TANDBERG MSE 8510, MCU 4500 User Manual

Codian MCU 4500 Series

Codian MSE 8510 Series

Online help (printable format)

Software version 2.4(1)

TANDBERG Philip Pedersens vei 20 1366 Lysaker Norway Telephone: +47 67 125 125 Telefax: +47 67 125 234 Video: +47 67 117 777 E-mail: tandberg@tandberg.com

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The Codian MCU web interface is used for administering the MCU device, managing conferences, users, and predefined endpoints. You can also perform many conference-related tasks using the web interface that you cannot otherwise do.

When connecting to the Codian MCU web interface, you must log in so that the MCU can associate the session with your configured user and a set of access privileges. The MCU has a set of configured users, and each user has an ID and password that are used for logging in.

1. Using a web browser, enter the host name or IP address of the MCU.

2. Click the link on the top right of the screen.

3. To log in as the administrator, click the button and enter your assigned User name and Password.

The main menu appears, restricting the available options based on your access privileges. Administrators have full access; standard users can create new conferences and manage their profiles; guest users typically can access publicly available conferences.

Depending on how your system administrator has configured the MCU and conferences on it, you might be able to join conferences by simply dialing a phone number.

Your system administrator may have configured the MCU to allow you to use your video endpoint to directly dial the conference by dialing a phone number. You will be required to enter the conference ID, and PIN if required. Or you may be able to dial by IP address and connect to the auto attendant. See Using an auto attendant for details.

Note that some video endpoints require that you activate the keypad before dialing. For example, you might need to press the # key.

If your phone system allows calls to the MCU, you may use your regular phone to join conferences as an audio-only contributor. You must enter the conference ID (and PIN, if required).

If your regular phone number is linked to your video endpoint, then when you use your phone to join a conference, the video portion of the conference will automatically appear on your video endpoint's screen. You can continue to use your regular phone for the audio portion of the conference. To do this, the video endpoint must be configured as that user's associated video endpoint. For more information, refer to Adding and updating users.

The advantages to this method are that you are able to use the same method and phone to make video calls as you do traditional audio calls. You also may have improved audio signaling. However, this method requires significant configuration and setup from the system administrator. Your company's network may not have all the components available to support this method.

When in a conference using an audio-only phone, pressing *6 mutes your phone such that you will not be contributing audio to the conference; pressing *6 again unmutes you phone.

Audio-only conference participants can show a recording from a Codian IP VCR as their video contribution. To do this:

1. Either register the MCU and the IP VCR with the gatekeeper or add the IP VCR as an H.323 gateway.

2. Go to > and add the recording as an H.323 endpoint: i. Set the address as the recording number.

ii. If you are using a gatekeeper, leave the other fields at their default settings; if the IP VCR is set up

as an H.323 gateway, choose the VCR from the H.323 gateway list and leave all other settings as default.

3. Go to > and set up the user using Adding and updating users for more information and

setting the associated video endpoint as the IP VCR recording.

Your system administrator may have set up an auto attendant for you to use to join conferences. An auto attendant presents you with a series of menus from which you can choose a conference to join.

For further information about accessing conferences (including the use of DTMF tones), refer to the document "Accessing Conferences", available in the Documentation area of the web site.

There are typically two ways to call an auto attendant using your video endpoint. Your system administrator should provide you with information about which method you should use:

Enter the IP address or host name of the MCU device Dial using a standard E.164 phone number

When you successfully connect to the MCU, the main menu displays on your video screen, and you should also hear the audio instructions.

Navigate the auto attendant using the Far-End Camera Controls (FECC) on your video endpoint. Use the up and down controls to highlight the option or item you require; use right to make your selection. To return to a previous menu from a sub-menu, use left.

You can jump to the end of the menu when at the start by using the up control; similarly, you will loop back to the start if you are at the end and use the down control. Note that there is a scroll bar in the bottom right of the video display to indicate where you are in the auto attendant menu. From anywhere in the menu, you can jump to the first entry with #2 and to the last entry with #8.

