Installation and Upgrade Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3
Introducing Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3

Table Of Contents

Introducing Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3

About Cisco Unified MeetingPlace

About Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing

Terms of Use

Configuration Restrictions

Cisco Policy for Use of Third-Party Software and Security Updates

Terms for Single Sign On Software Integration

Terms of Support for Single Sign On Software Integration

New Features and Enhancements

New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(447)

New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(333)

New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(235)

New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(104)


Introducing Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3


Topics in this section include:

About Cisco Unified MeetingPlace

About Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing

Terms of Use

New Features and Enhancements

About Cisco Unified MeetingPlace

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace provides a rich-media conferencing solution that includes the following:

Voice, web, and video-conferencing capabilities

Centralized access

Real-time collaboration

Integrated-network security that uses your organization's existing telephony or IP-based infrastructure

For more information about Cisco Unified MeetingPlace, see the Installation Planning Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Release 5.3.

About Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing provides real-time collaboration functionality to an organization's intranet and extranet and integrates Cisco Unified MeetingPlace with a web server, thus providing users with a browser-based interface. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing enables Windows, Mac, and UNIX users to schedule and attend conferences, access meeting materials, and collaborate on documents from common web browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and Apple Safari.

For more information about Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing, see the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Terms of Use

The following sections describe particular terms of agreement that you should be aware of when configuring or using this product.

Topics in this section include:

Configuration Restrictions

Cisco Policy for Use of Third-Party Software and Security Updates

Terms for Single Sign On Software Integration

Terms of Support for Single Sign On Software Integration

Configuration Restrictions

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing deployments that are customized beyond the built-in configuration capabilities of the product, or beyond the documented configuration settings, procedures or instructions, are not supported by Cisco Systems. Examples of such customizations include, but are not limited to, the following: modifying web page templates, changing HTML or Javscript code, changing IIS running parameters or applying custom ASP pages or ISAPI filters, modifying SQL server configuration or authentication method, modifying Windows OS security through IPSec policies and NTFS ACL, and so on.

Cisco Policy for Use of Third-Party Software and Security Updates

The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing documentation describes the system, end user and other requirements for the use of the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing software. Changes to these requirements or the introduction of certain third-party products may interfere with the operation of the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing software, and may impact Cisco's ability to provide support for the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing product. Third-party firewall, spyware, and access protection software in particular are considered high risk regarding their ability to disrupt Cisco Unified MeetingPlace operations if not configured properly.

Terms for Single Sign On Software Integration

Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) customers who implement SSO software integrations on their Cisco Unified MeetingPlace web servers do so at their own risk and are responsible for understanding the technical implementations and feasibility of SSO integrations on their systems.

By allowing SSO software integrations, we do not claim support for any SSO software packages or vendors.

SSO software integrations require proper configuration of Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing systems through the Admin pages. If your SSO software integration requires a change in the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing product source code, your SSO integration becomes an SSO customization, and we do not support customizations by either customers or any other parties.

CPE customers who want to integrate SSO packages can contact Cisco Managed Services to obtain a Service Request to implement SSO. This service is offered as a convenience and does not change the scope of the SSO integration: this service is an integration and configuration of the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing product, not a customization of the product code.

Customers must first implement SSO software integrations on test or lab servers and verify that the integrated systems work, including Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing features and operations.

Customers are responsible for ensuring stability of integrated Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing-SSO systems, including communicating with SSO software vendors for the following reasons:

To obtain necessary fixes and support

To troubleshoot functional problems and technical problems, including crashes triggered by the SSO package

SSO software often includes a web-server extension, called the IIS ISAPI extension or filter. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing installs and uses four IIS extensions. Any incompatibility between an SSO software extension and the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing extensions can make IIS non-functional or unstable. Any crash of the SSO IIS extension can cause IIS to crash and can generate a full Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing outage, resulting in a full system restart, ending of in-progress meetings, and disconnecting of web-conferencing users. Any memory leak in the SSO package or module can make IIS or the whole server unstable, as well.

Although SSO software integration is productized for the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing system, any changes in overall configuration, including Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing upgrades and SSO package upgrades, can potentially break integrated Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing-SSO systems.

Terms of Support for Single Sign On Software Integration

Customers must inform Cisco TAC that their Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing servers have third-party SSO packages installed and configured with Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing when opening a service request for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Microsoft Outlook, or Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Lotus Notes.

Customers must be able to provide SSO integration details upon request. Inability to provide details can result in Cisco TAC not being able to proceed with service requests.

