Table Of Contents
Managing and Maintaining Cisco Unified MeetingPlace
About Managing Ports
Designating Port Types
Designating Overbook Ports
Configuring Ports and Port Groups to Improve Performance
Configuring Individual Ports
Configuring Port Groups
Managing Port Scheduling with Guard Times
Setting Guard Time Parameters
Managing Port Scheduling with Run Times
Setting Immediate Meeting Parameters
About Managing Capacity
Using Capacity Management Tools
About Daily Analysis Tools
Meeting List Tool
Port Utilization Tool
Unattended Ports Tool
Summary Port Usage Tool
About Monthly Trending Tools
Conferencing Minutes Tool
Recommendations for Managing Capacity
Uncaptured Conferencing Traffic Tool
Opportunity Cost Tool
Scheduling Failures Tool
Determining System Service Levels
About Optimizing Disk Space Usage
Viewing Disk Usage Statistics
Assigning System-Wide Parameters
Recording and Message Parameters
How Permanent Meetings Affect Disk Space Resources
About Managing User Access
About Managing Notifications
How Server Notifications are Sent
Viewing Server Notification Status
Viewing Meeting Notification Status
Cancelling Server Notifications
Managing Workstation Connections
About System Manager Agents
Configuring System Manager Agents
About Backing Up Information
Performing a Network Backup
Starting a Network Backup
Viewing Network Backup Results
About Planning for Outages
Preparing for a System Shutdown
Understanding System Shutdown Levels
Initiating a Shutdown
Starting the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 8106 Server
Starting the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 8112 Server
Monitoring Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 8112 Startup Progress
About Maintaining the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Server
About Maintaining the User Database
About Maintaining Configuration Records
About Loading Cisco Unified MeetingPlace License Keys
Managing and Maintaining Cisco Unified MeetingPlace
See the following sections:
•
About Managing Ports
•About Managing Capacity
•About Daily Analysis Tools
•About Monthly Trending Tools
•About Optimizing Disk Space Usage
•How Permanent Meetings Affect Disk Space Resources
•About Managing User Access
•About Managing Notifications
•About System Manager Agents
•About Backing Up Information
•About Planning for Outages
•About Maintaining the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Server
•About Maintaining the User Database
•About Maintaining Configuration Records
•About Loading Cisco Unified MeetingPlace License Keys
About Managing Ports
You can optimize resource usage by the way you designate port types and manage port scheduling. The following sections describe managing ports.
Designating Port Types
The connection between Cisco Unified MeetingPlace and the phone network is called a port.The ports that connect Cisco Unified MeetingPlace to the phone network are classified as access ports. Access ports are the total number of possible simultaneous connections to Cisco Unified MeetingPlace. All ports are automatically designated as access ports.
A subset of your access ports are pre-configured as conference ports. There is no difference between an access port and a conference port. Access ports that are not configured as conference ports are used for scheduling meetings and listening to recorded meetings.
Video ports reside physically on the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing MCU, but they are a resource that can be scheduled in advanced within Cisco Unified MeetingPlace. Unlike access and conference ports, video ports are not licensed individually. Instead, they are all enabled when the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Video license is enabled.
Figure 5-1 shows the following:
•All access ports are not necessarily pre-configured as conference ports. The number of conference port licenses you acquire (as listed on your sales order) is the total number of conference ports in your system.
•Distribution of port types illustrates the distribution of ports in a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system.
•You can reserve some conference ports to handle call transfers. These are contingency ports. Contingency ports are ports that the system keeps in reserve, making it possible for meeting participants to reach a contact or attendant for assistance during a meeting and for the system administrator to dial in to meetings. The values entered in the Number of Contingency Ports field (Configure tab, Server Configuration topic) determine the number of contingency ports in your system.
•The remaining conference ports, called floater ports, are for unexpected port needs. Floater ports can float between meetings, taking up the slack when an extra person attends a meeting that is already full and when ports that can be scheduled in advance are not available. For example, if someone joins a meeting that is already full, the server tries to reschedule the meeting for an additional port. If all ports are reserved for other meetings, the server tries to find a floater port for the person joining the meeting. The values entered in the Number of Floating Ports field (in the Configure tab, Server Configuration topic) determine how many ports are floater ports.
Figure 5-1 Distribution of Port Types
1
|
Access ports reserved to schedule and listen to recorded meetings
|
3
|
Floater ports, reserved to handle unexpected meeting attendance
|
2
|
Contingency ports reserved to handle call transfers to contacts for attendant
|
4
|
Ports in use or reserved for meetings
|
We recommend that you dedicate 1-2 conference ports as contingency ports and 15 percent of the total number of conference ports as floater ports.
For reservationless meetings floater point recommendations, see the "About Reservationless Meetings" section on page 2-56.
Designating Overbook Ports
You designate overbook ports for audio conference needs. The values entered in the Overbook Ports field (which is in the Configure tab, Server Configuration topic) allow the system to schedule more ports than are actually available. Suppose you have 96 conference ports and all 96 are booked for a meeting. If you set Overbook to 2, a user can still schedule another two-person meeting at the same time.
Overbooking assumes that all users who are scheduled to attend often do not attend, which usually leaves unused ports available. In the rare case that all ports are scheduled and all people attend the meeting—including those who are overbooked—the last people to call into any meeting would not be able to get through. If such a meeting were critical, the system administrator or attendant could ask the overbooked participants to reschedule for later.
For reservationless meetings overbook ports recommendations, see the "About Reservationless Meetings" section on page 2-56.
