Acano solution. Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs. Acano. December G

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1 Acano solution Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs Acano December G

2 Contents Contents 1 Installation... 3 How do I set up the two components of Acano Manager on different servers?... 3 Am I going to have to manually input each of my users, cospaces and endpoints (devices) into Acano Manager in order to have a participants list or is there a way to bulk upload?... 4 The Acano Manager Interface installer fails what can I check? Outlook Plugin... 5 Will there be a plugin for Outlook for Mac?... 5 Where are the templates for the Outlook plugin stored?... 5 How do I change the Acano Manager server that the Outlook plugin uses?... 5 What does the message Add error in video conference mean? Miscellaneous... 6 How do I integrate with Exchange? After creating the meeting there is an option to save&alert but I am not seeing where I can configure the Exchange server information in order to allow the connectivity to the SMTP relay service... 6 What do the premium services provide? I understand the recording option but what are the differences between monitor and Meet&Greet? Why is Meet&Greet not selectable?... 7 After scheduling a call, will Acano Manager dial out to my participants at the start of the conference or will I have to manually connect the endpoints?... 7 Does SQL Express with Acano Manager have any limitations?... 7 Tell me about Access Control in Acano Manager... 8 Tell me about Acano Manager Call Profiles... 9 Are there any issues with using the Third Party MCU module with a Codian MCU?... 9 Are there any issues with using the Third Party MCU module with a Polycom RMX?... 9 How do I delete an Acano Server/MCU?... 9 How do I create a new database in Acano Manager? How do I change the name of the AMdb? If CDRs are treated as not valid by Acano Manager, what can I check? My Acano Manager is not refreshing information, what can I check? What technology stack is used in developing the Acano Manager Interface? What input validation mechanism is used for the Acano Manager Interface? How are the backend database queries executed? How are sessions managed in Acano Manager Interface? What are the session logout features? How are session keys generated? Can Acano Manager run on hyper-v? Is there a time out on the password? Is there a way to keep the password from timing out? How do I recover the admin password when it has been lost or forgotten? How do I change the default view in the Calls in Progress page? How do I certify an endpoint? All the endpoints I use are in the endpoint list, but this particular endpoint always says its not certified Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 2

3 Installation 1 Installation How do I set up the two components of Acano Manager on different servers? To be able to use separate servers for the AM service and web user interface for Acano Manager requires: Two servers set up and configured as per the pre-requisites in the Acano Manager Installation guide One server configured as a web server as per the pre-requisites in the Acano Manager Installation guide Then follow these steps: 1. Install the Acano Manager Interface software onto the web server. 2. Install the Acano Manager Service software on to second system. 3. On the Acano Manager Interface system edit the web config file (called web.config and located by default in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\am). a. Add the ProxyServer & ProxyPort settings by adding the lines in bold italics below: Configure the IP address of the Acano Manager Service system and the port that it will use to communication with that system. (The default port number is 57050) <?xml version="1.0"?> <configuration> <appsettings> <!-- ShowFullError should be set to false for a live environment, true for debugging a test environment --> <add key="proxyserver" value="ip Address of the AM Service Server"/> <add key="proxyport" value="57050"/> <add key="showfullerror" value="false"/> b. Save the changes. 4. Check that the Windows firewall is not enabled or blocking the ProxyPort port. 5. On the Acano Manager Service system, edit both the Service & Monitor config files (vq.service.exe.config that is located by default on C:\Program Files\Acano Manager\Service and vq.monitor.exe.config that is located by default in C:\Program Files\Acano Manager\Monitor respectively). For both files: a. Edit the loopback address ( ) for the ProxyServer replacing it with the IP address of the Acano Manager Service server. <add key="proxyserver" value="ip Address of the AM Service Server"/> <add key="proxyport" value="57050"/> b. Ensure that the proxy port value is Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 3

