes advantage of the Media Application Server platform s scalable, multiple server capabilities and makes use of the Media Application Server s replicated persistent content storage for caching user data. The Media Application Server platform can scale from a small single-machine solution to a large multi-machine cluster. The Media Application Server provides scalability across multiple machines through system-level replication. New Media Application Servers may be added to the pool of servers at any time to meet expanding capacity requirements. The available Media Application Server scaling options are Simplex: One Media Application Server accessed by one static route at the SIP Application Module. Has one active content storage component for the cached user data. Duplex: Two Media Application Servers accessed by two static routes at the SIP Application Module. Has two active content storage components, which are active reflections of each other, providing storage redundancy for the cached user data. 3-Way: An array of three Media Application Servers accessed by three static routes at the SIP Application Module. Two active content storage components, which are active reflections of each other, providing storage redundancy for the cached user data. The two active content storage components (configured on only two of Media Application Servers at installation time) are available to all three Media Application Servers. The following figures show network diagrams for the various Media Application Server scaled configurations. Figure 2 Simplex Media Application Server configuration SIP MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

6 6 Figure 3 Duplex Media Application Server configuration SIP SIP Figure 4 3-Way Media Application Server configuration SIP SIP SIP NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

7 7 New Media Application Servers may be added to the pool of servers at any time to meet expanding capacity requirements. The network supports a single point of access to the Meet me audio conferencing service. This single point of access, however, may be scaled as mentioned with multiple servers, all of which will be available through SIP Application Module routing for the one provisioned Dial-In Number. Any Meet me audio conferencing service may host a conference, so the service is continuously available to all users as long as at least one server and one content storage component remain in service. This results in a highly available system when a multiple server configuration is employed. Services and features The Meet me audio conferencing service provides these basic conferencing capabilities: Audio mixing Transcoding for G.711 and G.729 audio codecs Arbitrarily-sized conferences Bearer Negotiation RTCP Support QoS Support In addition, the Meet me audio conferencing service provides the following features: the ability for an end user, configured with the Meet me audio conferencing service, to set up an audio conference anytime, on demand, with no reservation required ubiquitous access to Meet me conference resources through use of a service Dial-In Number a private chairperson access code provides the Meet me service subscriber secure access to their conference session configurable hold music, advertisements, and/or informational audio for participants while waiting for the chairperson to start the conference chairperson prompts that enable the chairperson to activate the conference and place all waiting participants into a multi-party conference session audio tone indicators to announce the arrival and departure of conference participants MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

8 8 optional Instant Messages can be sent to the chairperson informing of various events Table 2 Conference-related Instant Messages Conference Event The chair person dials in and enters the chair PIN Participant dials in and is waiting, listening to music Participant stops waiting (hangs up while waiting for the conference to start) Participant transfers the Meet Me call to another destination Participant fails to enter the correct conference passcode and is disconnected Participant joins the conference Participant hangs up while in conference Example Instant Message Welcome. John Dee is waiting. Elvis Rocker has left. John Dee transferred to Janet Doe failed to enter the passcode. Janet Doe has joined. Sandy Hill has left. dynamically assigned pass codes can be set by a chairperson for a conference. Participants must successfully enter the passcode to join, providing control over who may access the conference. the ability for conference participants to self mute/un-mute themselves Provisioning Client integration allowing system administrators to configure conference attributes: access code chairperson PIN conference behavior options Personal Agent integration allowing end users to view their specific conference information: dial-in number access code chairperson PIN Some feature behaviors are configurable on a per user basis, while others are system wide only. For example, instant message generation event is set globally, while chairperson PIN is set per user. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

9 9 Bearer negotiation The Meet me audio conferencing service can be licensed to support all, or some subset, of its total media capabilities. The licensed media capabilities are configured (supported codecs, supported formats, supported sampling rates) and used during media negotiations when building requests or responses. Configuration of media capabilities is an integral part of the licensing process. The Meet me audio conferencing service provides access to audio capabilities only and can be licensed to support either G.711, G.729, or both. Clients interact with the Meet me audio conferencing service using SIP and negotiate their media capabilities using Session Description Protocol (SDP). When a session is initiated, the originating client provides information describing its preferred media capabilities in an SDP. This SDP request is delivered to the media negotiator, which analyzes the requested media capabilities and builds a response that provides the best match between the requested media capabilities and the media capabilities available on the Meet me audio conferencing service. The Meet me audio conferencing service automatically detects the packet time and codec when the first incoming audio packet is received. In addition, the Meet me audio conferencing service supports changing of packet times on an existing audio stream. Note: Codec changes are also supported; however, this requires that the audio stream to be stopped and restarted by using a call hold/retrieve sequence. RTCP support The Meet me audio conferencing service supports reception and generation of Real-Time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP) Sender reports. The Meet me audio conferencing service transmits RTCP packets to each participant, detailing the perceived quality of the session from its perspective. QoS support The Meet me audio conferencing service supports Differentiated Service (DiffServ) packet marking on outgoing Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) streams. The Media Application Server framework sets the DiffServ Control Point (DSCP) to expedited forwarding (EF), which is a widely supported indicator for QoS enabled networks. Network MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

10 10 routers that are QoS enabled will examine the DSCP information in a packet, and provide priority (with respect to routing and handling) to those packets marked with expedited forwarding. Routers will drop generic data packets when overloaded before they drop DiffServ marked packets. The Meet me audio conferencing service strategy follows RFC 2598, which designates the EF bit pattern. The Media Application Server platform uses QoS packet scheduling to reserve 70% of all available network bandwidth to voice traffic and gives a higher priority to voice traffic packets, delivering them to the network first. OAM&P The Media Application Server platform provides all OAM&P functionality for the Meet me audio conferencing service. The Media Application Server builds directly into the Microsoft Management Framework (Win2K/NT5 platform) to expose logs and operational measurements using built-in features of the operating system. The Microsoft Management Console (MMC) provides access to components and utilities (called Snap-ins) embedded in the Operating System that can be used to build a custom management console. The Media Application Server integrates seamlessly with the MMC to provide logs, alarms, operational measurements, monitoring, reporting and service management. The Media Application Server is monitored and managed from the Management Module through the use of the Microsoft Terminal Services Advanced Client (TSAC). TSAC provides remote access capabilities to the Management Module through which the Media Application Server Console can be run. If configured, the Media Application Server also supports SNMP for logs. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

11 Upgrades This chapter provides information about Meet me audio conferencing service upgrade procedures. For complete information on installing and configuring the Meet me audio conferencing service on a Media Application Server, please refer to Appendix B, Meet me audio conferencing service Installation Guide, on page 35. Upgrades The Meet me audio conferencing service is installed using an intuitive InstallShield installation program. For every new release, or patch release of the Meet me audio conferencing service executable, a new installation program is created. During an upgrade, the installation program will stop the current Meet me audio conferencing service instance, replace its executable, and restart the Meet me audio conferencing service instance again. Note: Patch releases are cumulative, the latest patch bundle installation program will contain all previous patches. During a Media Application Server framework upgrade, the Meet me audio conferencing service instance running on the targeted Media Application Server becomes temporarily unavailable in the network. This Meet me audio conferencing service instance becomes available once the service is restarted (upon successful restarting of the Media Application Server framework). In scaled networks, continuous access to the Meet me audio conferencing service during upgrades is achieved by performing Media Application Server upgrades one server at a time. Prior to upgrading an instance of the Meet me audio conferencing service, or of the Media Application Server that instance is running on, the service is set to Pending Lock. While the service is in the pending lock state, all new Meet me audio conferencing service requests are rejected by this instance, and are routed to one of the remaining in-service Meet me audio conferencing service instances (located on different Media Application Servers). Existing audio conferencing traffic on the instance MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

12 12 to be upgraded can be allowed time to clear on its own, as conferences end. Once the target instance has no more (or an acceptable minimal amount of) active traffic on it, the service is set to Lock. Once locked, the Meet me audio conferencing service (and/or the Media Application Server hosting that service) can be upgraded. After the upgrade is complete, the service can be restarted and unlocked. Once the service is unlocked, incoming coming Meet me audio conferencing service requests can be handled by the service instance, instead of being routed to another Meet me audio conferencing service instance located on a different Media Application Server. It is recommended that upgrades be performed during the maintenance window, or at some other off peak usage time. Locking the upgrade target service instance several hours prior to the actual maintenance window helps ensure that a minimum number of conferences, if any, will still be present on the upgrade target when the service is actually upgraded during the maintenance window. Release 2.0 to 2.x upgrade procedures Upgrades are performed using many of the same procedures as those done during installation. There are also some differences is the ordering of when the procedures are performed. The following flowchart outlines the procedures used to upgrade Meet me audio conferencing from the 2.0 Release to any 2.0 Maintenance Release. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

13 13 Figure 5 Meet me audio conferencing upgrade flow Put MAS in Pending Lock state: Procedure B-15 on page 77 Check for Active Sessions: Procedure B-18 on page 81 Uninstall MAS software: Procedure B-19 on page 81 Install MAS software: Procedure B-2 on page 43 Unlock the MAS system: Procedure B-17 on page 79 Lock the MAS system: Procedure B-16 on page 78 Activate MAS service: Procedure B-7 on page 61 Deactivate the MAS system: Procedure B-4 on page 50 In duplex/3-way MAS deployments: Wait two minutes for MAS sync to occur. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

14 14 NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

15 Fault management The Media Application Server is monitored and managed from the Management Module through the use of the Microsoft Terminal Services Advanced Client (TSAC). TSAC provides remote access capabilities (using TCP/IP) through which the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), residing on the Media Application Server, can be viewed remotely from the Management Module. The Media Application Server Console provides access to configuration, control, monitoring, and performance reporting capabilities. The Meet me audio conferencing service is configured as an NT service that is started and monitored by the operating system automatically. If the Meet me audio conferencing service component fails, then the OS restarts the component immediately and a log is generated. An alarm is also raised to report this condition until the component is registered with the remainder of the system, at which point the alarm is cleared. For complete information on how the Media Application Server Console is used for fault management, please refer to Appendix C, Media Application Server Console Guide, on page 87. Logs The Meet me audio conferencing service relies on the Media Application Server platform to provide event logging mechanisms. The Media Application Server provides an event logging mechanism as a standardized and centralized way to report relevant software and hardware events. Events logged by the Media Application Server are time stamped and grouped as MediaServer events. This grouping facilitates easy filtering using built-in event viewer features. Logged events also identify the Media Application Server internal platform subcomponent which MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

