Microsoft Office Live Meeting Service Portal
Administrator’s Guide
Published: August 2010
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Contents
Introduction
What’s New
New in This Version
Fixed in This Version
Planning the Installation
Understanding the Features
Upgrading the Portal from a Previous Version
Installing the Portal
Installing an Additional Instance of the Portal
Configuring the Portal
Web Server Security
Considerations for Macintosh Clients Using Safari
Configuring the Portal
Keyboard Shortcuts for Common Portal Tasks
Configuration Panels
Best Practices for Office Live Meeting Account Management
Editing the Portal Configuration File
Managing the Portal
Maintaining Performance Counters
Uninstalling the Portal
Appendix A: How the Portal Works
Appendix B: Troubleshooting the Portal
General Installation Issues
Troubleshooting Specific Error Messages
Additional Resources
Microsoft Office Live Meeting Service Portal Administrator’s Guide1
Introduction
The Microsoft® Office Live Meeting Service Portal (“the Portal”) is a Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Web application that uses ASP.NET. The Portal communicates with the Office Live Meeting service through (Extensible Markup Language (XML) application programming interface (API) calls sent across the Internet. Figure 1, below, shows the architecture of the Portal.
Figure1Functional View of the Intranet Portal Architecture
Users can access the Portal Web pages from Web browsers to:
- Create a new Office Live Meeting account.
- Sign into the Office Live Meeting service.
- Change the password for anOffice Live Meeting account.
- Allow users to access rich content related to Office Live Meeting.
Programs or scripts that call the Portal Web methods can automate Office Live Meeting account management. Use the Web methods to:
- Create or delete anOffice Live Meeting account.
- Activate or deactivate an Office Live Meeting account.
- Change the password for anOffice Live Meeting account.
- Get the status of anOffice Live Meeting account.
- Get a ticket for login to a meeting.
For detailed information and compilable samples about Web methods, see the Microsoft Office Live Meeting Service Portal API Documentation.
What’s New
This section lists features that are new for Live Meeting Service Portal, as well as issues that have been fixed in this version.
New in This Version
This version of the Live Meeting Service Portal contains the following enhancements.
- Updated Platform Support
The Portal has been updated to work with more current platforms. Specially, the Portal now runs on Windows Server 2008, Windows 2008 R2 and .Net 3.0, .NET 3.5 and .Net 4.0.
NOTE: This version of the Portal does not work on Windows 2003.
Planning the Installation
Before you install the Portal, plan to make the Portal meet the following criteria:
Scalable
If large numbers of Office Live Meeting users will be signing in to Office Live Meeting concurrently, you can deploy the Portal on two or more Web servers located behind a hardware or software load balancer. Clients access the Web servers using a common domain name with a single virtual IP address. The load-balancing hardware or software intercepts each incoming HTTP request and directs it to one of the Web servers in the cluster.
The Portal can be used with a variety of load-balancing systems including Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB). Windows NLB is included as part of the Windows Server® 2008 and Windows Server 2008R2, operating systems. The Portal does not maintain session state across client calls; you are not required to use load-balancing hardware or software to maintain the session state.
Available
You may want to deploy two or more copies of the Portal Web application on different Web servers for availability. This permits users to sign in to Office Live Meeting, even if a Portal Web server fails. Do this by installing the Portal on two or more Web servers located behind a load balancer (hardware or software) as previously described for scalability.
Accessible
You can deploy a Portal that is easily reached from the Internet. This is useful if members of your organization must access the Portal while traveling, working from home, or visiting remote locations. Alternatively, deploy the Portal inside your firewall and require users to access the Portal through a VPN connection.
If you make your Portal reachable from the Internet, consider deploying the Portal Web server in a perimeter network to help implement security measures. An Internet-visible Portal Web server should be using Basic authentication and SSL, or some similar security measures.
Secure
The Web site where you install the Portal must be secure (for example, configured to use SSL).
Understanding the Features
The Portal makes it easier to deploy and manage Office Live Meeting. Use the Portal to:
- Automatically create Office Live Meeting accounts for users. When a user browses to the Portal Create page, the Portal:
- Authenticates the user through Windows authentication.
- Retrieves the user’s attributes from Active Directory® Domain Services.
- Determines if the user has anOffice Live Meeting account by contacting the Office Live Meeting service.
