Cisco Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMR) Hybrid Release Notes (TMS 14.6 - WebEx Meeting Center WBS29.11)

New in Update 4

This release of CMR Hybrid features the following improvements:

• Support for TelePresence Conductor

– Provides management and scheduling of conference bridges in both Unified CM and Cisco VCS-centric deployments

– More efficient usage of bridge resources

• Support for WebEx Meeting Center WBS29.11

– Provides low-bandwidth warning and automated retest in WebEx Meeting Center client. If, for reasons of low network bandwidth or conditions (such as CPU or RAM use) that are local to the WebEx application, the WebEx application is not able to maintain the 1.2 Mbps bit rate, users will see a “low-bandwidth” warning message instead of receiving TelePresence video. In WBS29.11 and later, the WebEx meeting center client automatically retests the WebEx participant’s connection to the WebEx Cloud periodically to assess whether any network or local conditions have been remedied. If they are able to send and receive video at a bit rate of 1.2 Mbps or greater, it will resume sending and receiving video automatically.

– When the WebEx host leaves a meeting, they can choose to allow other participants to continue the meeting or to end the meeting for all participants.

– For a complete list of new features, known issues and limitations of WBS29.11, refer to the:

Cisco WebEx Meeting Center Release Notes (version WBS29.11).

• Support for Cisco TelePresence Server on Virtual Machine and Multiparty Media 310/320
• Improved presentation share quality

– Provides up to 1080p using TelePresence Server or TelePresence Server on Virtual Machine

– TelePresence Server enhancements including favoring resolution over frame rate for presentation

Important Changes to Certificates in the WebEx Cloud

Caution On January 29, 2015, Cisco is changing to a 4096-bit certificate under different root certificate authorities (CAs) than used today. These certificates are used to secure traffic to and from the WebEx cloud components and VCS Expressway or Expressway-E. Previously, WebEx used a certificate issued under the root CA DST Root CA X3 to secure traffic between the customer premises and WebEx. Customers have been required to make sure their VCS Expressway or Expressway-E stores the root certificate DST Root CA X3 that trusted our existing certificate on the WebEx cloud servers. Beginning January 29, 2015, we are revoking our certificate and replacing it with three new certificates that will be issued by three different Root authorities. Customers are required to store new root certificates that support the new WebEx certificates. If your VCS Expressway or Expressway-E does not have the three new root certificate authority certificates in its Trusted CA Certificate list, calls to WebEx may fail.

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For details on where to find and how to install the new root CA certificates on your VCS Expressway or Expressway-E, refer to Configuring the Trusted CA Certificate List on the Cisco Expressway-E Cisco VCS Expressway on page 103 of the:

Cisco Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMR) Hybrid Configuration Guide (TMS 14.6 - WebEx Meeting Center WBS29.11)

Bug Fixes

The following bugs are fixed in this release:

• CSCur30236

Known Issues

The following are known issues in this release:

• WebEx presentation quality is reduced by TelePresence when using MCU. The WebEx cloud reduces the maximum resolution and frame rate supported between TelePresence and WebEx to XGA/15.

This is due to the following factors:

– The maximum presentation resolution supported by different TelePresence models varies.

– The TelePresence MCU does one shared-encode presentation channel adjusted down to the lowest-common denominator for all participants in the meeting.

• The Share Web Content feature of WebEx Meeting Center is not supported in a CMR Hybrid meeting. Selecting this feature in the WebEx Meeting Center application will display a message that it is unavailable. The Share Web Browser feature is supported, allowing you to control what participants see and hear on a web page, but it does not support participants navigating the site independently (example: filling out a Web form) in the WebEx Content Viewer.
• Quality of TelePresence Reduced by WebEx Participants. Video and audio from WebEx participants can be poor due to uncontrolled environments where poor lighting conditions and background noise can make seeing and hearing that participant difficult.