Configuring Ports and Port Groups to Improve Performance
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace provides several parameters with which you control the port configuration to maximize users' access to the system. In most cases the default parameters (or the parameters set by a Cisco Network Consulting Engineer (NCE) during installation) will suffice. However, as users increase their interest in the system, you may want to alter the port configuration to improve performance.
The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace database includes individual ports and port groups. By organizing ports into groups, you can configure multiple ports at one time.
Configuring Individual Ports
Port configuration information includes a default port access type. When the system receives dialed number information (DID/DNIS or DDI), the DID access plan determines which port access type is assigned to a call.
With DID access, the number that the user dials causes a particular set of digits to pass to the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace server. Each digit set is assigned to one of the service types (scheduling, profile access, access to recorded meetings, participation in a meeting). The call can come in on any port, so that the ports are dynamically allocated. If, for example, all users call the number that corresponds to recorded meetings access, then all unscheduled ports are allocated to recorded meetings, and no new meetings can be scheduled.
With direct access, ports are assigned to a particular service type. For example, ports 1-3 to scheduling, 4-5 to recorded meetings, and 6-12 to meetings. The number that users dial determines which ports they access, and thus which service they receive.
When the system does not receive dialed number information, the default port access type assigned to a call is the type assigned in the Ports topic (Configure tab) to the port that is handling the call. If your system does not receive dialed number information, you may want to map out the connections between Cisco Unified MeetingPlace and the phone network. Then, either decide which access type to assign to each line or group of lines that connects to Cisco Unified MeetingPlace, or choose to use all ports universally with combined access.
If users cannot access a particular service, you can reconfigure the number of ports assigned to each Cisco Unified MeetingPlace service using the Ports topic.
Remember the following information:
•If you assign an individual port to a port group, you do not have to re-enter data that is already provided for the port group.
•You can configure ports to allow or disallow outdialing. Verify that the trunk is configured in Cisco Unified MeetingPlace the same way your telephony provider has configured it (it can either make outgoing calls or cannot make outgoing calls). The system can block certain numbers and dialing patterns system-wide, by group, or by individual user. Call blocking is controlled by an internal Cisco Unified MeetingPlace table.
•You can limit the number of ports for scheduled meetings; however, you cannot limit the number of ports for reservationless meetings.
Configuring Port Groups
Because multiple ports may use identical settings, the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace database uses port groups to define the settings for multiple ports simultaneously. You define a port group by selecting the Port Groups topic in the Configure tab.
Some information for individual ports is included in the port group definition. You do not have to provide this information twice when a port is a member of a port group. (Group information has precedence over individual port information.)
The configuration information you enter to define a port group, which includes a port access type, applies by default to all ports that are assigned to the group in the absence of individual port configuration information or a DID access plan. Table 5-1 describes the port groups.
Table 5-1 Configuring Port Groups
Attribute
|
Description
|
Choices and Recommendations
|
ID number
|
A number from 0 to 31 that identifies this port group. This number is predefined.
|
Assign every line coming into Cisco Unified MeetingPlace to a port group. The port group ID number is your choice.
|
Active
|
Whether to use this port group definition. You may want to define port groups now for later use.
|
Yes or No
Most likely, port groups are always active. You may wish to make port groups inactive during servicing.
|
Provider
|
An abbreviation that identifies the service provider.
|
Alpha, Numeric, or Both
|
Circuit ID
|
A number that identifies the circuit.
|
Assigned by the circuit provider
|
Card Type
|
Whether this trunk is a digital T1, IP, or unassigned.
|
T1, IP, or None (unassigned)
|
Signaling Protocol
|
The signaling type used by this trunk.
|
Loop start, ground start, E&M wink start, immediate start, DID/DDI, clear channel, IP, protocol table, any E1
|
Protocol Table
|
Contains the configuration information for the type of signaling used.
|
All T1 PRI systems are shipped from the factory with protocol table 2 set to use the default setting of ATT PRI protocol; protocol 3 to use Nortel PRI; and table 4 to use Bell PRI.
|
# of DID Digits Expected
|
Indicates the number of digits sent by the PBX or network.
|
Your choice (0 or a number from 2 to 6; 1 is not valid)
|
Mtg. ID for Direct Mtg. Access or Default Digits for System
|
Indicates which meeting callers to this port will attend when DID/DDI digits = 0 and the default access type = "meeting."
|
Meeting ID or DID/DDI number of the meeting in which you want callers to be placed.
|
Default Access Type
|
Which access type is applicable to all ports in the group in the absence of dialed number information.
|
DID Meeting, Profile, or Combined
Your choice depends on the level of access you want users to have on these ports.
|
Language
|
The language in which prompts will play.
|
English (USA), English (UK), Japanese, French-Canadian, French (France), German, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Americas), or No Language
When No Language, callers hear a language prompt when they dial in to the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server system.
|
Human Assistance
|
When someone in a meeting needs help, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace uses another port to connect that person (via a call transfer) to a contact or attendant. The value in this field determines whether the ports in this group can be used for call transfer during a meeting.
|
Yes or No
Choose Yes, assuming that an individual who can provide assistance to users can be reached on this port group.
|
Flash Transfer
|
Whether these ports initiate a call transfer by using a hook flash.
|
Yes or No
Your telephony network provider can provide this answer.
|
Outdial
|
Whether these ports can be used for outgoing calls.
|
Yes or No
For most applications, you should set ports to handle outdial.
|
Managing Port Scheduling with Guard Times
Guard times ensure that meetings do not overlap each other or that two meetings are not scheduled back-to-back with the same meeting ID.