16 16 generated the event. The Media Application Server generates the following classifications of events: Information Warning Error Logs are delivered to the event viewer. The system automatically archives and rotates the logs as needed. Typically, whenever an error condition occurs, the system administrator (or support technicians) must determine what caused the error, attempt to recover from the error, and take measures to prevent the error from recurring. The event logging capabilities of the Media Application Server are an indispensable help in determining what conditions caused the error and the context in which the error occurred. Also, periodic viewing of the event log enables a more proactive preventive posture that identifies problems before they impact service delivery. Alarms The Meet me audio conferencing service relies on the Media Application Server platform to provide alarm generation mechanisms. The Media Application Server generates alarms to report conditions that represent the onset of a persistent condition that degrades or interrupts operation of the service. In general, these are conditions that may require action on the part of an administrator to correct the reported condition. Upon completion of corrective action, the Media Application Server will automatically clear the alarm condition. Alarms are logged. When an alarm condition is cleared, a second log is generated, indicating that the alarm condition has been cleared. Active alarms are displayed in the Media Application Server Console Control Panel (under the Alarm columns). As well, every occurrence of an alarm (and its subsequent clearing) is recorded as a logged event that is viewable in the Event Viewer. Each Media Application Server alarm has the following attributes: Name Severity Description NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

17 17 Name Media Application Server alarm names are unique. Severity There are three levels of severity for Media Application Server generated alarms: Minor The Minor severity level indicates the existence of a non-service-affecting fault condition and that corrective action should be taken in order to prevent a more serious, possibly service-affecting fault. Such a severity can be reported, for example, when the alarm condition is not currently degrading the capacity of the resource. Major The Major severity level indicates that a service-affecting condition has developed, and an urgent corrective action is required. Such a severity can be reported, for example, when there is a severe degradation in the capability of the resource, and its full capability must be restored. Critical The Critical severity level indicates that a service-affecting condition has occurred, and an immediate corrective action is required. Such a severity can be reported, for example, when a resource becomes totally out of service, and its capability must be restored. Description The description attribute of an alarm provides a more detailed description of what the alarm is trying to convey. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

18 18 NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

19 Configuration management This section describes the tasks required to configure the Meet me audio conferencing service to run on a Media Application Server. Configuration tasks Proper operation of the Meet me audio conferencing service requires the following configuration steps be performed: Media Application Server Configuration Configuration of the Meet me audio conferencing service on the Media Application Server. Network Configuration Configuring connectivity to the Media Application Server where the Meet me Audio Conference Server resides. Service Configuration Configuring the Meet me audio conferencing service and resource pool(s) to allow routing to the Meet me audio conferencing service. User-specific Service Configuration Configuring Meet me audio conferencing service parameters for individual end users. Media Application Server Configuration For complete information on installing and configuring the Meet me audio conferencing service, please refer to Appendix B, Meet me audio conferencing service Installation Guide, on page 35 and Appendix C, Media Application Server Console Guide, on page 87. Network Configuration Like any other node in the network, the Media Application Server must be configured to allow it to communicate with the rest of the network. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

20 20 During installation of the Media Application Server, the system administrator must provide the following information: SIP UDP port The signaling port where SIP messages will originate and terminate to this Media Application Server. SIP Application Servers The address(es) of SIP Application Module(s) that this Media Application Server allows incoming service requests to come from. Incoming service request messages from nodes not configured for this Media Application Server are rejected. For complete information on installing the Media Application Server and Meet me audio conferencing service, please refer to Appendix B, Meet me audio conferencing service Installation Guide, on page 35. Service Configuration After network configuration of the Media Application Server is completed, the Meet me audio conferencing service that will be hosted on the Media Application Server must also be configured. This allows the network to route service requests to the Meet me audio conferencing service. Configuring the Meet me audio conferencing service consists of the following steps: Create a null-service service package Create Meet me service-user account Configure resource pool to access the service Create static routes to each Meet me service Note: Only applicable in duplex and 3-Way Meet me service configurations Enable Meet me service in end user service packages For complete service configuration information on the MAS and Meet me audio conferencing service, please refer to Appendix B, Meet me audio conferencing service Installation Guide, on page 35. User-specific Service Configuration Once the administrator has added the Meet me audio conferencing service to the desired service packages, the administrator can enter user-specific Meet me audio conferencing service data using the User Meet Me Conferencing Properties page shown in the following figure. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

21 Figure 6 21 For complete information about configuring user-specific service information for the Meet me audio conferencing service, please refer to Appendix B, Meet me audio conferencing service Installation Guide, on page 35. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

22 22 NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

23 Accounting The Meet me audio conferencing service does not perform any accounting management. For more information on accounting, please refer to the Accounting Module Basics document. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

24 24 NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

25 Performance management The Media Application Server platform provides performance management for the Meet me audio conferencing service through the Media Application Server Console. For complete information on performance management using the Media Application Server Console, please refer to Appendix C, Media Application Server Console Guide, on page 87. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

26 26 NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

27 Security and Administration The Media Application Server platform provides security and administration for the Meet me audio conference service. These procedures are performed primarily through the Media Application Server Console. Security The Media Application Server is managed from the private LAN. The management interface is not available from the public interface. Administration The Media Application Server is monitored and managed from the Management Module through the use of the Microsoft Terminal Services Advanced Client (TSAC). TSAC provides remote access capabilities (using TCP/IP) through which the Microsoft Management Console, residing on the Media Application Server, can be viewed from the Management Console. For complete information on the administration procedures of the Media Application Server Console, please refer to Appendix C, Media Application Server Console Guide, on page 87. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

28 28 NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

29 Appendix A Message flows This appendix contains high-level call flow diagrams for the Meet me audio conferencing service. All examples assume the following information: Conference time: 3:00 pm, June18, 2003 Dial in Number: Access Code: Chair PIN: 4561 Chairperson client: SIP Client 1 Although the conference participants used in the following examples are shown as SIP clients, this is not a requirement. Meet me audio conference participants can be non-sip clients, for example, PSTN subscribers. Meet me audio conference originations The steps used by participants and chairpersons to access the Meet me audio conferencing service are: Procedure A-1 Meet me conference instructions Chairperson: 1 When a conference meeting is desired: a Informs the participants of the date and time of the conference. b Provides the phone number to access the Meet me conference. c Provides all participants the Meet me access code (the access code is often the chairperson s 10 digit phone number). MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

30 30 All participants: 2 Dial in at the designated time. 3 The system will prompt participants for the access code. 4 Participants are placed on hold with music until the chairperson arrives to start the conference. Chairperson: 5 The chairperson identifies himself by pressing the star key when asked, and is prompted for the chairperson PIN for verification. 6 The chairperson starts the conference when ready and all participants are removed from hold and added to the conference. Participants joining before conference is active Participants who arrive before the chairperson arrives are prompted to identify if they are the chairperson and are placed on hold if they are not. An example session of a participant arriving before the chairperson has arrived is displayed in the following figure. Figure A-1 Early conference participants SIP Client 1 SIP Client 2 SIP Client 3 Meet me audio conferencing service The conference chairperson has not yet joined the conference. 1. SIP: INVITE ( ) 2. SIP: 100 Trying User is prompted for and enters access code ( ). 3. SIP: 200 OK 4. SIP: ACK User is prompted to press * if chairperson. After short delay user is placed on music hold. SIP Client 2 is on hold music, waiting for conference to begin Chairperson joins and starts conference Once the chairperson arrives and starts the conference, all the participants waiting on hold are connected to the server hosting the chairperson s conference. Continuing with the previous example, the following figure displays what occurs when the chairperson connects and starts the conference. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

31 31 Figure A-2 Chairperson starts conference SIP Client 1 SIP Client 2 SIP Client 3 Meed Me audio conferencing service SIP Client 2 is on hold music, waiting for conference to begin 5. SIP: INVITE ( ) 6. SIP: 100 Trying 7. SIP: 200 OK 8. SIP: ACK Chairperson is prompted for and enters access code ( ). Chair person presses * and enters PIN (4561). Chairperson starts conference by pressing SIP: INVITE (hold) 10. SIP: 100 Trying 11. SIP: 200 OK 12. SIP: ACK SIP Client 2 is no longer on music hold. 13. SIP: INVITE (retrieve) 14. SIP: 100 Trying 15. SIP: 200 OK 16. SIP: ACK SIP Client 2 has now joined the active conference Participant joining an active conference Participants arriving after the chairperson has started the conference are immediately placed into conference without hearing the prompt for chairperson identification or being put on music hold. An indicator tone is played over the conference to announce the arrival of new participants. Continuing from the previous example, the following figure displays what happens when a participant arrives after the chairperson has started the conference. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

32 32 Figure A-3 Joining an active conference SIP Client 1 SIP Client 2 SIP Client 3 Meed Me audio conferencing service SIP Client 1 and SIP Client 2 already in active conference 17. SIP: INVITE ( ) 18. SIP: 100 Trying User is prompted for and enters access code ( ). 19. SIP: 200 OK 20. SIP: ACK User transferred into the active conference. 21. SIP: INVITE (hold) 22. SIP: 100 Trying 23. SIP: 200 OK 24. SIP: ACK 25. SIP: INVITE (retrieve) 26. SIP: 100 Trying 27. SIP: 200 OK 28. SIP: ACK SIP Client 3 has now joined the active conference Ending a conference When conference participants leave the conference, an indicator tone is heard to indicate the departure. When the conference is configured to end when the chairperson leaves, the remaining participants are played an announcement and given one minute to conclude their conversation and leave the conference. After one minute, any remaining participants are automatically dropped from the conference. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

33 33 Figure A-4 Chairman exit ends conference SIP Client 1 SIP Client 2 SIP Client 3 Meet me audio conferencing service 1. SIP: BYE 2. SIP: 200 OK Chairperson has now left the conference SIP Client 2 and SIP Client 3 hear announcement that the chairperson has left and that the conference will end in one minute. SIP Client 3 has now left the conference 3. SIP: BYE 4. SIP: 200 OK After one minute, the remaining participants are automatically dropped from the conference. 5. SIP: BYE 6. SIP: 200 OK SIP Client 2 has now been dropped from the conference The conference has now ended If the conference is not configured to end when the chairperson leaves and the chairperson leaves, then the remaining participants continue in the conference session. The conference will continue until all participants leave the conference as shown in the following figure. Figure A-5 Chairman exit conference continues SIP Client 1 SIP Client 2 SIP Client 3 Meet me audio conferencing service 1. SIP: BYE 2. SIP: 200 OK Chairperson has now left the conference 3. SIP: BYE 4. SIP: 200 OK SIP Client 3 has now left the conference 5. SIP: BYE 6. SIP: 200 OK SIP Client 2 has now left the conference The conference has now ended MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