By default, the number keys on your endpoint are used to join a conference by dialing its numeric ID, followed by a '#'. If a conference has both a Numeric ID and a Guest numeric ID set, you may enter either ID, and will join the conference as either a chairperson or guest as appropriate. As you start to enter a numeric ID, the sequence you have typed will be shown at the base of the auto attendant screen. You may cancel the numeric ID entry (for instance to correct an error) by pressing '*'.

If you have connected to the auto attendant using an endpoint that has no FECC capability (for example many SIP endpoints), you can use the number keys on your endpoint to navigate the menus; this is called "DTMF navigation mode". DTMF navigation mode enables you to use the number keys: 2, 4, 6, and 8 in the place of up, left, right, and down respectively.

To enter DTMF navigation mode:

on connecting to the auto attendant, press the pound (hash) key twice as follows:

## The message "DTMF menu navigation enabled" appears briefly at the bottom of the auto attendant display.

To exit DTMF navigation mode:

press the pound (hash) key twice as follows:

## The message "DTMF menu navigation disabled" appears briefly at the bottom of the auto attendant display.

When in DTMF navigation mode, you will not be able to use the number keys to enter the numeric ID of a conference.

Typically, you will have these options:

This option enables you to start a new conference that takes place immediately (an "ad hoc" conference). When creating this conference, you'll need to add a conference ID and optional PIN (to restrict access to the conference). Other participants are then free to join the conference as they would any other, for example by using the auto attendant, or by calling in directly (see Calling into conferences).

As the system administrator, you can disable this option so it is not available on an auto attendant.

All permanent conferences or conferences scheduled to take place (at this time) display here, listed by the conference name. Your system administrator can limit the conferences that display here. So, if you do not see the conference you want to join, verify the conference name, start time, and finally verify that your system administrator has enabled the conference here.

Your system administrator may allow this auto attendant to access additional auto attendants, giving you access to additional conferences.

After you join a conference, the in-conference controls and features are the same regardless of how you joined the conference (see Using in-conference features).

When you want to leave a conference, you can either simply hang up, or if you joined the conference from an auto attendant and want to return to the auto attendant:

if you are using FECC, press zoom out. The zoom out menu is displayed; choose if you are using DTMF tones, press 7. The zoom out menu is displayed. Press 8 to navigate down through

the options and 6 to select

The streaming interface enables you to enter the ID of a conference and view it in a web browser on your PC. You do

A name by which you will be identified should you use the text chat facility.

Note that text chat will not be available unless the MCU has the Web conferencing feature key

The numeric ID that uniquely identifies the conference you want to stream.

If the conference that you want to stream is protected by a PIN, enter it here.

Select the streaming rate you prefer to use.

There are usually two configured options for streaming rate from which you can choose.

When enabled, multicast will be used when streaming this conference.

This option is not available if the streaming rate specifies that Windows Media Player will be used.

When enabled, the MCU's streaming page will attempt to access the multicast meadi stream for the chosen conference. Note that if the streaming page fails to stream the conference, you can return to the this page and uncheck this option; doing so will cause the MCU to attempt to stream the conference using unicast.

Check this option to stream the audio and video.

If you uncheck this option, then neither the audio nor video will play.

Choose a size (resolution) for the video.

This option affects the size of the media player when it opens.

Check this option to stream the content channel.

If you uncheck this option, the content channel will not play. Unchecking this option also disables text chat.

Note that text chat will not be available unless the MCU has the Web conferencing feature key; and that without the Web conferencing feature key, this option is grayed out.

Choose a size for the content channel.

not have to have a user account on the MCU to be able to do this.

If you do need to log in to the MCU, use the link on the top right of the screen.

The Codian MCU supports streaming, which involves sending conference media (audio and video) to a remote

The configured options for streaming video.

The two options available here have been configured on the > page.

If multicast is enabled for the selected streaming rate on the > page and you select Prefer multicast, then multicast will be used when streaming this conference.