Suggested workarounds:

Ask important participants to attend from a TelePresence room or make sure ahead of time that they have set up their WebEx PC or Mobile client for best results:

– A fast, well-performing PC or Tablet

– High quality USB or integrated camera in a properly-illuminated office or cubicle environment

– Great quality PC audio or a separate IP telephone with full-duplex speaker phone or high-quality headset or handset

• When the WebEx presenter switches to full-screen video view while sharing his or her screen, application, or document, sharing is paused on the attendee side (the last-shared screen freezes). When the presenter exits full-screen video view, sharing will automatically resume. Attendees will stay in full-screen video view when the presenter stops sharing and will automatically exit full-screen video view when the presenter starts sharing again.
• The time zone for the WebEx site must match the time zone for the Cisco TelePresence Management Suite (TMS); otherwise the meeting time will not be synchronized.
• When making Daylight Savings Time changes between your WebEx site and the Cisco TelePresence Management Suite, it is possible your meeting may be an hour off schedule; if this happens, rescheduling will be required. If this problem occurs with a meeting series where some instances occur before Daylight Savings Times begins and some occur after, it is recommended that you create two meeting series: one meeting series that ends before the Daylight Savings Time begins and a second meeting series that starts after Daylight Savings Time begins.

Notes for Existing Customers

Existing CMR Hybrid customers are not required to change to the new Unified CM-centric deployment model. If upgrading to Unified CM 9.1(2) or 10.5(2) or later, customers can trunk their bridges directly to Unified CM with no changes in configuration on VCS Control or VCS Expressway. Unified CM 10.5(2) or later is highly recommended.

Notes for New Customers

New customers are highly encouraged to use the new Unified CM-centric deployment model. Customers who have already purchased VCS, however, are recommended to follow the original CMR Hybrid deployment model with bridges registered to VCS Control.

CMR Hybrid Deployment Playbook

A comprehensive, step-by-step guide for partners deploying CMR Hybrid is available in the CMR Hybrid Community:

https://communities.cisco.com/docs/DOC-54037.

Note To access the CMR Hybrid Community, a Cisco.com account (username and password) is required.

CMR Hybrid Configuration Guide

A comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to configure CMR Hybrid is available on Cisco.com:

Cisco Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMR) Hybrid Configuration Guide.

Known Issues

• Scheduling with Microsoft Outlook for Mac is not supported at this time. Mac users can schedule meetings using Smart Scheduler or TMS.
• Scheduling using the Outlook plug-in provided with another version of the WebEx Productivity Tools is not supported when the WebEx and TelePresence Integration to Outlook is installed. Only one plug-in can be installed and used on a single computer.
• The WebEx and TelePresence Integration to Outlook works with WebEx Meeting Center only. WebEx Meetings is not supported at this time.
• The WebEx and TelePresence Integration to Outlook does not currently support sending HTML email invitations.

For information about scheduling CMR Hybrid meetings with the WebEx and TelePresence Integration to Outlook, see the:

Scheduling with the WebEx and TelePresence Integration to Outlook Quick Reference Guide.

Scheduling WebEx Meetings for Another Host

The WebEx and TelePresence Integration to Outlook allows a WebEx user to assign a delegate to schedule or edit meetings on their behalf.

For example, if you need to host WebEx meetings on a regular basis, you can give your assistant permission to schedule meetings for you.

After being given permission, your delegate can schedule, edit, cancel, and start meetings for you.

To assign a delegate to schedule meetings for you, you must do both of the following:

1. On your WebEx site, give the delegate scheduling permission.

2. In Microsoft Outlook, share your calendar with the delegate.

For details on how to assign a delegate to schedule meetings for you and how to schedule meetings for another host, refer to the following chapters in the WebEx and TelePresence Integration to Outlook User Guide provided by Cisco:

• Chapter 3, “Assigning a Delegate to Schedule WebEx Meetings for You”
• Chapter 4, “Scheduling for Another Host”

This information is also available in the online help for the WebEx and TelePresence Integration to Outlook in Microsoft Outlook.

To access the help, do the following:

• In the main Microsoft Outlook window, click the Schedule Meeting menu and select Help.

WebEx Meeting Center Video Requirements

• HD camera recommended
• To send or receive video with a resolution of 720p (HD resolution), ensure that your system meets the following minimum requirements.

