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Help contents > Managing conferences > Managing participants > Viewing the conference participant list

Viewing the conference participant list

The Participant list displays information about active and previous participants in the conference. To access this list, go to Conferences and click a Conference name. Review this information for explanations about the details that display.

Conference information
Lock conference
Active participants
All-participant controls
Previous participants
Pre-configured participants
Summary information
Watching the conference

Conference information

Above the list of participants, certain information about the conference is displayed:

This conference is being recorded: If the conference is being recorded on an IP VCR, this message will appear.
Port usage: Each conference may have either imposed limits on the maximum number of media ports it is able to use, or a certain number of media ports reserved for its use. This section shows the video port and audio-only port reservation or limit, plus the streaming and content channel status for the conference.
See the full description of Port reservation for additional information.
Streaming: Whether streaming is in use or not for this conference.
Content channel: Whether the content channel is in use or not for this conference.
Encryption: If you have the encryption feature key enabled, the encryption status of the conference will be shown, which will either be not required or required.

Lock conference

A locked conference is one where new participants cannot dial in and you cannot start to stream the conference. (Existing participants and streaming viewers are not affected.) If a conference is locked, an icon will indicate this on the auto attendant. Text will also display on the auto attendant: 'This conference is locked'.

Admin users and the conference owner can lock and unlock a conference. The conference will be automatically unlocked by the MCU when the final participant leaves.

When a conference is locked, admin users and the conference owner will still be able to connect new endpoints and disconnect participants.

To lock a conference:

Go to Conferences and click on the name of the conference you want to lock. The Conference's Participant List displays.
Click the Lock conference button in the top right-hand corner of the page.

Active participants

Refer to the table below for details about the active participant list, which you can modify in the following ways:

You can end the conference, forcing all participants (including unicast streaming viewers) to be dropped, by clicking End conference.

For conferences that are "scheduled" rather than "ad hoc", ending the conference in this way causes any configured repetition to be cancelled. The ended conference would move from the "Scheduled conferences" list to the "Completed conferences" list. The configured duration of a completed conference reflects the actual duration of the conference rather than its original configured duration. For example, if a conference was scheduled to run from 09:00 until 10:00 (one hour) and the conference ended at 09:25, the configured duration would be changed to 25 minutes.

You can add a new H.323 or SIP video conferencing endpoint to the conference (either creating a new endpoint or by choosing an existing one) by clicking Add participant. See Adding participants.
You can add a new VNC endpoint to the conference (either by creating a new endpoint or by choosing an existing one) by clicking Add VNC. See Adding participants.

