MCU Management
Polycom, Inc. 127
Considerations when using MCUs with the RealPresence DMA system
In high security mode, the RealPresence DMA system uses only HTTPS for the conference control
connection to MCUs, and you must configure your MCUs to accept encrypted connections. We recommend
doing so. When unencrypted connections are used, the MCU login name and password are sent
unencrypted over the network.
The Polycom RealPresence DMA system knows only what resources an MCU has currently available. It
can’t know what’s been scheduled for future use.
The Automatic Password Generation feature, introduced in RMX version 7.0.2, is not compatible with the
Polycom RealPresence DMA system. On Polycom MCUs to be used with the Polycom RealPresence DMA
system, disable this feature by setting the system flags NUMERIC_CONF_PASS_DEFAULT_LEN and
NUMERIC_CHAIR_PASS_DEFAULT_LEN both to 0 (zero).
The following table describes the fields in the list (the View Details command lets you see this information
in a more readable form for the selected MCU).
Note: Bandwidth management requires MCU registration
For H.323 calls to a conference room (virtual meeting room, or VMR), the RealPresence DMA system
can only do bandwidth management if the MCU is registered with it (in a supercluster, registered with
any cluster). If the MCU is unregistered or registered to another gatekeeper (not part of the
supercluster), the bandwidth for the call is not counted for bandwidth management, site statistics, or
the network usage report.
In a SIP signaling environment, in order for a Polycom RealPresence Collaboration Server or RMX
MCU to register with the RealPresence DMA system’s Call Server, two system flags on the MCU must
be set properly:
• Set the MS_ENVIRONMENT flag to NO.
• Make sure the SIP_REGISTER_ONLY_ONCE flag is set to NO or not present.
In order for the Polycom RealPresence DMA system to assign an alternate gatekeeper to an MCU,
the MCU must be in a territory that has a backup RealPresence DMA system assigned to it.
Note: Resource usage reporting
The RealPresence DMA system reports port numbers based on resource usage for CIF calls. Version
8.1 and later Polycom MCUs report port numbers based on resource usage for HD720p30 calls. In
general, 3 CIF = 1 HD720p30, but it varies depending on bridge/card type and other factors.
See your Polycom RealPresence Collaboration Server or RMX system documentation for more
detailed information about resource usage.