Guard times become part of the scheduled meeting record. For example, if you schedule a meeting with the system start and end guard time parameters set at 0 minutes, then change the system start and end guard times to 60 minutes, your meeting will not take on the new guard time settings. To ensure the meeting in the example takes on the current system start and end guard time minutes, you must reschedule your meeting. Back-to-back reservationless meetings are permitted regardless of guard times. In effect, the guard time for reservationless meetings is equal to zero.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace uses guard times to manage three resources, as shown in Table 5-2.
Table 5-2 Resources Managed with Guard Times
Resource
|
Description
|
Conference ports
|
Every Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conference server has a finite number of ports available for users, as described earlier. The parameters described in this section determine how long before, during, and after a scheduled meeting the ports are reserved (and therefore when the ports become available to other users).
|
Meeting IDs
|
Every meeting has an ID number, which is how users identify the meeting they want to attend. During any given time, a meeting ID must be unique, so that the system knows which meeting to put a caller into.
Meeting guard time fields determine how long before and after a meeting the meeting ID is protected. This protection prevents another person from scheduling another meeting at the same time with that particular meeting ID number. The meeting ID guard time also defines the period before and after a meeting that the caller hears that the meeting has not yet started or has ended, rather than hearing that Cisco Unified MeetingPlace does not recognize the meeting.
|
Voice storage
|
Guard times reserve space for recording a meeting (if the organizers have elected to record the meetings at the time they scheduled the meetings).
|
Caution When using the Reservationless Meetings feature, profile numbers cannot match existing meeting IDs, because reservationless meetings use profile numbers as reservationless meeting IDs.
Figure 5-2 shows how guard time settings affect users.
Figure 5-2 How Guard Times Affect Users
Setting Guard Time Parameters
To Specify Parameters for Consumable Resources
Step 1 In the MeetingTime Configure tab, select the Scheduling Parameters view.
Step 2 Set values for the parameters, as shown in Table 5-3.
Table 5-3 Guard Time Parameters
Parameter
|
Description
|
Mtg. Start Guard Time (min)
|
Number of minutes in advance of the requested meeting start time that ports are reserved for the meeting. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace automatically adds this advance time to the requested start time. This time guarantees ports for early arrivals to the voice component of a meeting.
Set this parameter to 0 minutes and use Mtg. ID Start Guard Time to ensure that Cisco Unified MeetingPlace acknowledges the meeting and users hear "The meeting has not started" when they try to enter the meeting.
|
Mtg. End Guard Time (min)
|
Number of minutes after the scheduled meeting end time that ports, or a "zero-port" meeting, remains reserved. The system adds this time to the reserved end time of the meeting. This time guarantees ports when a voice meeting overruns its scheduled end time.
Set this parameter to 0 minutes to be able to schedule back-to-back meetings. Set this parameter for a longer period if your users tend to have longer meetings and/or your system is less busy. When your guard time expires and no ports are available, you cannot extend the voice component of your meeting.
Although non-zero guard times guarantee ports before and after a meeting, most users simply schedule some "padding" into their meetings. For example, if a user wants an hour-long meeting and wants to pad it to allow callers time to enter the meeting, listen to the roll call and agenda, and greet one another, the user would simply schedule the meeting for 70 minutes. In this case, managing guard times can be an unnecessary complication.
Note In Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server, future meetings scheduled with a non-zero value for audio or video ports will not extend if there are less than two audio or video participants in the conference, regardless of the number of active Data Conference participants at extension time. To enable a future meeting of only Data Conference participants to extend, schedule the meeting with zero audio and video ports. Reservationless meeting extension behavior has not changed.
|
Mtg. ID Start Guard Time (min)
|
Number of minutes before a meeting that the associated meeting ID or DID/DDI number is reserved. Both this parameter and Mtg. ID end guard time control when meeting IDs become available to be re-used. This is to ensure that two meetings do not have the same ID at the same time, and callers do not inadvertently enter the wrong meeting.
If users try to enter the meeting before the meeting ID start guard time begins, they are told, "This is not a recognized meeting ID number." Callers in the voice conference hear it as a voice prompt. Users logging into a web conference see it on their screen.
After the Mtg. start guard time begins, callers who try to enter the voice conference hear the message "The meeting has not started." The recommended value for this parameter is 15 minutes.
|
Mtg. ID End Guard Time (min)
|
Number of minutes after a meeting that the associated Meeting ID or DID/DDI number is reserved. If callers call into a voice conference during this period, they hear "The meeting has ended." Users logging into a web conference see it on their screen. After this period, users are informed, "This is not a recognized meeting ID number." The recommended value for this parameter is 15 minutes.
|
Remember the following information:
•If two people are on a zero-port meeting and forget to log out, the meeting continues extending itself for up to 24 hours. The meeting expires if it encounters a meeting ID conflict.
•Meeting guard time minutes and meeting ID guard times are added to the meeting start and end times. For example, if the start and end guard times are both 10 minutes, the meeting itself is scheduled for an hour, and the Start and End Meeting ID guard times are set to 10 minutes, the total time reserved for the meeting ID is one hour and forty minutes.
Managing Port Scheduling with Run Times
Run times determine how early someone can call into a meeting before its scheduled start time, how long a meeting can be extended, and when ports should be released.
Run-time parameters take effect at the start of each meeting. As each new meeting begins, the system looks to the current run-time settings to determine how to manage the meeting.
Table 5-4 describes the parameters used to manage port scheduling with run times.
