Acano Manager V1.x - Tutorial Guide

Acano solution

Acano Manager 1.x Tutorial Guide

Februrary 2016

76-1058-01-C

Contents

Acano Manager 1.0 Tutorial Guide 76-1058-01-C

Page 2

Contents

1 Document Purpose ......................................................................................................................... 9

2 What is Acano Manager? ............................................................................................................ 11

2.1 Acano Manager conceptual view ............................................................................................. 11

2.2 Acano Manager overview ......................................................................................................... 12

3 Introduction to using Acano Manager ......................................................................................... 13

3.1 Starting and stopping Acano Manager .................................................................................... 13

3.2 Configuration and log files ........................................................................................................ 15

3.2.1 Configuration files ........................................................................................................... 15

3.2.2 Log files/diagnostics ....................................................................................................... 16

3.3 SMTP settings ........................................................................................................................... 16

3.3.1 Admin From and To emails ............................................................................................ 16

3.3.2 SMTP Host ...................................................................................................................... 17

4 Getting started .............................................................................................................................. 18

4.1 Notes on users and creating coSpaces ................................................................................... 18

4.2 Configuring a Call Bridge to use Acano Manager .................................................................. 19

4.3 Configuring Acano Manager to use the Call Bridge ............................................................... 19

4.4 Instructing Acano Manager to connect to the Call Bridge ...................................................... 21

4.5 Connectivity between Acano Manager and the Call Bridge ................................................... 22

4.6 Testing calls into an existing coSpace ..................................................................................... 22

4.7 coSpace List page .................................................................................................................... 23

4.8 Calls In Progress page ............................................................................................................. 24

4.9 Has this all worked? .................................................................................................................. 24

4.10 Incorrect Call Bridge CDR receiver settings ........................................................................... 25

5 Integration with Directory Services ............................................................................................. 26

5.1 LDAP/Active Directory summary .............................................................................................. 26

5.2 LDAP/Active Directory overview .............................................................................................. 26

5.3 LDAP data structures................................................................................................................ 27

5.4 Acano Manager configures Acano Service LDAP settings .................................................... 28

5.5 LDAP import sequence marble diagram ................................................................................. 28

5.6 Details on synchronization ....................................................................................................... 29

5.7 Call Bridge Sync completion .................................................................................................... 30

5.8 LDAP Importer logging ............................................................................................................. 30

5.9 Acano Manager 1.1.2 LDAP process improvements ............................................................. 30

5.10 Starting the LDAP importer service ......................................................................................... 30

5.11 Controlling when the LDAP importer runs............................................................................... 32

5.12 Example LDAP/Active Directory walk-throughs ...................................................................... 33

5.12.1 Single customer LDAP import ........................................................................................ 33

5.12.2 Multiple customers using LDAP import ......................................................................... 37

5.13 Directory Services page with 3 entries .................................................................................... 38

5.14 Re-running the Importer ........................................................................................................... 38

5.15 Checking after multi-customer import ..................................................................................... 39

Contents


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5.16 Checking the Importer logs ..................................................................................................... 41

5.17 LDAP bulk deleting users ......................................................................................................... 41

6 coSpaces


6.2 coSpace List – Start/Manage buttons ...................................................................................... 43

6.3 coSpace management .............................................................................................................. 44

6.3.1 Creating and deleting a coSpace .................................................................................. 44

6.3.2 Creating a coSpace ........................................................................................................ 44

6.3.3 Adding users as members to a coSpace ...................................................................... 46

6.4 coSpaces and scheduled calls ................................................................................................. 46

6.5 coSpaces and VMRs ................................................................................................................ 46

6.6 coSpace selection when scheduling a call .............................................................................. 47

6.7 coSpaces and call marble diagram .......................................................................................... 47

7 Building out ................................................................................................................................... 49

7.1 Notes on customers .................................................................................................................. 49

7.2 Customer Details ...................................................................................................................... 50

7.3 Customer Access Control management .................................................................................. 50

7.4 ACL Usage by Operator type ................................................................................................... 51

7.5 Access Control Lists ................................................................................................................. 51

7.6 Example Service ACL ............................................................................................................... 52

7.6.1 “BigCo” ACL Service ...................................................................................................... 52

7.6.2 “SmallCo” ACL Service .................................................................................................. 52

7.6.3 Global ACL Service ........................................................................................................ 53

7.7 Example ACL settings for a user ............................................................................................. 55

7.8 Ringfencing users ..................................................................................................................... 56

7.9 Creating custom ACL’s ............................................................................................................. 56

7.10 Finding users and endpoints .................................................................................................... 57

7.11 Events/alerts marble diagram .................................................................................................. 57

7.12 Who sees which event? ........................................................................................................... 58

7.13 Alerts .......................................................................................................................................... 58

7.14 Call confirmed alert................................................................................................................... 59

7.15 Notification scripts..................................................................................................................... 60

7.16 MCU differences – limits and mechanics ................................................................................ 60

7.17 MCU states ............................................................................................................................... 61

7.18 Scheduling resource assignment control ................................................................................ 61

7.19 MCU list – port usage – current/forward ................................................................................. 62

7.20 Notes on endpoints................................................................................................................... 62

7.21 Endpoint details ........................................................................................................................ 63

7.22 Endpoint billing options ............................................................................................................ 64

7.23 User details ............................................................................................................................... 65

7.24 Customer billing settings .......................................................................................................... 66

7.25 Creating a new endpoint .......................................................................................................... 66

7.26 Notes on system-wide endpoints ............................................................................................. 67

7.27 Notes on endpoint addresses .................................................................................................. 68

7.28 Selecting an endpoint at call schedule .................................................................................... 69

7.29 Endpoint filter set ...................................................................................................................... 70

Contents


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7.30 Endpoint filter set ...................................................................................................................... 70

7.31 Custom Text .............................................................................................................................. 70

7.32 Custom Text example .............................................................................................................. 71

7.33 Useful Custom Text options ..................................................................................................... 72

7.34 CDR/Billing marble diagram..................................................................................................... 72

7.35 Customer billing settings .......................................................................................................... 73

7.36 Example customer billing settings ........................................................................................... 74

8 Operations (IT) ............................................................................................................................. 75

8.1 Configuring Acano Manager to use HTTPS ............................................................................ 75

8.2 Outlook Plugin ........................................................................................................................... 76

8.3 Clustered Call Bridges .............................................................................................................. 77

8.4 Configuring clustered Call Bridges .......................................................................................... 77

8.5 Adding Call Bridges in clustered mode ................................................................................... 78

8.5.1 Adding Call Bridge Number 1 ........................................................................................ 78

8.5.2 Adding Call Bridge Number 2 ........................................................................................ 79

8.6 Clustered configuration checks ................................................................................................ 79

8.6.1 Making sure the system is working as expected .......................................................... 79

8.7 Using the WebRTC client from the Call Bridge ....................................................................... 81

8.8 Incorrect Call Bridge CDR receiver settings ........................................................................... 81

8.9 Deployment topologies ............................................................................................................. 82

8.10 Monitor application (stand alone) ............................................................................................ 83

8.11 Monitor ....................................................................................................................................... 83

8.12 Monitor (fail-over) ..................................................................................................................... 85

8.13 Failover model .......................................................................................................................... 85

8.14 Failover considerations ............................................................................................................ 85

8.15 Configuration files ..................................................................................................................... 86

8.16 Log files/diagnostics ................................................................................................................. 86

9 Operations (VNOC) ...................................................................................................................... 87

9.1 Where to calls come from? ....................................................................................................... 87

9.2 How do I see coSpaces? .......................................................................................................... 88

9.3 What’s the difference – calls/coSpaces?................................................................................. 89


9.5 coSpace List – Start/Manage buttons ...................................................................................... 90

9.6 coSpace management .............................................................................................................. 91

9.6.1 Deleting a coSpace ........................................................................................................ 91

9.6.2 Creating a coSpace ........................................................................................................ 92

9.7 coSpace members .................................................................................................................... 93

9.8 coSpaces and scheduled calls ................................................................................................. 94

9.9 Scheduling a call – coSpace selection .................................................................................... 94

9.10 Call lists .................................................................................................................................... 95

9.11 Call types .................................................................................................................................. 96

9.12 Call start modes ........................................................................................................................ 96

9.13 Call lifecycle .............................................................................................................................. 97

9.14 Notes on customer selection ................................................................................................... 97

9.15 Call scheduling process ........................................................................................................... 98

Contents


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9.16 Scheduling at VNOC ............................................................................................................... 99

9.17 Port allocation mode ............................................................................................................... 101

9.18 What do the options on Call Save mean?............................................................................. 102

9.19 Notes on Outlook scheduling ................................................................................................. 103

9.20 Scheduling a call via Outlook ................................................................................................. 103

9.21 How do I manage a call? ...................................................................................................... 104

9.22 Calls in progress ..................................................................................................................... 105

9.23 Call layout .............................................................................................................................. 106

9.24 Call layout (non Acano) .......................................................................................................... 107

9.25 Participant layout .................................................................................................................... 108

9.26 Participant layout (non Acano) ............................................................................................... 109

9.27 Approving a call ...................................................................................................................... 109

9.28 Changing a call’s details ........................................................................................................ 110

9.29 Removing participants ............................................................................................................ 110

9.30 Notes on time .......................................................................................................................... 111

10 Reporting ................................................................................................................................... 112

10.1 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 112

10.2 CDR/Billing data marble diagram .......................................................................................... 112

10.3 Activity reports ........................................................................................................................ 113

10.4 Call data records (also known as Accounting data records)................................................ 113

10.5 Call quality............................................................................................................................... 115

10.6 MCU port usage...................................................................................................................... 115

10.7 Call summary data .................................................................................................................. 118

10.8 Cancelled calls ........................................................................................................................ 119

10.9 Cancelled call report ............................................................................................................... 119

10.10 No shows ................................................................................................................................ 119

10.11 Custom no show time ............................................................................................................. 120

10.12 Alerts - on screen summary ................................................................................................... 120

10.13 Alerts - configured by user profile ......................................................................................... 121

10.14 Audit records ........................................................................................................................... 122

11 Billing

11.1 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 123

11.2 Call outcome configuration .................................................................................................... 123

11.3 Setting the cost of calls at the customer level ...................................................................... 123

11.3.1 Inclusive video and audio ports ................................................................................... 124

11.4 Call outcomes ......................................................................................................................... 125

11.5 Call outcome report ................................................................................................................ 125

11.6 Call outcome sample .............................................................................................................. 126

11.7 Billing export preparation ....................................................................................................... 127

11.8 Sample billing export .............................................................................................................. 127

11.9 Non-billable/pre-paid option ................................................................................................... 128

Appendix A Frequently Used Terms ............................................................................................ 129

Appendix B Useful Tips ................................................................................................................ 130

How to raise a support ticket ........................................................................................................... 130

Contents


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Using filters within Acano Manager ................................................................................................... 130

Contents


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Table 1: “Now what” list of actions and document reference ........................................................... 10

Table 2: Connecting Call Bridges and Acano Manager .................................................................... 18

Table 3: MCU details ........................................................................................................................... 21

Table 4: coSpace selection when scheduling a call .......................................................................... 47

Table 5: Customer details ................................................................................................................... 50

Table 6: MCU differences ................................................................................................................... 61

Table 7: MCU differences ................................................................................................................... 61

Table 8: Scheduling resource assignment control ............................................................................ 62

Table 9: Endpoint details .................................................................................................................... 64

Table 10: Endpoint billing options ...................................................................................................... 64

Table 11: User details ......................................................................................................................... 65

Table 12: Endpoint filtering ................................................................................................................. 70

Table 13: Custom text ......................................................................................................................... 71

Table 14: Customer billing settings .................................................................................................... 73

Table 15: coSpace selection when scheduling a call....................................................................... 95

Table 16: Call types............................................................................................................................. 96

Table 17: Call start modes .................................................................................................................. 96

Table 18: Call lifecycle ........................................................................................................................ 97

Table 19: Call scheduling process ..................................................................................................... 98

Table 20: Scheduling at VNOC terms .............................................................................................. 100

Table 21: Port allocation mode ......................................................................................................... 101

Table 22: Explanation of Call Save options ..................................................................................... 103

Table 23: Approving a call ................................................................................................................ 110

Table 24: Changing a call’s details .................................................................................................. 110

Table 25: Table of frequently used terms ........................................................................................ 129

Contents


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Figure 1: Acano Manager interface ..................................................................................................... 11


Page 9

Document Purpose

1 Document Purpose Acano Manager is a single point of management for collaboration infrastructure used by

enterprises and service providers. This single interface brings together conferencing

management, proactive monitoring and management of large call volumes, self-service

scheduling, MCU management and multi tenancy and billing. This document is intended to

provide the teams that will be using Acano Manager with the knowledge that will enable

them to configure, test and ultimately use Acano Manager to deliver video conferencing

services.

