Cisco Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces Installation Guide
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- Updated:
- November 29, 2013
Chapter: Getting Started
Getting Started
This chapter provides information on the architecture, prerequisites, and deployment models of the Cisco Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces (Smart+Connected MS) application.
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List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
Overview
The Smart+Connected MS is a solution that leverages the Cisco Service Delivery Platform (SDP). The solution allows you to easily access information about conference/TelePresence (TP) rooms and the enterprise by using digital signage/IEC, kiosks, room panels, IP phones, and the web portal. For example, you can easily view information, such as meeting details, room availability, news, energy consumption data, energy saving tips, and so on.
The application also allows you to book conference/TP rooms instantly using touchscreen signage, kiosks, room panels, and IP phones, manage conference room resources, and report the issues, if any, in the conference rooms. The automatic energy saving settings lead to reduced power consumption and contribute to the eco-friendly policies of the organization. In case of any mishaps, emergency notifications are sent out to the users through IP phones and signage.
The Smart+Connected MS leads to enhanced enterprise communication as the updated meeting room information is widely available and easily accessible to employees. It also leads to better resource management and energy savings which translate to reduced energy bills and more environment-friendly corporate practices.
The Smart+Connected MS solution allows the end user to do the following:
•Using Digital Signage/IEC
–Book conference/TP rooms.
–View detailed floor plans with the locations of the conference rooms.
–View the conference room schedule in different views—Building level, Floor level, and Conference Room level.
–Cisco Smart+Connected Emergency Notifications™ (Smart+Connected EN)—Displays the notifications and exit routes on the digital signage in times of an emergency and sends audio and visual notifications on the Cisco IP phones during a crisis.
–Cisco Smart+Connected Information Signage™ (Smart+Connected IS)—Displays the general information and news on the digital signage.
–Cisco Smart+Connected Green Advisor™ (Smart+Connected GA)—Displays energy consumption data, energy saving tips, and green information.
•Using Smart+Connected MS Kiosks
–Book conference rooms and TP rooms.
–Check into any available workspace/office.
–View the overall conference/TP room and workspace availability on all floors of all of the buildings in the organization and book/check into any of these spaces.
–View the neighborhoods/zones on a floor.
–Viewing the new stories enabled for the building.
–Access the floor plans for any building in the enterprise to view the locations and availability of the conference room/TP rooms and workspaces.
–Search for the available conference rooms and TP rooms based on your requirements such as the features available, seating capacity, location, and time and book them.
–Search for the people within the enterprise.
Note You can also perform all these tasks by using the web portal.
•Using Kiosk Web Portal (In addition to the above mentioned features that you can access using kiosks)
–Locate the workspace you have checked into.
–View the building, floor, and name of the workspace you have checked into.
–Choose not to display your current check in location.
Note This option is available only if it is configured by the administrator.
–Check out from the workspace that you have occupied.
–Login and logout of the kiosk web portal.
•Using IP Phones
–Quickly book the conference/TP room wherever the IP phone is located based on the room availability.
–Control the meeting room devices and equipment.
–Save energy by manually releasing a room for the duration it is unoccupied, in addition to the energy savings made when the solution automatically releases the room due to non-occupancy and puts equipment in energy savings mode.
–Configure multiple devices to suit your meeting and presentation needs using a single menu selection.
–Create a case to notify the facilities team of any issues/problems that might be present in the conference room, and convey the same to the others in the organization by sending messages to the IP phone in the room. Once the case is created, the facilities team of the building can try to resolve the fault.
•Using the Smart+Connected MS web portal
–Search for the available conference/TP rooms based on your requirements such as room setup, room size, location, and so on and book them. Rooms that closely meet your search criteria are displayed if no exact match is found.
–View the current and upcoming meetings that you are part of or have organized.
–Accept, decline, or tentatively accept meeting invites.
–View all the scheduled meetings as a day, week, or month based calendar view.
–Book conference rooms easily by holding down the mouse key and dragging across the required time slot in the calendar view.
–Book conference rooms instantly using the Quick Booking option. Reservation is made simpler as you can key in the number of participants. Booking duration options range from 15 (the default duration being 30 minutes) to 60 minutes. Location is by default the one specified in your Preferences.
–Use the detailed booking option where you can request for change in the room setup, book equipment, add meeting agenda and notes, and so on.
–Edit the details of the meetings you have organized.
–Save drafts of the bookings and edit them later.
–Save your preferred settings such as favorite rooms, location, and time zone.
•Using Room Panels
–View the conference/TP room schedule and availability/occupancy status.
–Book conference/TP rooms.
–Confirm conference/TP room occupancy.
–Release conference/TP rooms.
In addition, the solution can help in energy savings by automatically switching devices to a standby mode when the meeting room is unoccupied and based on the configuration, turn them back on before the actual occupancy.
As an administrator, you have to manage the overall configuration, maintenance, and content creation for the Smart+Connected MS solution through a web portal. You have to add locations and devices, create users, and associate devices to locations for the solution in the SDP. For more information on performing these tasks, see the Cisco Service Delivery Platform User Guide and Cisco Service Delivery Platform Installation Guide. After the locations are added, and the devices are associated to them in the SDP, they are available in the Smart+Connected MS portal. You can select a location and associate a configuration to it. The features such as fault messages, device control options, signage menu messaging, and room booking that are added to the configuration can be accessed by the end user from the Cisco IP phones at the location.