Multicast streaming allows an unlimited number of viewers to watch a conference on a MCU. Note that you cannot use Windows Media Player to stream in multicast mode on the MCU.

Check this option to stream the audio and video.

If you uncheck this option, then neither the audio nor video will play.

Choose a size (resolution) for the video.

This option affects the size of the media player when it opens.

Check this option to stream the content channel.

If you uncheck this option, the content channel will not play. Unchecking this option also disables text chat. Note that text chat will not be available unless you have the Web conferencing feature key; and that without the Web conferencing feature key, this option is grayed out.

Choose a size (resolution) for the content channel.

This option affects the size of the media player when it opens.

computer, allowing the user to watch and listen to a conference. The media flows in just one direction, so it is not possible to actually contribute to a conference via streaming.

The streaming video may be delayed by approximately 4-10 seconds compared to the real-time video.

To view an active conference using streaming:

1. Go to and click next to the conference name.

2. Choose the Streaming rate. Refer to the table below for tips.

3. If you want to display and choose advanced streaming settings, click the link. Choose the settings you

require, referring to the table below for tips.

4. Click to display the conference.

After you join a conference, you can control many conference features directly from your video endpoint. (For information about in-conference features using the web interface, see Controlling in-conference features).

Controlling conference views Understanding participants status Using far-end camera controls Understanding in-conference status icons The zoom out menu The conference welcome message

For further information about accessing conferences (including the use of DTMF tones), refer to the document "Accessing Conferences", available in the Documentation area of the web site.

Your video endpoint typically has navigation keys, such as up/down and left/right (on a keyboard or remote control), that allow you to control the camera viewing angles. When connected to a conference, you can also use these controls to scroll through participants and conference layout formats (see Understanding how participants

display in layout views).

When you join a conference, you will have a set of available layout options from which you can choose to display the conference participants. Typically you can choose from two primary groupings of layouts:

— in these formats, all conference participants display in the same size pane on the video

screen and thus have the same level of focus or importance. For example, a conference with four participants might display each in a pane sized to be a quarter (1/4) the size of your video screen.

— in these formats, conference participants display in various pane sizes on the video

screen depending on their ―importance‖. For example, a layout might display the participant who is speaking

in a pane larger than the other conference participants. Or, you might choose to focus on a particular participant (see Selecting participants)

To switch among available conference views:

1. Change the camera control to ―far‖.

2. Use the up/down navigation keys to toggle through the available format options.

3. Refer to the table below for assistance interpreting the icons that appear on-screen.

You are scrolling up through the layout views.

You are scrolling down through the layout views.

You have stopped scrolling through the layout views.

You are scrolling through the participant list in a counter-clockwise direction.

You are scrolling through the participant list in a clockwise direction.

Speaking participant has the focus.

When viewing a conference with variable-size panes (see Variable-size panes), you can choose which participant to display in the larger panes on the video screen; when viewing a conference with equal-sized panes, you can choose which participant displays in the top left pane. You do this by selecting the participant following these steps:

1. Change the camera control to ―far‖.

2. Choose a layout view.

3. Use the left/right navigation keys to scroll through the focused participants.

4. Refer to the table below for assistance interpreting the icons that appear on-screen.

During the conference, various icons might appear in the pane of specific participants. Refer to the table below for

This participant has been given priority in the layout views.

A participant is made "important" using controls on the MCU web pages.

The audio quality from this participant is poor.

The audio quality from this participant is good.

The video quality from this participant is poor.

The video quality from this participant is good.

You are now controlling the viewing angle of the far-end video camera.

You are moving the remote far-end camera down.

You are moving the far-end video camera up.

You are moving the far-end video camera to the left.

You are moving the far-end video camera to the right.

You are zooming in with the far-end video camera.

You are zooming out with the far-end video camera.

assistance interpreting these icons.

