Set Up Room Server and service using the room configuration wizard

The Room Server is the application which is responsible for the following functionality:

Connection with the central conference unit
Database connectivity
The component to which the various client applications connect

The room service gets all required parameters through the Room Server.

The first time you start the application, you need to go through the installation wizard to select the Conference system type, upload the license and select the database. After installation, you can still access the wizard at any time, for example when you need to make a change to the server configuration. To open the wizard, you need to start the Room Server in administrator mode.

Conference system setup

In this screen you can select the properties of the connection with the Plixus Engine. Select your conference system from the list in the drop down menu.

Plixus Multimedia Engine

The Room Server communicates with Plixus Core. This connection goes over a standard LAN-connection using the TCP/IP protocol. Parameters include:

IP-address. This is the IP address of the engine you want to connect to. The default IP for Plixus Engine is 192.168.0.100.
Port: this is port 5111 (fixed).

It is mandatory to click the Test Connection button. CoCon will then try to connect to Plixus Core and retrieve the correct room ID. (You can cancel the test if it takes too long). There are two possible outcomes:

Connection OK.

Connection not OK. In this case, a link becomes available where you can consult the log files. Possible causes are:

No physical connection (no network cable).

No ping (incorrect IP address, wrong subnet).
Error on the Central Unit, no reliable connection possible.

After the “Test connection” the “Next” button becomes active.

Add License

The license mechanism for CoCon depends on the hardware you’re connecting to.

Add license in CoCon

To add a license on Plixus Multimedia, perform the following actions:

When Test Connection was successful, click Next.
If CoCon can find a license file, it will download it from the Plixus engine and check whether it is correct and which modules are licensed.
1. If CoCon cannot find a valid license on the engine, you will see show the following:
  In this window you can see the MAC address of the device. This is the same MAC address as the one on the back of the engine.
2. Request license a via https://www.televic-conference.com/en/software-license-request.
3. Once you have the license file, add it to CoCon by clicking Browse for license file (.xml format).
4. CoCon checks if the license file is valid and shows the following message:
  CoCon now transfers the license via FTP to the Plixus engine. If this is successful, the following message appears:
  If the transfer failed, a message appear. A possible reason for this failure, is your firewall. Therefore, switch off Windows Firewall, your virus scanner’s firewall and Windows Defender.
  For advanced transfer of license file, we refer to the CoCon Advanced Installation document which you can find in the Help folder of the CoCon installation directory.

Add license in Plixus

You can also upload your license file on the Plixus web server. Surf to the IP address of your Plixus engine and go to the System info page . Click Upload license and browse to locate your license file.

Connect to database

The next steps in the configuration wizard allows you to choose, create and/or update the database that CoCon uses to store its data.

During installation of the SQL Server Express (the database that CoCon uses to store its data), a check is done whether the Computer Name is the same as the User Name. This is a situation which is considered bad practice in IT terms, and does not allow the successful completion of the SQL Server installation procedure. To solve this, stop the CoCon Room Server (using Task Manager which you can access by pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL), change either the Computer Name or the User Name and restart the CoCon Room Server.

Database detection

This step detects any databases that are already present or can be used to run CoCon on. The first step lets you choose between automatic detection and manual setup. The default option is selected, this shows a screen, where the CoCon Server is looking for usable database servers.

When you select the manual setup of the database, you need to define:

When you have an existing database

Database server
Authentication method

Create a new database: see "No database found: create new database"

No database found: create new database

If no usable database is found, CoCon will recommend creating a new database; as shown in the following screen:

The following paragraphs describe two possibilities in this situation.

Install SQL Server Express 2016: No Microsoft SQL Server Express is installed. The wizard will automatically install this database component and install a valid instance on the database so CoCon server can function correctly.
Note that this is an automated procedure during which no user input is required. It can however take some time to complete this operation.

SQL Server Express installed but no database found: Microsoft SQL Server Express installed but no instance found. At this point, you should follow the wizard and allow it to create a new instance.

Database installation failed

Sometimes the automatic installation of the database fails. If this happens you should manually install the SQL database. In the document Advanced CoCon installation which you can find in the Help folder of the CoCon installation directory, you can find an explanation on how to do this.

Compatible database found and usable

In this situation, CoCon found a usable database. CoCon will use this database to store its data.

Compatible database found and needs to update

Occasionally, the CoCon database will need to be updated. You will be notified of this, using a special wizard step. The update procedure will take some time, but no data will be lost.

Database configuration OK

If you would run through the configuration again and the database is configured correctly, you will see the following screen.

Click Change database (advanced) to change the database, using the steps described in the previous sections. If you click the button and then keep the current settings by clicking Next, you will see the following screen:

If you click Clear this database, all the information in the current database is deleted, so that you can start with a new empty database.

Room Selection

On this page you can select the room. Different options are possible: you can create a new room, or connect to an existing room. If you select an option, the wizard then shows what the result is in bold.

To create a new room, fill in a name and an optional description in the fields on top of the window.
When you create a new room, you have to reconfigure all settings.

If you want to take over an existing room, select any of the room names in Take over an existing room. Be aware that these rooms are already assigned to another server. If you select such room, the current room server will take over the control of the room from the other server.
Take control of an unassigned room. By selecting any of the names here, you can control an orphaned room (where no CoCon Room Server is associated with) and assign it to this server.

Advanced settings

In the last step of the Room Configuration wizard, you can set some advanced settings. The available options depend on the type of central unit you are using, and the enabled license option. The following settings are available

Setting	Description
General	Check the box “Run the room server at Windows start up” if you want to ensure that the CoCon server gets started every time this machine starts up. This can be very convenient for the server application, as no CoCon functionality is available when the server application is not started.
API	Check the box “Activate the API” to make sure the API is active the next time the Room Server is started. Note that the Room Server needs to be started with Administrator Rights to make sure that the necessary sockets can be opened for the API to function. The functionality of the API and the available calls are described in the “CoCon API Description” document which can be found in the Help folder of the CoCon installation directory. A CoCon plugin is available from the Crestron Application Market. This plugin serves as a solid foundation for your Crestron development and contains the following functions: Meeting overview for today Start/stop/pause meeting Meeting agenda Activate agenda items Start/stop/clear voting items Delegate list Activate microphones Speaker list, request list Change microphone mode You can find this plugin can be found on http://applicationmarket.crestron.com/televic-cocon/. If you have difficulties installing or configuring the plugin you can contact Crestron directly on applicationmarket@crestron.com
Customer specific	This section contains the activation of features that have been developed specifically for certain customers. This should not be selected for most users.
Camera Settings	Status: either ON or OFF Type: the following possibilities are present TCP/IP UDP Serial Protocol: the specific camera protocol that will be sent out by the CoCon Core Room Server. For more information, see 19 Camera Protocols. Additional settings, depending on the connection type: TCP/IP: for this type of connection, a local TCP Listening Port needs to be configured. The CoCon Room Server will listen on this local port for incoming connections from the camera system. Note that firewalls etc. need be configured so that traffic to this port is possible. UDP: for this type of connection, a remote IP-address/port needs to be entered. The CoCon Room Server will make a UDP-connection to this address/port and send the camera protocol over UDP to this port. Serial: for this type of connection, a local COM-port on the CoCon Room Server machine needs to be configured. To this local serial port, a serial cable is then connected that goes to the camera system.