ConferenceXP 4.1 Installation Notes

From UW Center for Collaborative Technologies Wiki

This documents provides installation instructions and notes for the various ConferenceXP 4.1 software components. In general, each software component has a separate MSI installer for 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. The exceptions (currently, the CXP Client) are described below.

Contents 1 Client 1.1 Vista Audio Issues 1.2 To install the audio codec: 1.3 Using Audio Buffer Settings 2 Venue Service 2.1 Step 1: Install and Activate IIS 2.2 Step 2: Install and activate .NET and ASP.NET 2.2.1 Installing .NET Framework 2.0 2.2.2 Registering ASP.NET with IIS 2.3 Step 3: Run the setup utility 2.4 Step 4: Miscellaneous Post-Processing 3 Archive Service 4 Reflector

Client

For 32-bit architectures, it suffices to open and run the client MSI file.

For 64-bit architectures, the 32-bit MSI installer is currently the preferred choice. ConferenceXP depends on a video codec for which there does not yet exist a 64-bit version. The 64-bit MSI should be treated as experimental and unsupported.

For Vista-based systems, the client pops up a security warning each time the program is launched. The only way to avoid this currently is to disable Vista's User Account Control (UAC).

Running Reflector Service and Client on the same system is not supported.

Vista Audio Issues

The audio codec used by ConferenceXP "Windows Media Audio V2" is not included in Vista. If the codec is not installed, the only audio options available will be uncompressed. One symptom if the missing codec is very choppy audio. Another symptom is that setting the audio compression check box in the advanced audio dialog doesn't stick on.

The audio codec can be found in this download: kb324290, however the installation was found not to work on Vista using the included setup executable.

To install the audio codec:

• Download the update to c:\wmpcdcs8.exe
• Make an admin command prompt and execute the following:
  • cd \
  • mkdir wmpcdcs8
  • wmpcdcs8.exe /T:c:\wmpcdcs8 /C
• Now a set of files should be extracted to the directory c:\wmpcdcs8
• Open explorer to that directory, and for each of the following files, right click and select install: msaudio.inf, wmadmo.inf, msaud.inf
• Now the codec should be installed.

Using Audio Buffer Settings

Beginning with ConferenceXP 4.1.2, you can customize the buffers for audio processing using the advanced audio settings dialog. Generally speaking larger buffers will remove choppiness from the higher bitrate uncompressed audio. The trade-off is that larger buffers will also increase audio latency.

Venue Service

The steps are: 1) Install and activate IIS; 2) Install and activate Microsoft .NET and ASP.NET; 3) Install the Venue Service MSI; 4) Miscellaneous post-processing steps. The precise set of steps differs for XP versus Vista and for the various IIS versions.

Step 1: Install and Activate IIS

To install IIS on Windows XP, follow these steps:

• Selecting Start => Control Panel => Add Or Remove Programs.
• Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
• In the Components list, select the Internet Information Services (IIS) check box, and then click Next.
• Click Finish.

On Vista, the process is streamlined such that IIS and ASP.NET are installed in one go. Refer to the instructions under the heading "To install IIS and ASP.NET on Windows Vista" on this page

Step 2: Install and activate .NET and ASP.NET

These instructions are for WindowsXP only. The above step should suffice for ASP.NET installation on Vista.

Installing .NET Framework 2.0

First, you must ensure that .NET 2.0 is installed. You can verify this by checking under the list of installed programs:

• Selecting Start => Control Panel => Add Or Remove Programs.
• Click Change or Remove Components. Actually, this is the default, so you shouldn't have to click anything.
• Check for the program Microsoft.NET framework 2.0 in the listing. If it exists, close the menu and skip to the registration step below.

If .NET 2.0 is not installed, follow these steps:

• Go to the Windows Update Web site.
• Click Custom Install.
• In the left navigation bar, click Select optional software updates.
• Select the check box to the left of Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0.
• Click Go to install updates.
• Click Install.

Registering ASP.NET with IIS

Next, you must register ASP.NET with IIS. Follow these steps:

• In Windows, on the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt. If running on Vista with UAC, be sure to right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
• At the command prompt, type:

%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.4322\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

Where v2.0.4322 is the version number of the .NET Framework that you installed on your server.

• Press Enter

Step 3: Run the setup utility

Run setup.exe to install the venue service.

Note that on XP, it suffices to run the associated MSI file.

Step 4: Miscellaneous Post-Processing

You may need to explicitly modify your firewall settings to allow through HTTP traffic on port 80.

For IIS 6.0, make sure the ASP.NET v2 "Web Service Extensions" are enabled. This option is set under the IIS configuration tool, which is part of "Administrative Tools" (which is available from the control panel).

Note that on Vista with UAC, you may need to explicitly run the administrative tool as administrator. Failure to do this results in a nasty, incomprehensible stack trace.

Archive Service

The Archive Service requires that Microsoft SQL Server be installed first. This can be either SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2000, or the (free) SQL Server Express 2005.

To simplify deployment, you should configure the database to you use a default (unnamed) instance. For ordinary SQL Server, this happens by default. Ironically, this is not the default for SQL Server Express. Follow these SQL Server Express installation instructions.

Next, run the MSI installer that is appropriate for your architecture. The installer will offer to initialize the database. You should select Yes unless you have pre-existing archive data that you wish to preserve.

If database initialization fails, or if you choose not to use a default database instance, refer to these instructions.

Archive Service Known Issues

• There is a firewall prompt near the end of setup that may appear behind the main setup dialog making it appear as if setup has hung.
• Under some circumstances there are Windows Firewall exceptions needed which are not created automatically by the installer. The symptom is that conferences appear to archive correctly, but when playing back a conference, no streams appear in the lower "streams" panel. The workaround is to manually add a firewall exception: Open the Firewall Exceptions dialog, click "Add Program", and browse to: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Research\ConferenceXP\ConferenceXP Archive Service 4.1\ArchiveWindowsService.exe"

Reflector

For all platforms, it suffices to open and run the reflector MSI file.

Reflector Service Known Issues

• During setup there is a prompt to add a firewall exception which may appear behind the main setup dialog, making it appear as if the setup process has hung.
• Running ConferenceXP client and Reflector Service on the same system is not supported.