Send:

– A webcam capable of producing HD video. WebEx supports most webcams of this type

– A computer with at least 2 GB of RAM and a quad-core processor

– A fast, reliable network connection

Receive:

– A computer with at least 2 GB of RAM and a dual-core processor

– A fast, reliable network connection

• To send or receive video with a resolution of 360p (SD resolution), ensure that your system meets the following minimum requirements.

Send:

– A webcam capable of producing HD/SD video. WebEx supports most webcams of this type

– A computer with at least 1 GB of RAM and a quad-core processor

– A fast network connection

Receive:

– A computer with at least 1 GB of RAM and a dual-core processor

– A fast network connection

WebEx Meeting Center for Windows - Minimum system requirements

• XP 32-bit (SP3), 2003, Vista 32-bit/64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit/64-bit
• One of the following browsers:

– Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9 (IE 9 supports Windows 7 only)

– Firefox: latest (32-bit)

– Chrome: latest

• Browsers require JavaScript and cookies enabled
• Sun Java 5 or higher
• Recommend ActiveX be enabled for Internet Explorer
• Intel or AMD processor (1GHz or faster)
• At least 512 MB RAM (at least 2 GB RAM for Vista)

WebEx Meeting Center for Mac - Minimum system requirements

• Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8
• One of the following browsers:

– Safari 4/5/5.1

– Firefox latest

– Chrome latest

• Browsers require JavaScript and cookies enabled
• Apple Java 5 or higher
• Intel processor
• At least 512 MB RAM

Supported Screen Resolutions for Presentation Sharing

To utilize the full screen while presenting, Cisco recommends setting your computer to a 4:3 aspect ratio screen resolution. The following screen resolutions are recommended:

• 1024 x 768
• 1152 x 864
• 1280 x 1024
• 1600 x 1200

Mobile Client Support

iOS and Android WebEx Mobile clients release 5.0 now support TelePresence-enabled WebEx meetings. They can receive and send video, and they can display the content shared by TelePresence, Windows and Mac WebEx participants, but they cannot share content in TelePresence-enabled WebEx meetings.

BlackBerry clients can join on audio, but cannot send or receive video or display or content share.

* Sending and receiving video with the BlackBerry 10 mobile client is not supported.

Mobile Client Downloads

Cisco WebEx Meetings for iOS is available in the iTunes store.

Cisco WebEx Meetings for Android is available in the Google Play store.

Cisco WebEx Meetings for Blackberry is available in the Blackberry World store.

Starting the Meeting

The meeting is started the following way:

• At the scheduled start time of the meeting, the MCU/TS calls into WebEx.

– If the WebEx host has not joined the meeting, the MCU/TS becomes the default WebEx host.

• TelePresence participants join the meeting.

– If meeting was scheduled using Auto Connect, TMS dials and connects each supported endpoint.

– If meeting was scheduled using One-Button-to-Push (OBTP), participants using endpoints that support OBTP press the button to join the meeting.

– Participants using endpoints that don’t support either Auto Connect or OBTP, join the meeting by dialing the video dial-in number listed in the meeting invitation.

• WebEx Participants join the meeting.

– The WebEx host and attendees click the Join Using WebEx button or link in the meeting invitation.

– If a WebEx participant is currently connected to a TelePresence system, a message appears asking them if they are currently sharing a presentation using TelePresence and provides them the option to continue sharing on TelePresence.

Note Starting a meeting early is supported using the Setup Buffer setting when scheduling the meeting in TMS. The WebEx host may start the WebEx portion of the meeting early, whether or not any TelePresence participants have joined the call.

During the Meeting

During the meeting, participants have the following experience:

• TelePresence participants see and hear WebEx participants.

– If WebEx participants do not have a camera or their camera is turned off, a black silhouette is displayed to WebEx and TelePresence participants and WebEx participants when they are the active speaker.

• WebEx participants see and hear TelePresence participants.

– In the default Meeting Center view, WebEx participants see the active speaker from either WebEx or TelePresence.

