CHAPTER 6 WebConnect provides seamless integration between multiple internal and external web servers through a single URL. Making use of a single database and a customer-defined rollover sequence, WebConnect ensures the availability of Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing resources while still offering the benefits of a consistent user experience. See the following sections: About WebConnect, page 6-1 How to Configure WebConnect, page 6-5 About WebConnect Before you configure WebConnect, you should understand the following concepts: Prerequisites for, page 6-1 Restrictions for, page 6-2 WebConnect Concepts and Definitions, page 6-2 About Scheduling a Meeting with WebConnect, page 6-3 WebConnect and Segmented Meeting Access Environments, page 6-5 Prerequisites for Verify that your system meets the requirements for WebConnect configuration by reviewing the System Requirements for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace, at http://www.cisco.com/en/us/products/sw/ps5664/ps5669/prod_installation_guides_list.html. Install Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing and make sure that User Groups, Meeting Categories, and User Profiles are synchronized on all internal and dedicated external sites that are participating in a rollover map. If these parameters are not synchronized, rolled meetings will fail. If you do not have a profile synchronization procedure installed, see the Importing User Profile and Group Information section of the applicable Administration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server for manual profile synchronization procedures. The guide is available at http://www.cisco.com/en/us/products/sw/ps5664/ps5669/prod_maintenance_guides_list.html. You must synchronize Meeting Categories between two Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server systems manually; otherwise, Meeting Category searches will not work properly. 6-1
About WebConnect Chapter 6 Cisco Unified MeetingPlace web servers from each site must share the same SQL database. For example, if you are configuring two sites, Site A and Site B: after you complete Site A, install the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace web server for Site B, then direct Site B to use the same SQL server that Site A uses. You must use Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Directory Services for synchronizing user profiles. If you use Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Video Integration, and a single MCU is shared among sites, the Video Integration can be installed on the web servers at only one site. If each site has its own MCU, the Video Integration can be installed on web servers at each site. In either case, the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server at each site must be licensed for video. Restrictions for We do not support the WebConnect feature on UNIX systems. WebConnect Concepts and Definitions See Table 6-1 for definitions of key WebConnect concepts. Table 6-1 WebConnect Concepts and Definitions Concept System Site External site Cisco Unified MeetingPlace services Definition A standalone Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server system. A natural group of systems on which users can schedule and host their meetings. Sites are not limited to any geographical limitations. Sites are limited to standalone or network configurations. Servers that can be reached via Single Number Access must belong to the same site. Currently, each site can only contain one system. A site that is outside your network and used for dedicated use. External sites can have either the same features, for example, the ability to attach documents or access meeting recordings, or more features than sites that are on your network. Dedicated external sites sharing the same database is not a supported WebConnect configuration. A suite of services that supports Cisco Unified MeetingPlace by offering a range of deployment options: Managed Services Equipment owned by Cisco installed at a customer site and connected to their network, but managed by the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Services group. Hosted Services Equipment owned by Cisco installed off-site at a hosted facility but still connected to a dedicated customer network. Hosted Services is equivalent to a dedicated external site. For further information on Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Services, see your Cisco sales representative. 6-2