If a service request is about troubleshooting the SSO integration, Cisco TAC can review the logs and identify if the problem is on the SSO side or the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing side. If the problem is on the SSO side, information will be provided to customers, so they can further troubleshoot with their SSO vendors.

If the service request is about troubleshooting a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing problem that does not seem to be connected to the SSO integration, Cisco TAC will proceed per the normal support process. If TAC discovers that the SSO integration plays a role in the problem, information will be provided to customers, so they can further troubleshoot with their SSO vendors.

If Cisco TAC believes the problem is triggered by an SSO package, Cisco TAC can require customers to disable the SSO package to troubleshoot further.

Microsoft Debug Diagnostic tool, also called DebugDiag, may be required for troubleshooting IIS crashes and memory leaks to determine if these problems are produced by the SSO package.

New Features and Enhancements

This section provides a list of all new features and enhancements available in Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(447)

New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(333)

New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(235)

New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(104)

New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(447)

Feature
Description

Mute all from the Web interface

Allows meeting schedulers or users with advanced privileges to mute all meeting participants simultaneously through the Web. For more information, see the User Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Escalate meeting

Allows meeting schedulers or users with advanced privileges to escalate a meeting in-progress from an internal web server to an external web server. Moving the meeting to an external web server allows users outside the firewall to join. For more information, see the User Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Separately track meeting console usage.

Allows you to configure the web server to track meeting console usage as distinct from general web-conferencing usage. For more information, see Chapter 2 in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Hide Participant list during lecture-style meetings

Allows you to configure the web server to hide the Participant list for guest users during lecture-style meetings. For more information, see Chapter 2 in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Full meeting console on Mac

The full meeting console is now available on Mac systems. Specific client system requirements apply. For more information, see the User Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Alarm on master service restart

Generates a major system alarm whenever a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing service fails. For more information, see the "About the Cisco MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Service" section in Chapter 2 of the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Product name changes

Names of Cisco MeetingPlace products are updated in this release to reflect the Cisco Unified Communications brand. Cisco MeetingPlace Web Conferencing is now referred to as Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing.


New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(333)

Feature
Description

New multiserver meeting scheduling interface

This release features a single-page interface that users can use to schedule multiserver meetings.

Automatic case-conversion for Windows integrated authentication

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace user profiles are case-sensitive. To ease synchronization between Cisco Unified MeetingPlace and third-party authentication software, this release automatically converts case from upper-case to lower-case and vice-versa for Windows integrated authentication. For more information about user authentication, see Chapter 5 in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Schedule on behalf of

Users with Attendant and higher permissions can now schedule meetings on behalf of other users through the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing scheduling interface.

Increased ability to customize the Web user interface

Enhanced customization pages allow you to more easily determine the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing fields and descriptions that are visible to your end users.

Increased online administrative functionality

This release supports increased online administrative tools, such as the ability to create new user profiles, groups, meeting categories, and site routes.

Restricted meetings ID patterns

For enhanced security, this release supports the ability to configure meeting ID patterns that are restricted from use. For more information about this feature, see Chapter 2 in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Updated Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Gateway SIM

This release includes Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Gateway System Integrity Manager release 5.2.0.46. For more information about the Gateway SIM, see Chapter 2 in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Separate end-user and administrative Help pages

This release features two separate Help systems: one for end users and one for system administrators. The system administrator Help is only available on Admin pages that require signing in by authorized users.


New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(235)

Feature
Description

Authentication configuration options

There are new authentication configuration options in the administrative page that provide the following benefits:

Consolidate various previously supported and unsupported authentication methods under a single, enhanced administrative page

Support previously unsupported authentication methods, such as LDAP and specific third-party authentication packages

Simplify configuration by automating previously manual configuration steps

Improve Single Sign On (SSO) integration with other authentication software by exposing integration hooks in the administrative page


Caution Before you configure SSO, read the "Terms of Use" section so that you understand the terms for SSO software integration with Release 5.3(235) and the terms obtaining for TAC support for this feature.

Note The default authentication setting is the MeetingPlace directory with web form login authentication. If your existing web server is configured to use another authentication method, such as NT authentication, LDAP, or Single Sign On through third-party software like SiteMinder, those settings are replaced by the default setting, and you must configure the desired authentication by using the new authentication configuration options in the administrative page.

Automated server-side log collection

Automated server-side log collection feature. For more information, see Chapter 8 in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Automatic install of SQL Server SP 4

SQL Server SP 4 is bundled with Release 5.3(235) and installs automatically on the Cisco MCS server if SQL Server is also installed under the local option on the server, where Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing is installed. For a non-Cisco MCS server or if you are using remote SQL Server, you must manually install SP4.