Table 5-4 Managing Port Scheduling with Run Times
Parameter
|
Description
|
End of Mtg. Warning (min)
|
Amount of time before meeting will end that users are first warned. (Recommended time is 10 minutes.) Users receive another warning two minutes before the meeting ends.
|
Extend Meeting (min)
|
Amount of time a meeting is extended if the meeting continues past scheduled end time and ports are available (0 to 60 minutes). Callers receive warnings informing participants when the meeting will end. The system can extend the meeting time if ports are not reserved for other meetings. The recommended value for this parameter is 15 minutes.
End of meeting announcements and meeting extension announcements can be configured for individual meetings. However, the number of minutes set for each parameter is system wide.
Neither warning is supported during a zero-port meeting.
|
Early Mtg. Start (min)
|
Maximum amount of time before a meeting starts that early arrivals can enter the meeting. This time is added to the meeting start guard time, but must be less than the meeting ID start guard time. The recommended value for this parameter is 15 minutes.
For example, if the conference start time is 9:00, the Mtg. start guard time is 15 minutes, and the early meeting start minutes is 15 minutes (and ports are available), callers can enter the meeting at 8:30.
For video conferences, this parameter must match the value on the Video Administration for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace server.
|
Disconnect Empty Port (min)
|
Amount of time that ports are held after everyone hangs up or one person remains on a web conference. This parameter accommodates longer meetings where people might want to take breaks and re-enter the meeting.
This parameter also determines how long to hold ports after the scheduled start time, if no one shows up for the meeting.
|
Early Meeting Release (min)
|
Amount of time before the scheduled end time of a meeting when ports are released if none are in use for that meeting.
|
The early meeting release feature takes effect in a zero-port meeting when only one person remains on the web conference.
Figure 5-3 illustrates the interaction of the release time parameters.
Figure 5-3 Interaction of Release Time Parameters
Setting Immediate Meeting Parameters
Immediate meetings (meetings that users start right away) also use ports. Immediate meetings do not use pre-meeting guard times; however, they do use resources while they are in progress and use Mtg End Guard Time, Mtg End ID guard time, Disconnect Empty Port, Early Mtg Release, Extend Meeting parameters, and the parameters for reserving space for recording meetings.
The system administrator sets the default port and meeting length, and the meeting scheduler can change the defaults.
To Set Parameters for Immediate Meetings
Step 1 In the MeetingTime Configure tab, select the Scheduling Parameters view (under Company Specific Information).
Step 2 Scroll to the Immediate Meetings attributes, and set the following attributes:
•# of Ports to Schedule—The default number of conference ports offered by the system when callers ask for immediate meetings. These ports are not reserved for general use by immediate meetings. A caller can only schedule an immediate meeting if ports are available.
•Length of Meeting (Min)—The default meeting length offered by the system when callers ask for immediate meetings.
Step 3 Click Save Changes.
Remember the following information:
•If you cannot schedule back-to-back meetings, make sure that the meeting start and end guard times are set 0 (zero). These values must be 0 to allow scheduling back-to-back meetings.
•To ensure that users hear or see "The meeting has not yet started" rather than "That is not a valid meeting ID" if they call or log in too early, set the meeting ID start and end guard times to be large values, such as 60 minutes.
•Reservationless meetings use immediate meeting parameters to determine the length and size of the meeting. When the Reservationless Meetings feature is enabled and you try to schedule an immediate meeting (or a scheduled meeting with the start time of now or earlier) and do not specify the meeting ID, the meeting becomes a reservationless meeting. (For more information about reservationless meetings, see the "About Reservationless Meetings" section on page 2-56.)
About Managing Capacity
To help you monitor and manage the use of your system, you can use the various Cisco Unified MeetingPlace capacity management tools. These tools generate charts that provide a graphical overview of system statistics.
By tracking usage on your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system you can do the following:
•Manage your daily operation by understanding individual meeting and port usage throughout each day.
•Monitor your capacity utilization to determine whether your system is being used efficiently and effectively.
•Measure the service levels you are providing to users. Efficient use of system resources can prevent scheduling failures, which will ensure quality of service and end user satisfaction.
The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace capacity management tools help you evaluate trends in meeting port usage. The reports are based on summary data and are appropriate for usage trending rather than precise usage reporting.
The effects of using summary data degrades the precision of the Capacity Management reports. The following factors affect the graphical calculations.
•Flat attendance assumption. Flat attendance is a simplification that assumes all reported ports join at the very start of the meeting and remain to the very end of the meeting. Flat attendance does not accommodate for attendees joining late or leaving early.
•Auto-extended port rescheduling. Auto-extended port rescheduling affects the graphical scheduled port usage on the Port Utilization graph. When a meeting runs long, the system automatically extends the meeting length and modifies the requested number of ports. At the time of extension, the system reschedules the port allocation based upon the current active number of ports, regardless of the original requested number of ports.
For example, a meeting organizer initially schedules a meeting for ten ports, but only eight people show up. When the meeting runs long, it is auto extended. The port reservation is reduced to eight ports instead of the original ten. Capacity management uses this last reported value for graphing the requested ports.
The combination of these two effects can produce significant deviations between the graphed Capacity Management charts and actual usage. For precise meeting statistics, we recommend that you generate a report (see Chapter 4, "Running Reports").
Using Capacity Management Tools
You can use the following two types of capacity management tools:
•Daily Analysis tools, which generate information about individual meetings and port usage on a day-by-day basis, and peak usage across several days. (For more information, see the "About Daily Analysis Tools" section.)
•Monthly Trending tools, which generate information about your system's total conferencing usage and scheduling conflicts on a monthly basis. (For more information, see the "About Monthly Trending Tools" section.)
To Use a Capacity Management Tool
Step 1 In MeetingTime, select Capacity Mgmt tab.