While in a conference, you might need to change the camera settings for one of the conference participants. For example, if you want to zoom in on a particular speaker in a large group, or if you cannot see the speaker. To do this:

1. Change the camera control to ―far‖.

2. Select the largest displayed participant pane.

3. Press Zoom. The far-end camera control icon appears, and you can now control the far-end camera.

4. Refer to the table below for assistance interpreting the icons that appear on-screen.

During the conference, various icons might appear in top left of the conference display. The appearance of these icons

There are both encrypted and unencrypted participants in this conference or there are streaming viewers of this encrypted conference.

This conference is being recorded.

There are audio-only participants in this conference. The number of audio-only participants is displayed next to the icon.

There are streaming participants in this conference.

is controlled on the page (refer to Configuring global conference settings). Refer to the table below for assistance interpreting these icons.

The zoom out menu provides access to a number of in-conference options. Access the following options by pressing zoom out if you are using FECC, or 7 on a DTMF keyboard (on an endpoint that does not have an FECC channel):

widescreen mode (whether this option is available or not depends on the

setting on the page and on the capabilities of the endpoint)

borders mute audio mute video clear text chat (this option only appears if there is text chat on the screen) return to auto attendant (this option only appears if the participant joined the conference from the auto

attendant)

You can configure a welcome message on the MCU and a duration for that message. Participants joining a conference on the MCU will see the message displayed at the bottom of their endpoint's display. After the configured message duration has elapsed, the message will be removed.

The controls are on the page (refer to Configuring global

conference settings).

The welcome message will only be displayed to streaming viewers if the duration is configured as permanent.

If you change the welcome message when there are active participants, any participants’ currently displayed welcome messages will only change if the new message is configured as .

Depending on how your video endpoint is configured, an incoming video call might come through to your regular phone or to your video endpoint (see Calling into conferences for a brief description of the difference). Note that even if a video call arrives on your regular phone, the video portion of the call will appear on your associated video endpoint (if one is configured).

As with any other type of incoming call, you can choose to answer the call or not.

The default behavior of the Codian MCU is to display the "loudest" participants in the most prominent layout panes. If there are more contributors than there are panes available, then the "quietest" participants are not shown.

However, different styles of layout introduce slight subtleties to this behavior, and in addition there are a few ways in which participants or conference administrators may change the system used for pane assignment. In particular, you may want to set the pane placement for a conference yourself.

In this section:

Big panes vs. small panes Participants viewing themselves Changing view focus "Important" participants "Important" participants combined with view focus Clipped panes Video streams vs. fixed bitmap images Muted participants H.243 floor control

This layout can be seen as the most traditional video-conferencing view. Each participant is displayed in the same sized pane as the other participants. If there are more than four participants, the four most significant (the four loudest) are displayed, with one pane each.

By contrast, these example layouts have some larger panes, and the participants shown in those panes are seen as more significant than the other contributors. When allocating participants to panes, the MCU always fills the largest panes first. If there are more participants than panes then there will never be empty big panes and non-empty small panes.

To reduce the number of view changes when different participants speak (for example, when people change from being active speakers to inactive contributors), the MCU duplicates participant views for layouts with more than four small panes. For the three example layouts shown above, the participant(s) shown in the large pane(s) of the first two layouts will be duplicated in the surrounding small panes. However, the four small panes of the third layout will show different participants to those displayed in the three big panes. This reduces the impact of audio volume changes on the composed layout while not needlessly wasting view space. However, it is possible to configure the MCU not to duplicate participant views in this way if so desired (see Configuring global conference settings).

When considering which participants to show in which panes, a participant's self view has the lowest priority. This has two main implications:

When choosing participants to display, the MCU considers the viewer last. This prevents the participant who is the active speaker from seeing only themselves. In this case, while everyone else will see the active speaker, the active speaker will see the previous active speaker in their biggest view pane.

When the MCU is required to choose a layout from a view family, it does so based on the number of video contributors to the conference. However, when calculating the number of video contributors for a particular view, the MCU does not consider any video stream being received from the viewer.