The document is written from the perspective of somebody who has purchased Acano

Manager, installed it and is thinking “now what”? It guides the reader through the initial basic

steps of getting the system up and running and validating that it is doing what it should; it

provides guidance on what to look for and where to look when the expected results are not

obtained. With a basic, functioning, system in place, the document than takes the reader

through the process of importing users via LDAP (and in doing so, explains what is

happening and what to look for). This is then built upon and we go through multiple LDAP

configurations (multi-tenancy) and how the LDAP import process can be used to quickly

provision/remove users. It covers call scheduling, call management, gives insight into how

reporting and billing data is generated, the outlook plugin, billing etc.

Finally, it covers some of the more advanced features such as Access Control Lists,

configuring clustered topologies and failover.

The “now what” list of actions to be performed, which are covered in this document are:

Actions Document Section

1. A basic understanding of what Acano Manager is 2. What is Acano Manager?

2. How to start it, stop it and location of log files 3. Introduction to using Acano Manager

3. Configuring a Call Bridge to use Acano Manager

4. Configuring Acano Manager to use the Call Bridge

5. Instruct Acano Manager to connect to the Call Bridge

4. Getting Started

6. Testing that the two systems are working together

a) Add a participant into a coSpace and check that Acano Manager detects the activity

b) Managing calls; simple navigation of the Acano

Manager user interface

c) Reference checks to establish that the system

does basic tasks correctly; what to look for and

where

4. Getting Started

Document Purpose

Acano Manager 1.0 Tutorial Guide 76-1058-01-B Page 10

7. LDAP; importing users from a single LDAP server 5. Integration with Directory Services

8. LDAP; creating multiple tenants and importing multiple sets of users from LDAP

5. Integration with Directory Services

9. LDAP; bulk deletes of users 5. Integration with Directory Services

10. coSpaces.

a) creating new ones.

b) coSpace management

6. coSpaces

11. Calls

a) Scheduling

b) Management

9. Operations – Visual Network

Operations Centre (VNOC)

12. The Outlook plugin 9. Operations (VNOC)

13. Reporting 10. Reporting

14. Billing 11. Billing

Table 1: “Now what” list of actions and document reference

Note: AM 1.1.x works only for a single Call Bridge.

1.6.2 and later works for both single and clustered Call Bridges.

What is Acano Manager?


2 What is Acano Manager?

Figure 1: Acano Manager interface

Acano Manager is a video conferencing service delivery tool. Its purpose is to increase

productivity by enabling operators to schedule and manager more MCU calls. It automates many

of the day to day processes, including call confirmation and billing. Acano Manager also works

across a growing list of MCU’s, thus providing a single interface for call scheduling, management

and monitoring.

2.1 Acano Manager conceptual view

The following diagram provides a conceptual view of Acano Manager

Figure 2: Acano Manager conceptual view

What is Acano Manager?


2.2 Acano Manager overview

The following diagram provides an overview of the Acano Manager.

Things created by Provisioning

Customers

Default Access Controls

Premium Services (meet and greet

etc.)

MCU resources (dedicated or

shared)

MCU’s

Address/type

Customer (dedicated or shared)

Resources (real or oversubscribed)

Number Range (URI range/dial plan

coSpaces hosted by each MCU

coSpaces/Virtual Meeting Room

Capacity

MCU

URI (identity)

Layouts

PINs

Owning user

Users

Customer ACL

Endpoints

Customer, ACL, optional owning user

Gateways

Tools

Automation

Booking confirmations

Tools to manage the work

Calls In Progress

The work to be done

Call Lists (Calls and

coSpaces

Calls

coSpaces/VMR

Participants in each call

Tools to update auto-generated data

Call Outcomes and Virtual CDR’s

Tools to review the work done

Usage reports

How good were the calls?

Tools to convert calls to money

Billing data

Am I using resources efficiently?

Can I avoid buying more?

Data generated by the workload

Call Data Records

Call Quality Records

Billing Records

Audit Records

MCU Port Usage

Figure 3: Acano Manager overview


Introduction to Using Acano Manager

3 Introduction to using Acano Manager

3.1 Starting and stopping Acano Manager

The Acano Manager Service runs as a Windows Service and can be started and stopped in a

number of ways:

Using the Windows Service or the Windows Task Manager interface

Using the Acano Manager “Monitor” application

Via the “SC” (service control) command using the Windows Command Processor

Each of the above options has the same result: it sends a start/stop command to the Aano

Manager Service. You can use all three options in any combination.

1. Using Windows Service Manager or Windows Task Manager

Select the Services tab

Select Acano Manager Service

Right-click and click Start

Right-click and click Stop

NOTE: this requires administrator permissions.

2. Using Acano Manager Monitor

Acano Manager Monitor application

Folder: Acano Manager\Monitor

File: VQMonitor.exe

Acano Manager Monitor sends commands to



Acano Manager Service

Acano Manager Importer Service

If you exit the Acano Manager Monitor application, the services keep running.

Starting the Acano Manager Service

Click on Service Primary Start

Once the Service is started, the “Statistics” tab will show details of Acano Manager activity.

This data updates every second.

3. Control via the “SC” command



SC start “Acano Manager”

SC stop “Acano Manager”

SC sends a command to the Acano Manager Service (in the same way as option 1. and

option 2 do)

NOTE: Run the DOS shell as administrator.

3.2 Configuration and log files

All the Acano Manager configuration files are stored in the following directories:

Program Files > Acano Manager> Service File Name: VQservice.exe.config

Program Files > Acano Manager> Monitor File Name: VQMonitor.exe.config

Program Files > Acano Manager> Importer File Name: VQImportor.exe.config)

Intepubs > wwwroot > am File Name: Web.config

After the initial setup you should not need to edit or alter these configuration files (apart from

setting up email notification.)

If you do need to edit or alter these files, only do so with the guidance of an Acano Support

Engineer.

Acano Manager performs extensive logging:

in Program Files > Acano Manager > Service

File Name format: vqservice_startdate_at_time_000

In general, these messages are provided for information, but they are a good source of data

when troubleshooting. The presence of such messages is not a cause for concern necessarily.

If you are experiencing a specific problem with the operation or performance of the

Acano Manager software, Acano support can interpret logged messages and their significance

for you.

3.2.1 Configuration files

Program Files/Acano Manager/Service

VQ.Service.Exe.Config

XML file which can be used to control a range of non-standard settings

Be careful to not break the XML; watch out for <, > and spaces

Changes made to the config require a system restart to take effect



3.2.2 Log files/diagnostics

Logging:

Acano Manager Service logs

Program Files/AcanoManager/Service/

“txt” files “vqservice….”

NOTE: files wrap-around at 900mb (30 files at 30mb/file)

Windows Event viewer

MCU logs

When contacting Support, supply:

The time and effected coSpace, call name, endpoints, users

Description of the issue

Steps to reproduce the issue

Relevant screen shots

3.3 SMTP settings

To setup email notification, you edit the VqService.exe.config

[We recommend that you do this in conjunction with an Acano Support Engineer]

There are three lines you need to edit in the Vqservice.exe.config file to enable email

The first two are towards the top of the file (details on pages that follow)

1. <add key="AdminFromEmail" value="[email protected]"/>

2. <add key="AdminToEmail" value=“[email protected]"/>

The next line to edit is towards the bottom of the file (details on pages that follow)

3. <network host=”SMTP details here” />

Save the changes.

Then stop and restart the Acano Manager service for the changes to take effect.

Use the Web User Interface (signed in as an Administrator) and use the Check Email menu item

to test.

3.3.1 Admin From and To emails

<add key=”AdminFromEmail”

[email protected]/>

Used to identify who the email came from and

in most cases it is configured to identify the Acano Manager system, e.g.

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]





3.3.2 SMTP Host

<network host=”stmp.mydomain.com”/> To specify a user account for SMTP forwarding use:

<network

host=”smtp.mydomain.com"

port="25"

userName="myUserName"

password="secret"

defaultCredentials="true" />

For more examples see:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/ms164240(v=vs.110).aspx




Getting started

4 Getting started This section discusses how to undertake the following tasks:

Step Navigation Bar

Configure a Call Bridge to use Acano Manager Call Bridge>Config>CDR settings

Configure Acano Manager to use the Call Brige MCU list

Instruct Acano Manager to connect to the Call

Bridge

MCU list

Call into an existing coSpace Calls in Progress

See coSpace activity with the Calls in Progress

page

Calls in Progress

See coSpace activity from the coSpace List coSpace list

Table 2: Connecting Call Bridges and Acano Manager

4.1 Notes on users and creating coSpaces

The Call Bridge ONLY works with users created in LDAP. Active Directory is a version of LDAP.

Acano Manager can only create coSpaces on the Call Bridge AFTER users have been imported from LDAP

Trying to create a coSpace in Acano Manager before running an LDAP import

Results in the Call Bridge rejecting the request: “unknown User”

For that reason, initially, keep things simple:

Use coSpaces created on the Call Bridge

Use coSpaces created on Acano clients

This enables you to check the basics


Getting started

4.2 Configuring a Call Bridge to use Acano Manager

Set the IP address of the Acano Manager server

Set the port

Acano Manager defaults the port to 5566

HTTPS is not currently supported

WARNING

Check that there are no firewalls between the Call Bridge and Acano Manager

External firewalls (e.g. Cisco)

Windows Firewall on the server hosting Acano Manager

Acano Manager gets all its state information via the events passed on this connection.

No connection: no state changes

Symptoms of a firewall/bad configuration problem

Calls In Progress shows no inbound participants

Outbound calls don’t connect and show “invite timeout” after approx.. 90 seconds

4.3 Configuring Acano Manager to use the Call Bridge

Customer; leave blank for system wide

All customers/tenants can use it

Give it a name

Select the type

Selecting Acano results in default values loading

Configure its IP address and port

Set username and password

Set the URI range

Good examples 1000 thru 9999

Getting started


This defines the numeric URIs that will be used

Set the Listener Port: defaults to 5566

Set the MCU online

NOTE: The following details are required when configuring an MCU:

Field Description

Customer Customer Name or System wide

Make sure you have “has own MCU” set on the owning

customer. This enables the customer in the MCU’s

customer drop-down

Name/Type

IP address/port

Capacity Video and Audio Only; real and usable

Gatekeeper Prefix Not used but allows Acano Manager to display the correct

user to operators on in Confirmation emails

Getting started


User Name/Password MCU Credentials (Administrator)

URI/Meeting Room Range Range of Ids that can be used for Conference IDs

(NumericIds)

Table 3: MCU details

4.4 When Acano Manager connects to the Call Bridge

When Acano Manager connects to a Call Bridge, Acano Manager

Saves the time

Acano Manager checks all CDR events from the Call Bridge against this time. Any

CDR events generated before Acano Manager’s “online time” for this MCU are

discarded.

