Media Manager user policy settings

You can grant or limit access to media features by enabling or disabling various policies for users. Sametime® Media Manager policy changes take effect in 60 minutes by default.

You can change the default time that Instant Messaging and Media Manager policies take effect by editing the REFRESH_RULES_INTERVAL setting in the [policy] section of the sametime.ini file.

All unauthenticated users will have the anonymous policy, Media Manager Anonymous Policy, applied to them. For authenticated users, Sametime searches for a user ID or group match, and then applies the highest weighted policy. If there is no match for an assigned default policy, the Media Manager Default Policy is applied.

In a deployment with multiple Sametime communities, most policies are applied when a user logs in to any community. Updated or new Conference Template settings are applied after any cached objects expire, or the servers are restarted. Some policies are applied only when the client logs in to the default community. The following tables flag those policies that are applied only when users log in to their default communities.

Table 1. Voice and Video
Policy setting descriptions for Voice and Video
Setting	Purpose	Default Policy	Anonymous Policy	Applies to Default Community Only?
Allow access to third-party service provider capabilities from contact lists, instant messages, and meetings	Allows outside vendors to provide audio and video for instant messages and instant meetings. This setting does not apply to browser meetings.	Not selected	Not selected	No
Allow changes to preferred numbers	This setting displays only if Allow access to third-party service provider capabilities from contact lists, instant messages, and meetings is selected. If this setting is not selected, users cannot add telephony devices, and the administrator controls which devices can make or receive calls in the system.	Selected	Selected	No
Voice and video capabilities available through the Sametime Media Manager:	Allows users to use computer audio and video in instant messages and instant meetings. Choices are: None Audio only Audio and video This setting does not apply to browser users. Use the next setting instead.	Audio and video	Audio and video	No
Allow Audio/Video use in the web browser	Allows users to have audio-video capabilities in Sametime Meetings from a web browser.	Selected	Selected	No
Allow access to service provider for internal audio and video conferences	Allows access to internal service provider for audio and video conferences. Users cannot make multiway or conference calls if this is disabled.	Selected	Selected	No
Enable encryption for the client	Encryption level for service provider conferences using Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) Encryption. Note that the application of these choices are impacted by the Conference Template encryption setting. Choices are: Off - the call is set up without encryption. If the Conference template is set to Encrypt All or Encrypt when possible, then the call is rejected by the server. On - the call is encrypted when possible. If the conference template is set to No Encryption, then the call is rejected by the client. Auto - the call is encrypted when possible. If the conference template is set to No Encryption, then the call is set up without encryption. Important: Use the same setting for the Default User Policy and the Anonymous User Policy. Anonymous users joining a conference must have encryption settings that are compatible with the default conference template, or they will not be able to join the call.	Auto	Auto	No
Video resolution	Video quality is affected by the available network bandwidth. The higher the video resolution, the more bandwidth is required and the better quality. The Sametime video codec automatically adapts to the available bandwidth and reduces the bit-rate to a certain threshold for each chosen video resolution. However, the quality suffers when the available bandwidth becomes too low, especially during peak utilization when the contention in the network routers causes packet loss. The video resolution is composed of the following elements: Resolution name - The video resolution name, for example, Common Intermediate Format (CIF) Width x Height - The dimensions of the video in pixels Framerate - Frames per second Bit-rate - Maximum kilobits per second Setting a custom video resolution overrides the selected video resolution. Use the same syntax when specifying a custom video resolution. For details see Video resolution bandwidth requirements. Note: You can use this setting in a mixed Sametime pre-9.0 and 9.0 client deployment. This setting applies only to pre-9.0 clients, therefore, in a mixed environment the setting only impacts the pre-9.0 clients. The Sametime 9.0 clients are not affected. See Table 5 in this topic for information about resolution settings for a mixed-version deployment.	CIF352x288@15fps 384kbps	CIF352x288@15fps 384kbps	No
Client line rate	The maximum allowed line rate. For person-to-person calls, the higher the line rate, the better the resolution. For a conference the higher line rate provides higher resolution, and also allows more streams. This line rate overrides the client policy only when a conference is used. It is recommended that you set the same value for the conference line rate, the client line rate and the mobile client line rate. Note: This setting applies only to Sametime 9.0 clients.	384 kbps	384 kbps	No

Table 2. Sametime Unified Telephony
Policy setting descriptions for Sametime Unified Telephony
Setting	Purpose	Default Policy	Anonymous Policy	Applies to Default Community Only?
Allow changes to the permanent call routing rule	If this setting is not selected a lock icon appears for this rule in the user's preferences. "Allow access to third-party service provider capabilities from contact lists, instant messages, and meetings" must be selected to specify this setting. This setting does not apply to browser users.	Selected	Selected	No
Allow use of "Offline" status in call routing rules	Allows users to add their own devices to make and receive calls. "Allow access to third-party service provider capabilities from contact lists, instant messages, and meetings" must be selected to specify this setting. This setting does not apply to browser users.	Selected	Selected	No

