Deployment Guide for Video Mesh

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Book Title

Deployment Guide for Video Mesh

Chapter Title

Appendix

Results

Updated:
August 31, 2023

Chapter: Appendix

Appendix

Video Mesh Node Demo Software

Use the Video Mesh Node demo software only for basic demo purposes. Do not add a demo node to an existing production cluster. The demo cluster accepts fewer calls than production and expires 90 days after it is registered to the cloud.


Note

  • The Video Mesh Node demo software is not supported by the Cisco TAC.

  • You cannot upgrade the Video Mesh Node demo software to the full production software version.

Download the demo software image from this link.

Specifications

See System and Platform Requirements for Video Mesh Node Software for the specs-based configuration for Video Mesh Node software.

The demo software supports either a single network interface or a dual network interface.

Capacity

We do not test the demo image for capacity. You should only use it to test out basic meeting scenarios. See the use cases that follow for guidance.

Use Cases for the Video Mesh Node Demo Software

Media Anchored to On-Premises

  • Deploy and configure the node with the demo software.

  • Run a meeting that includes the following participants: a Webex App participant, Webex endpoint participant, and a Cisco Webex Board.

  • After the meeting is over, from the customer view in https://admin.webex.com, go to Analytics to access the Video Mesh reports. In the reports, you can see that the media stayed on-premises.

Meeting with Cloud and On-Premises Participants

  • Run another meeting with a couple of Webex participants on-premises and one in the cloud.

  • Observe that all participants can seamlessly join and participate in the meeting.

Manage Video Mesh Node From the Console

Before you can make any network changes to Video Mesh nodes that are registered to the cloud, you must use Control Hub to put them in maintenance mode. For more information and a procedure to follow, see Move a Node Into Maintenance Mode.


Caution

Maintenance mode is intended solely to prepare a node for shutdown or reboot so that you can make certain networking setting changes (DNS, IP, FQDN) or prepare for hardware maintenance such as replace RAM, hard drive, and so on.

Upgrades do not happen when a node is placed in maintenance mode.

When you place a node into maintenance mode, it does a graceful shutdown of calling services (stops accepting new calls and waits up to 2 hours for existing calls to complete). The purpose of the graceful shutdown of calling services is to allow reboot or shutdown of the node without causing dropped calls.

Change Video Mesh Node Network Settings in the Console

If your network topology changes, you have to open the console interface for each Video Mesh node and change the network settings there. You may see a caution about changing the network settings, but you can still save the changes in case you're making changes to your network after changing Video Mesh node settings.

Procedure

Step 1

Open the node console interface through the VMware vSphere client and then sign in using the admin credentials.

After first time setup of the network settings and if the Video Mesh is reachable, you can access the node interface through secure shell (SSH).

Step 2

From the main menu of the Video Mesh Node console, choose option 2 Edit Configuration and then click Select.

Step 3

Read the prompt that the calls will end on the Video Mesh Node, and then click Yes.

Step 4

Click Static, enter the IP address for the internal interface, Mask, Gateway, and DNS values for your network.

  • The Video Mesh Node must have an internal IP address and resolvable DNS name. The node IP address must not belong to the IP address range reserved for Video Mesh Node internal use. The default reserved IP address range is 172.17.42.0–172.17.42.63, which can be configured in the Diagnostic menu. This IP address range is for communication within the Video Mesh Node and between the software containers which hold the different components of the node—for example, SIP interface and media transcoding.

  • Deploy all the nodes on the same subnet or VLAN, so that all nodes in a cluster are reachable from wherever the clients reside in your network.

  • For a dual NIC DMZ deployment, you can set the external IP address in the next procedure, after you've saved the internal network configuration and rebooted the node.

Step 5

Enter your organization's NTP server or another external NTP server that can be used in your organization.

After you configure the NTP server and save network settings, you can follow the steps in Check Health of Video Mesh Node From Console to verify that the time is synchronizing correctly through the specified NTP servers.

Note

 

If you configure more than one NTP servers, the poll interval for failover is 40 seconds.

Step 6

(Optional) Change the hostname or domain, if required.

Note

 

  • To ensure a successful registration to the cloud, use only lowercase characters in the hostname that you set for the Video Mesh Node. Capitalization is not supported at this time.

  • When using or configuring FQDN or hostname, you must also enter a valid and resolvable domain. The total length of the FQDN must not exceed 64 characters.

Step 7

Click Save, and then click Save Changes & Reboot.