34 34 NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

35 Appendix B Meet me audio conferencing service Installation Guide This appendix provides a detailed description of how to install Meet me audio conferencing service. ATTENTION You can choose to use Keyboard, Video, Mouse (KVM) or Terminal Services Advanced Client (TSAC) for remote access to MAS. To create a Terminal Services install disk, refer to Procedure B-20, Creating the Terminal Service install disk, on page 83. ATTENTION For KVM setup, you need to connect to the MAS with a C2T breakout cable that is included with your IBM xseries 335 MAS server. Flowchart of Meet me audio conferencing installation The following flowchart outlines the installation procedure used to install the Media Application Server Meet me audio conferencing service. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

36 36 Figure B-1 Meet me conferencing installation flow Configure MAS OS: Procedure B-1 on page 37 Install MAS software: Procedure B-2 on page 43 Start MAS Management Console: Procedure B-3 on page 50 Deactivate MAS and Meet me service: Procedure B-4 on page 50 Configure MAS and Meet me service: Procedure B-5 on page 52 Activate MAS and Meet me service: Procedure B-7 on page 61 Configure Meet me at System Management Console: Procedure B-8 on page 62 Create null-service service package: Procedure B-9 on page 65 Create Meet me serviceuser: Procedure B-10 on page 66 Configure resource pool to Meet me service: Procedure B-11 on page 69 Enable Meet me service in end-user service packages: Procedure B-12 on page 70 Provision user-specific Meet me data: Procedure B-13 on page 73 NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

37 37 Configuring MAS OS The MAS hardware comes with the Operating System pre-installed and pre-configured for optimal performance. The following procedure covers the remaining configuration steps needed to get the MAS hardware working with your network topology. This procedure must be performed using a KVM connection to the MAS, or by using an ethernet crossover (twisted) cable to connect to the MAS directly through terminal services (or Remote Desktop) using a laptop or desktop PC. Note: The MAS hardware comes pre-provisioned using an IP address of The following steps must be performed: Change computer name Change TCP/IP Hostname Assign static IP address Procedure B-1 Configuring MAS OS for your network ATTENTION Change the default password as soon as possible after logging on. at MAS server 1 Power up the MAS server for the first time, and mount MAS CD in CD-ROM drive. at the logon window 2 Use the default username. Example NortelMASAdmin 3 Use the default password. Example nortel MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

38 38 Figure B-2 Log on window at OS desktop 4 Right-click the My Computer icon and select Properties and select the Network Identification tab. 5 Click the Properties button and assign a hostname to the system (the computer name must be 15 characters or less). NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

39 39 6 Click OK. Note: Do not reboot when prompted. at Start menu 7 Select Start > Run to bring up the Run dialog window 8 Type regedit to and click OK launch the Registry Editor window. 9 Traverse to and update the following value in the registry value pair: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Se rvices\tcpip\parameters Value: NV Hostname Type: STRING value (REG_SZ) Content: <Hostname of the server> 10 Select Registry > Exit to close the Registry Editor window. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

40 40 at Start menu 11 Select Start > Settings > Network and Dial-up Connections. The Network and Dial-up Connections window displays: 12 Right-click the MASTeam icon and select Properties. The MASTeam Properties window displays: NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

41 41 13 Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and press the Properties button. The Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window displays: MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

42 42 14 Enter the static IP address and subnet mask for your network topology. Note: You must change the IP address and subnet mask. However, do not configure WINS or any other Advanced settings. 15 Click OK in the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window. 16 Click OK in the MASTeam Properties window. 17 Reboot the machine. Installing the Media Application Server Meet me audio conferencing In this section, you will install all Media Application Server internal subcomponents and the purpose-built Microsoft Management Console that provides local access to the administrative and management NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

43 43 capabilities of the Media Application Server and the audio conferencing service. ATTENTION Each conferencing service is installed on separate Media Application Server machines. Installation of multiple services on the same MAS machine nullifies the Licensing Agreement. Procedure B-2 Installing the Media Application Server platform at the Media Application Server 1 Locate the Media Application Server audio conferencing InstallShield installation program and double-click the executable. The Media Application Server InstallShield Wizard displays: MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

44 44 2 Click the Next button to continue. The License Agreement statement displays: 3 Select the I accept the terms of the license agreement option. 4 Click the Next button to continue. The Network Information window displays: NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

45 45 5 Enter the IP address and SIP UDP port for each Application Server that must communicate with the Media Application Server. Note: The Media Application Server only accepts incoming service requests from IP and ports specified in this list. This prevents unauthorized nodes from sending service requests directly to the Media Application Server. 6 Click the Next button to continue. The License Key window displays: MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

46 46 7 If the license configured for this hardware platform is available, enter it into the License Key field. Note: If the license key is not available at this time, then it can be entered later using the Media Application Server Management Console. 8 Click the Next button to continue. The Destination Folder displays: NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

47 47 9 If you want to install the Media Application Server into a different directory, click the Change button to select a different destination drive partition and/or directory. Note: It is highly recommended that the default destination drive partition (D:) and folder (Program Files\Nortel Networks\MAS) be used. 10 Click the Next button to continue. The Ready to Install the Program screen displays: MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

48 48 11 Click the Install button to perform the actual installation. Note: The installation can be aborted at any time by pressing the Cancel button. When complete, the InstallShield Wizard Completed screen displays: NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

49 49 12 Click the Finish button to end the installation program. 13 If this was a new installation, or if an alternative destination directory was specified earlier in the Destination Folder pane, then the following prompt will appear to notify you that a restart is required in order to complete the installation. Note: If this installation was performed on a server that had previously been configured as a Media Application Server then a restart is NOT required. 14 Click the Yes button to restart the machine. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

50 50 Starting the Media Application Server Management Console Once the Media Application Server software has been successfully installed, the MAS Management Console is used to configure the Media Application Server and the Meet me audio conferencing service. Procedure B-3 Starting the Media Application Server Management Console program from the Media Application Server 1 Click Start > Programs> Nortel Networks Media Application Server> Media Application Server Console. The MAS Management Console GUI displays: Figure B-3 MAS Management Console GUI Deactivating the Media Application Server Whenever the MAS machine is rebooted, the MAS and the Meet me audio conferencing service are automatically started. Since a machine reboot is part of new MAS installations, the MAS and the Meet me audio conferencing service are automatically started when you complete installation of the MAS software. Prior to configuring the Meet me audio conferencing service, it is necessary to deactivate the service. Procedure B-4 Deactivating and verifying offline state of the NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

51 51 Media Application Server and conferencing service at the Media Application Server console tree 1 Right-click the Control Panel icon in the console tree to display the following shortcut menu: 2 Select Operations > Stop to deactivate the Meet me audio conferencing service. The conferencing service stops. Note: The status should indicate offline. 3 Verify that all the individual subcomponents have all successfully stopped by right-clicking on the Control Panel icon and selecting View System Components. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

52 52 Figure B-4 View System Components offline status Note: All subcomponents should indicate offline. Configuring the Meet me audio conferencing service This procedure focuses on required values that must be entered. The Meet me audio conferencing service also allows you to configure the music that participants hear while waiting for a conference to begin. For more information on configuring hold music for the Meet me audio conferncing service, refer to Procedure B-6, Adding.wav files for hold music, on page 60. Procedure B-5 Configuring the Media Application Server ATTENTION This procedure assumes that the MAS and the Meet me audio conferencing service are offline. If these services have not been deactivated, refer to Procedure B-4, Deactivating and verifying offline state of the Media Application Server and conferencing service, on page 50 before attempting to configure the MAS or the Meet me audio conferencing service. at the Media Application Server Management Console 1 Select the Configuration icon in the console tree panel. The details panel display all configuration data for the Media Application Server. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

53 53 Figure B-5 Configuration view Simplex MAS Note: The properties highlighted in the above figure directly impact how the Meet me service behaves. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

54 54 Figure B-6 Configuration view Duplex MAS Note: The properties highlighted in the above figure high light the important parameters in multi-server configurations, NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

55 55 at the configuration view 2 Use the values from following table to configure the properties for the Media Application Server. Table B-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 1 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description Conference Port Range Starting Port Content Store Mirrored Peer Server Content Store Servers Controller Peer Backup Server Optionality: Required Valid Values: Default: Optionality: Optional Valid Values: Must contain a single valid IP address. Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: Must contain at least one valid IP address of a MAS server hosting a Content Store. Default: Local IP address. Optionality: Optional Valid Values: Must contain at least one valid IP address of a MAS server. Default: blank. The Conference Media Processor uses a range of ports to provide service. This value specifies the lower limit of the range RTP/RTCP starting port range. This item contains the IP address of the peer Content Store for mirrored deployments. For a simplex deployment, this value should be blank. For a duplex deployment, it should contain the IP address of the peer MAS server. For a 3-way deployment, two servers should be configured as peers and this value on the third server should be blank. This item contains a semi-colon delimited list of MAS servers hosting Content Stores. The Multimedia Controller will use the Content Stores defined in this list. This item contains the IP address of the backup CPLink MAS server for duplex and n-way deployments. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

56 56 Table B-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 2 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description Controller Peer Primary Server IVR Audio Port Range Starting Port Instant Message From User (user@domain) Instant Messages Enabled (YES/NO) Inter- Announcement Wait Time (ms) License Alarm Threshold Optionality: Optional Valid Values: Must contain at least one valid IP address of a MAS server. Default: blank. Optionality: Required Valid Values: Default: Optionality: Optional Valid Values: The name of the Meet me service user account. Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: YES, NO Default: YES Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 5000 (5 seconds) to (125 minutes) Default: (2 minutes) Optionality: Required Valid Values: 1 to 100 Default: 90 This item contains the IP address of the primary CPLink MAS server for duplex and n-way deployments. The IVR Media Processor uses a range of ports to provide service. This value specifies the lower limit of the range. This item contains the SIP user name and domain (user@domain) that is used in the From header whenever an Instant Message needs to be sent out by the Meet me audio conferencing service. This item specifies whether the Meet me audio conferencing service should send IMs to the chairperson when events occur in the chairperson s conference bridge (for example, when a user joins the bridge). This item contains the duration in milliseconds between plays of the chairperson has not arrived. Please continue to hold announcement. The threshold (as a percentage of available licenses) after which subsequent calls will cause an alarm to be raised. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