Step 2 For Capacity Management Tools, choose a daily analysis tool or monthly trending tool.
Step 3 For Tool Attributes, set attributes for the selected tool.
Step 4 Click Execute.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace generates and displays a chart in the Capacity Management Tools window.
Step 5 You can then do the following:
•Select other capacity management tools from the View menu or the tool bar. (Each tool is described in the next sections.)
•To show different data and elements in the chart, configure the display parameters for each tool. To do so, choose View menu > Display Options. Choose options in the Display Options dialog box, and click Done.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace provides the following capacity management tools.
Daily Analysis Tools
•About Daily Analysis Tools
•Meeting List Tool
•Port Utilization Tool
•Unattended Ports Tool
•Summary Port Usage Tool
Monthly Trending Tools
•Conferencing Minutes Tool
•Uncaptured Conferencing Traffic Tool
•Opportunity Cost Tool
•Scheduling Failures Tool
About Daily Analysis Tools
The daily analysis tools display the meetings scheduled during a specified time, the total number of ports reserved for meetings, and actual number of ports used.
Meeting List Tool
The Meeting List tool displays the meetings scheduled for a specified number of days, and includes the scheduled length and scheduled number of ports for each meeting. If users cannot schedule meetings because of a lack of resources, you can use this tool to identify which meetings can be rescheduled to free up the needed ports.
The Meeting List tool is also useful to see a quick list of meetings for any day in the recent past, present, or near future.
To Use the Meeting List Tool
Step 1 In the MeetingTime Capacity Mgmt tab, for Capacity Management Tools, select Meeting List. (Or choose View menu > Meeting List.)
Step 2 Click Execute.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace generates and displays a Meeting List chart.
Step 3 To change the chart elements that are displayed in the chart, choose View menu > Display Options.
Step 4 In the Display Options dialog box, choose options, then click Done.
You can display the following information in the chart:
•The scheduled meeting start and end times, and the actual start and end times
•The number of ports scheduled for a meeting, and the actual number of participants that attended
Port Utilization Tool
The Port Utilization tool compares the number of ports scheduled to the number of ports actually used during a specified period of time, on a day-to-day basis. You can use this tool to determine the peak and off-peak times of your system and compare usage on your system with its available capacity.
To Use the Port Utilization Tool
Step 1 In the MeetingTime Capacity Mgmt tab, for Capacity Management Tools, select Port Utilization. (Or choose View menu > Port Utilization.)
Step 2 Click Execute.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace generates and displays a Port Utilization chart.
Step 3 To change the chart elements that are displayed in the chart, choose View menu > Display Options.
Step 4 In the Display Options dialog box, choose options, then click Done.
Unattended Ports Tool
The Unattended Ports tool shows the total number of ports that were scheduled on your system but not actually used. These unused ports fall into two categories:
•Scheduled ports that exceeded the actual number of meeting participants
•Scheduled ports for a meeting that never took place
The Unattended Ports tool can help you determine the appropriate settings for your overbook and floater ports (described in the "About Managing Ports" section).
To Use the Unattended Ports Tool
Step 1 In the MeetingTime Capacity Mgmt tab, for Capacity Management Tools, select Unattended Ports. (Or choose View menu > Unattended Ports.)
Step 2 Click Execute.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace generates and displays an Unattended Ports chart.
Step 3 To change the chart elements that are displayed in the chart, choose View menu > Display Options.
Step 4 In the Display Options dialog box, choose options, then click Done.
A Cisco NCE can help you use the Unattended Ports tool to determine the appropriate settings for your overbook and floater ports.
Summary Port Usage Tool
System administrators can view scheduled and actual peak port usage that occurs across several days by using the Summary Port Utilization Tool. This tool generates a Summary Port Usage chart.
Each chart can show up to one month of peak port usage, including summary port utilization, and can optionally display the following information:
•Average and distribution range for scheduled ports
•Average and distribution range for actual ports used
The information displayed is a combination of data you request to include and available data that was retrieved from the server.
To Use the Summary Port Usage Tool
Step 1 In the MeetingTime Capacity Mgmt tab, for Capacity Management Tools, select Summary Port Utilization. (Or choose View menu > Summary Port Utilization.)
Step 2 Click Execute.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace generates and displays a Summary Port Utilization chart.
•Peak scheduled and actual port usage is indicated by the solid, thin line above the shaded region.
•The shaded region indicates the range of scheduled and actual port usage. The thick, dotted line indicates the average of scheduled and actual port usage. (The information included in each Summary Port Usage chart depends on the Display Options dialog box settings.)
•The calendar legend in the lower right corner of the window indicates the way in which the raw data is evaluated, as described in the following table.
Element
|
Description
|
Blue area
|
Summary Port Utilization has data for this day and uses it in calculating Average and Demand Range values.
|
Dashed line
|
Although this day was selected (in the Display Options dialog box) for inclusion in the chart, the retrieved data lacks meeting information for this day.
|
Gray area
|
This day was not selected (in the Display Options dialog box) for inclusion in the chart.
|
Step 3 To change the chart elements that are displayed in the chart, choose View menu > Display Options.
Step 4 In the Display Options dialog box, choose options (described in Table 5-5), then click Done.
Table 5-5 Display Options for Summary Port Usage Tool
To Specify
|
Do this
|
A range of time for each day
|
Choose a Starting and Ending time.
|
The days to include in the chart
|
For Summarize Days in Week, do one of the following:
•To include individual days, select the checkboxes for each day to include.
•To include business days, click Monday-Friday. (To deselect this option, click the button again.)