Chapter 6 About WebConnect Table 6-1 WebConnect Concepts and Definitions (continued) Concept Cisco Unified MeetingPlace image Rollover map Definition A collection of sites (internal and external) that end-users can roll across. Separate images do not share database information, such as lists of meetings, or profile directories. A site can be a member of several different images, for example, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Services (a site) can be part of Image 1, which contains all sites within the U.S., as well as part of Image 2, which contains all sites within Asia Pacific. The sequential mapping of sites within a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Image. For an example of a rollover map, see the About Scheduling a Meeting with WebConnect section on page 6-3. About Scheduling a Meeting with WebConnect The ability to schedule Cisco Unified MeetingPlace web conferences is achieved through a single interface: the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing home page. End users are required to know only one URL regardless of which server they wish to schedule on. Before users begin scheduling meetings by using WebConnect, make sure of the following: User profile time zone settings are accurate. Using the default localtime setting can cause errors by scheduling rolled meetings for a different time of day. Time zone and profile information are synchronized between all internal and dedicated external sites. After receiving a scheduling request, Web Conferencing attempts to schedule on the first site indicated in the scheduler rollover map. If it cannot schedule this meeting on this site, Web Conferencing refers to the scheduler rollover map and attempts to schedule on the next listed site. For example, each map in Table 6-2 contains a different rollover sequence. If your user group is assigned to Map A and you schedule a meeting, the following occurs: Web Conferencing first attempts to schedule your meeting on the Santa Clara site. If the Santa Clara site is unavailable, Web Conferencing then attempts to schedule according to the sequence outlined in your rollover map: San Francisco, and then Dallas, and finally Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Services. Table 6-2 Example WebConnect Rollover Sequences Map Rollover Site 1 Rollover Site 2 Rollover Site 3 Rollover Site 4 Map A Santa Clara San Francisco Dallas MP Services Map B San Francisco Santa Clara Dallas MP Services Map C Dallas Santa Clara MP Services N/A Map D Dallas San Francisco Santa Clara N/A When Web Conferencing locates an available site, it schedules the meeting. If configured, a warning message prompting the user to confirm rollover to another site appears. For information on configuring the warning message, see the To Configure a Site section on page 6-6. 6-3
About WebConnect Chapter 6 For deployments with Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Video Integration, video scheduling options will be displayed on the scheduling page for users with video scheduling privileges whether or not they are accessing the site that has the Video Integration installed. If the user tries to schedule a video meeting from a site that does not have the Video Integration installed, the rollover mechanism will redirect the video scheduling request to the site that has the Video Integration installed. From the New Meeting page, users can choose to schedule on a site other than their default site by choosing one from the Site drop-down menu. If the meeting cannot be scheduled on the chosen site, rollover will ensue, beginning at the first site on their rollover map. Users can also choose to click Try on This Site Only, which effectively turns off the automatic rollover function. However, if users check this check box and scheduling fails, they will receive an error message. Recurring meetings will only roll if all meetings in a recurring chain fail to schedule on the initial site. Figure 6-1 illustrates how meetings are scheduled with WebConnect. Figure 6-1 How Meetings Are Scheduled with WebConnect 1 Internet browser 5 HTTP 2 4 Site 1 Site 2 3 Web-conferencing server SQL Server Web-conferencing server TCP/IP TCP/IP Audio Server System Audio Server System Directory services LDAP metalink Directory services 141975 1. User submits a request to schedule a meeting. 6-4
Chapter 6 How to Configure WebConnect 2. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing attempts to schedule the meeting on Site 1, as indicated on the user rollover map, or on a particular user-specified site. 3. If Site 1 is unavailable, Web Conferencing rolls the scheduling information to Site 2. 4. Web Conferencing locates an available server on Site 2 and schedules the meeting. 5. The scheduler receives a message indicating that the meeting has been scheduled on Site 2. WebConnect and Segmented Meeting Access Environments If you have a segmented meeting access (SMA) configuration, you probably have some web servers inside your private corporate network and separate web servers in a DMZ reserved for external meetings. Meetings scheduled on internal servers remain on internal servers throughout the rollover process. Meetings that are intended to be available on the external server roll to external servers. Factors you should be aware of when configuring WebConnect for SMA environments include: Every site requires one external web server in the DMZ zone. Users can only schedule externally accessible meetings on sites that have a web server residing in the DMZ. To provide external users access to meetings, the meeting scheduler must use a profile that can schedule meetings on external web servers. These external web servers must exist on all sites within the meeting scheduler rollover maps. How to Configure WebConnect To configure WebConnect, complete the following procedures in the order shown: To Update User Groups, page 6-5 To Configure Web Servers for WebConnect, page 6-6 To Configure a Site, page 6-6 To Configure a Rollover Map, page 6-8 To Assign Rollover Maps to User Groups, page 6-9 To Update User Groups If you have user profiles assigned to groups, set their attribute values to Group Default. Altering the value of the group simultaneously alters the value of the profile. From the Welcome page, click Admin, then click Replication Service. From the Replication Service Command drop-down menu, choose Update All Groups. This triggers a complete group replication at the next update interval. Click Submit. Any new User Groups created in Cisco Unified MeetingPlace automatically replicate from the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server system to the SQL Server database. 6-5