Remember: Acano Manager uses Acano CDR events (CallStarted, CallLegStarted)

to obtain state changes on the Call Bridge. If CDR events are discarded because

the Call Bridge’s time is earlier than Acano Manager’s, no state changes are

detected and therefore no Calls In Progress activity is seen

– Ensure that the Windows Server hosting Acano Manager has an NTP-synchronized clock

– Ensure Call Bridge’s default mode is to have an NTP-synchronized

clock

Gets the Tenant List from the Call Bridge

Creates customers in Acano Manager for each newly discovered tenant

Fetches each participant from the Call Bridge that Acano Manager thinks is in a current

active call

This scenario happens if Acano Manager was restarted with active calls running on

the Call Bridge

If the participant is no longer connected, changes the participant state to

disconnected. If there are no participants in the call, sets the call state stopped.

Gets all of the participants from the Call Bridge who are in a call but unknown to Acano

Manager (participants who joined calls while Acano Manager was not running)

If the coSpace is not known to Acano Manager

– Gets the coSpace details from Call Bridge

– Creates a coSpace within Acano Manager; sets the “created by”

property to “Acano”

Sets the participant state to connected

Sets the call state to started; the call now appears in Calls in Progress

Getting started


4.5 Connectivity between Acano Manager and the Call Bridge

Acano Manager and the Call Bridge connect over TCP/IP

Acano Manager sends commands to the Call Bridge

HTTP Commands from Acano Manager to the Call Bridge

Call Bridge sends state change events to Acano Manager

HTTP POSTs sent from the Call Bridge to Acano Manager

Configure the Call Bridge to send the HTTP Post events to Acano Manager

Remember to enable the firewall between them

Without these events from the Call Bridge, Acano Manager is blind

You see no activity in Calls In Progress

Endpoints don’t appear as connected in the Acano Manager Calls In Progress page

4.6 Testing calls into an existing coSpace

Use an existing coSpace on the Call Bridge

Log in to your Call Bridge

Go to the Configuration > coSpaces page (shown above)

If you don’t have a coSpace, create one

Specify a name

Specify a URI User Part (e.g. “mike”)

Click Add New

Getting started


Check that it appears on the Call Bridge

Dial into the coSpace

Note; this example uses a phone and appears as an audio-only participant

You should:

See the call in Calls In Progress (“CIP”)

See the call in coSpace List

Active and All

See a “participant Joined” alert

4.7 coSpace List page

Viewing and searching for coSpaces

Retrieve the current set of coSpaces from the Call Bridge using Search

Admins can select the user whose coSpaces they want to find

Enter coSpace name to search for coSpaces with matching name

Select Active

Displays coSpaces that have participants

Select All

Displays all coSpaces matching the criteria

Leaving filter criteria blank results in Acano Manager displaying all coSpaces known to it

NOTE THE DIFFERENCE: Specifying a filter results in the latest information being fetched from

the Call Bridge.

Getting started


4.8 Calls In Progress page

Dashboard view of call activity on the Call Bridge

Disconnect the participant (from the device)

The call disappears from CIP

coSpace List “active” does not show the call

Dial back into the coSpace

The call reappears in CIP

coSpace List “Active” will show the call. The Manage button is visible

Disconnect the participant from CIP

Either via disconnect All (on call row)

Or via the participant disconnect (participant row)

4.9 Has this all worked?

Yes, it has if…….

You dialed into your coSpace and saw it in CIP

The good news is

The Call Bridge can send events to Acano Manager

Acano Manager is able to send commands to the Call Bridge

Therefore you don’t have any firewall problems!

Your IP address configuration appears good

No, it hasn’t if…….

If you didn’t see your coSpace in CIP

Check for firewalls, Acano Manager MCU settings and Call Bridge receiver settings (see

next page for what to check first…)

Check that your Acano Manager and are using synchronized clocks (NTP servers)

If you still don’t see the coSpace in CIP, contact Acano Support

Getting started


4.10 Incorrect Call Bridge CDR receiver settings

If you have dialed-into a coSpace and do not see it in Calls In Progress

Check you don’t have any filters set

Customer, MCU etc.

Check the Call Bridge log. Does it show an error stating that the connection to the CDR receiver has failed?

If you see the error:

Check for firewalls (on the Windows server running Acano Manager and in the network)

Check for the correct IP address

Does the Acano Manager server have multiple network cards?

Check the port. Does it match what is configured in Acano Manager?


Integration with Directory Services

5 Integration with Directory Services

5.1 LDAP/Active Directory summary

Import large numbers of users quickly

Create users, coSpaces, endpoints

Set properties such as name and email automatically

Equally useful

Delete large numbers of users quickly

Set a filter that results in the LDAP/AD server finding no matches

Acano Manager deletes all users within Acano Manager that do not exist in

LDAP/AD

Set the filter back to a value that results in LDAP/AD find matches

Re-run the Importer and reload all users

Users can be imported per customer/tenant (or system wide)

Users can be imported from multiple LDAP/AD servers (or from different locations on the same LDAP/AD server)

Call Bridge and Acano Manager both use the same data

5.2 LDAP/Active Directory overview



LDAP (X.500) – Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Microsoft AD is a variant of LDAP (X

500)

Acano Manager supports Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and OpenLDAP.

All users on the Call Bridge are created from LDAP. Acano Manager can be configured to define

LDAP settings; after which Acano Manager can then import users from LDAP and optionally

create coSpaces. Acano Manager passes LDAP configuration to the Call Bridge. The Call

Bridge then imports users from LDAP and optionally creates coSpaces.

5.3 LDAP data structures

Details

Acano Manager

Directory Configuration Details

Can be bound to a customer/tenant or be system wide

Specifies a LDAP server

Multiple Directory Configurations

can be defined on the same

LDAP server

Use different OU, base or filters

to differentiate

Specifies how Attributes map onto Acano Manager fields

E.g. User AD attribute

“$ipPhone$” as the value for

coSpacesecondaryURI

$$ indicates “substitute value”

ipPhone is an Attribute within

LDAP

Allows transforms (via regular expressions)

Call Bridge

LDAP Sync

Created each time an LDAP Synchronize is performed

References a LDAP Source (via

GUID)

LDAP Source

References a LDAP Server

Structure

References a LDAP Mappings

structure

LDAP Server

Contains details of LDAP Server

Defines Field Mappings (In a

manner similar to that explained

for Acano Manager)



5.4 Acano Manager configures Acano Service LDAP settings

5.5 LDAP import sequence marble diagram

The following diagram defines the sequence of events performed during an LDAP import. (Each “blob” being a marble.)

The sequence of events is displayed across the top of the diagram



Acano Manager fetches users from LDAP

Acano Manager checks whether it needs to delete users no longer in LDAP

Issues a Synchronize command to the Call Bridge etc.

Vertically, the diagram shows what happens on each MCU type;

the LDAP server

the Call Bridge

NOTE: The term “marble diagram” has been borrowed from the world of Reactive Programming.

5.6 Details on synchronization

Step 3 of diagram below.



5.7 Call Bridge Sync completion

5.8 LDAP Importer logging

The Acano Manager LDAP Importer generates the following log files;

Importer errors

Summary of errors experienced during the import process

Importer Log

Detailed log file of the import process

Contains any errors; you will see them in the general context of the import process

Contains a summary of errors experienced during the Import process

The Acano Manager Importer service emails the Importer error and log files to the

administrator email address.

5.9 Acano Manager 1.1.2 LDAP process improvements

It is important to note that Acano Manager 1.1.2 contained significant changes from earlier

Acano Manager versions. These include:

improved logging and diagnostics

the point at which the Sync command is issued to the Call Bridge has changed; this now

happens BEFORE Acano Manager starts to create users and optionally, coSpaces. During

testing, this significantly reduces the cases in which a second LDAP import was required

because the Call Bridge had not yet completed its import process.

5.10 Starting the LDAP importer service

There are several ways of achieving this.

a. Via the Windows Services panel



i. Right-click Start or Stop

b. Via the Windows Task Manager

i. Select the “Services” and then right click on “Acano Manager” tab

c. Via the Windows “SC” (service control) command line application

d. Via the Acano Manager Monitor application

i. Go to

Folder: Acano Manager\Monitor

Files: VQMonitor.exe



Acano Manager Monitor sends commands to the Acano Manager Service and the Acano

Manager Importer Service.

If you exit the Acano Manager Monitor application, the services keep running

ii. To start the Importer

Click on Importer Start

iii. To inspect log files

Refresh list and double click on Inspect a log file

5.11 Controlling when the LDAP importer runs

The Importer Process can be configured to run at regular intervals.

Go to:

Folder: \Acano Manager\ImporterService

File: VQ.ImporterService.exe.config

IntervalMinutes

Interval in minutes between Importer runs

The Importer runs, completes and then waits this period before resuming and running

once more through the cycle



Defaults to 24 hours (1440 minutes)

<add key="IntervalMinutes" value="1440"/>

StartTimeHours

The Importer runs at this time every day (values 0 thru 23). Defaults to 6 AM

This time is server local time

<add key="StartTimeHours" value="6"/>

NOTE; StartTimeHours will be used in preference to “IntervalMinutes” if both values are set in

the config file

5.12 Example LDAP/Active Directory walk-throughs

5.12.1 Single customer LDAP import

1. Setting up the Directory Service configuration



Create a new Directory Service definition

Select customer “SmallCo”

LDAP server is on 192.168.1.6

Filter: To pick up users from “group2” within the LDAP repository (this is a test set of

data; your LDAP server will have different schema. Please check with your LDAP

system administrator to get the appropriate settings for your system)

Values in $$ are the attribute names to extract from LDAP/AD (think of them as columns in a database)

If required, transforms can be applied to the values returned by using “pipe commands”

“$mail|'/@.*/@mydomain.com/'$”

Decode:

Import column mail and then apply a regex command to it; replace all characters

after ‘@’ with “mydomain.com”

Acano Manager will create the coSpaces

2. Check User and Endpoint Lists to confirm that you don’t have any users or endpoints for

“SmallCo

User List page

Select Any using “*”

Click Go

Page displays a single user

Endpoint List page




Click Go

No endpoints exist in the system (as expected)

3. Starting the Importer

Using Windows Service Manager or

Using Windows Task Manager

Select the Services tab

Select Acano Manager Importer


Or use the Acano Manager Monitor Application

Or use the Windows SC command

All send a “start” command to the Importer process.



4. Check User and Endpoint Lists to confirm that there are users and endpoints for “SmallCo”

User List page


Click Go

The list now contains more users.

Endpoint List page


Click Go

Endpoints are listed (as expected)



NOTE: if you look on the Call Bridge, you will also find the coSpaces there

5. Checking the Import logs via the Acano Manager Monitor application

The log files confirm what was shown in the UI; the new accounts were created. They also give

details of the import

The Import Log files are Acano Manager\ImporterService

5.12.2 Multiple customers using LDAP import

1. Adding another LDAP source

Add another Directory Services configuration

Bind to customer “BigCo”

Select “Group6” from the repository

On the systems being used to create this material, we have a test LDAP server with

several groups of users. We’ll select users in ‘Group6’; your LDAP system will be

different

NOTE 1: Click Test connection to test you have the correct address and authentication details

NOTE 2: Clicking Done without values for “base note” and “filter” results in you seeing and “LDAP Time out Error” (a bug has been filed)



5.13 Directory Services page with 3 entries

In this instance, the 3 entries are importing from the same LDAP server.

5.14 Re-running the Importer

Using Windows Task Manager, Select the Services tab and then select Acano Manager

Importer.