•To include all seven days of the week, click All Days. (To deselect this option, click the button again.)
|
Which information to display in the chart
|
For Summary Port Utilization Graph, select options.
•Show Average of Scheduled Ports displays a solid line showing the average of all data from the selected days.
•Show Demand Range of Scheduled Ports displays a shaded region above and below the average, representing 50 percent distribution of all port demand.
•Show Average of Actual Port Usage displays a dotted line showing the average of actual port use on the selected days.
•Show Demand Range of Actual Port Usage displays a shaded region above and below the average, representing 50 percent distribution of actual port demand.
|
Tip You can analyze peak usage from earlier Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server releases (such as Release 5.0). To do so, create a Daily Analysis chart in the earlier release and save it to a file (choose File menu > Save As). Then, open the file in the current release, and create a Summary Port Utilization chart using the instructions above.
About Monthly Trending Tools
The monthly trending tools display information to help you review your system's conferencing growth and determine the right time to upgrade Cisco Unified MeetingPlace.
The data that MeetingTime uses to create the monthly trending charts is stored on the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system and is purged after a specified amount of time. The amount of time Cisco Unified MeetingPlace stores this data is determined by the Days Until Mtg Stats Purged parameter, which is located in the Configure tab under Scheduling Parameters.
After you run a monthly trending tool for the first time, save the data for that month in an historical file in a central location before you exit the application. (You can copy and past the information, including any graphs, into other word processing programs.) Doing so ensures that the data is available after it has been purged from the system. After you create this file, update it monthly so you can archive information about your system. When you update the historical file, data for the current month(s) is appended to the existing data. You can analyze the information that is stored in the data file to determine system usage trends, even after the meeting data has been purged.
To Create an Historical File
Step 1 Run a monthly trending tool.
Step 2 In the Capacity Management window, choose File menu > Save, then specify a name and directory for this file.
The first time you update the historical data file, you must enter the file name specified above. From then on, MeetingTime remembers the file name entered into the MeetingTime attributes.
To Update an Historical File
Step 1 In the MeetingTime Capacity Management tab, select the monthly trending tool you want to use.
Step 2 For the Update History File parameter, choose Yes, and then enter the directory for this file.
Step 3 Click Execute.
The Capacity Management Tool window appears.
Step 4 Choose File menu > Save.
Conferencing Minutes Tool
The Conferencing Minutes tool displays the amount of monthly conferencing minutes that took place on your system on an aggregate and per-port basis. To help you manage your system conferencing growth, this tool shows usage threshold lines that indicate when the use of your system has reached congested levels. (The usage threshold lines also indicate when more capacity was added to your system.)
To View the Usage Thresholds
Step 1 Choose View menu > Display Options.
Step 2 In the Display Options dialog box, select Show Usage Thresholds.
You can also use the Display Options dialog box to view monthly conferencing minutes on a per-port basis.
Recommendations for Managing Capacity
To determine how efficiently your system is being used, run the Conferencing Use (minutes per port) capacity management tool at the end of each month. Table 5-6 shows how to interpret the usage threshold levels.
The figures in the table are suggested target points for your organization. Your results may vary depending on factors such as your peak conferencing business hours, international use, the size of your system, and specific conferencing applications. As you continue to track your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace use and service levels, you will be able to better define appropriate minutes per port conferencing levels for your organization.
Note These traffic level descriptions are for scheduled meetings and do not apply well to reservationless systems. Service quality degrades rapidly on a reservationless system when the traffic gets out of the "efficient usage" zone. Scheduled meetings can be rescheduled for a different time, but if ports are not available for a non-reserved meeting, users perceive a system failure. For reservationless systems, Cisco recommends that the peak traffic demand should never be allowed to exceed available capacity, implying that the average traffic should be kept well within the "efficient zone."
Table 5-6 Threshold Levels
Threshold Level
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Minutes Per Port (Monthly)
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Description
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Efficient Usage (below the yellow line)
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Under 1,500
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System is running efficiently. Capacity is available and meetings can extend and grow.
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Busy Usage (between yellow and red lines)
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1,500-2,000
|
Users can schedule and hold conferences, although some scheduling requests may not be satisfied because conferencing ports are unavailable. User satisfaction is beginning to decline.
System administrator should add more capacity to offset scheduling failures.
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Constrained Usage (above the red line)
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Over 2,000
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Users are likely to experience several scheduling and attendance failures because ports are in high use. Overflow traffic is most likely going to service bureaus. During peak hours, meetings are not extending and growing.
System administrator needs to add more capacity.
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Cisco Unified MeetingPlace provides default values for the usage thresholds based on general conferencing use, although these default values should be customized to reflect your company's unique conferencing environment.
Scheduling failures mean that users cannot join meetings or schedule meetings. You must check peak level usage.
To Change the Value of the Usage Thresholds
Step 1 Make sure the usage thresholds are displayed in the chart.
Step 2 Choose View menu > Adjust Thresholds.
Step 3 Enter the desired value.
Uncaptured Conferencing Traffic Tool
The Uncaptured Conferencing Traffic tool displays how many minutes of monthly conferencing could not be conducted on Cisco Unified MeetingPlace because the system was busy. Upgrading your system can enable Cisco Unified MeetingPlace to fulfill this additional conferencing demand.
Opportunity Cost Tool
The Opportunity Cost tool calculates the cost spent on your uncaptured traffic, assuming the uncaptured traffic went to a service bureau instead of waiting for the system to become available.
To make sure Cisco Unified MeetingPlace correctly calculates the cost of your uncaptured traffic, you must enter the cents-per-minute rate of your service bureau. Enter this rate in the tool attributes area in the Capacity Management tab or in the Display Options dialog box.
