Cisco MeetingPlace Directory Services 5.3 [Cisco Unified MeetingPlace]

DATA SHEET

Conferencing applications are a standard part of the corporate desktop and are important productivity tools for remote meetings. Cisco MeetingPlace solutions integrate voice, video, and Web conferencing with enterprise groupware applications to deliver secure, on-network, rich-media conferencing capabilities. Cisco MeetingPlace provides users with an advanced, secure, and convenient way to conduct remote meetings as easily and effectively as they would face-to-face meetings.

Cisco® MeetingPlace Directory Services makes the administration of MeetingPlace profiles easy by eliminating the need to manually create new profiles in the Cisco MeetingPlace system. Ongoing maintenance of user information, for example, name changes, additions, deletions, and changes in status can be automatically propagated from the corporate directory to the Cisco MeetingPlace system.

KEY FEATURES AND BENEFITS

Capabilities

• Corporate directory integration: Takes advantage of the corporate directory for Cisco MeetingPlace user database information.

• Cisco MeetingPlace synchronization: Ensures that user profile information is current across distributed Cisco MeetingPlace systems.

• Profile updates: Detects when user profile changes occur on Cisco MeetingPlace or on the corporate directory, and automatically propagates updates.

• Profile creation: Automatically builds new Cisco MeetingPlace profiles based on new entries in the corporate directory.

• Profile deletion: Automatically deletes or suspends Cisco MeetingPlace accounts based on deletions of employees from the corporate directory.

• Configuration: Provides flexible update settings and configurable business rules to meet customer requirements.

• Scalability: Supports up to 250,000 profiles.

Network Security

• Accurate databases: Ensures that the list of Cisco MeetingPlace users is current to prevent unauthorized access by former employees.

• Network credential login: Recognizes users authenticated by the corporate network credentials.

• On-Network Deployment: Secures all information within the corporate network as an on-network application.

• Corporate directory protection: Prevents changes to corporate directory to maintain information integrity and requires only unobtrusive, read only access.

System Manager Benefits

• Simplified Administration: Automates profile database management with corporate directory information. When new employees join the company and are added to the corporate directory, the MeetingPlace profile is automatically created on all the MeetingPlace servers. If the user information changes, such as telephone number or email address, there is not need to update the user profile anywhere other than in the corporate directory.

• Improved security: Ensures an up to date database of authorized users.

• Reduced support calls. Diminishes the number of help desk inquiries from users with profile or password requests.

End User Benefits

• Consistent user login: Users can use the same user ID and password to access all Cisco MeetingPlace systems.

• Current personal data: Automatically updates a user's contact information with phone number, billing code, or other changes for more personalized use.

NEW FEATURES IN CISCO DIRECTORY SERVICES 5.3

Cisco MeetingPlace Release 5.3 Support

• Synchronizes with Cisco MeetingPlace Audio Server Release 5.3, and supports synchronization of most user profile attributes that are supported by Cisco MeetingPlace Release 5.3.

Cisco MeetingPlace Video Attributes Support

• Supports synchronization of new Cisco MeetingPlace 5.3 profile attributes that are specifically for video support.

Cisco CallManager Directory Support

• Supports synchronizations of user data from the Cisco CallManager directory, allowing Cisco MeetingPlace to support IP telephony users who are configured in Cisco CallManager.

Microsoft Active Directory 2003 Support

• Supports the new version of Microsoft Active Directory, Active Directory 2003, that is embedded in Windows Server 2003. MetaLink agreements for Active Directory 2003 can use the same configuration as Active Directory 2000.

Support for Extended ASCII Characters

• Supports some extended ASCII characters with numeric values greater than 127.

PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE

The Cisco MeetingPlace Directory Services server combines user information from an organization's LDAP directory with user profiles stored on the Cisco MeetingPlace Audio Server system into a unified meta-directory. A meta-directory does not replace the systems that provide the data, but rather links these systems in one accessible infrastructure.

To create the meta-directory, Release 5.3 uses synchronization processes called MetaLink agreements. Each server synchronization requires a separate MetaLink agreement. A one-way MetaLink agreement sends data in one direction between servers, and a two-way MetaLink agreement sends data in both directions.

Once established, the MetaLink agreement between the corporate directory and the met-directory can create, update, and delete Cisco MeetingPlace system user profiles based on the information that is stored in your corporate directory server. If user information changes in the corporate directory, those changes are propagated automatically to the Cisco MeetingPlace Audio Server system.

REQUIREMENTS

System Requirements

• Cisco MeetingPlace 8106 or Cisco MeetingPlace 8112 with MeetingPlace Audio Server.

• Cisco Media Convergence Server (MCS):

– MCS 7835 or MCS 7845 (or exact hardware equivalent)

• Cisco MeetingPlace Directory Services Release 5.3 installed on a Cisco MCS Server that can be running any possible combination of MeetingPlace integration solutions.

• Cisco MeetingPlace Directory Services can run with the following directory servers:

– Microsoft Active Directory 2000

– Microsoft Active Directory 2003

– Netscape Directory Server Version 4.x

– iPlanet Directory Server Version 5.x

– SunONE Directory Server Version 5.x

– Cisco CallManager 3.3.x

– Cisco CallManager 4.0.x

– Cisco CallManager 4.1.x

Upgrade Requirements

To upgrade from a legacy MeetingPlace system, the system must meet the following requirements:

• Your hardware server specifications must meet the specifications of a Cisco Media Convergence Server MCS-7835 or MCS-7845 with operating system Windows 2000 Server (SP 4).

• Upgrades are supported from Cisco MeetingPlace Directory Services release 4.2.7.25 or a later release.

ORDERING INFORMATION

To place an order, visit the Cisco Ordering Home Page.

Table 1. Part Numbers for Cisco MeetingPlace Directory Services

Part Numbers	Description
MP-DIRSVCS-5.3	Cisco MeetingPlace Directories Integration Application
MP-DIRSVC5.3-UPG=	Cisco MeetingPlace Directories SW Upgrade to Rel 5.3

Cisco Rich-Media Communications Services and Support

Cisco Rich-Media Convergence services and support reduce the cost, time, and complexity associated with implementing a Rich-Media Communications solution. Cisco and its partners have deployed some of today's largest conferencing solutions-which means that we understand how to integrate a rich-media solution into your organization's network infrastructure, a solution that will help you realize business results more quickly, and gain a competitive advantage as well.

Cisco offers full life-cycle support and services to help ensure that the solution best fits your business needs from the start, eliminating costly redesigns and downtime. Cisco proven methods help ensure a sound implementation that will deliver the functions and features you expect-on time. Support services include implementation and upgrade services, project management, and technical support services.

Through these services, your organization benefits from the experience gained by Cisco and its partners. Taking advantage of this invaluable experience, you can create and maintain a resilient solution that will meet your business needs today-and in the future.

For more information about Cisco Services, see Cisco Technical Support Services or Cisco Advanced Services.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information about Cisco MeetingPlace, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/meetingplace or contact your local account representative.

Hierarchical Navigation

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace

Cisco MeetingPlace Directory Services 5.3

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