Exchange 2000's Conferencing Service

[Editor's Note: At press time, the current release of Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server was beta 3. Because Microsoft might have changed the product's functionality since then, read the current release's documentation carefully.]

Many engineers learn about new technologies when they must administer Microsoft's implementation of a technology. For example, numerous people became DNS experts by installing and configuring the DNS server in Windows NT 4.0. Only later did they research the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Requests for Comments (RFCs) and other implementations.

Likewise, many of us will learn about data and videoconferencing now that Microsoft is joining the conferencing fray. Until now, Microsoft's primary videoconferencing product was NetMeeting. Some conferencing vendors have integrated this software into their products. Alternatively, you can use the software as a standalone application for small conferences. (For information about NetMeeting, see L. J. Locher, "Troubleshooting with NetMeeting," page 81.)

Microsoft has added Conferencing Services in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server (formerly code-named Platinum) to offer a full desktop conferencing solution that competes seriously with enterprise systems that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. To use this new service, you must understand its features and architecture. (For a list of conferencing resources, see "Exchange 2000 Conferencing Resources," page 74.)

The Desktop Experience
Users must schedule data and videoconferences. To schedule a conference, you must use the Microsoft Outlook 2000 calendar interface. (In the future, other clients, such as the Web client, might offer scheduling capabilities.) For example, if I wanted to create a conference with several other people, I'd start Outlook 2000, open the Calendar folder under Outlook Today (or click the Calendar icon in the Outlook Bar), and select New Meeting Request from the Actions menu. In the Meeting window, which Screen 1, page 74, shows, I'd enter attendees, type a subject, and select start and end times.

These actions are familiar. But to use Exchange 2000's Conferencing Services, you need to select the check box This is an online meeting using: and select Microsoft Exchange Conferencing. (In Exchange 2000 beta 3 and the current release of Outlook 2000, you must add a Registry key on the client desktop to add Microsoft Exchange Conferencing to the online meeting list. You need to add a key called Exchange Conferencing to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook subkey, with no values. This Registry hack won't be necessary in subsequent releases.) Selecting these options changes the meeting request dialog box. As Screen 2, page 74, shows, additional fields are available. For example, you can select the Allow external attendees check box to let people other than those you've invited participate.

Before you can send the meeting request, you must select a conference resource. A conference resource is roughly equivalent to a conference room for face-to-face meetings in an office setting. The Microsoft Exchange Server administrator in charge of conferencing for users' Windows 2000 (Win2K) sites sets up conference resources.

To set up a conference resource, click To, which opens the Select Attendees and Resources dialog box. Then, select a conference resource from the Global Address List (GAL) and add the resource to the Resources field, as Screen 3 shows. Click OK to close the window. Then, click Send to forward the request to the selected invitees' mailboxes. If you selected the option to permit external attendees, clicking Send also generates an entry on a conference Web site that Microsoft Exchange Conferencing Manager Services maintains. By default, this Web site is on the computer that runs Conferencing Manager Services (every server running Exchange 2000 must run Microsoft Internet Information Server—IIS), but the location might be configurable in a later release of the software. Conferencing Manager Services monitors the conference mailbox continuously for new conferences and creates a link on the Web site that points to the conference resource when the service finds a new conference.

To join a conference, an attendee must first accept the meeting invitation. Accepting the invitation puts an entry in the attendee's Outlook 2000 calendar. Screen 4 shows the details for the meeting I organized. Note that the meeting location changed. In Screen 2, I entered Your computer as the location. However, Exchange 2000 changed the location to the URL for the Exchange 2000 Web site that Conferencing Manager Services maintains. To become part of the meeting, at the time of the conference, the participant clicks Join Conference on the toolbar.

An external attendee who wants to join the conference must go to the conference Web site (e.g., http://sswin2000/conferencing). Screen 5 shows the default page for my example Web site. To see a list of conferences you can join, click Show me the public conferences currently in session.

In my example, three conferences are available: Discuss buying limits, Australian trip, and Review party plans. Clicking the hyperlink for a conference (e.g., Australian trip) opens a browser window that contains the Exchange 2000 data and videoconferencing interface, which Screen 6, page 76, shows.

The Exchange 2000 conferencing client has three panes. The left pane contains information about the conference, including the subject, start and end times, and the organizer's name. The top right pane (i.e., the data-conferencing pane) is an embedded NetMeeting client that lists current conference participants. The bottom right pane (i.e., the videoconferencing pane) is a native Exchange 2000 application that communicates in a point-to-point fashion with the same application on other videoconference participants' desktops.

Two main differences exist between these panes and NetMeeting's interface. First, in a NetMeeting conference, data and video clients communicate with one another through the first NetMeeting client that joins the conference. Although Exchange 2000 data-conferencing uses NetMeeting, clients point to the Exchange 2000 data conferencing server rather than to the first NetMeeting participant. Second, Exchange 2000 videoconferencing doesn't use NetMeeting; instead, Exchange 2000 includes a native Telephony API (TAPI) 3.0 module that lets clients communicate directly with one another over IP multicast.

As participants join an Exchange 2000 conference, their names appear in the data-conferencing pane. In this pane, you can use NetMeeting's standard functionality. For example, you can enter a chat session, share applications with other participants, or use a joint whiteboard. If other participants have video cameras, Exchange 2000 adds their video transmissions as screens within a screen to the videoconferencing pane. The number of video windows you can see simultaneously depends on your computer's power, and you can configure the software with a number that you don't want it to exceed. To end a conference, close the browser window.

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