Scheduling Failures Tool
The Scheduling Failures tool displays the percent of scheduling attempts that were not satisfied due to insufficient ports. This tool supplies a graphical indication of how often Cisco Unified MeetingPlace could not schedule meetings because the system was busy.
Determining System Service Levels
In addition to determining your minutes-per-port ratio on a monthly basis, also view the Scheduling Failures chart to determine the percentage of scheduling failures that occurred on your system.
If your scheduling failures rate is above five percent, run the Scheduling Failures Report (described in "Scheduling Failures Report" section on page 4-8) for detailed information about each failure. Usually, these scheduling failures come in two types:
•Not enough ports are available. To solve this problem, run the Port Utilization capacity management tool to determine the time of day the system is most busy, and then suggest to users that they schedule meetings at off-peak times.
•The requested meeting ID is currently unavailable. To solve this issue, have users assign personalized staff meeting IDs to the meetings they schedule instead of commonly used numeric IDs. Scheduling conflicts occur when two meetings are scheduled for the same time with the same meeting ID.
About Optimizing Disk Space Usage
To optimize disk space usage, you can begin by gathering disk usage statistics using the View Disk Usage option on the System tab as well as the Disk Usage Report.
Viewing Disk Usage Statistics
You can monitor the amount of disk space currently being used in the system. Unlike the Disk Usage Information report (described in the "Disk Usage Information Report" section on page 4-11), which shows usage statistics for each user, these disk usage statistics include values for the entire Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system, including:
•Total voice storage space on disk (in minutes)
•Meeting agenda minutes
•Meeting guest name minutes
•System profile name minutes
•Custom prompt minutes
•Meeting title minutes
•Meeting recording minutes
•Miscellaneous recording space minutes
•Total voice storage space available on disk
To View the System Disk Usage Statistics
Step 1 In the MeetingTime System tab, select View Disk Usage Statistics.
Step 2 Click Execute.
Assigning System-Wide Parameters
Using the Scheduling Parameters topic and Server Configuration topic in the Configure tab, you can assign system-wide parameters, as described in Table 5-7.
Table 5-7 System-Wide Parameters
Topic
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Parameter
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Description
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Scheduling Parameters
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Max mtg recdg length (min)
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Limits the number of minutes any meeting can be recorded. Set this parameter when you need to manage disk space.
|
Scheduling Parameters
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# of days to retain
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Set according to your disk space constraints. Inform users of this setting, and advised if it will change. If the parameter is changed, the change affects only newly scheduled or rescheduled meetings.
|
Server Configuration
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Max recdg space (min)
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Ensures that, if there is enough disk space at the time the meeting is scheduled, enough space will be reserved for recording the entire meeting. You may find users reserving space for meetings that they do not in fact record.
|
Recording and Message Parameters
The following system-wide scheduling and recording parameters also affect the time available for a meeting and disk space usage:
•Max agenda recdg (sec)
•Max mtg name recdg (sec)
•Max user name recdg (sec)
•Max voice comment (sec)
•Max mtg message length (sec)
You can also control disk space usage by the way you set up a profile user's individual recording parameters, as shown in Table 5-8.
Table 5-8 Recording and Message Parameters
Parameter
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Description
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Choices
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Able to Record Meetings
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This is set by the system administrator and cannot be changed by the user.
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Yes, No
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Record Meetings
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When Able to Record Meetings? is Yes, this parameter determines whether meetings are automatically recorded (unless the user manually turns recording off during the meeting).
Recommended: No
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Yes, No
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How Permanent Meetings Affect Disk Space Resources
When a meeting with recording is marked as non-purgeable (cannot be purged), the system manages this resource by doing the following:
•Deletes the voice storage reservation associated with the meeting recording
•Adds the meeting recording length to the running total of non-purgeable meeting recordings
•Reduces the total available voice storage amount used up by the non-purgeable meeting
•Marks the meeting as non-purgeable
When a non-purgeable meeting with recording is marked as purgeable, the system manages this resource by doing the following:
•Subtracts the meeting recording length from the running total of non-purgeable meeting recordings
•Makes a new voice storage reservation for the meeting recording until the specified purge date
•Increases the total available voice storage
•Marks the meeting as purgeable
Use the Disk Usage Information report and Permanent Meetings report in the Report tab to determine which users are using up disk space.
About Managing User Access
Scheduling parameters specify how much flexibility users have in scheduling meetings. Some of these settings also affect disk space. Table 5-9 shows the parameters that affect user access. (For a complete list of scheduling parameters, see the "Table of Scheduling Parameters" section on page 3-18.)
Table 5-9 User Access Parameters
Parameter
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Description
|
Max meeting length (min)
|
Can be set up to 1440 minutes (24 hours).
|
Max ports per meeting
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Does not include contingency or floater ports.
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Max advance days to schedule
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Can be set up to 330 days.
|
Max agenda recdg (sec)
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Maximum length of a prerecorded agenda.
|
Max mtg name recdg (sec)
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Maximum length of a meeting name.
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Max user name recdg (sec)
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Maximum length of a user name.
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Max mtg message length (sec)
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Maximum length of a single meeting message in seconds.
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Days until mtg stats purged
|
Number of days historical meeting data is kept on the system.
All recordings related to the meeting are purged. The system administrator, the attendant, and the meeting contact can purge individual meeting recordings as needed.
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About Managing Notifications
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace can automatically send out e-mail notifications to all invited participants whenever users schedule, reschedule, or cancel meetings. This depends on the integration products purchased and a user's profile preference settings. Notifications are not distributed for reservationless meetings.