Thus, with five participants in a conference and everyone seeing the standard equal-sized view family (2x2, 3x3 or 4x4), each of the five contributing participants will always see the 2x2 view with themselves excluded. However, streaming viewers will see the conference display using the 3x3 view with five panes in use.

You may configure the MCU never to show participants their own video stream in small panes (see Configuring

global conference settings). If this is the case, then participants viewing layouts with some panes larger than others

will never see their own video stream in any of the small panes, even if there are free slots. They may still appear in large panes, for example if the view focus is manually changed to show their video.

Using the tilt (up and down) Far End Camera Controls on a connected video endpoint causes the view to change, cycling through the available families and then the conference-wide or per-participant custom layouts (if enabled).

In addition, the pan (left and right) Far End Camera Controls on a connected video endpoint can be used to focus the view on a particular participant, as opposed to the MCU allocating participants to panes based solely on the volume of the audio being received from them.

To reduce the disruption of the view when cycling through conference participants, there is a short delay after selecting a new focused participant before the rest of the view layout reverts to the "correct" arrangement of participants in panes.

For each conference, one active participant can be set as "important". This means that the MCU considers this participant first when deciding which contributors to show in which layout panes, rather than their position in the list being set by how loudly they are speaking. See the Control setting in the conference participant list.

Both "Changing view focus" and "Important participants" above involve a single specific participant being shown in the biggest pane available, even if that participant is not currently the loudest speaker. This causes a potential conflict, which is resolved dependant on the type of layout.

In this type of view (a layout in which all panes are of equal size), the focused participant is shown in the first pane, the one at the top left. The important participant is shown in the "next" pane, normally the one immediately to the right of the first pane.

This type of layout displays a single big pane and several small panes. If the view focus has been changed (for instance with left and right Far End Camera Control operations), then the big pane shows the selected participant. If a conference participant has been set to "important" then its video stream is shown in the big pane.

However, if a participant has been set to "important" and the view is focused on a (different) specific participant, the focused participant is shown in the big pane, and the "important" participant is shown in one of the small panes.

If the view has been focused on a participant and the same participant is also set as "important" then that participant is shown in the big pane.

These layouts have two large panes and several smaller ones. If the view focus has been changed (for instance with left and right Far End Camera Control operations), then the upper or left large pane shows the focused participant. If a participant has been set to "important" then that video stream appears in the lower or right large pane.

If the same participant is focused and "important", that video stream appears in the upper or left pane.

For these layouts, if the view has been focused on a particular participant, that participant appears in the upper or left large pane. If a participant has been selected as "important", that participant will be shown in the lower or right large pane.

In layouts with three large panes, even if the view is focused on a specific participant and another has been set to "important", one large pane remains. This pane displays the "loudest" remaining participant.

The majority of the conference layouts defined by the Codian MCU, for example:

have in common that all of their panes, whether big or small, have the same aspect ratio as the view itself. That is, the panes' widths and heights are in the same proportion as the width and height of the encompassing view.

By comparison, there are some defined conference layouts, for example:

in which this aspect ratio preservation does not occur. In these cases, the MCU scales the participant video stream according to the larger dimension of the pane.

For example, in the layout to the left, the size of the top left pane is one half of the view width and two thirds of the view height. Because two thirds is greater than one half, the MCU scales the participant video stream to two thirds of its size and thus a small amount of the left and right of the original image will not appear in the final composed layout.

For video conference participants, the image that displays in the layout view pane is either the live video stream (if viewing from the video endpoint) or a captured video image from the current video stream (if viewing from the web interface).

However, audio-only participants do not have any associated video to display. Instead, you can assign a fixed image (in bitmap format) to a specific participant. When the participant joins a conference as an audio-only participant, this image appears in the layout pane. To enable this feature, the participant must be added as a user to the MCU, have an associated E.164 telephone, and have a designated image file uploaded. See Adding and updating users.