System Architecture
The Smart+Connected MS application communicates with the following:
•Microsoft Exchange—To book meetings and retrieve meeting details.
•Building Management System (BMS)—To control and monitor devices, such as lights, blinds, and air conditioners.
•Content Management System (CMS)—To store the application data.
•Crestron Controller—To control projectors and projector screens.
•Digital Media Player (DMP) and Cisco Interactive Experience Client (IEC)—To display meeting details, notifications, general information, news, energy consumption data, energy saving tips, and so on, on the digital signages.
•Remedy—To raise trouble tickets for the conference room issues.
The Smart+Connected MS application leverages the SDP. For more information on the SDP, see the Cisco Service Delivery Platform User Guide.
Figure 1-1 System Architecture
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
System Requirements
Before installing the Smart+Connected MS application, ensure that all the system requirements are met.
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|---|---|
Operating System |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.5 (64-bit) or 6.3 (64-bit) |
Hardware - For Application Server and Database Note: • • • |
Minimum requirements are: • • • – – – |
Crestron A/V integration (if applicable) |
• • |
Browser |
• • • |
Database |
Oracle Enterprise Edition 11g R2 (11.2.0.2) with character set configured to UTF8. For more information on how to install the Oracle database, see the Oracle documentation. |
Application Server |
JBoss 6.0 |
Java Development Kit (JDK) |
Oracle JDK 1.6.0_24 |
Exchange Server |
• • Exchange Web Services (EWS) integration is supported using only the BasicAuth authentication scheme. This needs to be configured in the Microsoft Internet Information Services. • • Impersonation rights are required on the conference room mailboxes and user mailboxes for the service account. This allows the service account to connect to the Exchange server and retrieve meeting details from the conference room mailboxes and the user mailboxes. For more information on Exchange impersonation, see: • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb204095(EXCHG.80).aspx • |
Trouble Ticketing |
BMC Remedy Version 7.5 |
Audio/Visual |
The certified Crestron controllers that have been tested with the .NET SDK are: • • However, the Crestron Control System with Ethernet port supports the Crestron .NET SDK, and therefore can be integrated with the solution. |
Mediation Gateway |
Tridium with Obix Versions 3.5.34, 3.7.x |
Digital Media Player (DMP) |
DMP 4400: • • • |
Cisco Interactive Experience Client (IEC) |
IEP-4632-HW-K9: · Firmware 4.155.393 |
Digital Media Manager (DMM) |
Version 5.2.1 |
Digital Signage |
• • •
Note |
Touchscreen |
The Smart+Connected MS application is certified on the eLO Touchscreen APR technology model. However, DMP 4400G also supports other touchscreen overlays. For more information on other touchscreen overlays of DMP 4400G, see: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/video/digital_media_systems/dmscompat3.html#wp1100911
Note |
IP Phone Model |
• • |
Call Manager |
• • • The audio notification feature does not work with Cisco Call Manager 7.1. |
Emergency Notification System |
• • |
LDAP |
• – – |
Service Delivery Platform (SDP) |
Cisco SDP 2.0.2 |
Language |
U.S. English The Smart+Connected MS & DS application provides multi-language support. Although U.S. English is the language that is supported out-of-the-box, other languages can be supported by doing necessary configurations. |
Deployment Models
You can install and deploy the Smart+Connected MS application using one of the following deployment models:
•Colocated Server Setup—The database and the S+CC application are installed on a single server.
•Non-Cluster Server Setup—The database and the application server are installed on two different instances, either on a physical or a virtual machine.
•Cluster Server Setup—The database and the application server are installed on separate dedicated servers or on a cluster of servers. This setup provides high availability.
Note This document describes the installation process in the colocated/non-cluster and cluster server setups.
Colocated Server Setup
In a colocated deployment, all the functionalities and layers of the application reside on a single server.
This is the simplest form of the deployment, where the database and the application are installed on the same instance and the setup is self-contained. This is suitable for small enterprises.
Figure 1-2 Colocated Server Setup
Non-cluster Server Setup
In this setup, the database and the application server are installed on two different instances—either on a physical or a virtual machine. This is a common server setup method for the enterprise installations. The database is setup on one instance and the application server, SDP, and the S+CC application are installed and set up on a second instance.
Figure 1-3 Non-Cluster Server Setup
Cluster Server Setup
A cluster setup consists of multiple nodes that run an application simultaneously and work together to provide increased scalability, reliability, and high availability. In a distributed cluster setup, the solution is deployed on the multiple nodes of a cluster.
Figure 1-4 Cluster Server Setup
Deployment Flowchart
The deployment flowchart describes the procedure to deploy the solution and ensure a successful installation.
Figure 1-5 displays the deployment flowchart for a colocated/non-cluster server setup.
Figure 1-5 Deployment Flowchart - Colocated/Non-cluster Server Setup
Figure 1-6 displays the deployment flowchart for a cluster server setup.
Figure 1-6
Deployment Flowchart - Cluster Server Setup
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