Field	Field description	Usage tips
Type	Indicates whether the participant's endpoint is an H.323, SIP, or VNC endpoint.
Participant	Displays the name of the endpoint. The following may also be displayed:
	User: <user id> If the participant has been resolved to a particular configured user (for instance by matching the participant's E.164 phone number against a configured value), then the appropriate user id will be shown here.	User names only display if the participant list is being viewed by an administrator, because only administrators have access to the configured user database.
	Configuration: <name> This indicates that this participant corresponds to a pre-defined endpoint. The <name> shown is the endpoint's configured name.	Configured endpoint names only display if the participant list is being viewed by a user whose privilege level is administrator or conference creation and full control; only users with these privilege levels have access to the configured endpoint database.
Controls	Makes participant important Makes participant unimportant	When you make a participant "important", it sets this participant as the focused participant. For example, this participant is considered the loudest participant even if they are not speaking. Only one participant can be identified as "important", and no participant is set to "important" by default. This option affects the layout views for the conference and individual participants. See Selecting a custom participant view and Customizing layout views. If the content channel is made "important", one participant can still be important. On endpoints that support H.239, the content channel will be displayed in the content channel window and the important participant will be given the focus in the main video window. On endpoints that do not support H.239, the important participant will be ignored as the content channel will be given the focus.
	Prevents others from hearing this participant (mute). Allows others to hear this participant's audio (stop muting) Prevents others from seeing this participant's video contribution (mute). Allows others to see this participant's video contribution (stop muting).	The presence of these controls is controlled by the Participant list controls setting on the Settings > User interface page (refer to Customizing the user interface).
	Disconnects a participant from the conference	You can configure the MCU to require confirmation when someone attempts to disconnect an individual participant from a conference. This setting is on the Settings > User interface page.
Status	Displays the time at which a participant connected to the conference. If a participant is not yet fully connected (for example, if the MCU has called a participant but it has not yet answered), then that is indicated here. The resolution of the participant's video stream is also displayed. The following additional indications may also be displayed:	If this column is selected as the sorting field, the listing is ordered according to when the participants connected to the conference.
	Recording Indicates that the conference is being recorded.
	Encrypted Indicates that all media streams in both directions (to and from the endpoint and the MCU) are encrypted. Rx encrypted Indicates that all media streams received from this participant are encrypted. Tx encrypted Indicates that all media streams sent to this participant are encrypted.	Next to the encryption indication is the AES check code. This can be used in combination with information displayed by some endpoints to check that the encryption is secure.
	Pre-configured This indicates that this participant is in the conference because of a pre-configured endpoint.	See Adding pre-configured participants for additional information on adding endpoints to conferences in this way.
	No audio capabilities No video capabilities These messages indicate that the MCU has not opened a media channel to a participant's endpoint because it has no capability to receive that type of channel. For example, if the endpoint is a simple telephone, you might expect to see "No video capabilities" shown here.
	No common audio codecs No common video codecs These messages indicate that the remote endpoint had declared media capabilities, but the MCU was not permitted to open a channel that the endpoint was prepared to receive.	This is most likely to occur if you have disabled one or more codecs in the "Audio codecs from MCU" or "Video codecs from MCU" configuration on the Advanced conference settings web page.
	No common audio formats No common video formats These messages indicate that the remote endpoint had declared media capabilities including codecs that the MCU was permitted to send, but that the MCU was unable to transmit the specific formats declared.	This could occur if, for instance, the far end's advertised receive video sizes were all 4CIF (704 x 576 pixels) or above, and the MCU was set to not transmit above CIF (352 x 288 pixels).
	No common symmetric audio codecs No common symmetric video codecs Indicates that the MCU was unable to open a media channel to the endpoint because the only possible channels it would be able to open were invalid due to a symmetry clash. This clash occurs when the remote endpoint declared that it is only able to receive certain types of media if it is also sending the same format, and the format in question is one that the MCU is able to send but not receive.
	Audio port limit exceeded Video port limit exceeded These messages occur if a channel was unable to be opened solely because doing so would have exceeded the port limit. This limit may be a per-conference restriction or, for those conferences which impose no such limit, it could be that all of the MCU's available ports were in use.
	Endpoint audio and video channels rejected Endpoint audio channel rejected Endpoint video channel rejected Indicates that the MCU is unable to receive the media format that the endpoint is trying to transmit.
	Tx: Rx: These status rows show details of the audio and (main) video streams being sent to or received from the endpoint. Tx refers to media streams sent by the MCU, and Rx means media streams being received by the MCU.	If the MCU has received information that the endpoint has been muted at the far end, this will be indicated in the Rx row as "muted remotely".
	H.239 tx: <status> This row (if present) shows one of two things: the characteristics of the H.239 video channel being sent by the MCU to a participant, or the reason why no such stream is currently being transmitted. The status values that can be shown here are: H.239 tx: pending The MCU is able to send H.239 video to the participant but is not currently doing so. This is normally because there is no active content channel video source for the conference. This status will also be shown for a participant which is the content channel video source and is also capable of receiving the currently active H.239 video stream. H.239 tx: disabled H.239 is enabled for this conference, but this participant is not allowed to receive it. To enable H.239 for this participant, configure the H.239 video receive setting for this participant's endpoint (refer to Configuring H.323 endpoints), or use the enable control for an active call. H.239 tx: no common codecs There is a unit-wide setting that determines which video codec is used by the MCU for outgoing H.239 channels. This message means that the endpoint is able to receive H.239 video, but not using the same codec as the MCU is configured to transmit. H.239 tx: no common formats H.239 tx: bit rate mismatch For each conference, the MCU uses a single video stream for all outgoing H.239 connections to endpoints. This entails considering all endpoints' receive capabilities and deciding which resolution and bit rate to send in order to maximize the number of content channel viewers. These messages mean that the MCU has been unable to include this endpoint in the set of H.239 viewers because of its limitations with regard to format (video resolution) or bit rate. H.239 tx: mode mismatch The MCU supports only presentation mode for its H.239 channels; specifically, H.239 live mode is not supported. This status message indicates that the endpoint is H.239-capable but does not support presentation mode. H.239 tx: encryption not possible The MCU is unable to send encrypted H.239 video to this participant. FURs ignored The MCU has detected that the H.239 link to this endpoint is experiencing problems, and has stopped sending video keyframes in response to Fast Update Requests (FURs) to avoid degrading the H.239 video sent to other conference participants. The MCU will only enter this state if the Video fast update request filtering setting is Enabled (see Configuring H.239 settings).	No H.239 tx status will be shown if the conference does not have content channel video enabled, or if the endpoint has no H.239 capabilities. You may change whether the MCU is prepared to send the conference content channel stream to an endpoint using H.239 using the enable or disable control here. If sending of H.239 video to an endpoint is currently not allowed, you will see the enable option, otherwise you will see the disable option. For more information about using H.239, refer to H.239 (content channel video) support.
	H.239 video source (main video) H.239 video source The associated participant is currently supplying the conference's content channel video.
	H.239: unable to use main video as source Use of this participant's main video source as the H.239 (content channel) source has failed. This is normally because there is already a source for the content channel; either another participant's main video channel which has been configured in the same way (VNC participants are set up this way by default) or a H.239 video channel contributed by a connected H.323 endpoint.
	Packet loss detected This message appears if packet loss is detected between the MCU and the endpoint.	Click view to open the Participant statistics page and display details about the connection, for example the packet errors. See Displaying statistics for a participant.
	Conference chair This endpoint has requested and been granted the chair.	For more information, refer to H.243 floor and chair control.
	Active floor The endpoint has requested and been granted the floor and its media is being broadcast to all endpoints in the conference.	For more information, refer to H.243 floor and chair control.
	Inactive floor This endpoint believes it has been granted the floor, but its media is not being shown to all endpoints in the conference.	This situation can occur when an endpoint requested the floor, was granted the floor, and was then moved to another conference where there was already an active floor participant. For more information, refer to H.243 floor and chair control.
	Assigned floor This endpoint's media is being broadcast to all endpoints in the conference, although it did not request the floor itself.	This situation can occur if another endpoint, while chair, has issued H.243 commands to make that endpoint the floor. For more information, refer to H.243 floor and chair control.
	Cascade link to master Cascade link from slave Indicates that this connection is a cascade link to or from another conference.
Preview	Displays a sample still video capture of the participant.	Click the picture to update it.
Preview	Controls These controls are only available if the conference is configured with H.239 enabled, and if the participant is contributing a main video channel. This control causes the MCU to attempt to use the participant's main video channel as the conference's content channel source. This will not be possible if the conference already has an active content channel source (either an endpoint's H.239 video channel or another participant's main video activated via this control). This control causes the MCU to stop attempting to use the participant's main video channel as the conference's content channel source. It is necessary to use this control to switch to using a different endpoint's primary video channel or to enable H.239 video contribution from endpoints.	See H.239 (content channel video) support for additional information on H.239.