4 Installation c. Save the changes. 6. Start the Acano Manager Service. 7. After at least 20 seconds open a browser and enter the URL of the Acano Manager web service system. Am I going to have to manually input each of my users, cospaces and endpoints (devices) into Acano Manager in order to have a participants list or is there a way to bulk upload? There are several ways: Import from an Active Directory server; you can set up users and cospaces for these users with this method Use the Cisco TMS importer with AM Acano Manager will import devices from TMS (if you have the appropriate TMS API key). (Acano Manager can also post conference reservations in to TMS - if you have the appropriate TMS API key. Note that Acano Manager pushes a reservation to TMS and not a call schedule request. A booking appears in TMS but doesn't result in a call being scheduled by TMS: it allows a TMS user to see that a call has been scheduled. This may be enhanced in the future.) Provision via the Acano Manager API The Acano Manager Interface installer fails what can I check? Run the following command while from an account with Administrator rights. This registers.net 4.5 to your IIS webserver and creates the new app pools. On a 64bit system: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v \aspnet_regiis.exe -I On a 32bit system: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v \aspnet_regiis.exe -I Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 4

5 Outlook Plugin 2 Outlook Plugin Will there be a plugin for Outlook for Mac? Plug-ins will not be available for the Mac because Outlook for Mac does not support them. Where are the templates for the Outlook plugin stored? The Acano Manager templates are kept in the templates directory (Path:../Acano Manager/Service/ Templates. Note that the TXT files are the templates that Acano Manager uses to create the Outlook invites and the HTML template files are user for normal notification. Note: Any changes to files in this directory are global changes, therefore ensure you make a copy of the originals before editing the files. How do I change the Acano Manager server that the Outlook plugin uses? After you have configured the Outlook plugin once with an Acano Manager address, you cannot change it from with Outlook. Instead you must edit the logins.json file. 1. Locate the file e.g. at: C:\Users\<your username>\appdata\roaming\videoconferenceaddin 2. Open the file with text editor (e.g. Notepad++). You see your equivalent of: { "URL": " "UserName": "[email protected]", "Password": "AQAAANCMnd8BFdERjHoAwE/Cl+sBAAAAinODttjvlECUMArWVgyO3AAAAAACAAAAAAA QZgAAAAEAACAAAAAvSKDCWIPDsghKagMJ4U+bzz9dKb+WwCI7kMd+zXMHkwAAAAAOgAA AAAIAACAAAAB8XYMnveGG5mS79yMJc+m33egloooktOcY3h0ra0apJyAAAACFzKDTtTz dvouirzxupbbwp+pxzv5cxk2atncnszkihkaaaabamzmo7g2+upfig4+sy8jmaqf3mwb IUZakU4VGRBL1zsZxk2bgESnjT3P2b6mWcj0QMpaQo0uzVem3RyqeYb5s" } 3. Edit the URL with the appropriate IP address. 4. Save your changes. What does the message Add error in video conference mean? This error is caused when an endpoint/room is scheduled to be part of a call booked via the Outlook plugin, but the endpoint/room does not have an Exchange account set in the Endpoint Details page within Acano Mnager. Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 5

6 3 Miscellaneous How do I integrate with Exchange? After creating the meeting there is an option to save&alert but I am not seeing where I can configure the Exchange server information in order to allow the connectivity to the SMTP relay service Acano Manager must be configured via its configuration file to setup a SMTP connection. This requires editing the configuration files and restarting the system. 1. Backup the configuration files. 2. Edit the vq.service.exe.config file. a. Edit the mailsettings section using: for additional information. This section can be configured as required. In the simple case (as shown below), provide the network host (this does make assumptions about trusted locations etc.). <mailsettings> <smtp> <!-- The <smtp> node supports additional properties: <smtp from="[email protected]" <network host=" " port="25" username="myusername" password="secret" defaultcredentials="true" /> --> <network host="smtp.myserverprovider.com" /> </smtp> </mailsettings> b. If required, change the default to/from names to have more meaningful values: <add key="adminfrom " value="[email protected]" /> <add key="adminto " value="[email protected]" /> <add key=" signature" value="do not reply - unmonitored address." /> 3. Save the changes. 4. Restart the system. Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 6

