Oracle® Web Conferencing Administrator's Guide Release 2 (2.0.4) Part Number B10877-01 |
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This chapter explains Oracle Web Conferencing concepts and architecture. This chapter describes:
A physical machine.
A Real-Time Collaboration instance is a grouping of Real-Time Collaboration components installed within the same Oracle home. These components work together to deliver a well-defined set of services to end-users, other Real-Time Collaboration instances, or external applications.
Three basic installation types--the Core Components, Document Conversion Server, and the Voice Conversion Server--are created when they are installed by the Oracle Collaboration Suite installer. If all are installed on the same machine, there is one instance only. The Real-Time Collaboration Repository is either present in the information store database when Oracle Collaboration Suite information store is installed, or it is created during installation of first Core Components installation.
See Also:
Oracle Collaboration Suite Installation and Configuration Guide for Solaris for details. |
An Oracle Real-Time Collaboration component is a set of processes within an instance that have identical functionality. Each component has a component type and component name.
The following table contains Real-Time Collaboration component types and names:
Use the listComponents
imtctl command to see a list of components in an instance. See Chapter 10, "imtctl Command Line Utility" for more information.
The following illustration shows an instance with three components and each of their multiple processes.
Text description of the illustration instcomp.gif
A--Component OC4J_imeeting (one process)
B--Component Real-Time Collaboration mx (two processes)
C--Component Web Conferencing (four processes)
A grouping of Real-Time Collaboration instances that have the same value of "InstanceLocation" property and which use the same Real-Time Collaboration Repository.
The set of all instances that share the same Oracle Real-Time Collaboration Repository. Because instances can be part of clusters, the Oracle Real-Time Collaboration system can be thought of as a set of all clusters.
Text description of the illustration sys_hier.gif
Text description of the illustration archtect.gif
There can be one or more Web Conferencing Server processes in a Real-Time Collaboration instance. The set of Web Conferencing Server processes in an instance constitutes a Web Conferencing Server component. It has the following functions:
There can be one or more mx process in an instance. The set of mx processes in an instance constitutes a mx component. The process has the following functions:
The Oracle Web Conferencing J2EE Application running in the Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE. Some of the functions it provides are:
This process monitors all the other Real-Time Collaboration processes, except OC4J_imeeting processes, and provides high availability by restarting processes if they are down. This process itself is monitored by the Oracle Process Management and Notification system.
This process dials in to a voice conferencing system, captures the analog voice stream, digitizes it, and streams it to a Web Conferencing Server process through the mx.
This process converts Microsoft Office documents to HTML for document presentation. The Web Conferencing Application provides the front end for a user to convert a document.
mod_imeeting is the Real-Time Collaboration plug-in to Oracle HTTP Server. It makes it possible for Oracle Web Conferencing to use Oracle HTTP Server as the only listening point to listen for end-user connection requests. Connections are handed off to the mx using socket hand-off, after the connection has been established using Oracle HTTP Server as the listener.
Within an instance, each Web Conferencing Server process is always connected to each multiplexor process.
Each OC4J process can connect to any mx in the cluster to which the instance belongs. OC4J initially connects to one of the mx processes when required, and from then on caches the connection.
Through the Oracle Web Conferencing Console, each conference participant connects to one of the mx processes, either directly or through a socket hand-off. mod_imeeting connects to all the mx processes in the same instance.
Given that all processes connect to the mx, which acts as a communication hub, the following essential virtual channels are created:
All conference attendees fall into one of three categories:
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The Web Conferencing Console attempts to connect to the mx in the following way:
The connection information required to connect using the methods in this section is provided to a Web Conferencing Console (transparent to a user) when a user tries to join a conference. The details are explained later in this chapter.
The create conference flow occurs when a host uses the application to create a scheduled or instant conference. The conference is created, and a conference ID is associated with it.
The join conference flow occurs when an attendee joins a conference through the Oracle Web Conferencing Application, an e-mail invitation, or through an application that is integrated with Oracle Web Conferencing. The sequence of events follows:
The following table contains port and network connectivity information.
Component | Protocol | Port | IP | Number of Ports | Accessibility (Mandatory) | Accessibility (Recommended) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oracle HTTP Server/mod_imeeting |
HTTP |
80 |
Primary |
1 |
All clients |
|
Oracle HTTP Server/mod_imeeting |
HTTPS |
443 |
Primary |
1 |
All clients |
|
Oracle HTTP Server/mod_imeeting |
HTTPS tunnel |
443 |
SecondaryFoot 1 |
1 |
All clients |
|
mx |
mxFoot 2 |
2400-2700Foot 3 |
Primary |
n |
Voice Conversion Server and Document Conversion Server must be able to access the mx(s) on the instances they serve. |
Intranet clients could connect using direct TCP/IP. Given that Real-Time Collaboration Core Components are deployed in a DMZ, accessing these port(s) from the intranet is not an issue. |
mx (on NT) |
redirectFoot 4 |
2400-2700 |
Primary |
n |
Local host |
|
voiced |
HTTP |
2400-2700 |
Primary |
1 |
All machines with the Real-Time Collaboration Core Components it is servicing. |
For remote status |
imt-pm |
HTTP |
2400-2700 |
Primary |
1 |
Local host from all Real-Time Collaboration instances. |
For deployments that are accessible from the extra-net, it is enough for Internet- or extranet-facing firewalls of the DMZ to have just the traditional ports (443 and 80) open.