Or use the Windows SC command



All send a “start” command to the Importer process

The following is expected to happen ….

“SmallCo” is up-to-date. No change

“BigCo” is imported

The Users & Endpoints lists show additional entries

5.15 Checking after multi-customer import

Check User and Endpoint Lists to confirm that there are users and endpoints for “SmallCo” and

“BigCo”

On the User List page


Click Go

The list now contains additional users



On the Endpoint List page


Click Go

More endpoints are listed as expected.

NOTE: The Call Bridge also shows the coSpaces.



5.16 Checking the Importer logs

Checking the Import logs via the Acano Manager Monitor application

The log files confirm what was seen in the UI; the new accounts were created

Log files give details of the import

Import Log files

Acano Manager\ImporterService

Note how “SmallCo” is imported

No change

BigCo then imported and created users

5.17 LDAP bulk deleting users

Use the LDAP import process to delete users, associated endpoints and coSpaces

The Acano Manager LDAP import process deletes any user (and associated Endpoints and , if

created by Acano Manager, coSpaces and coSpace members) IF the user not found on AD

during the LDAP import process.

Bulk delete can therefore be achieved by

Setting a filter that doesn’t match anything on the LDAP server

AM doesn’t get any users back from LDAP and therefore deletes all users(and associated

endpoints etc)



In the above example, we change “Group2” to “Group2x”

Click done to save the details

Run the importer

All users get deleted

To reload the users, change “Group2x” back to “Group2

Click done to save the details

Run the importer

All users get imported


coSpaces

6 coSpaces


See or search for coSpaces

The current set of coSpaces can be retrieved from the Call Bridge using Search.

Administrators can select the user whose coSpaces they wish to find.

Enter coSpace name to search for coSpaces with a matching name

Select Active

This displays all coSpaces that have participants

Select All

This displays all coSpaces matching the criteria

Leaving the filter criteria blank results in Acano Manager displaying the list of all coSpaces

known to it.


the Call Bridge.

6.2 coSpace List – Start/Manage buttons

What is the difference between Start and Manage?

Start

The coSpace is “passive”; there are no participants in it. There is currently no call associated

with the coSpace


coSpaces

Clicking Start creates a call on the coSpace; it allows you to then place outbound calls to

participants. Without a Start button, the coSpace can only become active if a participant dials

into it.

Manage

The coSpace is “active”; it has participants. Acano Manager has received a CallStart event from

the Call Bridge and at least one CallLegStart event. Clicking Manage displays the Calls in

Progress where you see this Call only.

6.3 coSpace management

6.3.1 Creating and deleting a coSpace.

Click Add New

Click Delete Selected

What happens when you delete a coSpace? It depends…..

If Acano Manager created the coSpace, the coSpace is deleted from the Call Bridge and

from Acano Manager (because Acano Manager is deemed to be the authority on items it

created)

If the coSpace was created on the Call Bridge (either via an LDAP import or as a result of a

user creating it via their Acano Client), Acano Manager simply deletes the coSpace from

Acano Manager’s current view of the world

If, sometime later, Acano Manager receives events from the coSpace, it will re-discover the

current state of the coSpace and present that information to users.

6.3.2 Creating a coSpace

Description of fields.

Customer

MCU; which MCU hosts this coSpace?


coSpaces

URI (number or name)

Do not include the domain

Correct: “garageband.coSpace”

Incorrect: “[email protected]”

Description

Owner

Other fields include:

Audio and Video ports

Default from configuration settings

Default Layout

PIN #

CallId

Instant Messenger messages can also be deleted



coSpaces

Which other users are members of this coSpace?

6.3.3 Adding users as members to a coSpace

A coSpace is visible in the following to all users defined as members

Acano Manager

Acano client

Permissions are defined via check boxes

Click the Add button to add more users

During the LDAP import process

If Acano Manager creates the coSpace, it automatically sets the owning user as a

member

If the Call Bridge creates the coSpace, it does the same

6.4 coSpaces and scheduled calls

A coSpace exists on the Call Bridge. It takes no resources and therefore, can be essentially an

infinite number. coSpaces last forever, until they are deleted.

A scheduled call takes place at a given time and has a duration. Resources are assigned

(reserved) for the call. Scheduled calls are created on the MCU seconds before they are due to

start and are deleted from the MCU after they reach their end time. Scheduled calls can be

extended, both in terms of capacity and duration, at any time, assuming that the resources are

available. A scheduled call can exist as a temporary coSpace or on a coSpace that already

exists. You can create a call to last for 2 hours from 10.00AM next Tuesday (for example). This

call can be hosted on a coSpace you already have (e.g. on “mycoSpace”)

A scheduled call can exist as a temporary coSpace or on a coSpace that already exists. In this

case, the call “inherits” all the properties from the coSpace, including the URI, which enables the

users to dial into the call using a familiar URI – e.g. “mycoSpace”.

The call is terminated at it’s end time; the coSpace continues to exist as normal. The call can be

hosted on a coSpace that Acano Manager dynamically creates and then destroys after the call

has completed.

6.5 coSpaces and VMRs

Legacy MCUs have calls. These calls had properties such as number of participants, layouts

etc. Typically MCUs had limited mechanisms to allow large numbers of Virtual Meeting Rooms

(VMRs). For example, Codian: limited ot 200 calls/MCU. RMX: limited to several thousand.


coSpaces

Acano MCUs are designed to scale and introduce the concept of the coSpace. They have

support for infinite numbers of coSpaces. The coSpaces consume no resources until they are

used. These coSpaces have properties such as layouts. Other properties are defined by profiles.

For example, the number of participants is controlled by Call Profile. The participant user

experience is controlled by Call Leg Profile, including mute on connect, bandwith etc.

Acano Manager Call Profile is not supported in Acano Manager 1.1.2. A future version of Acano

Manager will support Call Profiles. Acano Manager supports coSpaces and, on legacy MCUs,

Virtual Meeting Rooms.

6.6 coSpace selection when scheduling a call

Step Description

1 Click +Call to start process of scheduling a call

2 Provide the details of which customer (multi-tenant

environment) and who the call is for (Taniya in this case)

3a (option Either schedule the call on a temporary coSpace

(created by Acano Manager)

3b (option Or, schedule the call on one of the available coSpaces for

this customer; e.g. Taniya’s

NOTE 1:

When a call is scheduled using a predefined coSpace, the

basic properties for the call are obtained from the coSpace

(e.g. the Call’s URI, default layouts, capacity.) These can

only be changed via the coSpace Details page and not on

the call.

Table 4: coSpace selection when scheduling a call

6.7 coSpaces and call marble diagram

The following diagram shows how calls within Acano Manager are created when activity takes

place on a coSpace. It also shows how coSpaces are used as “carriers” to host scheduled calls.

Across the top are a sequence of events.

coSpaces are created

Participants join the coSpace

Text aligned to each marble explains what happens

Vertically, it shows what happens on each MCU type.

The Call ADR table

The Participant ADR table


coSpaces

The Call Quality table

The term “marble diagram” has been borrowed from the world of Reactive Programming.


Building Out

7 Building out

7.1 Notes on customers

Multi-tenancy is an Acano Manager option; with it, you can host more than one customer. This is

primarily intended for service providers. It allows them to host more than one user on the same

system.

Concepts

Resources can be assigned to customers (called tenants on the Call Bridge)

A customer can have their own dedicated MCUs (one or more; Acano and/or legacy)

Maximum call rates

In billing mode:

Limits can be defined that allow “bursting” port usage to be charged for

Billing rates for each call type can be defined

Services can be enabled and you can allow users to request premium services e.g.

Meet and Greet (aka Concierge), Call Monitoring etc..

Users are grouped; users, calls, endpoints from one customer will be ring-fenced from other

customers

Default properties for new users can be defined; Access Control Types

Directory Service (LDAP/Active Directory) can be defined per customer

The first customer in Acano Manager is labeled “Your Company Name” and is the root

customer

Root customer cannot be deleted

Root customer will, by default, not use the tenanting mechanisms on the Call Bridge

If you want/need to do this, please contact Acano Support

For more details about customers/tenants see slide Ringfencing Users

We suggest that you rename this customer to something more meaningful in your

environment.

Customer management has become much easier with LDAP/AD

Building Out


7.2 Customer Details

Field (mandatory fields are marked with a red asterisk) Description

Name Customer Name

Theme Acano is the default

Access Controls Tag and Service ACL created automatically when customer

is created

Default is for users of customer to only see users/calls

within this tenant

Bandwidth Max and default

Cost Code Create new Cost Code in cost code table

Rates In billing mode, rates for the various call types can be

defined

Has Own MCU? If yes, check. MCU can then be created and linked to this

customer

Calls scheduled by customer’s users are placed on MCU’s)

owned by this customer

Allow M&G, Monitor and 24hour premium services Options displayed on the New Call page

Done Creates new customer

Table 5: Explanatory notes for Customer details

7.3 Customer Access Control management

Acano Manager automatically manages a default set of Access Controls

Each time you create a new customer, Acano Manager:

Creates a new Access Control (ACL) Tag with the customer’s name

Creates a new Access Control Service with the customer’s name

Adds the customer’s ACL tag into the ACL Service definition

Sets the default User ACL Tag on the customer

Sets the default Endpoint ACL Tag on the customer

Sets the default ACL Service on the customer

The result of this is:

All new users and endpoints created on the customer should have the correct ACLs

The customer’s users are able to see other users, calls and endpoints for this

customer only

The Global ACL Service will be updated

The new Customer’s ACL tag will be added to the Global (“*”) Service

Building Out


This enables System Level Operators, Admins to see all users from all customers

If you delete the customer, the customer’s ACLs will be deleted

The Global ACL service is then updated

7.4 ACL Usage by Operator type

System-wide Operators

ACL Service includes all customer Tags

Customer-specific Operators

ACL Service ONLY includes customer’s Tag

Result:

System-wide Operators see all endpoints/calls

Customer Operators only see customer’s endpoints and calls

7.5 Access Control Lists

Principals

“ACL Tag”

Define type of thing

– E.g. SmallCo, BigCo

“ACL Service”

What can somebody “see”

List of “things”

– Service (SmallCo and BigCo) – SmallCo see SmallCo things,

BigCo see BigCo things

NOTE: If a tag is defined within a service level, users at that service level see ALL users with the

Tag.

“Global”

Automatically maintained; see everything

New customers created;

• Customer ACL Tag and Services created Automatically

• Service created; Customer Tag added to Service ACL

• Customer ACL Tag added to Global

Customers deleted; ACLs tidied up and removed from Global

Building Out


7.6 Example Service ACL

7.6.1 “BigCo” ACL Service

In this example, the Service ACL “BigCo” (created for customer “BigCo” when the company was

created – indicated by “system generated”) is shown.

The ACL service contains a single ACL Tag of type “BigCo”

The “BigCo” Service therefore “sees” all things tagged with the “BigCo” Tag

Users

Endpoints

Use the toggle button to expand/contract

7.6.2 “SmallCo” ACL Service

In this example, the Service ACL “SmallCo” (created for customer “SmallCo” when the company

was created – indicated by “system generated”) is shown.