7 What do the premium services provide? I understand the recording option but what are the differences between monitor and Meet&Greet? Why is Meet&Greet not selectable? Value added services are typically used in a service provider environment. In the Acano Manager Customer definition page, you can define the available set of premium services. These then appear as scheduling options when users schedule calls for this customer account. Two of these options are Meet&Greet and monitor. In Meeti&Greet an operator is present in the call (normally to welcome participants and make sure everything is OK). In a typical Monitor call, an operator joins the call muted (and is potentially in multiple calls using multiple devices). Then users can ask for help, at which point the operator unmutes and assists. These options can incur different costs in the Billing module (when enabled); billing records can then be generated real-time for the call and presented to billing engines periodically. After scheduling a call, will Acano Manager dial out to my participants at the start of the conference or will I have to manually connect the endpoints? Acano Manager will automatically call out to the participants in the call if Start mode is set to Automatic. Acano Manager will retry up to 10 times. This is configurable. Does SQL Express with Acano Manager have any limitations? SQL express has some limitations: it is only licensed for non-production use (read the license carefully) it has a limited address space of 4GB It is therefore very useful for evaluations, testing and development; however, it is not suitable for rolling out in high call volume environments. From a software perspective, SQL Express is identical to a full SQL implementation and therefore Acano Manager works with both products. Currently the links for the SQLExpress downloads with advanced tools are: SQLExpress 2008R2 with Advance Tools (includes Management Studio) The file you need for Acano Manager is ENU\x64\SQLEXPRADV_x64_ENU.exe SQLExpress 2008R2 with Advance Tools (includes Management Studio) The file you need for Acano Manager is SQLEXPRADV_x64_ENU.exe or SQLEXPRADV_x86_ENU.exe for a 32bit system Note: SQL Express with Advance tools includes the Visual Management Studio whereas basic SQL Express does not. Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 7

8 Tell me about Access Control in Acano Manager Acano Manager creates a 'global' Access control list (ACL) that allows anybody with the 'global' ACL service to see all calls from all tenants. But you can create additional Access control groups to restrict the information about users, call/cospaces and devices/endpoints; for example, calls displayed to users in a specific group in the Call List. An access control group has name and a type: there are two types, Service and Tag. When you create a new Customer (tenant) e.g. Acano, Acano Manager automatically creates a new set of Service and Tag entries (for example, Acano-service / Acano-TAG) in the ACL. The ACL service allows you to define what 'tags' can be seen by users in this access control group The service definition contains a list of these tags For example, an operator might be created with an ACL service level that accesses all calls for all tenants. In addition to the global ACL, for each new customer/tenant Acano Manager automatically creates customer-specific ACLs (tags and service), as well as adding each customer ACL tag to the 'global' ACL service definition. Acano Manager then sets the default ACLs for each non root customer/tenant. Acano Manager sets the ACL for Admin users to Global. This means that admin level users can see all calls; but users on tenants only see their own calls; in other words by default, Acano users with the Acano service ACL would see other Acano users but are ring-fenced from other users. The ACL management page allows you to see all the devices/users at each ACL service level by expanding the sections. Example of Creating an Access Control Tag The Access Control List shows all the Access Control services and tags. To add a new Access Control tag: 1 In the Access Control List click Add New and complete the access control name field e.g. Examplecompany. 2 Select Tag as the Access Control type. 3 Click Done and then Done at the next screen. Example of Creating an Access Control Service 1 In the Access Control List click Add New. 2 Enter the Access Control Name. 3 Select Service as the Access Control Type. 4 Click Done. 5 Click Add Tag. 6 Select the appropriate Access Control Tag to make them visible at this service level e.g. Examplecompany (Tag). 7 Click Done. If you want Examplecompany to be visible to another group, add xamplecompany (User) as a tag of that group s service. You can have as many tags per group as required. Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 8