Table 3. Mobile Audio Video Policy
Policy setting descriptions for Mobile devices
Setting	Purpose	Default Policy	Anonymous Policy	Applies to Default Community Only?
AV Policy for Mobile	Allows users to use computer audio and video on mobile devices. Choices are: None - Audio and video policy settings do not apply, but are not disabled. Audio only - The supported client line rates are 64 and 128. Audio and video - Audio and video policy settings apply.	Audio and video	Audio and video	No
Allow Mobile Client Video on WiFi only	Use this setting for low bandwidth capability for mobile data.	Not selected	Not selected	No
Call Line Rate for Mobile Client	The maximum allowed line rate for a mobile conference. Tip: It is recommended to set the same value for the conference line rate, the client line rate and the mobile client line rate.	384 kbps	384 kbps	No
Allow call history to be stored on Mobile Client	Enables ability to store call history on mobile device	Selected	Selected	No

Table 4. Conference Template Setting Options
Policy setting descriptions for conference templates
Setting	Purpose	Default	Anonymous	Applies to Default Community Only?
Conference Template Name	Identifies custom templates	Not applicable	Uses default Conference Template	No
Cascaded Conference	Note: This feature is not supported in Sametime 9.0.	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Conference Mode	Sets conference line rate based on client deployment. Choices are: SVC only - Used in a 9.0 client environment. SVC-only audio sessions are not recorded during a recorded meeting. For more information, see the Tech Note: SVC-only audio sessions are not recorded during a recorded meeting. Mixed AVC and SVC - Used in an environment that has both pre-9.0 and 9.0 clients. This mode is also required for recording the conference and connecting to an outside bridge. AVC only - Used in a pre-9.0 environment	Mixed AVC and SVC	Not applicable	No
Conference Mode Experience	Available only if Conference Mode is set to Mixed AVC and SVC. This setting determines the video resolution pairing between Sametime 9.0 (SVC) and Sametime 8.5.2 (AVC) clients in a conference. By default, the 8.5.2 client is configured to receive the lowest video resolution stream available from remote 9.0 clients. If you increase this resolution, number of video streams possible decreases because of the high bandwidth and processing requirement for decoding video on the 9.0 client. If the client line rate is below the minimum required for a given conference type, the call will be audio only. See Table 5 for Conference Mode Experience resolution specifications for these choices. Optimized for mobile devices (Recommended for mixed client environments) Optimized for QVGA Optimized for CIF Optimized for standard definition Optimized for high definition	Optimized for mobile devices	Optimized for mobile devices	No
Conference Line Rate	Sets the maximum allowed line rate for the conference. Tip: It is recommended to set the same value for the conference line rate, the client line rate and the mobile client line rate.	384 kbps	384 kbps	No
Encryption	Sets encryption for the conference. However, as noted in the following options, encryption behavior is impacted if client encryption settings (Table 1) differ from conference encryption. Encrypt all - If encryption for the client is set to Off, then the call is rejected by the server Encrypt when possible - If encryption for the client is set to Off, then the call is rejected by the server. No encryption - If encryption for the client is set to Off or Auto, then call is not encrypted. However, if the Client is On then call is rejected by client.	Encrypt when possible	Encrypt when possible	No
Video Quality	Available only if conference mode is set to Mixed AVC and SVC. Choices are Sharpness - Gives higher resolution so details of objects are clearer. Motion - Increases the frame rate which improves clarity of moving objects. Note: The amount of bandwidth available impacts the amount of improvement for either of these choices.	Sharpness	Sharpness	No

Table 5 lists the recommended resolution settings for Sametime pre-9.0, 9.0, and later clients in a mixed-client environment.

Table 5. Conference Mode Experience Resolution
Resolution settings for the Conference Mode Experience template setting
Setting	Lowest Resolution - Sametime 9.0 (and later)	Recommended Resolution - Sametime pre-9.0	Minimum Client Line Rate - Sametime 9.0 (and later)	Maximum Video Streams Client Can Receive
Optimized for mobile devices	180p@7.5 fps	QCIF 176x144@15 fps 128 kbps level=10	256 kbps	6 (with 1920 kbps line rate)
Optimized for QVGA	240p@15 fps	QCIF 176x144@30 fps 192 kbps level=11	256 kbps	4 (with 1920 kbps line rate)
Optimized for CIF	240p@15 fps	CIF 352x288@15 fps 384 kbps level=12	512 kbps	4 (with 1920 kbps line rate)
Optimized for VGA	480p@30 fps	VGA 640x480@30 fps 384 kbps level 30	512 kbps	1
Optimized for standard definition	480p@30 fps	432P 720x432@30 fps 512 kbps level 31	768 kbps	1
Optimized for high definition	720p@30 fps	HD-720p 1280x720@30 fps 768 kbps level 31	1024 kbps	1