Participants who have had their audio muted from the web interface do not contribute audio to the conference. Additionally, muted participants are not considered when the MCU calculates the loudest speakers to display in the largest panes, even if the participant had previously been in one of those positions.

Note that other participants will not have an indication that a participant has been muted. They simply will no longer hear that participant speaking.

Participants who have had their video muted from the web interface do not contribute video to the conference. They will continue to contribute audio as normal, unless it is muted separately.

Some H.323 endpoints support a feature known as floor and chair control that is encompassed by the H.243 protocol. This is not currently supported by SIP.

The MCU supports the following H.243 features:

a participant can "take the floor" in a conference. On "taking the floor" their video contribution is sent to all

conference participants as a "1 x 1 view" (full-screen view). If the active floor (temporarily or permanently) has no video channel established to the MCU then endpoints will see their "normal" continuous presence view; if there is a video channel from the active floor participant, everyone will see that video, and this will override any view family or custom layout setting

a participant can "take the chair". On "taking the chair", a participant can:

o nominate a "broadcaster"; that is, they can choose which participant's video will be sent to all other

participants in "1 x 1 view" (full-screen view)

o decide to disconnect any other participant(s)

Note that the ability of a participant to "take the chair" is affected by how they joined the conference. A participant who joined the conference as a guest will not be able to "take the chair".

an endpoint can receive the names of the other endpoints in the same conference. Different endpoints act on

this in different ways.

Whether or not these features are supported in a conference depends on the individual conference settings ( ) and the global "H.243 floor and chair control setting" ( ). Refer to Adding and updating conferences and Global conference settings.

Where a conference supports floor and chair control, or floor control only:

the MCU will advertise the ability to handle H.243 when establishing (and receiving) H.323 connections any H.243-capable endpoint can request the floor, and all endpoints (be they chairperson or guest) will be

granted it as long as no other endpoint in that conference has already done so

Where the conference supports floor and chair control:

any H.243-capable endpoint can request the chair, and any participant who has joined the conference as a

chairperson will be granted it as long as no other endpoint in that conference has already done so

If an active participant in a conference has taken the chair or the floor, it is indicated in the status column of the

page.

If you change the "Floor and chair control" for a conference currently taking place, there will be no immediate effect. That is, an existing floor or chair participant will not have that status removed.

For ad hoc conferences, you can alter the "Floor and chair control" setting, which is "Allow floor control only" by default, through that conference's configuration page when it is active.

The Conference List displays information about active, scheduled, and completed conferences. To access this list,

Displays the conference streaming page. This option is not necessarily available for every conference; some users do not have access to other user's conferences. Some conferences may require a PIN to access this feature.

See Using streaming to view conferences for more information.

The name of the conference, which is either the name entered when the conference was scheduled, or, in the case of certain specialized types of conferences, a name chosen automatically by the MCU when created.

Specialized conference types are described below in Description.

Click the conference name to display detailed information about the conference and participants.

Additional information about the conference, which can assist users joining conferences.

You can add the description when scheduling a conference. If you do not add a description or the conference has not been scheduled in advance, the Description displays one of the following:

The conference has been scheduled in advance using the MCU web interface, but the owner has not entered a description.

The conference was created dynamically during an auto attendant session and will end when the last participant using the auto attendant exits the conference.

This type of conference indicates that a participant is currently connected to the auto attendant and navigating the menus.

The configured owner of the conference.

See Conference ownership for additional information.

choose .

Review this information for explanations about the details that display:

Active conferences Scheduled conferences Completed conferences

Active conferences are currently in progress. The following information is displayed for each conference:

The status of a conference with respect to its H.323 gatekeeper and/or SIP registration. Depending on the conference settings, there is a maximum of four registrations for each conference: H.323 numeric ID, H.323 guest numeric ID, SIP numeric ID, and SIP guest numeric ID. The Registration field will show failed if any of the registrations has not completed successfully.