How to Configure WebConnect Chapter 6 Step 5 Proceed to the To Configure Web Servers for WebConnect procedure on page 6-6. To Configure Web Servers for WebConnect Step 5 Step 6 From the Welcome page, click Admin, then click Web Server. From the View section of the page, click the name of the web server you want to configure. Information about this server populates the top portions of the page. For Hostname, enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the web server, that is, hostname.domain.com, or IP address if this information is not already entered. For Require Proxy, indicate whether a proxy server is required by choosing Yes or No. For more information on proxy servers, see the About Proxy Servers section on page 2-1. (Optional) If you chose Yes for Step 5, complete the following: a. For Proxy User, enter the proxy user login. b. For Proxy Password, enter the proxy password. c. For Proxy Server, enter the hostname of the proxy server. d. For Proxy Port, enter the proxy port used for your proxy server. This value depends on the setup of your web server and must match proxy server settings. The default setting is port 8080. Step 7 For Require Web Server Authentication, indicate whether the web server accepts Windows authentication. If a destination rollover site IIS web server requires basic or integrated Windows authentication, you will need to configure an account to access the destination. For more information on web server authentication, see Chapter 4, Configuring User Authentication in Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing. Step 8 (Optional) If you chose Yes for Step 7, complete the following: a. For Windows User Name, enter the domain_name\user_login. b. For Windows Password, enter the Windows login password. Step 9 Click Submit. 0 Proceed to the To Configure a Site procedure on page 6-6. To Configure a Site From the Welcome page, click Admin, then click Site. From the View section of the page, click the name of the site you want to configure. 6-6
Chapter 6 How to Configure WebConnect Information about this site populates the Edit section of the page. Configure the site as indicated in the following table: Parameter Site Name Primary Web Server Contact Phone Number Site Included in Image DMZ Web Server Load Stats Poll Period (Seconds) Dedicated External Warn before Rolling onto Site Roll on Meeting ID Conflict Internal Web Server Allow Web Load Balancing in Ad Hoc Video Meetings Description The name of the chosen site. The Site Name entry on the Site administrative page must match the Web Server Name entry on the Web Server administrative page. This must be consistent for each site. If these entries do not match, searches will not display the same site name. Indicates which web server in this site is designated as the entry point for all WebConnect rollover traffic. The phone number assigned for this site. If this field is blank, enter the phone number. Indicates if this site is part of your rollover map. If it is, choose Yes. If it is not, choose No. Indicates the external web server assigned to this site. If there is not an external web server assigned to this site, this field is blank. Configure how often the web server is polled for its current load index. The default is 60 seconds. Indicates if this site is a Hosted Service. If it is, choose Yes. If it is not, choose No. To invoke a warning prompt that users will see whenever their meetings are rolled to this site, choose Yes. The warning prompt requires the user to confirm the rollover. To have Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing roll meetings to this site without prompting for confirmation, choose No. Recommended Configure external sites to warn users before rolling as usage on external sites is calculated on a cost-per-minute basis. To invoke automatic rollover in the case of meeting ID conflicts, choose Yes. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing will automatically roll the meeting to the next available site in the user s rollover map and schedule the meeting using the entered meeting ID. To disable rollover in the case of meeting ID conflicts, choose No. Web Conferencing will display an error message suggesting that the user change the meeting ID. Indicates which web server in this site is designated as the entry point for all dedicated internal rollover traffic. To always invoke load balancing when a user with video scheduling privileges schedules a meeting on this site, choose Yes. If the web portion of the meeting lands on the web server with Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Video Integration activated, ad-hoc video will work successfully. If the web portion of the meeting lands on a web server that does not have the video integration activated, video features are not available from the meeting console. To force all meetings scheduled by users with video scheduling privileges to be held on the video-enabled web server, choose No. This ensures that if users wants to start an ad-hoc video meeting, resources are available. This is the default and recommended setting. If you have the video integration installed in a web server cluster that does not have load balancing configured, leave this parameter set to No. 6-7
