Cisco TMSXE Administrator Guide
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system/room. These two representations must be kept in synch to allow users in either environment to
use them interchangeably.
Because Cisco TMS understands more about the resources, and adds additional checks before
allowing a meeting to be created, Cisco TMS is the authoritative role. Meetings are not allowed to be
saved, unless Cisco TMS says the meeting is valid. For meetings created directly in Cisco TMS, this
is done by default and Cisco TMS does not need to check with Exchange. For meetings created in
Exchange, this means Exchange must check with Cisco TMS, before allowing a meeting to be saved.
Additionally, there must be a synchronization process to ensure any meetings or changes that
originate in Cisco TMS, are updated on the calendars in Exchange.
To achieve this, two methods are used. The Cisco TMSXE software interjects when a meeting is
attempted to be saved in a resource’s Exchange Calendar so it can check with Cisco TMS, and a
synchronization process is used to update Exchange with changes that originate on the Cisco TMS
side.
To interject when meetings are saved in Exchange, Cisco TMSXE uses ‘Calendar Sinks’ on the
resource accounts. Whenever someone attempts to write to the Calendar, the details are provided to
Cisco TMS, and a meeting is created in Cisco TMS based on the details of the Exchange invitation. If
the meeting is able to be saved in Cisco TMS, the meeting is allowed to be saved in Exchange, and
the booking user gets an acceptance message followed by an email with the meeting details from
Cisco TMS. If the meeting is not possible to save in Cisco TMS, the meeting in Exchange is rejected
and the user receives an email stating why. Sinks allows Cisco TMSXE to inject itself only on
resource accounts the administrator intends to be integrated with Cisco TMS; leaving all other
calendars and resources untouched and operating as before.
Because the sink method only interjects when a meeting is saved on an Exchange Calendar,
something must update the Exchange Calendars if changes are made to the representation of the
system/room in Cisco TMS. This process is handled by a synchronizer installed on the Exchange
Server that is notified whenever a booking change happens on Cisco TMS. The synchronizer
connects to Cisco TMS to determine if the change affects any of the systems integrated in Exchange,
and updates their calendars as needed. The synchronizer also automatically checks every 3 minutes
as a failsafe in case notifications from Cisco TMS are missed. Using these methods, resource
calendars are updated almost immediately after changes have been made in Cisco TMS.
The combination of interjecting when writing to the calendars of resource accounts and Synchronizing
keep the separate representations of the same room or system in synch across both platforms.
Changes and Impact of Cisco TMSXE Installation on Existing Servers
This section is provided as reference for administrators who desire to understand fully the impact of
installing Cisco TMSXE integration on their Exchange Server.
As part of the guided installation, the installer makes the some necessary changes in the scope of
Domain users, the Exchange Server, and Cisco TMS Server. The changes of significance are listed
below.
Changes on Exchange Server and Domain
The installing user specifies an Organization Unit (OU) to use as the default location for all
accounts created by the software. The user is given a choice to create a new OU if desired.
A ‘TMS-Service’ Active Directory user account is created in the local domain in the selected OU
to act as a service account on the Exchange Server
•
A strong password is automatically created for the user. This can be changed using the
Configuration Utility post-installation if needed.
•
A mailbox is created for TMS-Service account and an inbox sink is registered on the mailbox
•
There is an option to re-use an existing AD user account if desired instead of creating a new
one if desired