This conference is not configured to be registered with a gatekeeper or SIP registrar; because of this, there is no applicable registration status to show

This conference is in the process of registering with the gatekeeper or SIP registrar

At least one of the registrations for this conference has failed

All IDs associated with this conference have been registered successfully with the gatekeeper / SIP registrar

One or more of the IDs associated with this conference has been configured to be registered with the gatekeeper or SIP registrar, but that registration has not been attempted due to another setting taking precedence. This might occur if either of the H.323 gatekeeper usage or ID registration for scheduled conferences options on the page is set to Disabled

Note that when there is a problem with the registration, the status is a link to the conference's

Statistics page.

If the MCU can connect to an H.323 gatekeeper, each numeric ID (for both chairperson and guest privileges) for a conference can be registered with that gatekeeper as a different directory number. This allows H.323 users to dial directly into a particular conference (with the correct privileges) instead of connecting first to the MCU's auto attendant and navigating the menu system.

Likewise, if the MCU can connect to a SIP registrar, each conference can be registered with that registrar using either (or both) Numeric ID and Guest ID. This allows SIP users to dial directly into a particular conference (with the correct privileges) instead of connecting first to the MCU's auto attendant and navigating the menu system. Note that for SIP, unlike H.323, the conferences must be configured on the SIP registrar before the MCU can register them.

There is a maximum of four registrations for each conference: H.323 numeric ID, H.323 guest numeric ID, SIP numeric ID, and SIP guest numeric ID. To view further details about the registrations for a conference, click the conference name and then the Statistics tab to view the conference's Statistics page.

For tips on configuring gatekeepers, see

Configuring gatekeeper settings.

For tips on configuring SIP registrars, see

Configuring SIP settings.

For more information about configuring conferences (and chairperson and guest IDs and PINs), refer to Adding and updating conferences.

The number of currently active contributors to the conference. This value does not include streaming viewers or any other endpoints that are viewing only and not contributing any media to the conference.

If a limit on the number of participants has been set for the conference, the participants value is shown as , where is the number of active participants and is the configured limit. If it has not been possible to reserve all of the required

If a conference is protected by a PIN, the number of participants is hidden until the PIN is entered. In this case, the Participants value displays as <PIN required>.

ports for a conference (for instance because of a configuration error), this value will display in red as an error indication.

When the conference began. If the conference started before today, the date also displays.

How long the conference still has to run. If the conference does not have a limited duration, this column displays as <forever>.

Scheduled conferences are either in progress or are yet to start. You can review this list and make some changes to it:

The name of the conference chosen when the conference was scheduled.

Click the conference name to display detailed information about the configuration of the conference and, if it is currently active, its participants.

The number that you can dial to join the conference.

Whether a PIN is required to join the conference.

The configured owner of the conference.

See Conference ownership for additional information.

Whether a conference is:

The conference's configured start time has not yet arrived.

The conference is running and is available for video conferencing endpoints to join. A scheduled conference in this state will also appear in the Active conferences list.

The conference is not currently running, but has been previously active and is now waiting to be re-activated when the time of its next repetition is reached.

There is no explicit status for "finished" – when a conference is not in progress and is not scheduled to become active again then it is moved to the Completed conferences list.

When the conference began. If the conference started before today, the date also displays.

When the conference will end.

To remove a scheduled conference, select the conference via its associated checkbox and click

To schedule a new conference, click (see Adding and updating conferences).

The MCU supports up to 200 scheduled conferences.

Completed conferences have finished and are not scheduled to repeat.

The name of the conference chosen when the conference was scheduled.

Click the conference name to display detailed information about the configuration of the conference.

The configured owner of the conference.

See Conference ownership for additional information.

When the conference began. If the conference started before today, the date also displays.

When the conference ended.

To remove specific conferences from the list, select the conferences via their associated checkboxes and click

To remove all conferences from the list, click .

