TrueConf Server Administrator Guide

# What is TrueConf Server?

TrueConf Server is a software-based video conferencing and team messaging platform. With TrueConf Server, your employees can communicate and collaborate remotely, organize webinars and remote training.

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TrueConf Server operates in LAN/VPN and can be used as a unified communication system that connects users of your local network, remote employees, and SIP.H.323/RTSP devices:

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# TrueConf Server Features

TrueConf Server core features can be extended by the following TrueConf solutions:

# Supported protocols and codecs

# Protocols

  • Proprietary SVC-based TrueConf protocol used by all client applications.

  • H.323 protocol set: H.239 for content sharing; H.281, H.224, Q.922 for camera control; H.235 for media stream encryption; H.225, H.241, H.245 signaling protocols.

  • SIP protocol set: BFCP for content sharing; FECC for camera control; SRTP for media stream encryption; TLS for signaling protocol protection.

  • WebRTC: SRTP and DTLS for media stream encryption.

  • RTSP video calls.

  • QoS support: DSCP, DiffServ.

  • Work with TrueConf API using OAuth 2.0 protocol.

# Supported video codecs

  • VP8 SVC, VP8, H.264, H.264 AVC, H.264 SVC, X-H264UC, H.263, H.263+, H.263++

# Supported audio codecs

  • Opus, G.711, G.722, G.722.1, G.722.1C, G.723, G.728, G.729A, Speex, MP3, AAC

# TrueConf Server components and their features

TrueConf Server is a software-based solution with several components that can be deployed on Windows and Linux.

You can also expand your video conferencing capabilities with the help of TrueConf software development kit (SDK).

You can find the main features of each component below.

# TrueConf Server system services

This component is a video conferencing server itself. It gets installed as an operating system service and provides:

  • user authentication and authorization: multilogin is also supported which means that it is possible to work in several client applications under the same account

  • support for multi-point video conferences and point-to-point video calls

  • events logging (call history, usage stats, chat messages, etc)

  • NAT traversal and proxy servers to connect users

  • media stream processing with scalable video coding (SVC)

  • interoperability with third-party protocols and video conferencing services (SIP/H.323, RTSP, WebRTC)

  • federation with other TrueConf Server instances

  • connecting multiple TrueConf Server instances in a unified communications platform with TrueConf Enterprise.

# Administrator control panel

This component is used to control and modify TrueConf Server configuration during its operation. The control panel provides the following capabilities:

  • Manage user accounts and personal settings.

  • Create, edit and delete groups, change group rights.

  • Store TrueConf Server user account data either locally or using a third-party service via LDAP protocol (LDAP/Active Directory extension required).

  • Add aliases for SIP/H.323/RTSP devices or for users from another TrueConf Server instance to make it easier to call them.

  • Create webinars for guest connections.

  • Schedule conferences with weekly recurrence on specific days.

  • PIN-protected conferences to prevent unauthorized access.

  • Customize registration settings for public conferences (webinars)

  • Create a general layout for all participants, for SIP/H.323/WebRTC participants or individual layout for each user.

  • Manage cameras and microphones of active conference participants, change their devices remotely.

  • Add and remove participants from ongoing conferences.

  • Stream conferences via CDNvideo, Wowza Streaming Engine, Wowza Streaming Cloud, YouTube, etc. (Streaming extension required).

  • Send email invitations and newsletters to users via external SMTP server.

  • Set up media transmission between conference participants bypassing the server (UDP Multicast Conferences extension required).

  • Store and access conference recordings in the TrueConf Server control panel, view records with video and chat synchronized (for .mp4 format only), download and delete them.

  • Store the files shared in conferences on the server side.

  • Create backups and restore server settings.

  • Customize your guest page and indicate administrator’s contact info.

  • Limit access to the TrueConf Server control panel for certain admin roles or using IP filters.

  • Monitor server performance both in real time and for a certain time range.

  • View server reports (log files) and all user actions (call history, message history, connection history, etc.).

  • Configure access to the TrueConf Server API.

# TrueConf Server Security Admin control panel

You can add individual administrators to the TrueConf Server Security Admin group. They will be able to view information about the server operation in the control panel but will not have access to TrueConf Server settings.

TrueConf Server Security Admin Role gives access to:

  • information about the current server state

  • the list of addresses for administrative access

  • history of settings changes

  • server operation logs

  • call and conference history

  • current connections to the server

  • chat history.