The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Notification Option requires little monitoring or maintenance. However, situations may arise in which users need help determining the notification status of a particular meeting or request. This section describes how to review and diagnose any problems that may occur.
How Server Notifications are Sent
Specific events such as scheduling and rescheduling meetings, inviting or uninviting participants, and adding or replacing attachments trigger the notification process. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace automatically sends notifications to all meeting participants.
Viewing Server Notification Status
A Dispatch is a set of documents intended to be delivered by an integration application. Typical dispatches are notifications (and attachments if included) and reservationless meeting schedules. A notification-type dispatch may be initiated either by Cisco Unified MeetingPlace as the result of a scheduling event or a user-requested notification (called in by phone and requested meeting information).
To view the status of server notifications, such as the backlog of requests in the queue or the status of a particular event, do the following procedure.
To View the Status of Server Notifications
Step 1 In the MeetingTime System tab, select the Notification Queue Status action, then click Execute.
Step 2 In the status window, click the notification message whose status you want to view.
Step 3 In the Disposition area, view the notification status.
The following are common causes of notification failure.
Failure Status Message
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Description
|
Party has notif off
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The intended recipient selected None for both primary and alternate notification methods.
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E-mail is not selected by user
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The recipient selected e-mail as the notification method, however, the recipient did not specify the type e-mail system.
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User has no primary notif method
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The recipient did not specify a primary notification method.
|
Step 4 To close the window, click Done.
To cancel notifications, see the "Cancelling Server Notifications" section.
Viewing Meeting Notification Status
You may need further information to diagnose a particular problem. You can use the meeting ID, date and requester to locate a particular meeting, then view the status of specific meeting notifications in the Schedule, Attend, or Review tabs.
To View Meeting Notification Status
Step 1 In the Schedule, Attend, or Review tab, click the meeting record whose status you want to view.
Step 2 Click the Participants button.
Step 3 For the Notification area, click the Status button.
The Notification Status window opens. If a document is attached to the meeting, information about that document displays in the Attachment Information list. For information about an attachment, click the Details button.
Step 4 Click Done.
Cancelling Server Notifications
After viewing the notification status information and diagnosing any problems, you can cancel one or all notifications. Reasons for canceling a notification can include:
•A user determines they incorrectly invited participants to a meeting.
•A user attached a non-renderable image to a meeting.
To Cancel Server Notifications
Step 1 In the Server Notification Status window, click the notification message you want to cancel.
Step 2 Click Cancel Notification (to cancel only the selected notification) or Cancel All (to cancel all notifications).
When the verification message appears, click Yes to cancel the selected notifications
Step 3 Click Done to exit.
Managing Workstation Connections
To help you manage the number of workstation connections available to users, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace offers the options described in Table 5-10.
Table 5-10 Workstation Connections Options
You Can
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Description
|
View current connections
|
The Current PC Connections topic in the System tab allows you to view MeetingTime connections and integration applications that are currently logged in.
The PC Connections dialog box displays a user ID, client type, and IP address for each active connection. Click the Update button to refresh the dialog box as needed.
|
Always allow system manager access
|
There may be times when all MeetingTime licenses are in use for scheduling, attending, or reviewing conferences.
When all MeetingTime licenses have been used up, the system allows one system administrator to enter the system.
|
Log off from idle connections
|
By using the Usage Parameters topic in the Configure tab, you can assign the Minutes Before Auto Logoff parameter to specify how long MeetingTime connections remain idle.
This parameter controls the number of minutes that a MeetingTime connection can be idle before the connection is severed. You may find that users are logged on to MeetingTime but not actively using the system.
|
About System Manager Agents
With system manager agents, system administrators can configure parameters as described in Table 5-11.
Table 5-11 System Manager Agents
Parameter
|
Description
|
No-show Recurring Meeting
|
If a recurring meeting has no attendance for more than a predetermined number of periods, an e-mail notification is sent to the meeting organizer suggesting that the remainder of the recurring meeting chain be canceled.
If the meeting was scheduled from Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web or MeetingTime, the notification includes a Click Here to Cancel Meetings link that leads users to a cancellation page on Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web. If the meeting was scheduled from groupware (for example, Microsoft Outlook or IBM Lotus Notes), the notification suggests cancellation from the user's groupware.
|
Recurring Meeting Ending
|
In most cases, if a recurring meeting chain is within a specified number of periods before expiration, an e-mail notification is sent to the meeting organizer. The notification notes that the chain is set to expire and reminds the organizer to schedule another recurring meeting if the chain is to continue. The exception is when the value set for the Periods Before Recurring End parameter is equal to or greater than the number of meetings in the recurring meeting chain, no notification is sent.
If the meeting was scheduled from Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web or MeetingTime, the notification includes a Click Here to Schedule Another Series link that leads users to the scheduling page where they can renew the meeting. If the meeting was scheduled from groupware (for example, Microsoft Outlook or IBM Lotus Notes), the notification suggests extending the chain from the user's groupware.
No other notifications are sent, as the recurring meeting continues toward its expiration.
|
Remember the following information:
•This feature is not supported with Cisco Unified MeetingPlace SMTP E-Mail Integration Application, release 4.2.0 and earlier.
•If the two recurring meeting triggers overlap, the no-show recurring meeting trigger overrides the recurring meeting ending trigger. The scheduler receives only the no-show notification.
Configuring System Manager Agents
System manager agents are system-wide parameters.
To Configure System Manager Agents
Step 1 Log in to MeetingTime, and click the Configure tab.
Step 2 Select the Scheduling Parameters view.
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