57 57 Table B-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 3 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description License Key Local Hostname or IP Address Local SIP UDP Port Local SIP User Name (user@domain) Management Server Max. Chairperson PIN Attempts Max. Participant Access Code Attempts Optionality: Required Valid Values: 1 to 1024 characters Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: Must contain one valid IP address of the MAS server. Default: Local IP address Optionality: Required Valid Values:1 to Default: 5060 Optionality: Optional Valid Values: Should contain a valid, provisioned SIP username@domain. Default: blank Optionality: Optional Valid Values: IP address Default: blank Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 0 to 25 Default: 3 Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 0 to 25 Default: 3 The license key for the MAS server. The IP address of the MAS server. The local UDP port for SIP messaging (default is 5060). For duplex and n-way deployments, this item contains the SIP user name and domain (user@domain) that has been provisioned with a route to this local server. This item contains the IP address of an SNMP server. This item contains the number of times to allow retry attempts after an invalid chairperson PIN is entered. This item contains the number of times to allow retry attempts after an invalid access code is entered. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

58 58 Table B-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 4 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description Max. Participant Passcode Attempts Max. Wait Segments Media Processing Units Operator URL Passcodes Enabled (YES/NO) SIP Application Server(s) Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 0 to 25 Default: 3 Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 1 to 100 Default: 10 Optionality: Optional Default: 350 Optionality: Optional Valid Values: A valid, provisioned SIP user (user@domain) value Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: YES, NO Default: YES Optionality: Optional Valid Values: A semi-colon delimited list of IP addresses and ports of SIP Application Servers. Default: blank This item contains the number of times to allow retry attempts after an invalid passcode is entered. This item contains the number of times to play the chair has not yet arrived announcement before the caller is disconnected. Do not modify this value without consulting the MAS Engineering guide. The number of Media Processing Units available for this server. This value is influenced by the number of processors, speed of processors, and other performance characteristics of the server. This item contains the URL used to transfer the caller to an operator. This item specifies whether a chairperson have the ability to add a passcode to their conference bridge that participants must enter after they enter the access code for the bridge. This item contains a semi-colon delimited list of IP addresses and ports of SIP Application Servers. Each listed server will be considered a trusted node and requests from those servers will not require authentication. The first entry in the list is used for outbound messages from the media server. A value must be provided to enable transfers and other outbound requests from the MAS server. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

59 59 Table B-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 5 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description SNTP Source Server Self Muting Enabled (YES/NO) Stream Source Destination Server(s) Timer: First Digit (ms) Timer: Inter-Digit (ms) Timer: Star First Digit (ms) Optionality: Optional Valid Values: localhost, , or a valid IP address of a designated SNTP time source server. Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: YES, NO Default: NO Optionality: Optional Valid Values: A semi-colon delimited list of IP addresses of MAS servers. Default: blank Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 1000 (1 second) to (5 minutes) Default: 7000 (7 seconds) Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 1000 (1 second) to (5 minutes) Default: 5000 (5 seconds) Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 1000 (1 second) to (5 minutes) Default: 3000 (3 seconds) The IP address of an SNTP time source server. Specify 'localhost' or to designate the local server as a time source. If the local server is designated as a time source, the Windows time service will automatically be restarted to accept the configuration change. For deployments the SNTP Source Server should be the Management Server. When enabled, conference participants may enter *6 to mute and *7 to un-mute themselves. This item contains a semi-colon delimited list of IP addresses of destination server(s) that should receive media from the local stream source component. This item contains the duration in milliseconds to wait for the first DTMF tone from the caller. This item contains the duration in milliseconds to wait between DTMF tones before timing out. This item contains the duration in milliseconds to wait for the caller to press the '*' key. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

60 60 Configuring hold music The Meet me audio conferencing service has the capability to provide music, advertisements, and/or informational audio to participants who are put on hold while waiting for the chairperson to arrive and start the conference. A directory containing an audio file or files is used by the Media Application Server s Local Stream Source feature to stream one audio source to one or more users. As users are put on hold, they pick up the audio stream in progress, not from the beginning. The Local Stream Source feature supports audio.wav files encoded as 16-bit, 8kHz, PCM. All the files in the directory will be played in alphabetical order. Continuous playback is achieved by repeating the sequence. The directory of music must be manually populated and duplicated on each server containing the Local Stream Source instances. If no audio files are present in the folder, then silence is the default hold behavior. Updates to the directory can be made while the system is online. The music files survive during upgrades. For redundancy, a multiple server system has two Stream Source instances (located on the same servers as the Content Stores: The third server does not stream, as indicated by the Stream Source Destination Server(s) configuration item being blank in the Management Console). Each Stream Source streams locally to itself and the third server, if present. Each Media Application Server has a connection to each instance. Only one of the connections is used, while the other is on active stand by as a backup. Procedure B-6 Adding.wav files for hold music at the Media Applicatin Server 1 Copy.wav file(s) into: <MAS Install Dir>\StreamSource\ChannelRoot\Audio. Note: <MAS Install Dir> is the directory where the Media Application Server is installed. The default destination directory is D:\Program Files\Nortel Networks\MAS. Activating the Media Application Server to provide service After successful configuration of the Media Application Server and the Meet me audio conferencing service, you can activate the Meet me audio conferencing service on the MAS. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

61 61 Procedure B-7 Starting the Meet me audio conferencing service at the Media Application Server console tree 1 Select Control Panel to view the offline status of the conferencing service. Figure B-7 Conferencing offline status for Meet me audio conferencing 2 Right-click the Control Panel icon in the console tree to display the following shortcut menu: 3 Select Operations > Start to bring the Meet me audio conferencing service into operation. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

62 62 The status of the MeetMeMultimedia Conferencing service will change to online. Figure B-8 Conferencing online status for Meet me audio conferencing Configuring Meet me System Management Console component data In order for the meet me information to appear in the Provisioning Client, the services must be configured in the System Management Console. For complete information on using the System Managment Console, refer to the System Management Console User Guide. Procedure B-8 Configure component information on System Management Console from System Management Console GUI 1 Select System > Sites > MgmtSite > Servers > AppSrvr > Components > MeetMeConfMgr to display the MeetMeConfMgr Details pane. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

63 63 Note: The actual node names displayed in your System Management Conole GUI may vary depending upon the configuration of your network. The above image is merely a sample of where the MeetMeConfMgr node may be located. 2 Right-click on the MeetMeConfMgr icon and select Modify to bring up the Modify window for the component. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

64 64 3 Enter the Content Store IP Address and Peer Content Store IP Address as applicable for your installation. In a simplex MAS installations, use the single MAS IP address in both fields. For duplex MAS installations, put one MAS IP address in the Content Store IP Address field, and put the other MAS IP address in the Peer Content Store IP Address field. 4 Enter the Default Meet Me Phone Number. This is the number that users dial to access the Meet me server. Example Click Apply to save your change or Cancel to close the window without saving your changes. Enabling service access to the Meet me audio conferencing service Enabling service access allows the network to route meet me service requests to the Meet me audio conferencing service. Configuring NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

65 65 service access to the Meet me audio conferencing service consists of the following steps: Create a null-service service package Create Meet me serviceuser account Configure resource pool to access the service Enable Meet me service in end user service packages The configuration tasks described here use provisioning tasks that have been described in detail in the Provisioning Client User Guide document. Procedure B-9 Create a null-service package From the Provisioning Client 1 In the domain where access to the Meet me audio conferencing service instance is needed, select Service Package > Create Package. A Create New Package page appears. Figure B-9 Null service creation MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

66 66 2 In Name of the Package, enter the name for the null service package. Example nullservice 3 Select only the Meet Me Conferencing check box and specify the maximum number of conference ports in the associated drop-down menu. 4 Click Save when done, or Cancel to exit the Create New Package page without saving. Procedure B-10 Create Meet me serviceuser account From the Provisioning Client 1 In the domain where access to the Meet me audio conferencing service instance is needed, select User > Add User. An Add new user page appears. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

67 67 2 In the User Name field, enter the name for the Meet me serviceuser account. Example meetme 3 In the Password and Confirm Password fields, enter a password for the serviceuser account. Note: It is recommended assigning a long, non-guessable password for the serviceuser account. 4 In Service package, select the null service package created previously in Procedure B-9 on page 65. Example nullservice 5 Click Save to add the serviceuser to the system. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

68 68 (additional steps for duplex and 3-way installations only) 6 Click Routes to access the routing information for the newly created serviceuser. 7 Enter the route used to connect to the servicuser account. This is the username of the serviceuser account and the IP address of the primary MAS machine. Example sip:meetme@ Click Add. 9 Click Save to save the newly added static route to the serviceuser account. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

69 69 Procedure B-11 Configure resource pool to access service From the Provisioning Client 1 In the domain where access to the Meet me audio conferencing service instance is needed, select Pooled Resources > Add Pooled Resource. A Pooled Resource Details page appears. Figure B-10 Pooled resource creation 2 In the Resource Name field, enter meetme_english. 3 In the Resource Type drop-down menu, select Generic User Agent Endpoint. 4 In the Select Algorithm drop-down menu, select Weighted Average. 5 In the Service Package drop-down menu, select the null-service package. 6 Optionally, in the Aliases field, add one or more desired aliases that users can use to contact the Meet me audio conferencing MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

70 70 service. These aliases represent the numbers that users can dial to access the Meet me service. Example In the Route field: a b Enter the route used to connect to a Media Application Server where an instance of the Meet me audio conferencing service resides. This is the IP address of the MAS, and the name of service. Example sip:meetme@ Enter the selection Weight (from 0 to 10) to use when routing conference service requests. Keep the following guidelines in mind when assigning weights to routes: Routes with a zero weight are disabled. A higher weight means that the MAS, defined by this route, receives more incoming meet me audio conferencing requests. At least one route must be defined before the pooled resource can be added. The total weight of all routes may be zero. The percentage of the total weight for each route is calculated automatically. Example 1 c Click the Add button to add the new route to the Selected Routes list Note: Existing route weights may be modified by highlighting the desired route, changing the weight value in the Weight (0-10) text box, and clicking Add. 8 Repeat Step 7 for each Media Application Server that hosts an instance of the Meet me audio conferencing service. 9 Click Save when done, or Cancel to exit the Pooled Resource Details page without saving. Procedure B-12 Enable Meet me service in end user service NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