# User’s personal area

Personal area is a web page accessible to every user who is registered on your TrueConf Server instance. In the personal area, users can:

  • view features available to them

  • access their address book

  • use different conferencing modes to create meetings, launch and end conferences

  • invite new users to ongoing conferences

  • set different layouts when creating or holding meetings

  • manage users’ devices

  • view detailed analytics about ongoing and past conferences

  • download conference recordings saved on the video conferencing server

  • save conference templates for further use

  • edit their profiles (if LDAP/AD extension is enabled, users can only change their avatars).

# Guest page

TrueConf Server guest page is a web page which your users can access to download client applications and connect to your TrueConf Server instance. You can share your guest page link with your employees and guests who are going to attend meetings hosted on your server.

On the guest page, users can:

  • log in to their personal area

  • download client applications for various operating systems

  • schedule a meeting (authorization required)

  • connect to the conference with conference ID

  • read user manual

  • view contact details of your TrueConf Server administrator.

# TrueConf Server Roles

There are two types of administrators in TrueConf Server:

  • TrueConf Server Admin on Windows (tcadmins on Linux) to administer the server

  • TrueConf Server Security Admin on Windows (tcsecadmins on Linux) to view logs and conference recordings.

TrueConf Server users are generally divided into online users (registered accounts), guests (participants of public web conferences that do not have accounts on your TrueConf Server instance), and SIP/H323/RTSP connections.

During the conference, participants may be assigned with one of the following roles:

  • conference owner

  • moderator

  • operator

  • speaker.

You can learn more about admin roles, TrueConf Server users and conference participants in our article.

# Benefits of TrueConf video conferencing

TrueConf Server video conferencing system provides a number of advantages and unique technologies.

Relatively low system requirements

You do not need a powerful server to deploy TrueConf Server. Instead, you can use a PC based on a modern Intel or AMD CPU and choose between Microsoft Windows Server or Linux operating systems. You can find system requirements for common configurations in our article.

Convenient administration

TrueConf Server has a number of features that can simplify its administration:

  • TrueConf’s proprietary protocol that works with TrueConf client applications using a single TCP port.

  • Operation in LAN/VPN of any configurations, including satellite communication channels.

  • Synchronization with user and group directories via LDAP protocol.

  • Endpoints (PC, browsers and mobile devices) do not need to have a direct IP address for communication.

  • Works through NAT, Firewall and Proxy.

Advanced data transmission technologies

TrueConf Server uses the following technologies to improve the quality and reliability of video communication:

  • dynamic adjustment of data transmission rate

  • scalable video coding (SVC)

  • direct connection priority using Hole punching technology

  • automatic connection restoring if the connection fails

  • adaptive buffer for incoming audio and video data streams.

4K video conferencing

With TrueConf Server and TrueConf Server Free, you can organize UltraHD (3840x2160, 4K) video meetings. In group conferences, total image resolution can be up to 7680×4320 (Ultra HD 8K).

Read more about UltraHD video calls and system requirements for user devices in our articles.

Collaboration Tools

TrueConf Server provides a number of collaboration tools:

Streaming conferences to popular services

Do you want to organize a video conference and stream it for a broad audience in real time? With TrueConf, you can stream your meetings using the built-in RTSP gateway. TrueConf supports the following popular services:

You can also manually set up conference streaming to other third-party services, for example, Facebook.

Managing video layouts and participants’ devices

TrueConf Server users can configure video layouts, manage devices of conference participants, and use other options for streamlining meetings:

# Video calls and group video conferences

Depending on your business tasks, you can choose from a number of conferencing modes available with TrueConf Server.

# What is a video call?

A video call is a video communication session between two users who can see and hear each other.

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TrueConf provides a number of additional options during video calls: chat, file sharing, content sharing (e.g. sharing screen or separate application windows) and other collaboration tools.

You can learn more about video calls on our website, check out our system requirements and read how to make video calls in client applications for various operating systems: Windows, Android, Android TV, iOS.

# What is a video conference? Types of video conferences

Video conference is a video conferencing session between more than two users.

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With TrueConf Server you can organize video conferences of the following types:

  • Private. Secure conference available to users authorized on your TrueConf Server instance or on a federated TrueConf Server instance. Private conferences can also be accessed by third-party SIP/H.323 and RTSP devices if they have received a conference ID (e.g., in an email invitation).