During the save, DNS validation is performed if you provided a domain. A warning is displayed if the FQDN (hostname and domain) is not resolvable using the DNS server addresses provided. You may choose to save by ignoring the Warning, but calls will not work until the FQDN can resolve to the DNS configured on the node. After the Video Mesh Node reboots, the network configuration changes take effect.

Change the Administrator Passphrase of the Video Mesh Node

Use this procedure to change the administrator passphrase (password) for your Video Mesh node in the node's console.

Procedure

Step 1

Open the node console interface through the VMware vSphere client or SSH into a reachable IP address, and then sign in using the admin credentials.

Step 2

Open and log in to the VMware ESXi console of the VM for your Video Mesh node.

Step 3

In the main menu, choose option 3 Manage Administrator Passphrase, then 1 Change Administrator Passphrase, and then click Enter.

Step 4

Read the information on the password expired page, click Enter, and then click it again after the password expiry message.

Step 5

Press Enter.

Step 6

After you're signed out of the console, go back to the sign in screen, and then sign in using the admin login and passphrase (password) that you expired.

You are prompted to change your password.

Step 7

For Old password, enter the current passphrase, and then press Enter.

Step 8

For New password, enter a new passphrase, and then press Enter.

Step 9

For Re-enter new password, retype the new passphrase, and then press Enter.

A "password changed" message appears and then you go back to the sign in screen.

Step 10

Sign in using your new admin login and passphrase (password).

Run a Ping from Video Mesh Node Console

You can run a ping from the Video Mesh node console interface. This step tests a destination you enter and sees if the Video Mesh node can reach it.

Procedure

Step 1

Open the node console interface through the VMware vSphere client or SSH into a reachable IP address, and then sign in using the admin credentials.

Step 2

From the Video Mesh node console, go to 4 Diagnostics, and then choose Ping.

Step 3

In the ping field, enter a destination address that you want to test, such as an IP address or hostname, and then click OK.

The test runs and you'll see a ping success or failure message. If you receive a failure, check the destination value that you entered and your network settings.

Enable Debug User Account Through Console

If support requires access to the Video Mesh node, you can use the console interface to temporarily enable a debug user account so that support can run further troubleshooting on your node.

Procedure

Step 1

Open the node console interface through the VMware vSphere client or SSH into a reachable IP address, and then sign in using the admin credentials.

Step 2

From the Video Mesh node console, go to 4 Diagnostics, choose 2 Enable Debug User Account, and after the prompt, click Yes.

Step 3

After a message appears that the debug user account was created successfully, click OK to show the encrypted passphrase.

You'll send the encrypted passphrase to support. They use this temporary account and decrypted passphrase to securely access your Video Mesh node for troubleshooting. This account expires after 3 days, or you can disable it when support is finished.

Step 4

Select the start and end of the encrypted data, and copy-paste it into the support ticket or email that you're sending to support.

Step 5

After you send this information to support, return to the Video Mesh node console and press any key to go back to the main menu.

What to do next

The account expires in 3 days, but when support indicates that they finished troubleshooting on the node, you can return the Video Mesh node console, go to 4 Diagnostics, and then choose 3 Disable Debug User Account to disable the account before it expires.

Send Logs from Video Mesh Node Console

You may be instructed to send logs directly to Cisco or through secure copy (SCP). Use this procedure to send logs directly from any Video Mesh nodes that you registered to the cloud.

Procedure

Step 1

Open the node console interface through the VMware vSphere client or SSH into a reachable IP address, and then sign in using the admin credentials.

Step 2

In the main menu, click option 4 Diagnostics and then press Enter.

Step 3

Click 4 Export Log Files, provide feedback if you want, and then click Next.

Step 4

Choose an option:

  • Send Logs using SCP, confirm the export of the logs, enter the SCP details (Host, Username, and Dest_Folder), and then click OK.
  • Send Logs to Cisco, and then confirm the export of the logs.

Step 5

Choose OK to return to the Video Mesh node main menu.

Step 6

(Optional) Choose 5 Check Status of Log Files Sent to Cisco if you sent the logs to Cisco.

What to do next


Tip

After you send logs, we recommend that you send feedback directly from the Webex App so that your support contacts have all the information that they need to help you.

Check Health of Video Mesh Node From Console

You can view the node health directly from the Video Mesh node itself. The results are informational, but could aid in troubleshooting steps—for example, if NTP synchronization is not working, you can check the NTP server value in the network settings.

Procedure

Step 1

Open the node console interface through the VMware vSphere client or SSH into a reachable IP address, and then sign in using the admin credentials.