9 To check which tags are added to each Service, go to the Access Control List and click on the service. The tags for the chosen Service are listed. To check which users are assigned to which Access Control group, click on the Access Control List, select a Service Level and expand Service tags. A list of the users assigned to this service level is displayed. Tell me about Acano Manager Call Profiles Acano Manager creates Call Profiles for Codian MCUs and the Acano solution; but for MCUs that support Call Profiles (e.g. Polycom RMX), Acano Manager imports them from the MCU. Acano Manager creates call profiles for Codian MCUs and the Acano solution for two reasons: It provides a consistent model across all MCUs and allows MCUs to be selected by the calls they host/service, for example. It makes Acano Manager future-proof if MCUs change and support them: the Acano Manager scheduler can calculate MCU DSP resource usage from the different types of call Are there any issues with using the Third Party MCU module with a Codian MCU? If the Codian MCU has HTTPS redirect enabled, you must set port 443 use HTTPS; otherwise Acano Manager will crash the first time that a participant joins a call (due to a recursive HTTPS redirect loop). Are there any issues with using the Third Party MCU module with a Polycom RMX? Acano Manager only supports RMXs with: Software: version onwards Hardware: MPM+ & MPM-X cards (not MPM cards) How do I delete an Acano Server/MCU? To delete an Acano server (Acano Server or virtualized deployment) or third party MCU from Acano Manager ensure that there are no cospaces defined on it; otherwise you see a confusing message. If you want to keep the cospaces, you must backup the Acano server (Acano Server or virtualized deployment) and restore the cospaces afterward deleting the Acano server from Acano Manager: be sure to follow the first and last steps. The alternative is to reproduce the cospaces manually or if they were created using an LDAP sync, rerun the sync to restore them. 1. Back up you Acano server deployment. (This includes all the configured cospaces.) 2. In Acano Manager, open the cospace List and ensure there are no cospaces created on the MCU. If necessary, delete them using Acano Manager. 3. Go to the MCU Settings page for this MCU, set it to Offline and click Delete. Note: The Delete button is only displayed when the MCU is set offline. 4. On the Acano server, restore the backup. Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 9

10 How do I create a new database in Acano Manager? During installation, the Acano Manager installer adds a connection string to the master database in to the configuration file, which means that to create a new AMdb all you have to do is the following: 1. Stop Acano Manager service 2. Open SQL management studio and delete the AMdb 3. Restart Acano Manager service This creates a new clean AMdb database when Acano Manager starts. How do I change the name of the AMdb? 1. Stop the Acano Manager service. 2. Rename the AMdb database using SQL. 3. Open the Acano Manager service configuration file vq.service.exe.config located in the folder \program files\acano manager\service 4. Find the data base connection string: <add connectionstring="server=localhost;integrated Security=True;database=VQr45;" name="vqr" providername="system.data.sqlclient" /> In this example, you see a database called 'VQr45' rather than AMDB. 5. Replace 'AMDB' with the appropriate name. 6. Save the file. 7. Restart Acano Manager. NOTE 1: The config file is XML-based be careful to not delete a start/end tag. NOTE 2: If the database name you provide does not exist, assuming you have left the 'master' connecting string in the config file, Acano Manager will create a new database for you. If CDRs are treated as not valid by Acano Manager, what can I check? 1. Check that NTP is correctly configured for both the Acano solution and Acano Manager server. 2. On a virtualized Acano solution deployment, check Bios RTC on the machine that the VM is running on. My Acano Manager is not refreshing information, what can I check? Acano Manager only seems to show what is happening at the time that I set the MCU to online and doesn t update after that. All Acano Manager updates occur based on CDR messages from the Acano solution. Therefore you should verify that you have the CDR URL set correctly on the Acano Web Admin Interface or API for the Acano Manager server IP and port (default is 5566) details. Also, check that you added a firewall exception within the Windows Firewall on the Acano Manager server for this TCP 5566 port. By default, the Windows Firewall will stop the CDR messages unless you disable it completely or add this exception. Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 10