71 packages 71 ATTENTION If there are existing users already using the service package that you add the Meet me audio conferencing service to, you will have to initiate a Meet me data synchronization. Refer to Procedure B-14 on page 73 for instructions on synchronizing the Meet me audio conferencing service data. From the Provisioning Client 1 In the domain where access to the audio conferencing service instance is needed, select Service Package > List Packages. The List of packages for domain page appears for the this domain. 2 Click the Details-Modify link for the service package which the Meet me audio conferencing service is to be enabled. 3 Select the Meet MeAd hoc Conferencing check box. 4 Save the change: Click the Save and Enforce Now button to immediately enable the Meet me audio conferencing service for all users on this domain who are actively subscribed to this service package. Click the Save and Enforce Later button to enable the Meet me audio conferencing service for all users on this domain when they re-subscribe to this service package. This will occur when a user reconnects to the network or when their service package subscription is automatically refreshed. 5 Repeat Steps 1 through 4 for each domain and service package where access to the Meet me audio conferencing service is desired. 6 If necessary you will need to initiate a service data synchronization as defined in Procedure B-14 on page 73. However, this can wait until after the you configure any user-specific Meet me audio conferencing service data in the next procedure. Configuring user-specific Meet me audio conferencing service data Once the Meet me audio conferencing service has been added to all desired user service packages, the administrator can enter user-specific Meet me audio conferencing service data using the User Meet Me Conferencing Properties page shown in the following figure. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

72 72 The system attempts to auto-populate the Access Code by using the user s business phone number. If a system-wide unique value is found, the system also auto-populates the Chair PIN with a random set of digits, otherwise the Access Code field is left blank. When the Access Code field is blank, or if a different value is desired, the administrator can manually enter a 4-to-10 digit access code. The supplied access code must be unique system-wide, and is automatically verified before saving. Figure B-11 The following information for each configured conference user: Chair Ends Conference When selected, the conference ends one minute after the chairperson leaves the conference. After one minute, all connected parties are disconnected, and all conference resources are freed. If this options is not selected, the conference remains up until all participants leave. Chair PIN This PIN is used by the conference chairperson to start the conference. The PIN is a 4-to-10 digit number and can be automatically re-generated or manually changed. Access Code all participants must enter this access code that uniquely identifies the conference they wish to join. This is often just NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

73 73 the chairperson s phone number. The Access Code is a 4-to-10 digit number that is unique system-wide. Procedure B-13 Provisioning Meet me audio conferencing service user-specific data From the Provisioning Client 1 Access the user s profile data. 2 Select the Meet Me Properties link. 3 If desired, select Chair Ends Conference option. 4 If Chair PIN is not automatically generated, manually enter a 4-to-10 digit number. Note: Click the Re-Generate PIN button to automatically create a new Chair PIN. 5 If a unique Access Code is not automatically generated, manually enter a system-wide unique 4-to-10 digit number. 6 Click the Save button. Meet me service data synchronization In the provisioning process, the Meet me audio conferencing service data is saved to the subscriber database and also downloaded to the MAS content store. However, any time that you add Meet me audio conferencing to an existing service pack with existing subscribers, you must manually synchronize the Meet Me Conferencing user information from the subscriber database to the Media Application Server Content Store. Existing data on the Media Application Server Content Store is overwritten (but not deleted) with the latest data from the subscriber database during this sync operation. Any provisioning that occurs during a sync or while the connection to the Media Application Server is down, is added to a pending transaction list and completed after the sync operation or connection establishment. Procedure B-14 Synchronizing Meet me service data From the Provisioning Client 1 Select Services > Meet Me Conferencing to view the Meet Me Conferencing status page. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

74 74 2 Click Initiate Sync to the data synchronization. ATTENTION Media Application Server Content Store and database synchronizations can be disruptive operations. While the Content Store data is in flux, users may not be able to access the Meet me audio conferencing service. The Meet Me Conferencing synchronization functions should be used sparingly and only during defined system maintenance windows (for example, not during the middle of the day). NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

75 75 Other synchronization options are available through the Meet Me Conferencing status page. The following table describes each button and the action performed when the admin clicks the button. Table B-2 Meet Me Conferencing synchronization functions (Sheet 1 of 2) Click... Initiate Sync Refresh To... Force a synchronization of the data from the database (for all subscribers) and the Content Store Any provisioning that occurs during a sync or while the connection to the Media Application Server is down, is added to a pending transaction list and completed after the sync operation or connection establishment. Update the status and progress of the sync by reporting the number of transactions completed and remaining. Refresh will only reflect progress for the current 30 second interval (only if enough data has changed). MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

76 76 Table B-2 Meet Me Conferencing synchronization functions (Sheet 2 of 2) Click... Rebuild Content Store Rebuild Database To... Delete all previously entered Meet Me Conferencing data from the Content Store and replace it with the Meet Me Conferencing data that is stored in the database. This button is used only very rarely and will delete all subscriber data from the Content Store cache, and rebuild it using information from the database. This function is needed when moving a MAS Meet Me Conferencing server (or servers) from one MCS system to another MCS system. Delete all Meet Me data from the database (for all subscribers) and the Content Store. The system will then attempt to regenerate each user's Meet Me data and transfer it to the Content Store. The Rebuild Database function will destroy all Meet Me Conferencing subscriber data from both the database and the Content Store and automatically rebuild the data based upon provisioned user information. This function is useful when Meet Me Conferencing has been added to a service pack before a subscriber s Business Phone or alias have been provisioned. The Rebuild Database function will attempt to assign an appropriate access code based upon the following rules: The system will examine the Business Phone subscriber field and use the number provisioned in that field as the subscriber's Meet Me Conferencing access code. The system will examine the subscriber's alias table looking for aliases from 7-10 digits in length. Shorter aliases are chosen over longer aliases. Locking the MAS Before performing maintenance, such as a software upgrade on the MAS, it is necessary to take the MAS out of service. To do this, the MAS must not accept any new incoming transactions, and it must also end all existing transactions. Existing transactions can end either naturally, over time, as callers leave their audio conferences, or existing transactions can be ended immediately, where the MAS interrupts and terminates existing audio conferences while users are still connected. When locking down the MAS, it is preferrable to allow calls to gradually end, rather than interrupting them. This is achieved by placing the MAS in a Pending Lock state. While in the Pending Lock state, existing calls are allowed to continue on the MAS, while all new incoming audio NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

77 77 conferencing service requests are rejected. The following procedures describe how to place the MAS in both the Pending Lock and Locked states. Procedure B-15 Delayed locking of the MAS at the MAS Console 1 Right-click the Control Panel icon in the console tree to display the Control Panel shortcut menu: 2 Select Operations > Pending Lock. The Meet me audio conferencing service is placed in the Pending Lock state. 3 Verify that all the individual subcomponents have been successfully placed in the Pending Lock state by right-clicking on the Control Panel icon and selecting View System Components. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

78 78 Note: The status of the subcomponents should still indicate online. Procedure B-16 Immediate locking of the MAS at the MAS Console 1 Right-click the Control Panel icon in the console tree to display the Control Panel shortcut menu: 2 Select Operations > Lock. The Meet me audio conferencing service is placed in the Locked state. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

79 79 3 Verify that all the individual subcomponents have been successfully placed in the Locked state by right-clicking on the Control Panel icon and selecting View System Components. Note: The status of the subcomponents should still indicate online. Unlocking the MAS After performing maintenance, such as a software upgrade on the MAS, it is necessary to unlock the MAS before it will begin accepting new incoming audio conferencing service requests. Procedure B-17 Unlocking the MAS at the MAS Console 1 Right-click the Control Panel icon in the console tree to display the Control Panel shortcut menu: MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

80 80 2 Select Operations > Unlock. The Meet me audio conferencing service is placed in the Unlocked state. 3 Verify that all the individual subcomponents have been successfully placed in the Unlocked state by right-clicking on the Control Panel icon and selecting View System Components. Checking for active sessions on the MAS Before deactivating the MAS, check if there are active sessions being serviced on the MAS. The number of active sessions should be allowed to drop to zero or to an acceptably low number prior to locking or NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

81 81 deactivating the MAS completely. The following procedure describes how many calls the MAS is actively supporting. Procedure B-18 Checking the MAS for active sessions at the MAS Console 1 Click the Active Sessions icon in the console tree to display the a list of any active sessions on the MAS in the Details panel. Note: The Active Sessions detail panel contents can be refreshed by right-clicking on the Active Sessions icon and selecting Refresh from the shortcut menu. Uninstalling the MAS software Before uninstalling the MAS software, the MAS and Meet me audio conferencing service must be offline. If these services have are not deactived already, refer to Procedure B-4, Deactivating and verifying offline state of the Media Application Server and conferencing service, on page 50 before attempting to uninstall the MAS or the Meet me audio conferencing service software. Procedure B-19 Uninstalling the MAS software at the Media Application Server 1 Select Start > Settings > Control Panel to bring up the system Control Panel. 2 Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon to bring up the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

82 82 3 Select Nortel Networks Media Application Server and click the Remove button to bring up the uninstall confirmation dialog window. 4 Click Yes to begin the uninstall, or click No to close the window without removing any of the MAS software. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

83 83 Creating a Terminal Services install disk ATTENTION Terminal Service install disk creation is only required if the Management Server does not have access to the Terminal Services Installer through alternate means such as Internet download. If creating install disks, you will need two disks for the terminal service installation program. Procedure B-20 Creating the Terminal Service install disk at the OS Start menu 1 Select Start > Settings > Control Panel. The system Control Panel window is displayed. 2 Double-click the Administrative Tools folder. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

84 84 Figure B-12 Accessing Administrative Tools 3 Double-click on the Terminal Services Client Creator icon. Figure B-13 Terminal Services Client Creator icon 4 Select Terminal Services for 32-bit x86 windows. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

85 85 Figure B-14 Terminal Services for 32-bit x86 windows 5 Click OK to begin creation of the installation disks. The Insert Floppy window displays: 6 Insert a disk into the floppy disk drive. 7 Click the OK button to continue. 8 Follow the instructions that display on the screen. When completed, these disks may be used to install Terminal Services on other computers. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