Step 2

From the Video Mesh node console, go to 4 Diagnostics, and then choose 6 Check Node Health to view the following information about the node:

  • Management Service Container
  • ETCD (key value store that reliably stores data across a cluster)
  • NTP Synchronized
  • Disk Space (Free/Used%)
  • Memory (Free/Used%)

Configure Container Network on Video Mesh Node

Video Mesh node reserves a subnet range for internal use within the node. The default range is 172.17.42.0–172.17.42.63. The nodes do not respond to any external-to-Video Mesh node traffic originating from this range. You may want to use the node console to change the container bridge IP address to avoid conflicts with other devices in your network.

Procedure

Step 1

Open the node console interface through the VMware vSphere client or SSH into a reachable IP address, and then sign in using the admin credentials.

Step 2

From the main menu of the Video Mesh node console, go to 4 Diagnostics, and then choose 7 Configure Container Network. After the caution that states that active calls will end on the node, click Yes.

Step 3

Change the values for Container Bridge IP and Network Mask, as needed, and then click Save.

You'll see a screen that shows the container network information, including the IP address range reserved for internal operations on the Video Mesh node.

Step 4

Click OK.

Identify Port Issues With Reflector Tool in Console

The reflector tool (a combination of a server on the Video Mesh node and client through a Python script) is used to verify whether the required TCP/UDP ports are open from Video Mesh nodes.

Before you begin

  • Download a copy of the Reflector Tool Client (Python script) and then unzip the file to a location that's easy to find. The zip file contains the script and a readme file.

  • For the script to work properly, ensure that you're running Python 2.7.10 or later in your environment.

  • Currently, this tool supports SIP endpoints to Video Mesh nodes and intracluster verification.

Procedure

Step 1

From the customer view in https://admin.webex.com, enable maintenance node for the Video Mesh Node by following these instructions.

Step 2

Wait for the node to show a 'Ready for maintenance' status in Control Hub.

Step 3

Open the node console interface through the VMware vSphere client or SSH into a reachable IP address, and then sign in using the admin credentials.

Step 4

From the Video Mesh Node interface, go to Diagnostics > Reflector Server > Reflector Server for TCP or (UDP). Start the server either for TCP or for UDP.

Step 5

Scroll to Reflector Tool, and then start either the TCP Reflector Server or UDP Reflector Server, depending on what protocol you want to use.

Step 6

Click Start Reflector Server, and then wait for the server to start successfully.

You'll see a notice when the server starts.

Step 7

From a system (such as a PC) on a network that you want Video Mesh nodes to reach, run the script with the following command:

$ python <local_path_to_client_script>/reflectorClient.py --ip <ip address of the server> --protocol <tcp or udp>

At the end of the run, the client shows a success message if all the required ports are open:

The client shows a failed message if any required ports are not open:

Step 8

Resolve any port issues on the firewall and then rerun the above steps.

Step 9

Run the client with --help to get more details.

Factory Reset a Video Mesh Node From Console

As part of deregistration cleanup, you can factory reset the Video Mesh node. This step removes any configuration you put in place while the node was active, but does not remove the virtual machine entry. Later, you may want to reregister this node as part of another cluster that you build from scratch.

Before you begin

You must use Control Hub to deregister the Video Mesh node from the cluster that's registered in Control Hub.

Procedure

Step 1

Open the node console interface through the VMware vSphere client or SSH into a reachable IP address, and then sign in using the admin credentials.

Step 2

From the Video Mesh node console, go to 4 Diagnostics, and then choose 8 Factory Reset.

Step 3

Ensure that you understand the information in the note that appears, and then click Reset.

The node reboots automatically after the factory reset.

Migrate an Existing Hardware Platform to Video Mesh Node

You can migrate an existing supported platform (for example, a CMS1000 that runs Cisco Meeting Server) to Video Mesh. Use this procedure to guide you through the migration process.


Note

The steps vary, depending on the bundled version of ESXi on the hardware platform.

Before you begin

Download a new copy of the latest Video Mesh Node software image (OVA). Do not deploy a new Video Mesh node with a previously downloaded OVA.

Procedure

Step 1

Sign into the virtual machine interface and then shut down the software that is running on the platform.

Step 2

Delete the software application that was running on the platform.

There must be no software images remaining on the platform. Also, you cannot run Video Mesh node software alongside other software on the same platform.

Step 3

Deploy a new virtual machine from a new OVF or OVA file.