Without explicit partitioning of the instances in the system, all Web Conferencing Server processes in all instances are considered part of one group. Whenever a new conference is created and a Web Conferencing Server process needs to be chosen for a conference, the conference could be assigned to any one of the Web Conferencing Servers in the system. But, sometimes, it is useful to partition the system into clusters based on geographical distribution.
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Please note the following points regarding the InstanceLocation property:
Leveraging the InstanceLocation property requires that geographically separated users are routed to Oracle Web Conferencing Application (OC4J_imeeting) in their respective areas. This can be accomplished automatically with a geographically enabled load balancer or manually by having users in different locations access different Web Conferencing URLs. The Oracle Web Conferencing Application (OC4J_imeeting) in an instance is the component that picks the Web Conferencing Server process for a conference. The Oracle Web Conferencing Application (OC4J_imeeting) knows the Web Conferencing Server process location and picks a Collaboration Server process in an instance which has the same value as its own location.
The instance created by a Document Conversion Server or Voice Conversion Server installation must be assigned a value for the location attribute (like all instances) and it can be assigned to provide service to an Real-Time Collaboration Core Components machine with a specific value for the location attribute instead of all Core Components machines. For example, each instance of the Document and Voice Conversion Servers in the United Kingdom is assigned to service a set of Real-Time Collaboration Core Components whose location attribute value is "UK." Each instance in the set of Document and Voice Conversion Servers in the United States is assigned to service a set of Real-Time Collaboration Core Components whose location attribute value is "US."
While there are no special requirements for configuring the LBRs themselves, please note the following:
See Chapter 6, "Sample Deployments" for more information.
Oracle Real-Time Collaboration uses the Oracle Internet Directory store, which uses LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), to authenticate its users. Any Oracle Internet Directory user can use Real-Time Collaboration. Users are created using the standard mechanisms available through Oracle Internet Directory.
See Also:
Oracle Internet Directory Administrator's Guide for details |
Real-Time Collaboration users can be assigned different roles. Roles determine the Oracle Web Conferencing functionality to which a user has access. There are three roles in Web Conferencing:
The end-user role, enduser, is the default role given to any user who logs in to the system for the first time. This role is intended for all regular users of Oracle Web Conferencing.
The business monitor role, businessmonitor, is intended for those Oracle Web Conferencing users who want to monitor the system and have access to various reports that can be run on the system. Users with this role have access to the Monitor and Reports tabs, in addition to all end-user tabs in the Oracle Web Conferencing Application.
The business administrator role, businessadmin, is intended for those Web Conferencing users who are in charge of administering the Web Conferencing deployment. This includes users who are responsible for supporting the end-users. Users who have this responsibility have access to the Site Management and the System Configuration tabs in the Web Conferencing Application.
Use the imtctl command, modifyRole
, to assign roles to Web Conferencing users. See Chapter 10, "imtctl Command Line Utility" for more information on imtctl.
As an enterprise-class platform for real-time collaboration, Oracle Web Conferencing allows a single deployment instance to easily be configured to meet the requirements of various lines of business. This objective can be achieved by creating individual sites and customizing system, application, and conference level properties.
Note: Users with the businessadmin role can click the Sites tab in the Web Conferencing Application to access the Sites functionality. |
Web Conferencing sites are created by the Web Conferencing business administrator. For every site created, the integrating application or line of business uses a unique authentication token along with site ID to communicate with the Web Conferencing Application. Creating a site provides the following benefits:
Oracle Real-Time Collaboration provides various reporting capabilities, including e-mailed reports and usage trend information available within the Oracle Web Conferencing Application. Some aspects of these features require post-installation configuration, such as including sender's and receiver's e-mail addresses. See Chapter 4, "Post-Installation" for details on the properties that must be configured.
Anyone with the businessadmin or businessmonitor role can access the reports functionality by clicking the Reports tab in the Oracle Web Conferencing Application.
The usage report is designed to give high-level Oracle Web Conferencing usage metrics to business administrators and business managers. This report contains data which is based on one of the following two metrics:
The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are then summarized with a trending pattern that displays the count and percentage change over the previous time period. The report gives business administrators and business managers an idea of what collaborative modes and features are used, top users, and line-of-business information. The usage report is computed for a weekly period. Any user who has access to the report can view historical data in addition to the current data by keying in the relevant dates.
The following metrics are captured in the usage report:
In addition to the weekly KPIs table, the conference minutes and usage details are displayed in a time series of week, month, quarter, and year. The weekly average over the highest period is also computed.
The feedback report is designed to give high-level system performance feedback through user ratings to the business administrator and to business managers. The report contains data which is based on performance ratings given by conference hosts at the end of every conference.
The host of the conference can give a comment (raw text feedback) and can rate a conference excellent, good, or poor. The host can also decide to not rate the conference, in which case the conference is classified with no response. The KPIs are then summarized with a trending pattern displaying the count and percentage change over the previous time period.
Below the KPIs table, the top ten conferences with poor, good, excellent, and no response ratings with user comments are listed. These are grouped into four individual tables. Only conferences with host comments are listed in the tables. This convenient format allows administrators to respond proactively to the users who rate the conferences poor.
Oracle Web Conferencing provides tests that can be used by monitoring infrastructures to periodically monitor the system for service availability. This data can then be used to produce uptime reports. See Section 7.6, "Real-Time Collaboration Interfaces" for more information on the tests and how to integrate them with your monitoring infrastructure.