11 What technology stack is used in developing the Acano Manager Interface? The AM 1.0 UI uses a mixture of.net, ajax, javascript (including use of the query and knockout libraries). What input validation mechanism is used for the Acano Manager Interface? Input validation checks for allowed/disallowed values (min/max values) Regexes are used for things such as password complexity definitions and values (Passwords are stored hashed) The user only see information they are entitled to view (essentially whitelist data) How are the backend database queries executed? Database queries are executed as parameterized queries to avoid SQL injection issues. How are sessions managed in Acano Manager Interface? Session state is managed by asp.net. What are the session logout features? A session is logged out after a period of inactivity, or a specific logout request. How are session keys generated? Session keys are generated by the server (IIS). Can Acano Manager run on hyper-v? Acano Manager runs on VMware. We haven t checked Hyper-V but theoretically there is no reason why it wouldn t run. Is there a time out on the password? The password expiry configuration setting in the VQservice.exe.config file has a default of 30 days. Users imported from LDAP are not affected; this only applies to the main admin account. To change the default: 1. Open the f/program files/acano manager/service/vq.service.exe.config file. 2. In the Password Settings section change <add key="passworddurationdays" value="30" to the appropriate setting 3. Save the change. 4. Restart the Acano Manager service. 5. Do an IISReset to ensure that the data is cleared from any caches. Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 11

12 Is there a way to keep the password from timing out? 1. In the Acano Manager Service config file (program files/acano manager/service/vq.service.exe.config) find the following key and change 30 to a larger number or to 0 (zero) to disable password ageing. <add key="passworddurationdays" value="30" /> 2. Stop and then start the Acano Manager Service for this new value to take effect. 3. Do an IISReset to ensure that the data is cleared from any caches. How do I recover the admin password when it has been lost or forgotten? To change the admin password when it has been lost/forgotten there are two options. This note describes both techniques: Manually update the AM SQL database to set a "known" hash value Change the system configuration files to create a new database. This works but has the significant downside of losing all the data in the current database Manually update the Acano Manager SQL database table 1. Open SQL Manager and locate the "dbo.users" table within the AMdb database. (This name might have been changed during installation.) 2. Locate the "Admin" user and set the Password to the following hashed value: "7c6a180b36896a0a8c02787eeafb0e4c" 3. Save the change 4. Stop and then restart the Acano Manager Windows Service. 5. Login as the "Admin" user with a password of "password1". Changing the configuration file 1. Open the file: program files\acano manager\service\vq.service.exe.config, 2. Locate the following connection string values: <add connectionstring="server=localhost;integrated Security=True;database=master;" name="master" providername="system.d ata.sqlclient" /> <add connectionstring="server=localhost;integrated Security=True;database=AMdb;" name="vqr" providername="system.data.s qlclient" /> Note: Depending on which option was selected when Acano Manager was installed, you might see different authentication options 3. Change the "database=amdb" value to a meaningful name for your environment, for example ""database=xdb". (The AMdb might have been changed during installation.) 4. Save the change. 5. From the Windows Services Manager, stop the Acano Manager service. Then restart it. Acano Manager will create a new database with the name "Xdb". The default admin login will be set to "Admin" with the password "password1". Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 12

13 How do I change the default view in the Calls in Progress page? When you open the Calls in Progress page, the call participants are listed automatically. If you feel that it prevents you determining which calls are active, do the following to change the default behavior: 1. In the context menu, System Data and Diagnostics section, select Custom Text. 2. Scroll down to the CIP Show Calls Expanded entry and un-tick the Visible check box. From now on all the calls in the Calls in Progress page will be displayed collapsed, hiding all the participants in the call. To expand and show all the participants click the + on the left hand side of the call title. How do I certify an endpoint? All the endpoints I use are in the endpoint list, but this particular endpoint always says its not certified. 1. In Acano Manager, go to the Endpoint List page. 2. For Customer enter * (any) and retrieve the list of endpoints. 3. Select the endpoint causing the error message 4. Scroll down and enter a Certified date. 5. Save your changes Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 13

14 2014 Acano (UK) Ltd. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only and its contents are subject to change without notice. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, for any purpose other than the recipient s personal use, without our prior written permission. Acano and cospace are trademarks of Acano. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Acano solution: Acano Manager R1.1 FAQs G Page 14