Step 4

Enter a name for the virtual machine and choose the Video Mesh node OVA file.

Step 5

Change disk provisioning to Thick.

Step 6

Upload the mfusion.ova software image that you downloaded.

Step 7

When the virtual machine is running, return to Log in to the Video Mesh Node Console and continue initial configuration of the Video Mesh node.

Feature Comparison and Migration Path from Collaboration Meeting Room Hybrid to Video Mesh

Feature Comparison

To help you understand the benefits of migrating from CMR Hybrid to Video Mesh, this table shows a side-by-side comparison of the key features in each offer. Along with new features detailed below for Video Mesh, the existing Webex functionality will remain the same when combined with Video Mesh. In addition to meeting enhancements, Video Mesh lets you benefit from the agility of cloud-based management and continue to protect your existing investment.

Feature

Video Mesh and Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video

CMR Hybrid

Meeting Types

Scheduled

One Click (Instant)

Personal Meeting (PMR)

Consistent experience for premises and cloud-based meetings

Scheduled only

Scheduling

Webex Productivity Tool (Windows and Mac)

Hybrid Calendar scheduling with @webex

Webex Portal

Webex-enabled TelePresence Windows and Mac Productivity Tools

TMS Scheduling

Meeting Join Options

Dial-in and Dial-out

PIN Protected (Host)

One Button To Push (OBTP)

Dial-in only

OBTP

In-Meeting Experience

Unified Roster (Webex Client)

Unified Controls (Webex Client)

Lock/Unlock meeting

Mute/Unmute TelePresence participants

No Unified Roster (Webex Client and TelePresence Server)

Separate Controls (Webex Client and TelePresence Server)

Capacity and Deployment Model

Unlimited capacity

On-premises and automatic overflow

Switching and transcoding

Transcoding capacity limited to the TelePresence Server

Migration Path Checklist

Below is a high-level overview of how to migrate an existing site to video platform version 2.0 and prepare the site to integrate with Video Mesh. The steps may vary, depending on your existing environment. Work with your partner or customer success manager to ensure a smooth migration.

  1. Make sure that the Meeting Center Video conferencing feature is provisioned on the Webex site.

  2. The site admin receives their management portal account. The admin then deploys Video Mesh nodes for the Webex organization.

  3. The site admin assigns the CMR privilege to enable all or some CMR Hybrid users with Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video.

  4. (Optional) Disable the CMR Hybrid session type for this subset, and then enable Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video in their user profile.

  5. The site admin sets up Video Mesh, and then selects Hybrid as the media resource type under Cloud Collaboration Meeting Room Options.

  6. The site admin sets up on-premises TelePresence Management Suite (TMS) and One Button to Push (OBTP) to work with Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video. See the Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video Conferencing Enterprise Deployment Guide for guidance.

  7. When the CMR privilege is enabled for a user, the Webex Productivity Tools default to the Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video version. All new meetings scheduled by the users are Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video meetings.

  8. If conference rooms are included in the invite, OBTP information is pushed to the conference room through TMS (for CMR Hybrid meetings only).

  9. Existing meetings that were set up by CMR Hybrid users before they were switched to Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video should continue to work as long as the customer preserves the on-premises MCU and TMS settings.

  10. Existing CMR Hybrid meetings cannot be modified or updated to reflect the Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video meeting information. If users want to use new invitation, they must delete the old meetings and create new meetings.

  11. If the customer wishes to retire the on-premises MCU, TMS, old CMR Hybrid meetings will not work. New meetings with Cisco Webex Meeting Center Video information must be created.

TelePresence Interoperability Protocol and Segment Switching

Video Mesh supports negotiating TelePresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP) and multiplex (MUX) for both 1-screen and 3-screen IX and TX endpoints.

For three-screen endpoints, all three screens should show video, if there are enough participants in the conference. Another three-screen system in the conference results in segment switching instead of room switching. This means that rather than all three screens becoming large when someone in another three-screen system speaks, only the active pane becomes large. The other two panes are populated by video from other systems. When shown small, all three panes are rendered together (for all devices, one or three screens) with a single bounding box and name label.

Depending on the hosting resources in the cloud, some endpoints will show all three screens of a three-screen room in the film strip, while others will only show one pane. The Webex App shows just 1 pane, even if the media is on-premises.

For large meetings that overflow from one node and cascade to a second, the same is seen by any endpoints hosted on a different node to the one hosting the three-screen system (only one pane visible in the layout). Presentation sharing requires BFCP to be negotiated through the call path.

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