For more information, see the "About SQL Server Integration" section on page 2-1.

Automatic meeting extension

Regular meetings that are scheduled with at least one audio or one video port will not be automatically extended after meeting end times if there are fewer than two meeting participants who remain connected to the audio or video devices even if some web-conferencing participants are still connected to the meeting. The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server system will end these meetings, and consequently, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing will disconnect the remaining web participants.

Reservationless meetings, continuous meetings, and zero-port meetings, such as meetings scheduled with zero audio and zero video port that are web-only meetings, are not impacted by this change. In particular, web-only meetings will keep extending after their end times if two or more web-conferencing participants are still connected.

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing has a 24-hour inactivity session limit for profiled user logins: if a profiled user connects to a web-conferencing meeting and leaves the browser open, the web connection terminates after 24 hours of inactivity. For guest users, the inactivity session limit is 45 minutes.

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Cisco IP Phone

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Cisco IP Phone integration files are now bundled and installed automatically by the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing installer. For more information, see Appendix B in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

Note With this release, do not use the earlier release of Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Cisco IP Phone that is available on Cisco.com.

Localization release

In addition to US English, this release supports French, German, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Latin America).

Server PC clock synchronization

Server PC clock synchronization feature that uses NTP. For more information, see Chapter 8 in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.

SQL password

The SQL password is now encrypted at Release 5.3(235) installation.


Caution Before you upgrade, ensure that you obtain and write down the SQL password. Once you upgrade, the SQL password is encrypted, so if you do not have it, you will need to reset the SQL password.

Client-side Sun JRE compatibility

Sun JRE 1.4.2_01 to 1.4.2_03 is excluded from the compatibility list for security reasons. The minimum requirement is JRE 1.4.2_04. However, we recommend that you install Sun JRE 1.4.2_08 or a later release on your client machine. For the Sun security defect, see the following URL:
http://secunia.com/advisories/15671.

Expiration of Cisco Unified MeetingPlace cookies

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace cookies now become invalid after a number of days because of a new system-wide control parameter: the Remember Me Expiration Interval (Days). The default expiration interval is 90 days. For more information, see Chapter 2 in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing Release 5.3.


New Features and Enhancements in Release 5.3(104)

Feature
Description

Cisco branding

New branding and colors throughout the graphic user interface and accompanying documentation.

Denial-of-service handling

Three new administration settings ensure that an overloaded server remains available and can continue to provide service to existing users and legitimate incoming users.

Enhanced installation

The installer is in a self-contained software package that you can download and install without Cisco involvement. This includes installing SQL Server as part of the install.

Enhanced slide caching

In lecture-style meetings, enhanced slide caching downloads three slides subsequent to the slide being shown, thus improving network load and restricting guest users from controlling the presentation.

Enhanced SSL administration

An improved configuration allows you to configure your systems with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

Enhanced upgrades

Separates customizations from the main product; allowing you to maintain your customizations despite web-conferencing software upgrades.

Enhanced segmented meeting access configuration

Splits the "Display Meeting to Everyone" setting into two separate options: "Allow Internet Access", and "Publicly Listed Meeting", to ease segmented meeting access configurations.

Enhanced application-sharing

Improves performance of the Application Sharing feature by removing the automatic display of the host's application in the host's meeting console. Also provides hosts with audience latency feedback so that they know how quickly other users are receiving screen updates.

Macintosh application-sharing

Extends the Application Sharing feature to Macintosh clients. Users on Macintosh clients can now share their desktops, sections of their desktops, or selected applications during web conferences.

Presentation slides optimized for 1024 x 768 displays

Optimizes presentation slide display to 1024 x 768. A system option allows you to modify this setting if you have a significant number of 800 x 600 users.

Sun JRE support

Provides support for Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.4.2 and later releases.

Support for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Video Integration

Allows users to schedule video resources through the Web and to attend meetings through a video endpoint.

Updated meeting console

Enhanced meeting console provides improved download time, a cleaner user interface with maximized view space, and video-conferencing functionality (requires purchase of Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Video Integration).

Improved settings for configuring public meetings

Additional settings allow administrators and users to better configure when public meetings are made visible in the Find Meetings list.

Updated Reference Center

The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Reference Center is updated to include end-user information about the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Video Integration.

Ability to configure Single Sign On

Allows you to configure Single Sign On by using Windows Integrated Authentication so that users log in once and gain authenticated access to both the Windows domain and Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing.

Language support for strings customization tool

Provides a language selection drop-down menu so that system administrators can choose their working language when accessing the strings customization tool.