86 86 NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

87 Appendix C Media Application Server Console Guide This appendix provides a detailed description of how the Meet me audio conferencing service is monitored and managed from the Media Application Server Console (MAS Console). This appendix is organized as follows: Overview Establishing the managed environment Accessing Help files Monitoring, controlling, refreshing subcomponents Meet me configuration parameters Event Viewer Alarms Operational Measurements Log, Counter, and Gauge reference listings Overview As the Media Application Server administrator, you are responsible for the management of the Media Application Server application that runs on the server. In order to support management activities, the Media Application Server provides a local management console. The MAS Console is a purpose-built Microsoft Management Console (MMC), constructed using tools provided by the operating system (OS) and custom Media Application Server-supplied components. The Media Application Server builds directly into the Microsoft Management framework through the Window 2000 platform to expose logs and operational measurements using built-in features of the operating system. The MAS Console provides access to components and utilities, called snap-ins, embedded in the OS that can be used to build a custom management console. Snap-ins provide such MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

88 88 capabilities as: reporting, service monitoring, notification, real-time counters and gauges, and many other features. Additionally, the MAS Console supports the use of custom snap-ins that can be purpose-built for a particular application. Note: Illustrations presented in this guide are examples only. Every MAS Console will look different depending on your hardware configuration and network topology. The Media Application Server is monitored and managed from the administrator s PC through the use of the Microsoft Terminal Services Advanced Client (TSAC). TSAC provides remote access capabilities to the Meida Application Server through which the MAS Console can be run. Figure C-1 Media Application Server Remote Administration Overview Network Remote Desktop Protocol Administrator s PC The MAS Console provides the following telemetry and control capabilities: monitoring service management NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

89 89 logs alarms operational measurements User interface The MAS Console provides a number of graphical elements in the interface. The most important of these, from a Media Application Server perspective, are the console tree and the details panel. Located below the standard console menus and toolbar in the MAS Console are two panels, as shown in the following figure. The panel on the left contains the console tree, and the panel on the right displays the details of the selected node in the console tree. Together, these two panels form the namespace. Figure C-2 Media Application Server Console Toolbars Console tree Details panel The console tree contains the snap-in nodes that make up the management console tree tool. For the currently selected node in the console tree, the details panel contains the child nodes, information about the node, or a user interface to perform a task on the node (See Figure C-2). MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

90 90 The Media Application Server Console is composed of a console tree containing the following snap-in components and utilities: Counters and Gauges Event Viewer (Local) Performance Logs and Alerts Disk Management (Local) Active Sessions Configuration Control Panel Subcomponents The Media Application Server contains the following internal subcomponents: Multimedia Conductor is a SIP user agent that provides a network signaling endpoint for accessing platform services. Multimedia Controller provides system monitoring capabilities and hosts multiple service execution environment. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Media Processor provides media processing functions such as DTMF detection, announcements and prompts, and recording. Conference Media Processor provides conference media processing functions such as audio mixing, active speaker detection, voice activity detection, automatic gain control and more. Multimedia Content Store provides reliable content storage and related capabilities. Stream Source provides channel-based continuous audio streaming for music on hold and other related functions. Each internal subcomponent executes a simple-state machine: NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

91 91 ONLINE Start Stop OFFLINE The overall state of the Media Application Server is an aggregation of the individual states of these internal subcomponents. Therefore in order to monitor the health of the system, it is necessary to monitor the health of its constituent parts. The Media Application Server internal subcomponents are each configured as an service that is started and monitored by the operating system automatically. If a Media Application Server internal subcomponent fails, then the OS immediately restarts the subcomponent and generates a log to report the event. In addition, an alarm is raised until the subcomponent recovers, at which point the alarm is cleared. Subcomponent status Each internal subcomponent of the Media Application Server provides indicators designed to provide a real-time at a glance view into the current state of the system. Each internal subcomponent can occupy either of the following states: Online: The component is running normally. Offline: The component is disabled. Event logging The Media Application Server provides an event-logging mechanism as a standardized and centralized way for applications (and the operating system) to report relevant software and hardware events. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

92 92 Events logged by the Media Application Server are time stamped and grouped under the category Media Application Server. This grouping facilitates easy filtering by built-in event viewer features. The source identifies the Media Application Server internal subcomponent that generated the event. The source should not be confused with the machine that generated the log. The machine that generated the log is identified in the Computer field of the event. There are three categories of event logs: Information Warning Error The Media Application Server can automatically archive and rotate logs as needed. When an error occurs, you must determine what caused the error attempt to recover any lost data prevent the error from recurring You can use the event log to help determine the context and conditions that caused the error. By periodically viewing the event log, you may be able to identify problems before they result in damage. Alarms The Media Application Server may raise alarms if a serious error is detected. All alarms are logged, and when an alarm condition is cleared, a second log is generated to report the new status. The following icons are generated by the Media Application Server: Normal (Green) Warning/Minor Alarm: A minor problem has been identified. The system is still processing calls. Check logs immediately. (Yellow) Major Alarm: A major problem has been identified. The system is still processing calls. Check logs immediately. (Yellow/Red) Critical Alarm: A critical problem has been identified. The system is not processing calls. Check logs immediately and begin diagnostics. (Red) Component not running: Red X. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

93 93 Normal Warning/Minor alarm Major alarm Critical alarm Component not running Operational measurements (OMs) The Media Application Server supports two types of operational measurements (OMs). The first is a counter, which is used to record and track activity on the system. The second type is a gauge that can be incremented and decremented. Gauges provide real-time information about the running system. The Media Application Server also supports internal OM alarm thresholds. The Media Application Server is able to trigger an alarm when a set threshold for a gauge is exceeded. Establishing the managed environment The process for establishing the managed environment on the Media Application Server involves starting a remote access session to each of the Media Application Servers in the site, and then starting the Media Application Server Console within the context of those sessions. All available remote access connections to Media Application Servers in the site are visible in the Client Connection Manager and the Terminal Services Client program group. Either of these can be used to initiate remote sessions with the target Media Application Server Procedure C-1 Creating new remote access connection icons at the administrator s PC 1 The Client Connection Manager maintains remote access connection information in a single easily accessible location. To enable the Client Connection Manager at the device that contains the Microsoft Terminal Services Advanced Client (TSAC) (normally, the administrator s PC), click the Start button. 2 Select Programs. 3 Select the Terminal Services Client program group. 4 Click Client Connection Manager. 5 Select File > New Connection MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

94 94 6 This starts a simple wizard. Follow the steps to create a connection icon for a remote Media Application Server. Procedure C-2 To start the Client Connection Manager at the administrator s PC 1 Select Start > Programs > Terminal Services Client > Client Connection Manager. This will open the Client Connection Manager display that shows all available remote access connections to Media Application Servers in the site. Figure C-3 Client Connection Manager display There are a number of ways to enable a connection. The first is to double-click the entry in the Client Connection Manager display. Another is to right-click an entry (for example, MAS-MEETME1) in the Client Connection Manager display to expose a shortcut menu, and then select Connect from the shortcut menu as shown. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

95 95 Figure C-4 Client Connection Manager shortcut menu Using Terminal Services Client program group icons All available remote access connections are visible in the Terminal Services Client program group. at the administrator s PC 1 Select Start > Programs > Terminal Services Client. 2 Select on the Media Application Server connection you want. Manual connections using the Terminal Services Client Instead of creating Terminal Services Client connection icons, you can run the Terminsal Services Client program directly and then provide the IP address of the remote machine. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

96 96 at the administrator s PC 1 Select Start > Programs > Terminal Services Client > Terminal Services Client. The Terminal Servics Client window displays. 2 Enter the IP address, or if available, select the hostname from the Available Servers list, of the machine you wish to connect to. 3 Click Connect to start a connection to the specified IP address or machine name. Starting the Media Application Server Console Any of the previous methods will instantiate a TSAC session from the System Management Console to the Media Application Server associated with the connection. The TSAC attempts to automatically log on to the Media Application Server upon connecting (according to the configuration) and, if successful, displays the actively running remote desktop for this user. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

97 97 Figure C-5 TSAC display Once general access is gained through TSAC, you can start the local Media Application Server Console for this Media Application Server. at the PC 1 Select Start > Programs > Nortel Networks Media Application Server > Media Application Server Console. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

98 98 This will open the Media Application Server Console in the Terminal Services Client display. Figure C-6 Media Application Server Console display NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

99 99 Service and Component views The Control Panel snap-in, located in the MAS Console's tree, allows the user to toggle between the following two types of views: The Service view shows an overall system display of the software providing a single point at which to aggregate the status and management of all subcomponents. The Component view shows each internal subcomponent, allowing users the ability to individually control and monitor subcomponents. Although starting and stopping of individual subcomponents is available, it is not recommended as the subcomponents are configured to restart automatically (and immediately) by the operating system if they should fail. In the course of monitoring the system and managing the service it may be necessary to take advantage of both of these views. Both the Service and Component views support the same columns or fields of information as follows: Status: Offline: The service is stopped. Online: The service is started. State: Unlocked: The service is accepting traffic. Pending Lock: The service is preserving existing traffic, but is rejecting new traffic. Locked: The service is not accepting new traffic. Alarm Severity: This field indicates the severity of the service's highest active alarm. Normal: The service status is Online and there are no active alarms. Critical: A critical problem is identified. The system is not processing calls. The user should check the logs immediately and begin diagnostics. Major: A major problem is identified. The system is still processing calls and the user should check the logs for details. Minor: A minor problem is identified. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

100 100 The system is still processing calls and the user should check the logs for details. Unavailable: The service status is Offline. Alarm Name: This field shows a descriptive name for the active alarm with the highest severity. Example Name: LicenseKeyNot Found Normal: The service status is Online and there are no active alarms. Unavailable: The service status is Offline. Accessing Help files The Help menu includes information about the console as well as the native OS snap-ins used to build the Media Application Server Console. Procedure C-3 Viewing Help files at the Media Application Server Console 1 Click the Help pull-down menu. Figure C-7 Help pull-down menu 2 Select Help Topics to open the Media Application Server Console help display. This display contains help topics for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) as well as the native operating system snap-ins used to build the Media Application Server Console. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

101 101 Figure C-8 Microsoft Management Console help Select Microsoft on the Web to access the Microsoft webbiest. Select About Microsoft Management Console... to view the software version. Subcomponents Monitoring subcomponents Component monitoring is provided by the control panel snap-in located in the Media Application Server Console's tree. The control panel is used to monitor and control internal subcomponent (and, by implication, the entire Media Application Server) movement between these states. Component monitoring capabilities consist of visual cues and textual information that convey the system s operational status. Visual cues appear in the details panel as icons associated with each internal subcomponent. For example, the Conference Media Processor may either be online: Conference Media Processor MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