  • Public (webinar). Public conferences are organized for guests (users that do not have an account on your TrueConf Server instance) and can be easily accessed by anyone with a link or by following an email invitation. If you do not have Public Web Conferences extension enabled on your server, this conference type will be unavailable.

TrueConf group conferences may also have different launch types:

  • Scheduled. Video conference with a specific start date and time and duration of the event. It is possible to schedule a conference to be launched weekly on certain days (e.g., on Tuesdays and Fridays).

  • Virtual room. Permanently available video conference that doesn’t have a specified start or end time. You can learn more about virtual rooms in our article.

Read our step-by-step guide to learn how to join a meeting.

TrueConf Server administrator can create any group video conference and view information about ongoing or scheduled conferences in the control panel. TrueConf Server users can perform similar actions in their personal area or in the scheduler available from their client applications.

You can check system requirements for different video conferencing modes here.

# Video conferencing modes

TrueConf Server offers the following video conferencing modes:

  • all on screen

  • smart meeting

  • moderated role-based

  • video lecture.

To learn more about each mode, check our website.

# Extensions

TrueConf Server basic features can be extended with a number of available extensions and add-ons. Contact us to request a free trial of any extension or purchase it, our managers will be happy to help you.

# SIP / H.323 / RTSP gateway

You can use this extension to connect third-party devices to your TrueConf meetings, for example:

With TrueConf Server Free, you can have one SIP/H.323/RTSP connection for free.

The gateway acts as a gatekeeper or SIP registrar for third-party devices that will be displayed as regular TrueConf users in the address book.

# Integration with LDAP and Active Directory

With this extension, you can synchronize user information between the TrueConf Server address book and your company's LDAP directory service (e.g., Active Directory). Administrators can centralize and automate user account management operations, such as adding new users or removing ex-employees, resetting passwords, or keeping user data up to date.

# Public Web Conferences

With this extension you can organize public web conferences available to users that do not have an account on your TrueConf Server instance. This feature is typically used for conducting webinars.

Each public web conference has an external web page that contains a conference description and provides information on how to connect to it. You can also embed a public web conference to your website with a widget.

With TrueConf Server Free, you can organize public web conferences with 1 guest connection. If you would like to add more guest connections to your license, please contact us to request a free trial or purchase the extension.

# UDP Multicast

With UDP Multicast, the media data goes directly from user to user, bypassing the server. This significantly reduces the load on the network and your video conferencing server and allows you to use video communication in networks where TCP traffic is prohibited.

Please note that conference recording, WebRTC conferences and RTSP streaming are not supported in the UDP Multicast mode.

# Streaming

With this extension you can stream video conferences to third-party platforms or content delivery services such as CDNvideo, YouTube, Facebook or Wowza. If you stream your conference, you can reach millions of viewers, as their number can only be limited by the capabilities of your preferred streaming platform.

# Federation

You can use the Federation extension to make calls between users of multiple TrueConf Server instances deployed in different branches within your network. Thanks to this feature, you can also contact other companies that use TrueConf solutions (both on-premises or cloud-based).

In the federation mode, users of your TrueConf Server instance can call and invite other TrueConf users to conferences and vice versa.

Federation is a basic feature included in every TrueConf Server standard license. To enable federation, you need to purchase any TrueConf Server paid license.

# TrueConf Directory

This extension allows users of your TrueConf Server instance to search for users/groups on all TrueConf servers synchronized with it and add them to the address book. TrueConf Directory offers a global address space available in all client applications.

# TrueConf SDK for developers

With TrueConf SDK you can develop your own video conferencing applications based on TrueConf technologies or integrate video conferencing to an existing application or website.

TrueConf provides libraries for all popular desktop (Windows, Linux, macOS) and mobile (iOS, Android) platforms.

An example of an application created using TrueConf SDK is TrueConf Kiosk, a video-enabled customer care solution.

# Choose your license

You can choose one of the available licensing options: TrueConf Server Free, TrueConf Server, and a free 3-week trial version. You can find a detailed license comparison here or calculate your license price on our website.

If you would like to request a 3-week trial version of TrueConf Server, please contact us, we will be happy to help.

TrueConf Server Free provides basic features for video conferencing; however, it also has certain limitations. TrueConf Server Free is a great solution for small and medium-sized businesses to get acquainted with TrueConf benefits and deploy a self-hosted video conferencing system.

# Useful guides

We offer administrators and TrueConf users plenty of helpful links to our resources and communities:

Installation and initial setup →