All-participant controls

Although you may use the controls described above to manage one participant at a time, for example to mute that participant's audio, or to make them important, you may wish to manage all participants at once. The all-participant controls permit you to do this. Note that you may continue to use the per-participant controls in conjunction with the all-participant controls. Refer to the table below for details of the controls available:

Field	Field description	Usage tips
Importance	Makes all participants unimportant	If no participants are currently important, then this control will be unavailable.
Mute	Prevents others from hearing any participant (mute). Allows others to hear all participants' audio (stop muting) Prevents others from seeing all participants' video contribution (mute). Allows others to see all participants' video contribution (stop muting).	If no participants are currently muted, the stop muting controls will be unavailable. If all participants are currently muted, the mute controls will be unavailable.
Disconnect	Disconnects all participants from the conference.	If this conference was created ad hoc, then disconnecting all the participants will terminate the conference as well.
View	Selects voice-switched view for all participants (see Customizing a participant's layout view). Selects full screen view for all participants. Displays the layout selection panel from which you can select a layout view that all current participants will see. This panel offers the same choices as going to Conferences > Custom layout. (See Customizing layout views).	If all participants are watching the voice-switched view, then this control will be unavailable.
Control	Prevents participants from changing their own view layout from their endpoint. Allows participants to change their own view layout from their endpoint.	If no participants may control their own view layout, the prevent control will be unavailable. If all participants may control their own layout, the allow control will be unavailable.

Previous participants

Refer to the table below to get details about the previous participant list. To erase this list, click Clear previous participants record.

Field	Field description	Usage tips
Type	Indicates whether the participant is an H.323, SIP, or VNC endpoint.
Participant	Displays the name of the participant (endpoint).
Controls	Re-connects a participant to the conference.	A previous participant can only be re-connected to a conference if their endpoint was added to the conference by the MCU: a participant who called the MCU themselves and then disconnected from the conference cannot be re-connected in this way. Conversely, if a participant was originally invited into the conference by the MCU, the button will be active regardless of whether the MCU disconnected the participant, or whether the participant disconnected himself from the MCU.
Status	Displays the time at which a participant disconnected to the conference and who initiated the disconnect.

Pre-configured participants

Refer to the table below to get details about pre-configured endpoints.

Field	Field description	Usage tips
Type	Indicates whether the participant is an H.323, SIP, or VNC endpoint.
Name	Displays the name of the endpoint.
Status	Displays the connection status of the pre-configured participant.	This field shows which participants have connected, which have disconnected, and reasons for failure if a participant has failed to connect to the conference.

Summary information

You may wish to inform participants about conference details such as start time, and so on. Click the Summary information icon to display further details about a conference. This information may be copied to the clipboard for convenience.

Watching the conference

Click this icon to watch the conference. This is exactly the same as clicking the Watch link in the Conference list. Both take you to the conference streaming page. See Using streaming to view conferences for more information.

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