102 or offline 102 Conference Media Processor Textual information is also provided as to the state of each subcomponent in the Status column located in the details panel. The status of each subcomponent is identified in this field as Online or Offline. The final piece of subcomponent status is provided in the Alarm column of the details panel where the highest severity alarm is displayed (if available). Controlling subcomponents In addition to monitoring capabilities, the Media Application Server Console also provides administrators with control access Note: Even though it is possible to start and stop services from the Services applet located under the Control Panel, this is not the recommended mechanism for managing the subcomponents. Services may be started and stopped independently of one another. All services are automatically configured to restart automatically (and immediately) by the operating system if they should fail. Procedure C-4 Starting and stopping components at the Media Application Server Console 1 Right-click Control Panel in the Console tree. The following shortcut menu appears. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

103 103 2 Right-click on Operations to access the Media Application Server system capabilities. 3 Click Restart to attempt to return all Media Application Server subcomponents to the Online state. Those subcomponents that can transition into an Online state do; those that cannot transition remain offline. Click Stop to transition to an Offline state. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

104 104 Click Pending Lock to give users time to disconnect in case of a maintenance emergency. Note: Restart and Stop are service affecting. Pending lock will preserve existing calls, but new calls are route advanced to other servers. Locking the system will take down any existing calls with an emergency maintenance announcement, and route advance new calls. 4 To view the system components, right click on View System Components. You will see the following screen. Figure C-9 Details panel of subcomponents Refreshing a subcomponent status at the Media Application Server Console 1 To update the status snapshot of all subcomponents, right-click one of the subcomponents in the details panel to access the Component Menu. The following shortcut menu appears. 2 Click Refresh to update subcomponent status. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

105 105 Meet me configuration parameters The MAS Console has properties for both the overall system/server configuration and the Meet me audio conferencing service. In the Console tree panel, click on the Configuration node icon to view a list of all properties. The properties highlighted in the following figure directly impact how the Meet me service behaves. Double-click on any property to view or alter the property s value. Figure C-10 Configuration view The Meet me audio conferencing service is provisioned at installation. You can configure optional properties for the Meet me audio MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

106 106 conferencing service using the MAS Console. These optional properties are listed and described in the following table. Table C-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 1 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description Conference Port Range Starting Port Content Store Mirrored Peer Server Content Store Servers Controller Peer Backup Server Optionality: Required Valid Values: Default: Optionality: Optional Valid Values: Must contain a single valid IP address. Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: Must contain at least one valid IP address of a MAS server hosting a Content Store. Default: Local IP address. Optionality: Optional Valid Values: Must contain at least one valid IP address of a MAS server. Default: blank. The Conference Media Processor uses a range of ports to provide service. This value specifies the lower limit of the range RTP/RTCP starting port range. This item contains the IP address of the peer Content Store for mirrored deployments. For simplex, this value should be blank. For duplex, it should contain the IP address of the peer MAS server. For a 3-way deployment, two servers should be configured as peers and this value on the third server should be blank. This item contains a semi-colon delimited list of MAS servers hosting Content Stores. The Multimedia Controller will use the Content Stores defined in this list. This item contains the IP address of the backup CPLink MAS server for duplex and n-way deployments. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

107 107 Table C-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 2 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description Controller Peer Primary Server IVR Audio Port Range Starting Port Instant Message From User (user@domain) Instant Messages Enabled (YES/NO) Inter- Announcement Wait Time (ms) License Alarm Threshold Optionality: Optional Valid Values: Must contain at least one valid IP address of a MAS server. Default: blank. Optionality: Required Valid Values: Default: Optionality: Optional Valid Values: The name of the Meet me service user account. Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: YES, NO Default: YES Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 5000 (5 seconds) to (125 minutes) Default: (2 minutes) Optionality: Required Valid Values: 1 to 100 Default: 90 This item contains the IP address of the primary CPLink MAS server for duplex and n-way deployments. The IVR Media Processor uses a range of ports to provide service. This value specifies the lower limit of the range. This item contains the SIP user name and domain (user@domain) that is used in the From header whenever an Instant Message needs to be sent out by the Meet me audio conferencing service. This item specifies whether the Meet me audio conferencing service should send IMs to the chairperson when events occur in the chairperson s conference bridge (for example, when a user joins the bridge). This item contains the duration in milliseconds between plays of the chairperson has not arrived. Please continue to hold announcement. The threshold (as a percentage of available licenses) after which subsequent calls will cause an alarm to be raised. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

108 108 Table C-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 3 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description License Key Local Hostname or IP Address Local SIP UDP Port Local SIP User Name (user@domain) Management Server Max. Chairperson PIN Attempts Max. Participant Access Code Attempts Optionality: Required Valid Values: 1 to 1024 characters Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: Must contain one valid IP address of the MAS server. Default: Local IP address Optionality: Required Valid Values:1 to Default: 5060 Optionality: Optional Valid Values: Should contain a valid, provisioned SIP username@domain. Default: blank Optionality: Optional Valid Values: IP address Default: blank Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 0 to 25 Default: 3 Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 0 to 25 Default: 3 The license key for the MAS server. The IP address of the MAS server. The local UDP port for SIP messaging (default is 5060). For duplex and n-way deployments, this item contains the SIP user name and domain (user@domain) that has been provisioned with a route to this local server. This item contains the IP address of an SNMP server. This item contains the number of times to allow retry attempts after an invalid chairperson PIN is entered. This item contains the number of times to allow retry attempts after an invalid access code is entered. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

109 109 Table C-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 4 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description Max. Participant Passcode Attempts Max. Wait Segments Media Processing Units Operator URL Passcodes Enabled (YES/NO) SIP Application Server(s) Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 0 to 25 Default: 3 Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 1 to 100 Default: 10 Optionality: Optional Default: 350 Optionality: Optional Valid Values: A valid, provisioned SIP user (user@domain) value Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: YES, NO Default: YES Optionality: Optional Valid Values: A semi-colon delimited list of IP addresses and ports of SIP Application Servers. Default: blank This item contains the number of times to allow retry attempts after an invalid passcode is entered. This item contains the number of times to play the chair has not yet arrived announcement before the caller is disconnected. Do not modify this value without consulting the MAS Engineering guide. The number of Media Processing Units available for this server. This value is influenced by the number of processors, speed of processors, and other performance characteristics of the server. This item contains the URL used to transfer the caller to an operator. This item specifies whether a chairperson have the ability to add a passcode to their conference bridge that participants must enter after they enter the access code for the bridge. This item contains a semi-colon delimited list of IP addresses and ports of SIP Application Servers. Each listed server will be considered a trusted node and requests from those servers will not require authentication. The first entry in the list is used for outbound messages from the media server. A value must be provided to enable transfers and other outbound requests from the MAS server. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

110 110 Table C-1 Overview of configuration parameters (Sheet 5 of 5) Name of parameter Fields Description SNTP Source Server Self Muting Enabled (YES/NO) Stream Source Destination Server(s) Timer: First Digit (ms) Timer: Inter-Digit (ms) Timer: Star First Digit (ms) Optionality: Optional Valid Values: localhost, , or a valid IP address of a designated SNTP time source server. Default: blank Optionality: Required Valid Values: YES, NO Default: NO Optionality: Optional Valid Values: A semi-colon delimited list of IP addresses of MAS servers. Default: blank Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 1000 (1 second) to (5 minutes) Default: 7000 (7 seconds) Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 1000 (1 second) to (5 minutes) Default: 5000 (5 seconds) Optionality: Optional Valid Values: 1000 (1 second) to (5 minutes) Default: 3000 (3 seconds) The IP address of an SNTP time source server. Specify 'localhost' or to designate the local server as a time source. If the local server is designated as a time source, the Windows time service will automatically be restarted to accept the configuration change. For deployments the SNTP Source Server should be the Management Server. When enabled, conference participants may enter *6 to mute and *7 to un-mute themselves. This item contains a semi-colon delimited list of IP addresses of destination server(s) that should receive media from the local stream source component. This item contains the duration in milliseconds to wait for the first DTMF tone from the caller. This item contains the duration in milliseconds to wait between DTMF tones before timing out. This item contains the duration in milliseconds to wait for the caller to press the '*' key. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

111 111 Event Viewer The local event viewer, as shown in the following figure, is accessible through the Event Viewer snap-in located in the Media Application Server Console. The Event Viewer snap-in can be configured to limit log files to a specific size, and rotate/archive log files. Event logs can be archived to disk as.evt files (binary) or text (ascii) log files. Logs stored as ascii text can be viewed using any text editor/viewer. Logs stored as binary can be viewed using the Event Viewer. Figure C-11 Media Application Server Console: Event Viewer (Local) Customizing the Event Viewer at the Media Application Server Console 1 To access the Event Viewer, right-click Event Viewer (local) to access the menu. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

112 112 Figure C-12 Event viewer menu Note: The Open Log File item can be used to view an archived log file. 2 Select View. You have the option to either Choose Columns or Customize. Note: The Customize option allows you to show or hide different items in the MAS Console display. 3 Select Choose Columns. The Modify Columns dialog box appears: NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

113 113 4 To hide columns, select an item in the Displayed columns list and click Remove. 5 To change the order of columns, click the Move Up or Move Down buttons. 6 Click Ok to apply the changes. Procedure C-5 Viewing Applications events at the Media Application Server Console 1 To view an application log menu, right-click the application in the console tree to view the following menu (or some subset thereof). Figure C-13 Application log menu Note: The Open Log File item can be used to view an archived log file. There is also the ability to Save Log File As in order to manually archive the current log file. Procedure C-6 Clearing events at the Media Application Server Console 1 To clear an event log, click Clear all Events. You will be prompted to archive the event log before it is cleared: MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

114 114 2 Click Yes to save the event log or No to delete the log without saving it. Setting Application properties The Application Properties dialog box provides information about the size of the log file as well as the dates it was created and last modified. Through the Application Properties dialog box you can specify the following parameters: maximum log size (KB) what happens with the log when it reaches the maximum size overwrite events overwrite events older than a configured day only allow events to be manually cleared restore default setting clear logs indicate a low speed access connection The Application Properties dialog box consists of two tabs: General and Filter. Configure log maintenance (archival, rotation) at the General tab. At the Filter tab you can apply various filters to reduce visual clutter of the details panel with unimportant log events. Procedure C-7 Setting Application properties at the Media Application Server Console 1 To access and change Application properties, right-click Application. 2 Select Properties to open the Application Properties display: NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