The ACL service contains a single ACL Tag of type “SmallCo”

Building Out


The “SmallCo” Service therefore “sees” all things tagged with the “SmallCo” Tag

Users

Endpoints

7.6.3 Global ACL Service

In this example, the Global Service ACL is shown

This ACL is maintained automatically and contains the ACL Tags for all customers

The “Global” Service ACL therefore “sees” everything

Users

Note the mix of user names with different domain names indicating users across

multiple customers

Endpoints (not expanded)

Building Out


Access Control Detai s

.AJcess Control Name ' G_1o_b_a1_-_s_e_rv_ic_e I·

.AJcess Control Type Service

System Generated .;

Tags

!Jj

2 Global - Tag

4 Root Customer

6 SmallCo

8 BigCo

9 Service Provid3r VG

11 OpenCo

a Root Customer a SmallCo a BigCo a

a OpenCo a

Done Add Tag cancel

Service Users •••

t Adm in mike h Adminstrator

718 [email protected] Angela Merkel User

693 [email protected] Ben Foster User

690 [email protected] Chris Atkinson User

719 [email protected]·m Charles DeGaule User

688 [email protected] Destiney Shaffer User

724 [email protected] Francisco Franco User

714 [email protected] Gary Watkins User

716 [email protected] George Bush User

711 [email protected] Igor Shmukler User

1z.ii

Service Endpoints •••

Delete Name Customer










Building Out


7.7 Example ACL settings for a user

User: Anastasia [email protected]

ACL Tag: SmallCo

ACL Service: SmallCo

Explanation

This User’s (Anastasia) Service ACL allows the user to “see” all other users with the Tag

“SmallCo”.

The full list of users and endpoints at this ACL Service level can be see here.


Building Out


7.8 Ringfencing users

Acano Manager

Customer/tenant specific ACL

Users at the customer/tenant only

see tenant calls, coSpaces and

devices from the same

customer/tenant

Global ACL

Typically, this is reserved and

used by Service Provider

Admins/Operators and allows

them to see users, coSpaces and

endpoints from all

customer/tenants

Custom ACLs

Allows focused ringfencing of

user groups (e.g. specific

Operators seeing specific subsets

of users, calls and coSpaces)

Call Bridge

Tenants created without a tenant

GUID contain users and coSpaces

that are visible to all other tenants

Tenants created with a GUID contain

users and coSpaces that are visible

to other users within the tenant AND

to any tenants that don’t have a GUID

set

Acano Manager sets a tenant GUID

on all non-root tenants (i.e. the 2nd

and subsequent customer/tenants created)

A tool can be supplied to set

tenant GUID on the root tenant if

required

It is intended that this maps onto

the ‘trust’ levels required on a

server where the service provider

uses the Acano Manager root-

customer/tenant and want to have

visibility into all tenants on the

Call Bridge

7.9 Creating custom ACL’s

Why might you want to do this?

Supposing you are a Service Provider and you want some of your operators to manage calls for

customers 1, 2 and 3 whereas another set of operators should only see and manage calls for

customers x, z and z.

What’s the process?

Create a new Tag with a name that is meaningful. E.g., EastCoastOperator

We’ll later create Users with this Tag type

Create a new ACL Service with a name that is meaningful, e.g., EastCoastOperator

Add the EastCoastOperator tag

Add all the other tags required (for example, all customers located on the East Coast)

Use the “Service Level Users” panel on the Service ACL to see what Users at the

ACL will “see”

Building Out


Create your East Cost Operator Users

Set their ACL Tag to EastCoastOperator

Set their ACL Service to EastCoastOperator

7.10 Finding users and endpoints

Where did they all come from?

Historically, users and endpoints were created manually. However, tools can be custom

produced to automate the import of large datasets. For example, again historically, endpoints

have been imported from TMS, which is still possible with Acano Manager 1.1.

From Acano Manager 1.1, user management vial LDAP?AD has become the norm.

During the LDAP/AD import process Acano Manager

deletes any users within Acano Manager that are no longer defined within LDAP/AD

Imports all users from LDA/AD

Creates a user for each LDAP/AD user

Creates an endpoint for each user (using the user’s name)

Optionally creates coSpaces and adds coSpace members

Configures the Call Bridge and instructs it to perform an LDAP/AD sync

For more details, see the section “LDAP/AD”

Can I create more?

Users can be created manually; however, only users imported from AD will be available

on the Call Bridge

Therefore new Acano Manager users will typically be Admins

How do I delete users and re-fresh my lists?

See the notes example imports of LDAP/AD data

7.11 Events/alerts marble diagram

Within Acano Manager, software ‘events’ fire when key things happen. Examples include: Call

Scheduled, Call Updated, Call Starting, Call Started, Call Ended, Participant Joined. These

events can be:

Displayed on the user interface in the Alert Panel at the top of the page (Admins/Operators)

Sent to groups of users via email

A script can be run against the event and custom emails sent. The email can either be in

text or HMTL

Alerts can be managed via the Alerts List page and then click Configure (bottom of the

page)

NOTE: A busy system can generate a lot of alert emails so be selective about what you enable.

Building Out


The above diagram shows events firing:

Alerts being generated that appear in the user interface Alert Panel

Emails being generated

7.12 Who sees which event?

Alert Configuration page

Admins, Ops, Call Owner etc.

Emails set to all “matching” user types with an email address

All admins with an email address

All operators with an email address

Call owner

Gotchas

Alert configuration is saved at call creation time

You do not see an alert if the configuration is changed AFTER scheduling a cal

7.13 Alerts

User-defined alerts to prioritise response

Email – txt/html option

36 types, two port threshold %’s, three timer settings

Building Out


7.14 Call confirmed alert

Lync Click to Call

Building Out


7.15 Notification scripts

Automatically generate confirmations

User-defined text

Text substitution (accessing Acano Manager’s object model)

Very basic scripting language

Conditions

Loops

See README in Acano Manager\Server\Email Templates

7.16 MCU differences – limits and mechanics

Mode Description

Acano State changes sent to Acano Manager (as

CDR events); posted to 5566 (make sure

firewall is open!)

Infinite number of calls (coSpaces)

coSpace = VMR on steroids

All Acano Manager calls are created on a

coSpace

Native support for coSpaces; calls created

when the first participant joins the coSpace

Codian State information obtained via polling

200 calls per MCU (regardless of ports)

Acano Manager creates VMRs as “always

available” calls

Building Out


Table 6: MCU differences

7.17 MCU states

Step Description

Online MCU online and Acano Manager communicates

with it successfully. If any form of connection

beginOffline Transitory state; MCU going offline

Offline Acano Manager attempts to reassign any calls

not bound to this MCU to other MCUs with

resources available

beginOnline Transitory state; Acano Manager is bringing the

MCU online (connecting to it) and then

“discovering” which calls are active on the MCU

Table 7: MCU differences

7.18 Scheduling resource assignment control

Option Description

No MCU specified “Least Loaded” scheduling; call placed on least

loaded MCU

Preferred MCU Call placed on defined MCU; if no resources

available, schedule fails “no resources”

Customers with their own MCU Calls will be assigned to the customer’s MCU

“Pooled MCU” mode allows “no resources” calls

to be scheduled on system pool MCUs

RMX State information obtained via “delta”s (xx [call/participant] changed)

4000 calls per MCU

Acano Manager creates VMRs as “always

available” calls

Building Out


Table 8: Scheduling resource assignment control

7.19 MCU list – port usage – current/forward

Acano Manager tracks the MCU ports currently allocated and those about to be consumed.

Current; ports currently allocated

Future; the port allocation 15 minutes in the future

Why is there a difference?

Scheduled calls have assigned resources

Activity on coSpaces is unplanned and could be outside “typical” ranges

Puts scheduled calls at risk because of finite resource count

Future allows operators to monitor whether a problem is looming (in 15 minutes)

More coSpace activity than expected

Potential to impact scheduled calls

Allows scheduled calls to be moved

7.20 Notes on endpoints

Within Acano Manager, an endpoint represents a device

Phone

Acano client

Lync client

Classic room system

Devices have properties

Names, addresses, contact details for people responsible for them

Online/Offline MCUs Calls can only be scheduled against OnLine MCUs; if no “preferred MCU” is specified and an

offline event occurs then calls are reassigned to

another MCU

Building Out


An endpoint can be scheduled to participate in many calls

Some MCUs allow the endpoint bandwidth to be managed (and details like initial mute

state)

The properties used per call might be different

Acano Manager uses “participant” to define an endpoint in a specific call

7.21 Endpoint details

Field Description

Customer Customer Name or system-wide

User Associate to user – Operator for launcher

Endpoint name

Display Name override Display this name into video stream (Codian)

Contact details

Exchange Leave blank; only used with Outlook plugin

Info/URL Leave blank

DTMF DTMF string <31 chars; injected into call on

connect (,,,,#,,,888,,,#)

Audio Only

Recording Enables billing

Local and Time Zone Booking confirmation

MAC address Used when running TMS importer

TMS Id Set when importing from TMS

Primary Set protocol and number

Secondary Optional

Building Out


Rate Mode See next section

Date certified Set this to avoid seeing a non-certified warning

in Calls In Progress. It can be set to today’s

date. Additional certification notes can be added

Notes

URL When set, allows direct link to device’s

management console from icon in Calls In

Progress

Table 9: Endpoint details

7.22 Endpoint billing options

Option Description

Zero Rated No charges applied to this endpoint

Customer Apply customer’s rates when this endpoint joins a call.

NOTE; system wide endpoints (e.g. those

belonging to the service provider) are not rated

unless:

The device belongs to the launching

operator and is providing Meet and

Greet(aka Concierge)/monitoring.

The device is marked as a recorder

Device Device-specific values can be entered and will

be used when this endpoint joins a call

Table 10: Endpoint billing options

Building Out


7.23 User details

Field Description

Customer Select customer or leave blank (system-wide)

LoginID Login user name

First Name/Last Name

Contact Details Email/Telephone

User Access Level Customer’s ACL (ACL Tag; who will see them)

Service Access Level List of ACL Tags visible to this user

User Type User, Admin, Operator……..

Local En-US (MM/DD AM/PM), En-GB (DD/MM 24hr)

Time Zone This will default to the customer’s default

Max Endpoints How many endpoints will list

Default Cost Code

Table 11: User details

Building Out


7.24 Customer billing settings

7.25 Creating a new endpoint

Customer not set,

system wide

Access Level MUST

be set for endpoint to

be “visible”

If customer

selected, defaults

to customer’s ACL

If system-wide,

set to the most

appropriate ACL

Building Out


Primary & secondary

network connections

methods

Used from within CIP to

allow operators to quickly

switch to an alternative

number

Set certified

date to avoid

warning

symbol being

displayed in

CIP when this

attendee joins

a call

Date system certified (tested OK)

NOTE: System can be configured to not allow call to be scheduled if a non-certified device is selected.

7.26 Notes on system-wide endpoints

This is useful in Service Provider environments where you might have devices which are not

bound to specific customers. This allows:

When adding participants to a call, you see all endpoints that belong to a specific customer

Building Out


If you need to add one of the service provider devices, you can clear the customer selector

and see them

Clear customer field to only see system-wide devices.

* (any) shows all which might be a lot….

7.27 Notes on endpoint addresses

Acano Manager enforces a rule that all endpoints are unique. The reality is that you’ll need

multiple devices with the same address; examples include audio bridges.

Acano Manager supports {} notation to allow multiple devices to have the “same” address

192.168.1.1{0}

192.168.1.1{1}

Building Out


192.168.1.2{2}

When the commands are written to the MCU (for example, inviting somebody into the call)

The {0} contents are stripped and Acano Manager passes 192.168.1.1 to the bridge

Works for add address types: [email protected]{0}, [email protected]{1} etc..

The numbers in brackets do not need to be sequential (0,1,2,3) but that is the

convention

7.28 Selecting an endpoint at call schedule

Customer Field - Defaults to customer selected for the call. Select system-wide (blank), “*” (any)

or include another customer/tenant to include devices from other tenants, (if the current user’s

ACL allows.)

Endpoint filter – Use wildcards to find device names/remote party addresses

e.g. *Ion, *mydomain.



Building Out


7.29 Endpoint filter set

Field Description

Customer *, ?, auto-complete

* = any

? = List all (what are the options?)