– In the Meeting Center full screen view, WebEx participants see the active speaker from either WebEx or TelePresence in a large image and the other WebEx participants in a row of smaller images below the active speaker.

• In the WebEx Meeting Center, all TelePresence endpoints are displayed as one WebEx participant called “TelePresence systems” both in the Participant List and when a TelePresence user is the active speaker. The WebEx host cannot see a complete list of all WebEx and TelePresence participants.

– In the Meeting Center full screen view, the “TelePresence systems” participant appears as a black silhouette, as shown in Figure 1

Figure 1 “TelePresence systems” in Full Screen View

• TelePresence users share a presentation by simply plugging in their computer to the display cable of the endpoint and (if required) pressing a presentation button to start content sharing to TelePresence and WebEx.
• WebEx users share a presentation by taking the ball and then selecting the content to present. If the WebEx site does not allow WebEx participants to take the presenter ball, then the WebEx host must pass the ball to the WebEx participant.
• The WebEx host may mute all or individual WebEx participants, however it is not possible for the host to mute the TelePresence participants.
• When a WebEx participant who joined via audio speaks, the video of the last active WebEx participant who has video turned on is displayed instead of a silhouette image.
• The link bandwidth between MCU/TS and WebEx is set by the WebEx client with the lowest bandwidth. The bandwidth of the link can go up as soon as the WebEx client with the poorest bandwidth leaves the meeting. For example, if a WebEx client that joins the meeting is only capable of 360p, the maximum bandwidth for all WebEx participants will be 360p. When that participant leaves the meeting, if all other participants are capable of a higher bandwidth, like 720p, the bandwidth will go up for all participants. The minimum bit rate a WebEx application must process from the WebEx Cloud to be able to receive both video and application or screen sharing (formerly called “desktop sharing”) content is 1.2 Mbps. Less than that will result in the WebEx application showing only the shared application or screen.
• TelePresence Server, by default, sends video in the ActivePresence screen layout, which displays the active speaker in a full screen pane with additional participants appearing in up to six equally sized overlaid panes at the bottom of the screen (up to four panes for 2 and 4 screen endpoints). In full screen mode in WebEx, WebEx participants appear in equally sized panes below the TelePresence video at the bottom of the window.

Ending the Meeting

Behavior of how a meeting ends depends on the following four factors:

1. If the meeting organizer sets Extend Mode when scheduling the meeting in TMS to allow the meeting to extend beyond its scheduled end time

2. If Resource Availability Check on Extension is enabled in TMS, with Extend Conference Mode set to Automatic Best Effort or Endpoint Prompt and configured to use the Conference Type: No Connect or One Button To Push.

3. When the WebEx host leaves the meeting

4. When the MCU/TS leaves the meeting

Note Extending a meeting is supported for both TelePresence and WebEx using the Extend Mode setting when scheduling a meeting in TMS.

Ending the Meeting at the Scheduled End Time

The meeting ends at the scheduled end time under any of the following circumstances:

• The WebEx host ends the meeting at the scheduled end time of the meeting.
• The meeting organizer, when scheduling the meeting in TMS, did not set the meeting to extend.
• The TelePresence portion of the meeting ends if there are not enough video ports available to extend the TelePresence portion of the meeting.
• The TelePresence portion of the meeting ends if Extend Conference Mode in TMS is not set to enable extension of the meeting.

Extending the Meeting Beyond the Scheduled End Time

The meeting extends beyond the scheduled end time under any of the following circumstances:

• The TelePresence meeting extends if the meeting organizer, when scheduling the meeting in TMS, sets the meeting to extend and there are resources available to extend the meeting.
• The TelePresence meeting extends if Resource Availability Check on Extension is enabled in TMS, in conjunction with Extend Conference Mode set to Automatic Best Effort or Endpoint Prompt and must only be used with the Conference Type: No Connect or One Button To Push.
• The WebEx meeting extends if the host stays in the meeting after the scheduled end time of the meeting.

Note TelePresence meeting extension is not guaranteed. If resources (ports) are fully booked at the scheduled end time of the meeting, the TelePresence meeting will end.