Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ describes some of the behaviors for mute/unmute for a variety of endpoint types when used with Meeting Server and managed by Meeting Management.
Points to note:
- This FAQ is intended to show examples of the types of behavior a user may see, particularly behaviors that may differ from an expected flow.
- The administrator controls Meeting Server behavior from Meeting Management. Meeting Management itself does not determine behavior.
- Behavior described here may change in the future as products evolve.
- If a participant has muted themselves locally, or if Meeting Management has been able to set local mute, it is only possible for the participant to unmute themselves - this can never be done from Meeting Management.
- It may take up to 15 seconds for Meeting Management to update to correctly reflect mute and layout status from an endpoint (where this is available to Meeting Management).
- Meeting Management's meeting-wide layout control only affects those participants currently in the meeting. It does not change the meeting default so will not be applied to new participants joining the meeting.
- Refer also to the Meeting Server and Meeting Management Interoperability Databases posted to https://meeting-infohub.cisco.com/interop/.
- There are two mute modes, the traditional "linked" mode which is the default behavior and the new "separate" mode, which was implemented with Meeting Server 3.1. See the Cisco Meeting Server 3.1 Release Notes for more information.
Linked mute behavior (default)
Cisco Meeting App or web app locally registered to Cisco Meeting Server
| Meeting App or web app Starting State | Meeting Server Starting State | Action | Meeting App Mute Status | Meeting Server Mute Status | Meeting Management Displays | Actual State |
| Unmuted | Unmuted | Meeting App locally mutes | Muted | Unchanged (Unmuted) | Unmuted | Muted |
| Muted | Muted | Meeting App unmutes via DTMF | Unchanged (Muted) | Unmuted | Unmuted | Muted |
| Muted | Muted | Meeting Management unmutes Meeting App | Unchanged (Muted) | Unmuted | Unmuted | Muted |
Cisco Meeting App or web app (SIP Connected) - Remote participant (e.g different company)
| Meeting App or web app Starting State | Meeting Server Starting State | Action | Meeting App Mute Status | Meeting Server Mute Status | Meeting Management Displays | Actual State |
| Unmuted | Unmuted | Meeting Management mutes | Unchanged (Unmuted) | Muted | Muted | Muted |
| Muted | Muted | Meeting Management unmutes | Unchanged (Muted) | Unmuted | Unmuted | Muted |
| Unmuted | Unmuted | Meeting App locally mutes | Muted | Unmuted | Unmuted | Muted |
| Muted | Muted | Meeting App locally unmutes | Unmuted | Unchanged (Muted) | Muted | Muted |
| Unmuted | Unmuted | Meeting App mutes via DTMF | Muted | Unmuted | Unmuted | Muted |
SIP Endpoints - With Active Control (CE9.1.4 and greater)
| Endpoint Starting State | Meeting Server Starting State | Action | Endpoint Mute Status | Meeting Server Mute Status | Meeting Management Displays | Actual State |
| Muted | Muted | Meeting Management Unmutes | Unchanged (Muted) | Unchanged (Muted) | Unchanged (Muted)* | Unchanged (Muted) |
*Meeting Management will show unmuted for a few seconds then change straight back to muted.
Note: On CE9.2.1, if you try to unmute the endpoint and it has active control enabled you will see this message on the endpoint: "You are requested to unmute your audio".
SIP Endpoints - With Active Control (CE9.1.3 and below)
| Endpoint Starting State | Meeting Server Starting State | Action | Endpoint Mute Status | Meeting Server Mute Status | Meeting Management Displays | Actual State |
| Muted | Muted | Meeting Management Unmutes | Unchanged (Muted) | Unmuted | Unmuted | Muted |
| Muted | Muted | Endpoint unmutes via DTMF | Unchanged (Muted) | Unmuted | Unmuted | Muted |
SIP Endpoints - No Active Control
| Endpoint Starting State | Meeting Server Starting State | Action | Endpoint Mute Status | Meeting Server Mute Status | Meeting Management Displays | Actual State |
| Unmuted | Unmuted | Meeting Management Mutes | Unchanged (Unmuted) | Muted | Muted | Muted |
| Muted | Muted | Meeting Management Unmutes | Unchanged (Muted) | Unmuted | Unmuted | Muted |
| Unmuted | Unmuted | Endpoint locally mutes | Muted | Unchanged (Unmuted) | Unmuted | Muted |
| Muted | Muted | Endpoint Locally unmutes | Unmuted | Unchanged (Muted) | Muted | Muted |
Note: The video stream will include a mute icon if the endpoint has been server-side muted.
Separate mute behavior (available in Meeting Server 3.1 or later)
When participants mute themselves with the local mute button
| Endpoint/client type | Participant sees | Other participants | Meeting Management | Can user locally unmute? |
| CE | a local mute indicator | will not see that they are muted in the participant list | will not see that they are muted | yes |
| Jabber | local mute icon dimmed/disabled* | mute icon dimmed/disabled* | mute icon dimmed/disabled* | no* |
| web app | a local mute indicator | other web app participants will see that they are muted | will not see that they are muted | yes |
*Note: In this scenario Jabber has no local mute concept so the option to locally mute isn't present for Jabber calls.
When partipants are unmuted by other participants or a video operator
(or when participants unmute themselves using DTMF)
| Participant sees | Other participants | Meeting management | Can user locally unmute themselves? |
| mute icon disappears from the video stream | Will still see them as being unmuted | will see them as being unmuted | no, the participant cannot unmute themselves by pressing the local mute button, but can via DTMF, if configured. |
New video enable/disable mode behavior for web app
| Participant sees | Other participants | Meeting management | Can user locally unmute themselves? |
| message to say video is not being sent | not notified | not notified | yes, the participant can enable video locally to send video again |
- Last update:
- 11-Jan-2021
- FAQ ID:
- 1339