Auto-complete = start typing and Acano

Manager will display matching options

Filter By name, number etc

Include external Include any external (inbound or outbound)

Go List details

Table 12: Endpoint filtering

7.30 Endpoint filter set

7.31 Custom Text

Mode Description

Enabling/Disabling settings Allowing users to delete calls, defining setup

times. Making setup times read-only, renaming

values, showing/disabling functionality

Visible When set, this enables the setting

Mandatory The value must be supplied

Building Out


Read Only The value cannot be updated

Custom Text started as a mechanism to allow

customization of names. It has grown into an

ugly monster………

Future versions of Acano Manager provide a

clean and consistent way of achieving the result.

Table 13: Custom text

With custom text you can:

Configure services for users

Change names to locale preferences

Enforce visible / mandatory / read-only

7.32 Custom Text example

Enforce Billing Code entry to book a call using the client portal

Building Out


7.33 Useful Custom Text options

Calls In Progress – show calls expanded

CIP loads with calls expanded

Setup Time

Define a default setup time for all calls

User Enable Call Overview

Enable/Disable Calls In Progress for users

User Enable Connection

Enable/Disable CIP connect button for users

User Enable Mute

Enable/Disable CIP Mute button for users

User Recurring Calls

Enable/Disable Recurring calls for users

User Setup Time

Define a default setup time for users

User Setup Time Read-Only

Prevent users changing setup time

Useful when a fixed gap between calls is required

User Update Call overview

Allow the user to update settings on CIP Enables a Read-Only mode

Zero Setup for Start now

If a user schedules a call for “now’, enable the setup time to be zeroed

7.34 CDR/Billing marble diagram

The following marble diagram shows a sequence of events across the top.

A call is scheduled

Some time later, the call is updated

Some time later, the call starts on the MCU and a “call started” event fires

Participants start to join the call

Participants leave and eventually the call is terminated on the MCU

After the call has completed, an Operator updates the call’s outcome

The vertical arrows show where data from each event is written (Acano Manager’s SQL table).

The Call ADR table


Building Out



NOTE: The term “marble diagram” has been borrowed from the world of Reactive Programming.

7.35 Customer billing settings

Mode Description

Inclusive Video Participants Defines the number of concurrent video

participants that the customer pays for as part of

an “inclusive” tariff. The customer will be

invoiced at the IP Video rate when the

concurrent limit is exceeded

Inclusive Audio Only Participants Defines the number of concurrent audio

participants that the customer pays for as part of

an “inclusive” tariff. The customer will be

invoiced at the audio rate when the concurrent

limit is exceeded

Rates Rate per hour. MeetandGreet/Recording are

charged per call

Table 14: Customer billing settings

Building Out


7.36 Example customer billing settings


Operations (IT)

8 Operations (IT)

8.1 Configuring Acano Manager to use HTTPS

From Acano Manager 1.1, the Outlook plugin does not support HTTPS. This is a bug and is

being worked on. Contact Acano Support to check on progress.

Step 1

Create and/or install a SSL certificate on your system

https://www.digicert.com/ssl-certificate-installation-microsoft-iis-8.htm

Step 2

Open IIS Manager

Select the Acano Manager web site

Step 3

Select the SSL mode required

http://www.digicert.com/ssl-certificate-installation-microsoft-iis-8.htm


Operations (IT)

Step 4

8.2 Outlook Plugin


Operations (IT)

8.3 Clustered Call Bridges

Acano Manager support for clustered Call Bridges

Acano Manager Acano Call Bridge 1.2 Acano Call Bridge 1.6

1.1 yes yes

1.1.1

1.1.2 (single Call Bridge only)

1.1.3

1.1.4

1.6

1.6.1

no Yes

8.4 Configuring clustered Call Bridges

Setup:

Before configuring the clustered Call Bridges in Acano Manager you need to make sure

that each Call Bridge has been configured with a unique CDR Listener port

Check Acano Manager MCU details page; CDR Listener port

Check Call Bridge CDR Receiver settings; these should match the “Listener” CDR port with Acano Manager

Go to the Configuration->Cluster page on the Call Bridge user interface


Operations (IT)

8.5 Adding Call Bridges in clustered mode

8.5.1 Adding Call Bridge Number 1

For each Call Bridge listed under “Clustered Call Bridges” create a new MCU in Acano

Manager

For the MCU Name Field you need to enter the Call Bridge Unique Name

NOTE: the name is case sensitive and MUST match exactly

For the IP Address field you need to enter the IP address from the Call Bridge Address field

For the Listener Port Field you need to put the unique CDR Receiver Port for this specific Call Bridge

Each Call Bridge must use a different port


Operations (IT)

8.5.2 Adding Call Bridge Number 2

Call Bridge #2

NOTE: The CDR Listener will receive CDR events on port 5567

8.6 Clustered configuration checks

8.6.1 Making sure the system is working as expected

Check

Each Call bridge’s CDR receiver points to the correct Acano Manager CDR Listener

The CDR Listener that receives a Call’s CDR event tells Acano Manager which Call

Bridge the call is on

If the CDR is sent to the wrong Acano Manager CDR Listener:

o Acano Manager’s Calls In Progress page will show the call

on the wrong Call Bridge

o When Acano Manager sends Call Bridge specific commands (such as mutes and layouts), it will send them to the WRONG Call Bridge and the request will fail. You will

Operations (IT)


therefore experience inconsistent user experiences (things

not working correctly)

If the Call Bridge is unable to send CDR events to Acano Manager, Acano Manager will be

unaware of any state changes; calls will not appear in Calls In Progress and Outbound calls

will not appear to connect.

Check each Call Bridge’s System Status; does it show that the CDR Receiver was

unable to establish a connection (see slide coming up – Incorrect Call Bridge CDR

receiver settings)

Check for firewalls on all CDR Receiver ports

Either in the network or, more commonly, the Windows Firewall on the Windows

Server hosting Acano Manager

Check

Each Call bridge’s CDR receiver points to the correct Acano Manager CDR Listener

The CDR Listener that receives a Call’s CDR event tells Acano Manager which Call

Bridge the call is on

If the CDR is sent to the wrong Acano Manager CDR Listener:

o Acano Manager’s Calls In Progress page will show the call

on the wrong Call Bridge

o When Acano Manager sends Call Bridge specific commands (such as mutes and layouts), it will send them to the WRONG Call Bridge and the request will fail. You will therefore experience inconsistent user experiences (things not working correctly)

If the Call Bridge is unable to send CDR events to Acano Manager, Acano Manager will

be unaware of any state changes; calls will not appear in Calls In Progress and

Outbound calls will not appear to connect.

Check each Call Bridge’s System Status; does it show that the CDR Receiver was

unable to establish a connection (see slide coming up – Incorrect Call Bridge CDR

receiver settings)

Check for firewalls on all CDR Receiver ports

Either in the network or, more commonly, the Windows Firewall on

the Windows Server hosting Acano Manager

Operations (IT)


8.7 Using the WebRTC client from the Call Bridge

Use the WebRTC client from each Call Bridge

Https://<Call Bridge IP address>:5443

Sign in

Place a Call into the coSpace

Using the coSpace’s Call Identifier

Check Acano Manager’s Calls In Progress page shows the call on the correct Call Bridge (MCU)

8.8 Incorrect Call Bridge CDR receiver settings

If you have dialed-into a coSpace and do not see it in Calls In Progress

Check you don’t have any filters set

Customer, MCU etc.

Check the Call Bridge log. Does it show an error stating that the CDR receiver is not responding?

If you see the error:

Check for firewalls (on the Acano Manager server and in the network)

Check for the correct IP address

Does the Acano Manager server have multiple network cards?

Check the port

Operations (IT)


Does it match what is configured in Acano Manager?

8.9 Deployment topologies

Operations (IT)


8.10 Monitor application (stand alone)

8.11 Monitor

Allows Service Start/Stop

Acano Manager platform is a Windows Service

Can also be started/stopped from Windows Services

Importer Start/Stop

Operations (IT)


Status (and servers)

Uses API to get data from

platform

Utilities

ADR

Management

(deleting)

Audit Recode

Management

Operations (IT)


8.12 Monitor (fail-over)

8.13 Failover model

Primary

Updates database “heartbeat”

Warm standby

Checks database; if no heartbeat, initialize and assume control

Status ports 57051

Allow apps to determine primary

“One way” failover

Primary > secondary.

If secondary fails, doesn’t switch to primary

8.14 Failover considerations

Time/Distance between servers

SQL should be 1 to 5msecs from Acano Manager

Acano Manager West Coast US, SQL East cost: bad

Failure in first 90 seconds

Secondary will not switch

Assumes primary is initializing

Switch time normally approx. 90 secs

Operations (IT)


8.15 Configuration files

Program Files/Acano Manager/Service

VQ.Service.Exe.Config

XML file which can be used to control a range of non-standard settings

Only edit this file if instructed to by Acano Support

Changes made to the config require a system restart to take effect

8.16 Log files/diagnostics

Logs from:

Acano Manager Service logs

Program Files/AcanoManager/Service/

“txt” files “vqservice….”

Note: files wrap-around at 900mb (30 files at 30mb/file)

Windows Event viewer

MCU logs

Information:

Time, Call Name, List of endpoints

Description of the issue

Any relevant screen shots


Operations (VNOC)

9 Operations (VNOC)

The majority of day to day activities such as call management and

scheduling are done from the top menu section of Acano Manager

coSpace Management

Call Scheduling

Calls In Progress (aka Dashboard) – managing calls

Templates and Recurring calls

Approvals of Premium Service Calls

The Reporting tabs provide comprehensive filters

and the ability to export data for onward distribution

Activity – high level useage data

Call Data and Call Quality Reports

MCU Useage graphs

Call Summary

Cancelled and No Shows

9.1 Where to calls come from?

coSpaces created on Acano Manager (Manually or via the AD/LDAP import)

Participant joins the coSpace and a Call is created

• coSpaces created by Users from their Acano Client

Acano Manager discovers them when the first participant joins

coSpace List page can also be used to Search for them on the Acano Server

coSpaces created by the Acano Server as part of an AD/LDAP import

Acano Manager discovers them when the first participant joins

coSpace List page can also be used to Search for them on the Acano Server

Gateway calls

Gateway calls are typically between Trunks and allow, for example, Lync -> Room

System calls


Operations (VNOC)

Gateway calls do not use a coSpace

Scheduled Calls created by Acano Manager (by Admin/Operators or normal Users)

These can use a temporary coSpace (created dynamically by Acano Manager) or an

existing coSpace

Calls Created via Outlook

9.2 How do I see coSpaces?

coSpace List page

Search for a coSpace by name

Search for all coSpaces for a user

View active coSpaces

View “all” coSpaces

NOTE: Acano Servers are designed to allow big systems. It is intentional that users can not see

“all” data – on large systems there could simply be too much.

Active

See only coSpaces with Participants

Manage

The coSpace has Participants. Click to see Calls In Progress for this Call only

Start

The coSpace has no participants and therefore there is no Active Call. Start Creates a

Call on the coSpace and allows you to add Participants

Add


Operations (VNOC)

Create a new coSpace

Delete

Delete the coSpace if it was created by AM

Deleting a non-AM created coSpace simply removes it from AM. The coSpace remains on the Acano Server

9.3 What’s the difference – calls/coSpaces?

Why is there a Call List and a coSpace List?

A coSpace can exist on the Acano Server and consume no resources

When a participant joins the coSpace, a Call Starts

Acano Manager detects this Call Start and creates a corresponding Call

The Call appears in the call list

The Call appears in the Calls In Progress page

When the last participant leaves, the call will end (and disappear from Acano

Manager’s list)

A user can create a coSpace from their Acano Client

Acano Manager will only know the coSpace exists when the first participant joins the

coSpace

Until this time, the coSpace will not appear in the coSpace list

To “discover” a coSpace, use the coSpace List page and Search for the coSpace

– This sends a search command to the Acano Server

– Acano Manager’s list of coSpaces is updated

NOTE: because the system is designed to scale, we can’t display everything all the time. If you

can’t see something, search and AM will update from the server.