- If the user does not have an account, but is entitled to one, the Portal creates the account for the user.
The administrator controls the type of account created, if any, through Portal configuration options and Active Directory group memberships.
- Allow authenticated Windows users to sign into Office Live Meeting without entering anOffice Live Meeting user ID and password. When a user browses to the Portal Login page, the Portal:
- Authenticates the user through Windows authentication.
- Retrieves the user’s attributes from Active Directory.
- Determines whether the user has anOffice Live Meeting account by contacting the Office Live Meeting service.
- Automatically signs the user into Office Live Meeting.
When users sign into Office Live Meeting through the Portal, they do not enter and do not know their Office Live Meeting password. The Portal eliminates the need for the administrator to issue and manage Office Live Meeting user IDs and passwords.
- Reveal the Office Live Meeting password to users when they create their Office Live Meeting accounts, provided that the administrator has enabled this feature. Revealing the password permits users to sign into the Office Live Meeting service directly without going through the Portal or when the Portal is not accessible.
- Allow users to change or reset their Office Live Meeting passwords. Administrators can set rules for passwords using Office Live Meeting.
- Ensure that deactivated Windows users do not sign into Office Live Meeting. Do this by requiring users to sign in through the Portal and by not revealing Office Live Meeting passwords to them. The Portal ensures that only users with active Windows accounts can sign into Office Live Meeting.
- Automatically synchronize a user’s Office Live Meeting account settings with the user’s Active Directory settings each time the user signs in through the Portal. For example, by changing a user’s Active Directory group membership, anOffice Live Meeting organizer can be promoted to an administrator or demoted to a member.
- Automate Office Live Meeting account management by writing programs or scripts that use the Portal Web methods. For example, use the CreateAccount Web method whenever a new user joins the organization. Similarly, use the DeactivateAccount Web method whenever a user leaves the organization.
Upgrading the Portal from a Previous Version
- NOTE: Because an upgrade from the previous version of the Portal to this version of the Portal requires an operating system change, you cannot “upgrade”. Instead, you need to set up a machine with the new operating system, install this version of the Portal and then transfer the configuration to the new portal.
Installing the Portal
Before installing the Portal, ensure you meet the hardware and software requirements.
If you experience issues during or after installation, see the appendix, “Troubleshooting the Portal,” later in this document.
Hardware Requirements
The Portal Web server must meet the following minimum hardware requirements:
For Windows Server 2008 R2 Systems:
Processor / Minimum: 1.4 GHz (x64 processor)Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems
Memory / Minimum: 512 MB RAM
Maximum: 8 GB (Foundation) or 32 GB (Standard) or 2 TB (Enterprise, Datacenter, and Itanium-Based Systems)
Disk Space Requirements / Minimum: 32 GB or greater
Note: Computers with more than 16 GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files
For Windows Server 2008 Systems
Processor / Minimum: 1 GHz (x86 processor) or 1.4 GHz (x64 processor)Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems
Memory / Minimum: 512 MB RAM
Maximum (32-bit systems): 4 GB (Standard) or 64 GB (Enterprise and Datacenter)
Maximum (64-bit systems): 8 GB (Foundation) or 32 GB (Standard) or 2 TB (Enterprise, Datacenter, and Itanium-Based Systems)
Disk Space Requirements / Minimum: 32 GB or greater
Note: Computers with more than 16 GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files
Software Requirements
The Portal Web server must meet the following software requirements:
- Operating system: Windows Server 2008 (32 bit or 64 bit), Windows Server 2008R2(64bit)
- Microsoft Internet Information Services with ASP.NET
- Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.0, 3.5 or 4.0
- Microsoft Internet Explorer® Internet browser version 6 or later
Pre-Installation Security Requirements
The Web site where you install the Portal must be secure (for example, configured to use SSL). For more information, refer to the “Configuring SSL on Servers” topic in the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager Help.
Installation
Install the Portal as described in the following procedure.
To install the Portal
- Run lmportal.exe from the directory where the file was downloaded.
- Setup creates shortcuts in the Start menu and Internet Explorer Favorites folder to help you quickly get to the Portal Web pages. These shortcuts are created from the Live Meeting Portal Configuration page in Setup.
- Specify the virtual directory, and select the website that the virtual directory will be added to from the drop down in the Select Virtual Directory and Web Site dialog box,as shown below in Figure2.
