Conference Settings and VMR Pools

Introduction

This article will provide your team with steps on how to configure the Conference Settings and VMR Pools features for Synergy SKY. This article will primarily focus on VMR functions. These two features are found in the Synergy SKY Configuration Tool, under the JOIN section. 

Conference Settings

Conference Settings are configuration rules that determine how Synergy SKY handles meetings it syncs from calendars. These settings help ensure that meetings across different platforms behave consistently for room systems. The two main features that will be covered in this article are:

• Preferred Meeting Insert
• Internal Email Domains
• Dial-in Info

Preferred Meeting Insert

Preferred Meeting Inserts define how Synergy SKY adds or modifies join information based on platform-specific logic. 

Synergy SKY currently has four Preferred Meeting Inserts:

• Cisco (@meet)
• Cisco Webex (@webex)
• Microsoft Teams
• VMR Pools (One Time VMR)

Note: The required option for VMR to function is to set the Preferred Meeting Insert to VMR Pools (One Time VMR)

Example: 

1. A user books a meeting and includes @webex → Webex meeting is generated
2. Synergy SKY detects the Webex meeting in the calendar
3. Based on Conference Settings, it decides Webex is preferred
4. It injects the SIP address for Webex into the meeting and triggers OBTP for the room systems

Internal Email Domains

Internal Email Domains are domains that you configure in Synergy SKY to define which email addresses belong to your organization (e.g., @yourcompany.com). These help Synergy SKY distinguish internal users from external ones when processing calendar events. 

Internal Email Domains are a requirement for the VMR Pools functionality to work. 

Please note, you can add one or more domains that belong to your organization (e.g., internaldomain.com, yourcompany.com). You can also add subdomains if needed (e.g., video.internaldomain.com)

Dial-In Info

Dial-In Info is a feature where Synergy SKY can send out join instructions (via email) to participants of a meeting. This section includes multiple sliders, you are able to toggle these on depending on your organization's needs. 

Below are several sliders included in this section: 

Note: The slider Update Senders Calendar is recommended. This will allow Synergy SKY to update the organizer's calendar invite directly with dial-in info. 

VMR Pools

A VMR pool is a defined set of VMRs; either a range or a predefined set of individual VMRs. Currently, two types of pools are available:

• One-Time VMR (Dynamic VMR)
• Pre-Provisioned VMR

One-Time VMR

The One-Time VMR (Dynamic VMR) option enables users to easily schedule video meetings without any plug-ins in the email client. The function will create a temporary virtual meeting room on the MCU, with a URI within the range defined in the pool.

Video systems that are included in the meeting invitation will be provisioned with Cisco One Button to Push and Polycom One Touch Dial so that they can join the meeting by a push of a button. All invitees will receive the dial-in information so that they can join from their personal device if they prefer that. The dial-in information can be sent as individual emails to each invitee or included in the calendar invite body.

There are potentially three triggers that can be set up to enable One-Time VMRs, and all three can be used simultaneously:

• Adding a video enabled meeting room to the invite (e.g. [e-mail])
• Adding a specific resource to the invite that allow conflicts (e.g. [e-mail])
• Adding a specific keyword to the meeting invite (e.g. @video)

Note 1: using a keyword (e.g. @video) to book video meetings require a Transport Rule to be set up in the Microsoft Exchange environment. 

Note 2: It is possible to stop the booking confirmation emails from the One-Time VMR service account to spam the user's mailbox by setting up a second Transport Rule to remove accept confirmations. 

Pre-Provisioned VMR 

Pre-Provisioned VMRs define a set of URIs and associated variables. These will not be provisioned on any MCU, however Synergy SKY assumes that these URIs/VMRs are already provisioned. Synergy SKY will use these and assign them to meeting bookings, making sure they are assigned in a non-overlapping way similar to the One-Time VMRs. 

To create a Pre-Provisioned VMR Pool you will have to configure the following parameters for the Pre-Provisioned VMRs you would like Synergy SKY to detect. 

Section/Field Name	Description
URI	The given URI of the VM
Numeric URI	The Numeric URI of the VMR
Host PIN	(If applicable) The PIN code hosts use to start the meeting within the VMR; otherwise: 0
Guest PIN	(If applicable) The PIN code guests have to use to join the VMR; otherwise: 0

Prerequisites 

The required options for VMR to function are: 

• Preferred Meeting Insert set to: VMR Pools (One-Time VMR)
• Setting Internal Email Domains

If this is not set, Management Suite will not update the meeting body or send the details for the meeting.

Type	Prerequisites
One-Time VMR	MCU type must be Pexip Infinity or Cisco CMS
Pre-Provisioned VMR	The URIs must already exist and be possible to dial

Step-by-Step Guide

In Synergy Config Tool:

1. Go to JOIN → VMR Pools
   1. If applicable: Add a Calendar Resource Email Address that will trigger a One-Time VMR or Pre-Provisioned VMR to be created every time this Calendar Resource is invited to a meeting
2. If applicable: Choose whether only the above Calendar Resource should trigger a One-Time VMR or Pre-Provisioned VMR to be created. If you would like all meeting rooms that are monitored by Synergy SKY to trigger a One-Time VMR or Pre-Provisioned VMR to be created, leave this switch OFF

One-Time VMR 

1. Click ADD VMR POOL and fill in the values, e.g.:
   
2. Click Save and Save Changes

The example above will generate a One-Time VMR with a URI in the range between 400000 and [e-mail] and provisioned it on the selected MCU every time the calendar resource [e-mail] is added as a participant to the scheduled meeting. Host and guest PINs will be generated (and distributed to the participants), and participant labels will be shown underneath each participant. 

Pre-Provisioned VMR

1. Click ADD VMR POOL and fill in the values, e.g.:
   
2. Click Save and Save Changes

The example above will pick one of the URIs from the list of VMRs every time the calendar resource [e-mail] is added as a participant to the scheduled meeting. Host and guest PINs will be used as defined for each individual VMR (and distributed to the participants). 
As mentioned above, you can combine different VMR Pools. If there are conflicts, Synergy SKY will pick the one with the highest priority.