Acano Manager will keep the coSpace in its active list for 72 hour. The coSpace will

remain on the Server just not appear in AM’s coSpace list

In addition to informing Acano Manager that the coSpace exists, the first participant

joining indicates a new Call.

– Acano Manager creates a corresponding new Call

If a user schedules a call, Acano Manager will create a coSpace to “host” the call.

A Call can also be scheduled on a known coSpace

Operations (VNOC)



See or search coSpaces

Get the current set of coSpaces from the Acano Server using “Search”

Admins can select the user for whom they want to find coSpaces for

User coSpace name to search for coSpaces with matching name

“Active”

Displays coSpaces that have participants

“All”

Display all coSpaces matching criteria

Leaving filter criteria blank results in Acano Manager displaying the list of all coSpaces

known to Acano Manager


the Acano Server.

9.5 coSpace List – Start/Manage buttons

What is the difference between “start” and “manage”?

“Manage”

The coSpace is “active”; it has participants

Acano Manager has received a “CallStart” event from the Acano Server and at least

one CallLegStart event

Clicking “Manage” takes you to Calls In Progress where you see this Call only

Operations (VNOC)


“Start”

The coSpace is “passive”. There are no participants in it. There is currently no call

associated with the coSpace

“Start” creates a call on the coSpace; it allows you to then place outbound calls to participants

Without a ”start” button, the coSpace can only become active if a participant dials into it

9.6 coSpace management

9.6.1 Deleting a coSpace

Click ‘Delete Selected”

What happens when you delete a coSpace?

It depends….

If Acano Manager created the coSpace, the coSpace is deleted from the Acano Server

and from Acano Manager (because Acano Manager is deemed to be the authority on

things created using Acano Manager)

Operations (VNOC)


If the coSpace was created on the Acano Server (either via an LDAP import or as a result of

a user creating it via their Acano Client), Acano Manager simply deletes the coSpace from

Acano Manager’s current view of the world

If, sometime later, Acano Manager receives events from the coSpace, it will re-discover the current state if the coSpace and present that information to user

9.6.2 Creating a coSpace

Click “Add New”

Customer

MCU; which MCU hosts this coSpace?

URI (number or name)

Do not include the domain

Correct: “garageband.coSpace”

Incorrect: “[email protected]”

Description

Owner

Other fields include

Set Audio and Video ports

Default from configuration settings

Default Layout

PIN #

CallId; the call identifier that identifies the call when the participant is prompted by the IVR

Instant Messenger messages can also be deleted

Which other users are members of this coSpace?


Operations (VNOC)


9.7 coSpace members

Adding users as members to a coSpace

A coSpace is visible to all users defined as members

Acano Manager

Acano Client

Permissions are defined via check boxes

Use the “add” button to add more users

During the LDAP import process

If Acano Manager creates the coSpace, it automatically sets the owning user as a

member

If Acano Server creates the coSpace, it does the same

Operations (VNOC)


9.8 coSpaces and scheduled calls

A coSpace exists on the Acano Server

It takes no resources and there can be, essentially, an infinite number

coSpaces last forever (or until deleted)

A Scheduled call takes place at a given time and has a duration

Resources are assigned(reserved) for the call

Scheduled calls are created on the MCU seconds before they are due to start

They are deleted from the MCU once they reach their end time

Scheduled calls can be extended (capacity and duration) at any time (assuming

resources are available)

A scheduled call can exist as a temporary coSpace or on a coSpace that already exists

So, you can create a call to last for 2 hours from 10.00 AM next Tuesday

This call can be hosted on a coSpace you already have (e.g., on “mycoSpace”)

– In this case, the call “inherits” all properties from the coSpace

o URI (enabling users to dial into it using a familiar URI – e.g.

“mycoSpace”)

– The call is terminated at its end time; the coSpace continues to

exist as normal

OR, it will be hosted on a coSpace that Acano Manager dynamically creates and

then destroys after the call has completed

9.9 Scheduling a call – coSpace selection

Operations (VNOC)


Step Description

1 Click on +Call to start process of scheduling a new call

2 Provide the details of which customer (multi-tenanted environment) and who is the

call for (Taniya in this case)

3a NOTE 1:

When a call is scheduled using a predefined coSpace, the basic properties for the

call are obtained from the coSpace (e.g., The Call’s URI, default layouts, capacity

etc). These can only be changed via the coSpace details page and not on the Call

3b NOTE 2:

When you click the “Start” button on the coSpace List page, Acano Manager

essentially follows the 3b path and schedules a call on the coSpace and Starts it on

the Acano Server

Table 15: coSpace selection when scheduling a call

9.10 Call lists

Comprehensive filters for busy systems

Radio buttons to select scheduled or coSpace speed search

Operations (VNOC)


9.11 Call types

Type Description

Scheduled calls Scheduled calls can be “hosted” on a temporary coSpace or a named coSpace

Scheduled calls run for a period of time (e.g., 2 hours). Acano Manager

creates them on the MCU seconds before they are due to start. AM

Removes them from the MCU once they have completed

A Call’s URI (numeric Id/conference Id) assigned by Acano Manager

using either URI To/From the MCU or (when no URI range defined on

the MCU) the next key from the URI database (this might result in

conflicts with dial-plans); it is therefore recommended that MCUs have

URI ranges defined

coSpaces (VMRs) coSpaces can be permanent (always running on MCU) or “on demand”.

coSpace has defined URI (e.g., 1234 or “my meeting”); allows

customers to access “always on” call or for mapping gateway dialplans.

coSpaces can have defined layout, capacity etc

Calls can be scheduled on a coSpace; coSpace call will be stopped 30

seconds before scheduled call. Scheduled call will execute and expire.

coSpace will resume

Table 16: Call types

9.12 Call start modes

Mode Description

Manual Call will be started on the MCU at “start time” but no participants will be

connected automatically by Acano Manager. The operator can connect

sites individually or via the “all” button

NOTE: a legacy “manual” mode can be configured that only starts the

call on the MCU when the first participant is connected

Automatic The call will be started on the MCU at “start time” and any specified

endpoints will automatically be connected into the call. Should any

endpoint connect fail, Acano Manager will retry the connect 10 times

Table 17: Call start modes

Operations (VNOC)


9.13 Call lifecycle

Step Description

Call created (new call) Somebody schedules a new call

Approval state

If the call requires resources that need people,

it needs approving

Approve any workflow items:

Assign launcher for a Meet And Greet call

Assign Monitor for a Monitor call

Waiting for call start time. Call State = Waiting Until call is ready to run (call start time is in the future)

The current time is between the call’s Start and

Stop time

The call can be executed. Calls will automatically

be created on the MCU at their Start Time

Call State = Starting, Started, Terminating,

Terminated or Ready

Call can be managed

Call state = “started” when running on

MCU

Call state = “terminating” when being

deleted from MCU

Call state “terminated->ready” once

deleted off MCU

“Auto” calls will place outbound calls to all named

Participants

“Manage” call is only visible in this state

The Call will only appear in Calls In Progress in

this state

Expired The current time has passed the call’s Stop time.

Outcome details can be completed

Table 18: Call lifecycle

9.14 Notes on customer selection

The Customer selected can influence the call options displayed In several ways:

If the Customer has their own MCU[s], Calls will only be scheduled on these

The available MCUs will be limited to the customer’s

If the Customer has premium services enabled, these will be available

E.g., Meet and Greet, Monitor

In a multi-tenanted environment, the Endpoint Selection filter will pre-load to the Customer’s

The operator will therefore be able to select from the customer’s Endpoints by default

Operations (VNOC)


The operator will also be able to override the Endpoint Customer Filter to select either

system wide endpoints or those from another tenant (NOTE: this will require the

appropriate ACLs to have been set – see “Operation, Provisioning and Configuration;

Access Controls”

9.15 Call scheduling process

Step Description

Select customer Loads cost codes; customer-specific MCUs

Select owner (who will call be billed to; owning

user links back to customer)

Contacts for owner will load; if person requesting

call is a “one off” for customer, select principal

user for customer and then overwrite “requester”

details (name, email, tel)

Select launcher (operator who will manage

call)

Can be placeholder until the day of the call

Select start time/stop time/setup

Conference name

Customer Booking Code Allows customer to bill back to a department. Aka

“subject matter code”

Select call options PIN, Meet and Greet, Monitor

Customer has coSpace/VMRs? “CoSpace” or “Meeting Room” option visible;

optionally the call can be scheduled to use a

coSpace or VMR resource

Select resource requirements Automatically derived or manually set based on

“reserved” ports for inbound participants

Select participants Wildcard can be used *, *lon, lon; matches

system name and primary/secondary numbers

(*70 would find 81.91.99.70). ISDN and External

endpoints will prompt for a gateway and prefix to

be selected

Click next Call scheduled; resources assigned and reserved.

If a Meet and Greet (aka Concierge), call goes to

“pending approval” state

The call layout can now be changed

Table 19: Call scheduling process

Operations (VNOC)


9.16 Scheduling at VNOC

Customer selection for

Service Providers

Premium Services Selection

(enabled by settings on

Customer details page)

Time zone selection and

recurring calls

Premium MCU

selection (left

blank; system

selects)

Operations (VNOC)


Term Description

Manual Operator controls the MCU ports assigned to the

call. This allows a maximum number of

Participants to be defined

Automatic As Participants are selected, Acano Manager

automatically increases the number of participant

ports that will be reserved on the MCU. Automatic

is default mode. Controlled by custom text setting

“Automatic Port Selection”

Reserved inbound participants In automatic mode, allows an operator to “hold

back” ports that will be used for participants who

dial into the call

Available inbound participants In manual mode, operator defines the maximum

number of participants. As participants are

selected and added to the call, the ‘available

inbound’ counter drops by one

Table 20: Scheduling at VNOC terms

Operations (VNOC)


9.17 Port allocation mode

Table 21: Port allocation mode

Pin generation, layout

and billing type

Mode Description

Manual Adjusts ports allocated automatically; each time a

new participant is selected and added, increases

the ports required by 1 (audio or video)

Reserved Inbound ports “reserved” for incoming

participants

Ports Allocated = Selected Participants +

Reserved Inbounds

Automatic Manually define the maximum number of ports

allocated to the call

As each “selected” participant is added, the

number of ports available for incoming

participants reduces by 1

Ports Allocated = Max Participant Value

When to use? • Normally use Automatic (auto)

• Use Manual when fixed call size is

required

• Default mode can be set via Custom Text

Operations (VNOC)


9.18 What do the options on Call Save mean?

Customer Field

Defaults to

customer selected.

For the call, Select

system-wide,

(blank), “*” (any) or

another

Customer/tenant to

include devices

from other tenants

(if the current users

ACL allows)

Filter field for Endpoint

Selection

Use wildcards to find

device names/remote

party address

e.g., *lon, *mydomain

Term Description

Save Acano Manager’s resource manager attempts to

schedule the call. This will either succeed (and

the resources are committed) or generates a “no

resources” result which indicates no resources

Operations (VNOC)


are available at the request time

Save and Alert Same as “Save” but generates a “call booked/updated” notification

Cancel Cancels the call

Delete Deletes the call

Manage If the call is in a runnable state (current time is

within call start-end time), go straight to the calls

in progress page (this call only)

Template Save the call as a template for re-use later on

Recurring Convert the call into a recurring call

Table 22: Explanation of Call Save options

9.19 Notes on Outlook scheduling

The Outlook scheduling process is designed to be simple. It does not offer extensive options

(e.g., recurring calls). This is intentional. The idea is to keep it simple. If you need more details

on the mechanics (what talks to what, protocols, etc.) please see Section 8.2.