How to Configure WebConnect Chapter 6 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7 Step 8 In the Site Customization Default Values section, choose Yes for all parameters. Choosing Yes synchronizes all of the web servers in this site to share the same parameters. For parameter descriptions, see the Customizing Local Web Server Options section on page 2-31. Click Submit. Repeat through Step 6 for each remaining site listed in the View section of the Site administrative page. (Optional) To delete a site from your image, choose it and click Delete. You can only delete external sites from an image. Step 9 Proceed to the To Configure a Rollover Map section on page 6-8. To Configure a Rollover Map The rollover sequence tells Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing which site to contact, and in what order, in case of a scheduling failure. From the Welcome page, click Admin, then click Rollover Map. Choose your rollover map: To configure a new rollover map, enter a new map name in the Rollover Map Name field. To modify a previously configured rollover map, choose the rollover map you want to modify from the View section of the page. Information about this map populates the Edit section of the page with the Priority column automatically listing any internal sites followed by external sites. From the Edit section of the page, configure your rollover map as follows: a. For Site Name, click the arrow next to the first drop-down menu and choose a site. This is the first site Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing will attempt to schedule on. This setting overrides any configuration settings established for a home site in MeetingTime. b. (Optional) If you are creating a single-site rollover map for a group without rollover privileges, click Submit and proceed to the To Assign Rollover Maps to User Groups procedure on page 6-9. c. (Optional) If you are creating a multiple-site rollover map, choose a second site from the Site Name drop-down menu. If your first site is unavailable for scheduling, this is the next site Web Conferencing will attempt to schedule on. d. Repeat with each subsequent drop-down menu in the Site Name column. Step 5 Click Submit. Your newly defined rollover map appears in the View section of the page. Step 6 Proceed to the To Assign Rollover Maps to User Groups procedure on page 6-9. 6-8
Chapter 6 How to Configure WebConnect To Delete a Rollover Map From the Welcome page, click Admin, then click Rollover Map. From the View section of the page, click the name of the Rollover map you want to delete. Information about this rollover map populates the Edit section of the page. Click Delete. To Assign Rollover Maps to User Groups You must assign all groups to a rollover map. Assign groups who should not have rollover privileges to a single-site rollover map. Users belonging to a group without a rollover map will receive error messages. Step 5 From the Welcome page, click Admin, then click User Group. From the View section of the page, choose the user group that you want to configure by doing one of the following: Click the name of the user group that you want to configure. If you cannot find your group, or the list is too lengthy, use the Search option as follows: Choose By Group Name, By Billing Code, or By Rollover Map Name. Enter your search term in the box provided and click Search. Click the Group Name of the user group you want to configure from the updated list. For Rollover Map, choose a map from the drop-down menu. Click Submit. To Delete User Groups This procedure deletes user groups from the SQL Server database, but not the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace database. If a group has been deleted in error, the Replication Service will repopulate the group listing on the next scheduled update. From the Welcome page, click Admin, then click User Group. From the View section of the page, choose the user group that you want to delete by doing one of the following: Click the name of the user group that you want to configure. If you cannot find your group, or the list is too lengthy, use the Search option as follows: Choose By Group Name, By Billing Code, or By Rollover Map Name. Enter your search term in the box provided and click Search. Click the Group Name of the user group you want to configure from the updated list. 6-9
How to Configure WebConnect Chapter 6 From the Edit section of the page, click Delete. 6-10