115 115 3 Click the General and Filter tabs to move between the two displays. Select and enter the Application properties parameters you want. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

116 116 4 Click Apply. Procedure C-8 Viewing Application logs at the Media Application Server Console 1 Click Application in the console tree to view the application logs in the details panel. All Media Application Server-originated logs appear here. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

117 117 Figure C-14 Application logs in the details panel Note: The details panel displays all current Application logs in a tabular format. Each row of the table contains all of the information for a particular event. There are three categories of event logs: Figure C-15 Event log categories Information Warning Error 2 Double-click a row to open an Event Properties display and view all of the information for a particular log. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

118 118 Figure C-16 Log details description Note: Similar capabilities exist for Security and System logs. Sample logs The following are Multimedia Controller sample logs. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

119 119 Figure C-17 Sample Information log Figure C-18 Sample Minor Alarm Warning log MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

120 120 Figure C-19 Sample Major Alarm Warning log Figure C-20 Sample Error log Alarms The Media Application Server generates alarms to report events that represent the onset of a persistent condition that degrades or interrupts operation of the service. In general, these are conditions that may require action on the part of an operator to correct the fault condition. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

121 121 Upon completion of the repair or corrective action, the Media Application Server will automatically clear the alarm condition. All alarms are logged, and when an alarm condition is cleared a second log is generated to record the new status. Active alarms are displayed in the MAS Console Control Panel (under the Alarm columns). Every occurrence of an alarm (and its subsequent clearing) is recorded as a logged event that is viewable in the Event Viewer. Optionally, alarms may be sent to a third-party management console such as HP OpenView. Alarms are sent in the form of a trap through SNMPv3. Alarm severity The following describes the characteristics of each Alarm severity level: Critical: The Critical severity level indicates that a service-affecting condition has occurred and an immediate corrective action is required. Such a severity can be reported, for example, when a resource becomes totally out of service and its capability must be restored. Major: The Major severity level indicates that a service-affecting condition has developed and an urgent corrective action is required. Such a severity can be reported, for example, when there is a severe degradation in the capability of the resource and its full capability must be restored. Minor: The Minor severity level indicates the existence of a non-service- affecting fault condition and that corrective action should be taken in order to prevent a more serious (for example, service-affecting) fault. Such a severity can be reported, for example, when the alarm condition is not currently degrading the capacity of the resource. Warning: The Warning severity level indicates the detection of a potential or impending service-affecting fault, before any significant effects have been felt. Action should be taken to further diagnose (if necessary) and correct the problem in order to prevent it from becoming a more serious service-affecting fault. Alarms have the following attributes: name type probable cause MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

122 severity description 122 Viewing Alarm status The Control Panel snap-in provides a quick view of the running status of the internal subcomponents and the Media Application Server system as a whole. Alarm status is displayed in the Alarm column of the details panel. If a component has uncleared alarms, the panel will indicate the most severe of the alarms. The actual alarm is not displayed through this mechanism, only a visual indicator that should prompt the administrator that there is something of interest occurring. The administrator can then browse the Event Viewer snap-in for logs reporting the alarm event to gather more information. Figure C-21 Alarm status Procedure C-9 Viewing alarm logs at the Media Application Server Console 1 To view the alarms under Event Viewer in the Console tree, click Application. The Application logs appear in the details panel. 2 Check the Category column for alarms. Note: You can customize the view in the details panel by removing or changing the order of columns. Refer to Customizing the Event Viewer on page 111 for instructions. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

123 123 Multimedia Controller alarms The following table displays alarms that the Media Application Server generates. Table C-2 Multimedia Controller alarms Name Severity Description PendingConnections Minor This alarm indicates that all initial connections upon startup are being established. This alarm will be activated at every MediaController initialization and will be deactivated once all the connections are established. MissedHeartbeats Minor This alarm indicates that the MediaController is having some difficulty communicating with a particular process. ConnectionsLost Major This alarm indicates that the MediaController has lost connection with one or more MediaServer components. InitialConnectionFailure Critical This alarm is used in conjunction with the PendingConnections alarm. This is raised if the initial MediaController connections cannot be made after a few initial attempts. The alarm is cleared once the connection is established. InvalidLicenseKey Major This alarm indicates that the license key provided to the MediaController was invalid. A corresponding log is generated that gives more detail as to the error. LicenseKeyNotFound Major This alarm indicates that the MediaController could not find the license key. The MediaController will not process calls without a valid license key. G711LicenseExhausted Major This alarm indicates that all G711 licenses for the adhocaudioconf service have been exhausted. This alarm will be cleared when licenses become available. G729LicenseExhausted Major This alarm indicates that all G729 licenses for the adhocaudioconf service have been exhausted. This will be cleared when licenses become available. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

124 124 Table C-2 Multimedia Controller alarms Name Severity Description G711LicenseThreshold Minor This alarm indicates that the G711 license counter is getting close to exhaustion. As the licenses are released, this alarm will be cleared. G729LicenseThreshold Minor This alarm indicates that the G729 license counter is getting close to exhaustion. As the licenses are released, this alarm will be cleared. Operational Measurements The Media Application Server supports two types of operational measurements: counters and gauges. Counters and gauges support performance monitoring, which is the process of capturing and analyzing the system performance data to identify system bottlenecks and fine-tune system and application performance. System performance data can be graphed according to specifications or written to a file for archiving and further analysis. Counters are named registers that start from zero and increment upward only. Counters are reset automatically when a component restarts. A counter may increment in chunks of any size. Counters are visible through the Microsoft Management Console only. Gauges are named registers that start from zero and support incrementing and decrementing. Gauges may increment or decrement in chunks of any size. Gauges are very useful to an administrator because they provide a real-time view into the operations of the system. Gauges are visible through the Microsoft Management Console only. Counters and gauges are organized by an Media Application Server internal subcomponent and are updated at periodic time intervals (minimum 1-second granularity). Each internal subcomponent generates its own performance data. The OS platform also exposes many useful counters and gauges: UDP counters provide a relatively accurate view of the RTP traffic levels to and from a given machine; processor and disk utilization gauges provide an indication of the relative load on the machine. The Media Application Server management framework also supports OM alarm thresholds. The system is able to set a threshold level for a gauge which will trigger an alarm when the threshold is exceeded. The NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

125 125 system is also able to set an abatement level (which can be different from the alarm threshold) that defines the point at which an OM threshold alarm will be cleared. Procedure C-10 Viewing OMs at the Media Application Server Console 1 To view OMs, click on Counters and Gauges. The first page of operational measurements contains the statistics. Figure C-22 Viewing OMs 2 Use the scrollbar on right side of the details panel to view the following pages of operational measurements. Setting up Counters and Gauges The Counters and Gauges snap-in is responsible for gathering and reporting the Operational Measurements (OM) generated by the Media Application Server. Counters and Gauges is a dynamic snap-in whose display can be manipulated in real time, meaning that it is possible to view only specific performance data of interest, and to add/drop any of these counters/gauges on the fly. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

126 126 Procedure C-11 Setting up Counters and Gauges at the Media Application Server Console 1 Select the Counters and Gauges snap-in to view the performance data in the details panel. Initially the details panel for the Counters and Gauges snap-in may be empty. Figure C-23 Counters and Gauges snap-in If the details panel for the Counters and Gauges snap-in is empty, a view of the performance statistics can be built by adding counters and gauges to the dynamic view. 2 To customize the counters and gauges, right-click in the details panel to display the counter and gauges shortcut menu: 3 Select Add Counters to display the Add Counters pop-up window. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

127 127 Figure C-24 Add Counters dialog box 4 Select the Performance object of interest at the drop-down menu. Figure C-25 Performance object options MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

128 128 5 Select Media Server Performance objects (the internal subcomponents: ConfMP, CStore, IVRmp, and MediaController) by selecting each in turn from the drop-down menu. 6 Select ConfMP to display the list of counters or gauges provided by that internal subcomponent. Figure C-26 ConfMP counters and gauges 7 Select the All counters button and click the Add button to add all ConfMP counters to the details panel. Alternatively, a subset of the ConfMP counters can be added to the details panel by selecting the Select counters from list button and adding one counter and gauge at a time (by selecting the counter or gauge of interest, and clicking Add button). The selected counters and gauges will appear in the details panel of the console each time the Add button is clicked. 8 Continue for remaining Performance objects of interest or return to the console by clicking Close. Dynamic customizing It is possible to dynamically manipulate the performance statistics displayed in the Counters and Gauges details panel. The process of adding more performance statistics to the details panel is the same procedure as that described previously for configuration. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003

129 129 Procedure C-12 Removing counters and gauges at the Media Application Server Console 1 In order to remove a counter or gauge or an entire group of counters/gauges (for example, ConfMP), click on the item of interest (for example, NumG711Parties). The selected item will be highlighted. 2 Press the Delete key on the keyboard (or click the Delete icon in the details panel) to remove the selected item. Collecting Performance Data The MAS Console supports real-time recording of system performance using snapshots of counters and gauges. An administrator is able to provide a list of monitored counters or gauges, which are periodically polled and recorded by the system. The timestamp, name, and value of these counters and gauges are recorded to a file in a text, binary, or Excel spreadsheet format. The interval is configurable and can be scheduled. After the data is collected, it is easily analyzed using applications or scripts. The MAS Console also supports triggering alerts based upon any existing counter or gauge. The criteria for generating alerts is configurable, but is usually based upon counter thresholds. Additional actions may be configured when an alert is triggered. It is possible to start collecting performance data, send messages, and invoke an application or script, for example. For more information on how to accomplish this, please refer to System Monitor help by clicking the System Monitor help icon in the Counters and Gauges details panel. The System Monitor help window appears. System and platform management The MAS Console is pre-configured with a Disk Management snap-in provided by the OS. MAS Meet me audio conferencing Basics

130 130 Figure C-27 Disk Management snap-in display Pre-configuring the Disk Management snap-in is provided as a convenience for managing the hard disks and volumes on the Media Application Server. For more information on usage of the Disk Management snap-in, please refer to the OS resident help accessible by clicking the Help drop-down menu in the MAS Console and clicking the HelpTopics item. The help window will appear. Logs, Counters, and Gauges listings The following sections are provided as reference information. Tables contained in each section list all logs, counters, and gauges generated/used by MAS Console. NN MCP 2.0 Standard December 2003