The information required to add or update a conference is nearly identical. Refer to these topics for details:

Adding a conference Updating a conference Adding configured endpoints Using IDs and PINs

To add a conference:

1. Go to .

2. Complete the fields referring to the table below for the most appropriate settings for the conference.

3. Click to add the conference and return to the Conference List. The recently added

conference appears either in the Active or Scheduled Conferences depending on its scheduled start time.

Ad hoc conferences (if you allow them) are added by users in the auto attendant.

To update an existing conference:

1. Go to .

2. Click a Conference name and then click the tab.

3. Edit the fields referring to the table below for the most appropriate settings for the conference.

4. Click to add the conference and return to the Conference List. The updated conference

appears either in the Active or Scheduled Conferences depending on its scheduled start time.

The following settings can also be updated for ad hoc conferences:

PIN Layout control via FECC/DTMF Streaming Encryption Floor and chair control Mute on join

See the table below for more information:

The name that users will see on auto attendant screens and on the MCU's web interface.

Conference names must be unique; conferences cannot share names.

Only scheduled conferences have a configurable Name; ad hoc conferences do not have one.

Additional information about the conference, which can assist users joining conferences.

Use the description to provide more detailed information about the conference than the name alone conveys.

This is an optional field for scheduled conferences; ad hoc conferences cannot be given a description.

The unique identifier used for dialing in to the conference (as a chairperson participant) using an auto attendant or through an H.323 gatekeeper or SIP registrar. This number can also be used to stream the conference from the Streaming-only interface. For more information about chairpersons and guests, refer to Using IDs and

PINs.

When connected to an auto attendant, participants can join a conference by typing its numeric identifier.

If you plan to allow audio-only participants, then you will need to enter either a Numeric ID or a Guest numeric ID.

If H.323 gatekeeper registration is enabled for a conference, the MCU attempts to register the conference with an E.164 telephone number, which is comprised of the Registration prefix and the numeric identifier.

If SIP registration is enabled for a conference, then the Numeric ID is registered with the SIP registrar.

Conferences that are simultaneously active must not share a Numeric ID. For example, a conference on a Tuesday and a conference on a Thursday can share a Numeric ID, whereas two permanent conferences cannot share a Numeric ID. The same number can be used for the Guest numeric ID, if there are two different PINs. Additionally, because the numeric identifier is used in gatekeeper registration, conferences and auto attendants cannot share a numeric identifier value.

For more information, refer to Using IDs and

PINs.

For ad hoc conferences created via the auto attendant, the number allocated by the conference creator becomes the Numeric ID. If ad hoc conferences are registered with the gatekeeper (and for this to work, the Register ad hoc conferences with gatekeeper control must be

enabled on the page), participants can dial in using this number. Note that the actual number that participants will dial depends on whether prefixes are used in the

page.

For an active ad hoc conference, you cannot configure the Numeric ID.

Provides a level of security to conference access.

If a conference has a PIN set, users cannot join the conference or change its configuration without entering the correct PIN. Depending on the conference settings, it may be possible for participants to join a conference as a chairperson (using the Numeric ID and PIN), or as a guest (using the Guest numeric ID and Guest PIN).

For an ad hoc conference, you can configure a PIN while the conference is running.

The unique identifier used for dialing in to the conference (as a guest participant) using an auto attendant or through an H.323 gatekeeper or SIP registrar. This number can also be used to stream the conference from the Streaming-only interface. For more information about chairpersons and guests, refer to Using IDs and PINs.

When connected to an auto attendant, participants can join a conference by typing its Guest numeric ID.

If you plan to allow audio-only participants, then you will need to enter either a Numeric ID or a Guest numeric ID.

If H.323 gatekeeper registration is enabled for a conference, and you have entered a Guest numeric ID, the MCU attempts to register the conference with an E.164 telephone number, which is comprised of the Registration prefix and the Guest numeric ID.

If SIP registration is enabled for a conference, and you have entered a Guest numeric ID, then the Guest numeric ID is registered with the SIP registrar.

For more information, refer to Using IDs and

PINs.

Ad hoc conferences cannot be configured with Guest numeric IDs or PINs.

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