Meetingplace 8 with WebEx Node on-prem

Jason Cox · ‎12-21-2010

Hi,

I have a question regarding NIC teaming for failover on the Linux versions running on the Meetingplace 8 app server and the WebEx Node. Is there an equivalent of 'set network failover enable' so that I can plug eth0 into one switch and eth1 into a different switch for fault tolerance? Not trying to load balance.

Also, is there a way to schedule meetings while waiting for the WebEx provisioning process to complete? Or are we stuck with reservationless until provisioning is complete?

And one more - will the Outlook plug-in work with WebEx scheduling?

Thanks,

Jason

Tim Smith · ‎02-02-2011

Hey mate..

You've probably worked these out by now but just for the record.

Cisco has told me neither MP App server or WebEx node support network fault tolerance (dual nic) setup at the moment.

Technically MP app server and node for MCS are both Redhat underneath so you could probably fudge it, but it wouldnt be supported, so bad idea.

If you are talking about the Outlook plugin for MeetingPlace, then this depends on your deployment.

If your using Webex scheduling (when it is provisioned) then you would need to use the Webex productivity tools for Outlook integration - this is a seperate plugin.

To schedule conferences in the meantime you can use the MeetingPlace Conference Manager (download it from MP admin site)

One thing I have noticed with Webex productivity tools so far - Automatic installation works ok, but if you are using single sign on to MP, then the manual installation does not work. I have TAC case open and am pushing for an answer on this. Let me know how your experience goes.

Cheers,

Tim.

Rhonda Shepard · ‎02-08-2011

Hi Jason,

I agree with Tim with one addition. If you plan to deploy WebEx type II, (WebEx scheduling) be careful scheduling meetings prior to the WebEx site provisioning. If users schedule recurring meetings or meetings in the future, they will not be there when you integrate with WebEx. The opposite is true if you are deploying WebEx type I (MeetingPlace scheduling).

Rhonda

atanasmatev · ‎08-04-2011

Hi Tim,

Can you elaborate a little bit more on this automatic installation as I think I have the same problem. When I download the webex productivity tools from my WebEx site, it says that the user ID/password are not valid. Is that the same problem you are facing? And which installation are you referring to as "Automatic"?

Thanks a lot!

atanasmatev · ‎08-04-2011

I got it...really, it asks for MP login if you install from the automatic installer. Otherwise, it does not.

Tim Smith · ‎08-11-2011

Hi mate,

Sorry this was a while back. This caused me a lot of headaches with my first deployment, so I'll clarify in case anyone else hits it..

"One thing I have noticed with Webex productivity tools so far - Automatic installation works ok, but if you are using single sign on to MP, then the manual installation does not work. I have TAC case open and am pushing for an answer on this. Let me know how your experience goes."

For automatic..

I was referring to the first time a user logs in to their webex site.

If they don't have productivity tools installed, then the site will prompt them to install, and this installation was working fine for our users.

For manual..

If you choose not to install the productivity tools when you login to the webex site.

You can download the MSI file and install it yourself later.

You are also supposed to be able to package that up and push it out via a package management sys.

For my site I had lots of arguments with TAC and Webex.

I beleive there are different types of installation files based on the type of integration you have. I.e. mine was Type II with SSO. So users should be authenticating through MeetingPlace.

There would be a different install for sites without MP SSO, i.e. user accounts managed in Webex. In this case authentication would be against the webex site.

For my site, when I manually downloaded the file and installed it, it seemed to be the Webex managed version of the tools. i.e. I was not redirected to MP auth page, it was simply trying to authenticate me against Webex directly. I verified this by logging in with the Webex admin account.

So in the end, after much disagreement, they finally agreed that there may be a problem with the plugin. They looked into it and confirmed it was the wrong version. They've swapped it out now, and both manual and automatic installs work as expected. There are still problems / shortfalls with the MSI deployment method from what I've heard though.

More than one Webex support engineer told me the manual installation would not work with SSO and it was by design. That's completely untrue as you can see. It works fine, if they put the right version of the installation on your site.

I was not a big fan of the Webex and MP 8 integration - the way the users were synced, managed and authenticated. The good news is, it's all changed in MP 8.5.

Cheers,

Tim

Bryan Wulfric · ‎08-27-2012

Hi Jason,

Do you know how to register webex node to cisco?

Thanks.