Figure2Specifying the Virtual Directory and Website
On this dialog box, the Virtual directory field is used to specify the name of the IIS virtual directory to be created for the Portal application. The Website nameis used to identify the IIS Web site in which to create the virtual directory. The IIS Web site that you specify must already exist and be configured to use SSL. The Portal installer does not create this Web site.
- When Setup is finished, you can configure the Portal.
If you experience issues during or after installation, see the appendix, “Troubleshooting the Portal,”later in this document.
Installing an Additional Instance of the Portal
You can install two or more instances of the Portal on a single server. This is useful if you have two or more Office Live Meeting conference centers. For example, you might have one Office Live Meeting conference center for support and another for training. Each Portal works with a single Office Live Meeting conference center. Both Portals can be installed on the same server.
NoteIf you want to remove this additional portal instance at a later time, you must manually uninstall it. Simply deleting the virtual directory will not remove the additional portal instance.
To install two or more instances of the Portal on a single server
- Install the first instance of the Portal as previously described.
- Create a new Portal Web site directory to contain the additional Portal instance. For example, if the original Portal instance is contained in directory C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Live Meeting 8\Intranet Portal\Portal create a new directory, such as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Live Meeting 8\Intranet Portal\Portal2.
- Copy all the files in the original Portal Web site directory to the new Portal Web site directory. This includes the contents of the \Intranet Portal\Portal and all subfolders.
- Start Internet Information Services. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services Manager.
- In the Sites tree view control in the left pane, expand %machinename%(local computer), Web, and then Default Web Site.
- To start the Virtual Directory Creation Wizard, right-click Default Web Site, and then click Add Application.
- Enter the alias you want to assign to the new portal. For example, LMPortal2.
- Enter the physical path of the new portal Web site directory created above. For example: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Live Meeting 8\Intranet Portal\Portal2.
- Select Live Meeting Intranet Portal AppPool from the Application Pool list and click OK.
- On the server desktop, open the folder containing the new instance of the Portal (for example, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Live Meeting8\Intranet Portal\Portal2).
- Right-click the Portal.config file, and then click Properties.
- In the Properties dialog box, on the Security tab, click Edit, then click Add. Enter the object name as Network Service, and then click OK.
- In the Properties dialog box, next to Network Service, click Full Control.
- Open the folder containing the PortalExport folder (for example, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Live Meeting8\Intranet Portal\Portal2).
- Right-click the PortalExport folder, and then click Properties.
- In the Properties dialog box, in the Security tab, click Edit, then click Add. Enter the object name as Network Service, and then click OK.
- In the Properties dialog box, next to Network Service, click Full Control.
- Start Internet Explorer (by Run as Administrator)and browse to the Settings.aspx Web page in the virtual directory that you just created, for example,
These instructions can also be used to install the Intranet Portal under an additional Web site on the same server. To do so, use these instructions to manually create a virtual directory under another Web site.
If you experience issues during or after installation, see the appendix, “Troubleshooting the Portal,” later in this document.
Configuring the Portal
This section covers Web server security, configuring a portal or multiple portals, and steps you through the Web Portal Configuration page.
Web Server Security
Setup configures the Portal Web site to require integrated Windows authentication. As a result, only authenticated Windows users are allowed to access the Portal Web pages.
If you deploy a Portal in the perimeter network and make it accessible from outside the firewall, you must configure the Portal Web site to help secure it for Internet access. You should use normal IIS Web server security features to help secure the Portal Web site. For example, use Basic authentication and SSL. If you installed two or more instances of the Portal on a single server, provide security for all Web sites where the portal is installed.
You must choose an IIS authentication mechanism that assigns the Web user a Windows identity. This is essential because the Portal requires the user’s Windows identity to locate the user in Active Directory.
Note
For more information about IIS security, see the IIS documentation.
You can specify IP address restrictions to help ensure that your Portal is only accessed from IP addresses that you trust. For more information about granting and denying access to computers, see the IIS Documentation.
Considerations for Macintosh Clients Using Safari
A Portal user running the Apple Safari internet browser on an Apple Macintosh computer cannot access the Portal under normal security provisions. However, you can manually configure the Portal virtual directory settings in IIS to allow access to Safari users.