A Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine (VXME) virtual deployment is comprised of the following components:

• Supported desktop virtualization platforms, such as the Cisco Virtualization Experience Client 6215 or Wyse Z50D thin clients

  For more information about supported platforms, see Release Notes for Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine.

• Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine add-on, which is required to support audio and video calls in the virtual environment

  Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine also provides support for some accessories. For more information about supported accessories, see Release Notes for Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine.

• Windows hosted virtual desktops (HVD), in a data center

• Supported Cisco Unified Communications clients with Cisco VXME Utilities, such as Cisco Jabber and Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync

  Note	For Cisco Jabber, you must install Cisco VXME Utilities separately. Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync includes Cisco VXME Utilities, which install automatically if the installer detects a virtual environment.

With the Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine add-on, thin client users can place and receive calls with their Cisco Unified Communications client. The Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine runs on the desktop virtualization platform, and the Cisco Unified Communications client runs on a Windows hosted virtual desktop (HVD), in the data center. To reduce latency and to enhance media quality, Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine streams media between the thin clients without going through the hosted virtual desktops.

Figure 1. Cisco Virtualization Experience Client 6215 and Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine .

The following image depicts one example of a Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine deployment, with Cisco Virtualization Experience Client 6215 and Cisco Jabber.

Note	In this deployment guide, the term Cisco Virtualization Experience Client refers to the Cisco Virtualization Experience Client 6215.

The user experience with Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine and a supported Cisco Unified Communications client in a virtual environment is very similar to the experience provided by a standard Cisco Unified Communications client installation, with some differences:

• The Cisco Unified Communications client detects the virtual environment at run time and starts in virtualization mode.

• Users can choose to control their Cisco IP Phone or to use their computer to make and receive calls. The default phone selection is Use my computer for calls. After device selection, the Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine application starts the transfer of the phone configuration data for that user. For more information, see Configuration Files.

• Users manage their camera and audio devices by using the Device Selector, which is located in the Windows notification area. The Show button on the following option tabs directs users to the Device Selector:

  • File > Options > Audio

  • File > Options > Video

    Note	With Cisco Jabber or Cisco UC Integration for Microsoft Lync Release 9.7(2) or later, users can also select a video device and see their video preview with the selected camera.

• If a connection failure between the thin client and the HVD occurs, the user is prompted to log back on to the HVD. If the user has an active call, it is preserved. The user can end the call by using one of the accessories, such as the keyboard. If the user does not have an accessory with which to end the call, the user can ask the other party to end the call. If there are held calls when the connection failure occurs, any parties on hold will not be aware of the connection failure. After logging back on to the HVD, the user can send an instant message (IM) to the parties that were left on hold.

• If the thin client loses the connection to the network, the user is prompted to log back on to the HVD. If the connection failure occurs during a call, the call is lost. After reconnecting, the user can try to call the other party or send an IM. For the other party to the call, silence is the only indication that the call has dropped.

• By default, all calls send and receive video if both parties have video capability. Users can select their preference from the following options:

  • Always start calls with video: Starts all calls as video calls, which send local video

  • Never start calls with video: Starts all calls as audio-only calls

  This setting applies to all calls that the user places and receives. The default setting is Always start calls with video. Users can change this setting in File > Options > Calls.

  Note	You can disable video globally or on a per-device basis on the Cisco Unified Communications Manager. Navigate to System > Enterprise Phone Configuration and set Video Calling to Disabled.

• Some menus and options for the supported Cisco Unified Communications clients are different. For example, users can receive Desktop Share invitations but cannot initiate them.

In a virtual environment, you install Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine and the required prerequisite add-on, on a supported desktop virtualization platform. Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine comes with the prerequisite add-on, which is a collection of required system settings. You must install the prerequisite add-on first. You install a supported Cisco Unified Communications client on the hosted virtual desktops (HVD), rather than on client computers (PCs). If your Cisco Unified Communications client does not include Cisco VXME Utilities, you must install that first. Otherwise, the installation is the same as the installation of the Cisco Unified Communications client in a nonvirtual environment.

When you add devices for virtual users to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager, the device type is Cisco Unified Client Services Framework (CSF). Each user should have only one CSF device. If multiple CSF devices exist for a user, Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine selects the first device in the alphabetical list. To prevent issues caused by multiple registrations for the same user on the Cisco Unified Communications Manager, advise users to sign in to only one HVD or client at a time. A CSF device user can register with the Unified Communications Manager from only one client at a time. Multiple registrations from multiple clients with the same CSF device are not supported.

You must also enable the computer-telephony integration (CTI) protocol for all virtual Cisco Unified Communications client users.

Note	Cisco Audio Session Tunnel (CAST) connection to the HVD is not supported.

Tip	Before you begin to install the Cisco Unified Communications client on the HVD, see the Release Notes documents for Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine and for the Cisco Unified Communications client.

The Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine pre-requisite add-on contains the auto-login add-on. After you install the pre-requisite add-on, the thin client automatically boots and logs in to thinuser mode, which restricts user access.

In thinuser mode, the FireFox shortcut does not appear in the Start menu and xterm does not appear in the Application Browser. Users can access System Information by clicking an icon in the notification area of the task bar. To set up access to FireFox, edit the wlx INI file to specify the required parameters.

Example:

CONNECT=BROWSER \
Description="Cisco Home Page" \
URL=http://www.cisco.com \
Resolution=FullScreen \
Mode=Normal

After application of the new wlx INI file, an icon for FireFox appears on the thin client desktop. For more information about how to edit the wlx INI file, see the documentation for your device:

• INI Files Reference Guide for Cisco Virtualization Experience Client 6215

• Reference Guide: Wyse® Enhanced SUSE Linux Enterprise INI Files

Note

Dell Wyse Z50D users do not have access to the WDM icon in thinuser mode. This is expected behavior because users do not need this access. If you need to access WDM to troubleshoot device check in issues, you can open the application from xterm. For more information about how to manage the Z50D, see the Administrator's Guide and the Reference Guide for your base image version.

There are different methods that you can use to schedule an update or push a package to the thin clients. For more information about these methods, see the documentation for the Cisco VXC 6215 and Cisco VXC Manager or for the Dell Wyse Z50D and Dell Wyse Device Manager (WDM).

If your network is set up for Medianet or Dual VLAN, no additional configuration is required for Cisco Virtualization Experience Client or Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine.

Note	Medianet and Dual VLAN are mutually exclusive and Dual VLAN has higher priority over Medianet. If the network advertises both Dual VLAN and Medianet, Dual VLAN is active and Medianet is not active.

The Dell Wyse Z50D must meet the minimum platform base image version requirement. For more information, see Release Notes for Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine for your release.

If the Dell Wyse Z50D has two MAC addresses, Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine supports dual VLAN mode. If the Z50D has only one MAC address, Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Engine sends voice and video over the data VLAN. After you install Virtualization Experience Media Engine, you can check to see whether the device is dual VLAN capable, by running the isDualVlanDevice.sh script in xterm (as root).

If the Z50D is turned on and connected to the switch, and then you enable voice VLAN on the switch port, you must restart the thin client to enable Dual VLAN support.

Wyse Device Manager 4.9.1 is the recommended deployment tool to deploy Virtualization Experience Media Engine to the Dell Wyse Z50D thin clients.