When the user schedules a call, they define Participants and, optionally, locations

Acano Manager assigns a port per participant (this might be slightly inefficient in ports

but it makes it easy for the user)

Acano Manager performs a lookup using the Exchange Mailbox details provided for

each location

It compares the mailbox against that stored (optionally) on each Endpoint

When it finds a match, it adds the endpoint to the named participants for the call

When the call starts, the endpoint will automatically be called into the call

When the user clicks ‘Make video Call’, the outlook client connects to Acano Manager and

schedules the call

If the call schedule is successful, the “Call Booked” event fires and the “Call Booked”

script is executed; the text generated by this is passed back to the Outlook client and

injected into the meeting text body

9.20 Scheduling a call via Outlook

This text is generated by the “Call Booked” text when the “Call booked” event fires when the call

is scheduled.

(NOTE: the “Call Updated” event fires if the call is modified; it is normally configured to run the

CallUpdated script).

Operations (VNOC)


9.21 How do I manage a call?

Calls In Progress provides a dashboard interface to all active calls. It is fast, tactile and

responsive.

Single call (when access via the “manage” button)

All Calls

Filterable by a range of options

MCU

User

Type (Scheduled/coSpace)

Another way for users to use Acano, includes Lync “click to call”.

Operations (VNOC)


With Participants (there will be typically less of these compared to “all”)

By call name, reference etc.

Manage calls thru their active period

Extend the call, add/remove participants, change layouts, get statistics, etc.

Do it all from one page

9.22 Calls in progress

Operations (VNOC)


Example above - Display only calls with participants (star solid)

Reduce screen clutter being displayed on busy systems

Display only Scheduled or coSpaces/VMR’s

Display only calls with participants/All/Favourites/Warnings

Display all MCU’s / with calls

TIP: check filter is clear before moving on!

Inbound participants

“known” devices

Acano Manager matches and displays

“Unknown” External participants

CLI displayed

On disconnect, external inbound participant will no longer be displayed in CIP (call data

records will be available)

9.23 Call layout

Select call options

Operations (VNOC)


Select custom

Acano

Cisco

Polycom

9.24 Call layout (non Acano)

Select pane placement

(optional). Default panes will

be assigned automatically

by the MCU

Drag tha coloured box from

the participant list to the

pane in the layout

Operations (VNOC)


9.25 Participant layout

Choose the required layout

Select the content to be displayed in the

pane. Clicking done results in the MCU

displaying the active speaker in the

pane. Other options (MCU specific) allow

content or named participan

On the Call Details page, click on

Participants tab

Select Default/Call or a participant-specific layout

Operations (VNOC)


9.26 Participant layout (non Acano)

On the Call Details page, click on the Participants tab

Select either Family layout of a participant-specific layout (the default is the current custom

layout for the call)

9.27 Approving a call

Step Description

Assign a launcher Launcher is the operator (or placeholder) who will

manage the call (launch and monitor)

NOTE: Launcher needs to have one or more

endpoints associated to the operator (via User

field in Endpoint Details)

Click Approve Acano Manager will add the launcher’s endpoint

to participant manifest for the call

Acano Manager sends a “call confirmed” alert

(and email)

Optional; set video mute state on launcher’s

endpoint

Prevents video being sent from the launcher’s

endpoint

Operations (VNOC)


Table 23: Approving a call

9.28 Changing a call’s details

MCU Description

Acano Acano Manager will not modify calls/coSpaces

not created by it. Calls/coSpaces created by

Acano Manager can be renamed

Codian Start time, stop time, participants, layouts, mute

states, bandwidth can all be changed at any time.

On change, resources are checked and if

available, committed. If not available, details are

not saved and a warning message is displayed.

NOTE: A conference cannot be renamed if it is

running on the MCU (call state = Started.) Start

time cannot be changed if a call is running

RMX As per Codian with the following exceptions:

When a call is in the Started state (e.g. active on

the MCU), the number of participants in the call

cannot be changed. The call can be stopped (via

the red Stop icon on the Calls in Progress page)

and restarted by adding one or more participants

Table 24: Changing a call’s details

9.29 Removing participants

On the Call Details page, click the Participants tab. Clicking the red *-* icon removes the

particpant from the participant manifest. If the call is active (running), the participant is

disconnected.

Operations (VNOC)


9.30 Notes on time

All calls are stored in SQL as UTC

(new name for GMT)

Each user has a configured time zone

System has a default time zone

When scheduling a call, time zone can be defined for the call

Default will be time zone for the user

Ensure times are relative to owning user’s time

Each endpoint can have its own time zone; allows call time to be displayed relative to the device

Time zones “know” about DST changes; let them do the work – especially internationally


Reporting

10 Reporting

10.1 Summary

Acano Manager collects extensive data about calls

It is not a reporting platform

Customers can export the data and craft it as required for example, using Excel

Use external reporting tools; connect to Acano Manager’s SQL tables

NOTE: in high volume call environments, replicate the database and run the

reporting tool off the replicated copy

Acano Manager keeps the following call data:

Call ADR (Accounting Data Records); a copy of all details for a call

Participant ADR; each participant join a call

Call Quality ADR; packet loss and codec details

Audit trail; which user performed which command on each call

10.2 CDR/Billing data marble diagram

The following marble diagram shows a sequence of events across the top;

A call is scheduled

Some time later, the call is updated

Some time later, the call starts on the MCU and a “call started” event fires

Participants start to join the call

Participants leave and eventually the call is terminated on the MCU

After the call has completed, an Operator updates the call’s Outcome

The vertical arrows show where data from each event is written.

The Call ADR table



The term “marble diagram” has been borrowed from the world of Reactive Programming.


Reporting

10.3 Activity reports

High level metrics e.g. System Call Minutes/month

MCU time, # Call Legs, etc

• Single span – all range

• Frequency – per month, per week etc.

10.4 Call data records (also known as Accounting data records)

These reports include comprehensive filters.


Reporting

The screen provides a summary. Export to see the detail.


Reporting

10.5 Call quality

10.6 MCU port usage

Filter what you need to see first.

In systems with multiple MCUs it is possible to display port usage as combined or per MCU.


Reporting

Split axis – used and requested

Where the values in a data range vary, as in the values for ports requested (0-40) and ports

used (0-5) splitting the axis allows both data sets to be displayed meaningfully on the same

report.


Reporting

NOTE: This graph shows an example of a busy system with little down time. The gap shows the difference between booked and used ports.


Reporting

10.7 Call summary data

Call summary data can be displayed in several ways;

By owner

By MCU

By endpoint

By owner

By MCU

By endpoint


Reporting

10.8 Cancelled calls

A call can be cancelled. A cancelled call will not execute but the resources assigned to the call

are preserved. Operators can cancel a call if they think a user might change their mind.

Cancelled calls can be reinstated.

10.9 Cancelled call report

10.10 No shows

No show calls are ones that started but no-one joined. After 15 mins the call is stopped and the resources are released. A message is sent to the call owner.

Reporting


10.11 Custom no show time

Using custom text you can enter the period of time after which, if no-one joins the call, the call is

cancelled and an alert is sent to the call owner.

10.12 Alerts - on screen summary

This page displays an on screen summary of the most recent alerts.

Reporting


10.13 Alerts - configured by user profile

Reporting


10.14 Audit records

Audit records show who did what and when. They are a useful tool in the following scenarios:

Query issue resolution

Triage

Process improvements

Compliance Tool

e.g. for banks


Billing

11 Billing Acano Manager produces billing data that can be passed to a billing/invoicing application.

11.1 Summary

1. Set up a Billing record for customer (endpoints may have endpoint specific rates)

2. Set up Call outcomes

NOTE: when an endpoint has rate values, these take precedence over those defined at the

customer level.

Daily operations

1. Call executes

2. Operator updates Call outcomes and reviews billing rates

3. End of day/month reports run – analysis of SLA / performance

11.2 Call outcome configuration

An administrator can add a new Call outcome type.

11.3 Setting the cost of calls at the customer level

The cost of calls can be set when the customer is added. This defines default rates for activity

on this customer.

NOTE: charges can be overridden at the user and endpoint level. These values take

precedence over defaults at the customer level.

All values are per hour.


Billing

11.3.1 Inclusive video and audio ports

In some environments, it is desirable to define “inclusive” ports as part of a customer’s package.

When usage exceeds these limits, participants are billed as normal.

When a new participant joins a call, Acano Manager checks the current port usage for the

customer.

If the customer is defined to have no “inclusive” ports, the participant is billed at the rate

defined by the customer (or the endpoint)

If the customer has “inclusive” ports and if the number of active ports being consumed is

less that the customers “inclusive”, the participant is marked as zero-rated

If the customer has “inclusive” ports and if the number of active ports being consumed is

greater than the customers “inclusive” limit, the participant is billed at the customer (or

endpoint) rate


Billing

11.4 Call outcomes

On call completion, Operators can use the text area to record information about the call and the

type of outcome. Alerts can be raised on “negative”events.

NOTE:

Rate fields and values can be manually updated (if required) e.g. “other” charge can be added.

The call “outcome” tab is present on the Call Details page when the Billing option is enabled.

The “other” column allows the operator to add additional charges to a participant.

If a participant leaves the call and rejoins and entry will exist for each call leg. When the data is eventually exported, the records are consolidated onto a single record.

11.5 Call outcome report

The call outcome report allows the operator to check the outcome data in preparation for the

billing export.

“Billing exception” allows calls to be marked (and then searched, checked and corrected) where

a non-standard billing entry was defined.


Billing

11.6 Call outcome sample


Billing

11.7 Billing export preparation

Steps.

1. Set Time Period filters & set Customer

2. Refine Filter with Billing exceptions

3. Ignore short calls (<5 minutes)

4. Select Export – .csv file exported into Excel

11.8 Sample billing export

There are 24 columns of data which are imported to the billing engine to create invoices.


Billing

11.9 Non-billable/pre-paid option

The “non-billable” report is used to check that revenue isn’t being lost to calls set, unexpectedly,

as non-billable.

The “pre-paid” report is used to check for unexpected revenue loss by calls unexpectedly set to

pre-paid.


Appendix A

Appendix A Frequently Used Terms

User Type Role

Administrator System Management (can create MCU’s, Gateways,

ACLs)

Call Scheduling

Can act as an operator for a call

Operator Call scheduling

Can act as an operator for a call

User Account for billing

Optionally:

Self-service login

Schedule their own calls

Manage their own calls

Owner The owner for the call. Who gets billed

Launcher The operator who will manage a call

Meet and Greet Call Call option (enabled via customer). Operator initially joins

the call, making sure everything is working then leaves;

Acano Manager adds the launcher’s endpoint to the call’s

participants

Monitor Call The call is listed in the “Monitor” list. Monitoring enables

visual checking of the call. Used for “Attended” mode calls.

The operator needs to select and add their endpoint to the

call

Alert This is an Acano Manager event (e.g. call started, ended,

booked etc. The alert is optionally displayed in the Alert

panel and sent as an email

Table 25: Table of frequently used terms

Appendix B


Appendix B Useful Tips

How to raise a support ticket

Via email to Acano ([email protected])

Using filters within Acano Manager

Large systems can contain a great deal of data. System filters enable you to:

Select

Expand and minimize the section

Free up screen space

Blue dots indicate that the filter has changed from the defaults

“Auto complete” text boxes

* = “lists all values”

Ion; find all matches starting with “Ion”

*Ion; find all matches containing “Ion”

Copyright


© 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.

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Acano Manager V1.x - Tutorial Guide

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