Integrating Mattermost with Pexip Infinity

In this topic:

• Assumptions and prerequisites
• Network architecture and firewalls
• Mattermost configuration
• Pexip Infinity configuration
• Using the plugin
• Release notes

Assumptions and prerequisites

These deployment instructions assume that you have:

• Mattermost server v6.2.1 or higher

• Pexip Infinity v32 or higher, with:

  • basic installation and configuration using any of Pexip Infinity's deployment models (on-premises, cloud-hosted etc) — see installation overview for more information
  • sufficient call licenses
  • valid certificates and intermediate certificates installed. See Managing TLS and trusted CA certificates for more information
• Suitable network routability between Mattermost and Pexip Infinity. See Pexip Infinity port usage and firewall guidance for more information.

Network architecture and firewalls

The Pexip plugin operates as an external policy server and as an event sink. It handles all communications and call requests between the Mattermost platform and Pexip Infinity.

How it works

When the user starts a video meeting in Mattermost:

1. The Pexip plugin launches a video window (or a new browser tab, depending on how the desktop client is configured), and initiates a video call to a Pexip Conferencing Node.
2. This triggers an external policy request from Pexip Infinity to Mattermost.
3. The policy server contained within the Pexip plugin responds with the meeting parameters (service type, theme, alias, PINs and so on).

In all cases ensure that you have permitted an HTTPS, port 443 connection from the Pexip Infinity Conferencing Nodes to the URL configured as your Mattermost external policy server.

Mattermost configuration

1. Download and install the Pexip plugin from https://dl.pexip.com/mattermost-plugin/.

   For detailed information on installing and using Mattermost plugins, see https://developers.mattermost.com/integrate/plugins/using-and-managing-plugins/#install-a-plugin.

2. From the Mattermost System Console, go to the Plugins section and select Pexip.

3. Configure the plugin as follows:

   Enable Plugin	Select True.
   Pexip Infinity Server	Enter the FQDN or IP address of your Conferencing Node (e.g. mattermost.pexample.com or 192.0.2.0). If you are using multiple Conferencing Nodes, then we recommend setting up a common hostname and associated round robin DNS records. The TLS certificate installed on each Conferencing Node must include this common hostname in addition to the node's individual FQDN. See DNS pool names for more information.
   Pexip Infinity Username	Generate a username. You'll need this in the next step when configuring an external policy server and event sink on Pexip Infinity.
   Pexip Infinity Password	Generate a password. You'll need this in the next step when configuring an external policy server and event sink on Pexip Infinity.
   Direct Media for DMs	For video calls started in a DM channel, determines whether call media is sent directly between the two participants. For more information, see Direct media (end-to-end encrypted calls).
   Display name	Determines what is used as the participant display name. The display names are shown in the participant list during a conference and can also be displayed over the video if the overlay text is enabled. The options are: Username Nickname First and last name
   Embedded Experience	Determines whether the video is embedded in Mattermost or shown in a separate browser. True: the video conference is displayed inside the Mattermost interface. False: a new browser window is opened which uses the Pexip web app to join the video conference.
   Show Start / End Notifications	For embedded video conferences, determines whether the start and end notifications should be shown in the channel.
   Ringing Timeout (seconds)	(For Direct Messages only) Sets the number of seconds that the incoming conference ringing panel is shown before being automatically dismissed. To disable the panel, set this option to 0.
   Filter Channels	Determines which Mattermost channels have access to the Pexip plugin, which in turn allows users in those channels to start or join a video conference. You can select and move the required channels between the Allowed Channels and Disallowed Channels lists as required. By default all existing channels and newly created channels appear in the Allowed Channels list. If the Pexip plugin button on the sidebar is selected from within a disallowed channel the user is shown a "Conference not available for this channel" message.

4. Add the following to the config.json configuration file (located in the mattermost/config directory, or stored in the database) to enable strict CSRF token enforcement:

   "ExperimentalStrictCSRFEnforcement": true

   For more information, see Mattermost's documentation.

Pexip Infinity configuration

When configuring Pexip Infinity for integration with Mattermost, you reference the Pexip plugin as an external policy server and as an event sink.

System location guidance

The external policy server and event sink contained within the Pexip plugin have to be associated with one or more system locations within Pexip Infinity. When designing your Pexip Infinity platform architecture you should note that:

• Each system location can only be associated with a single policy profile (which specifies the external policy server).
• A system location can be associated with multiple event sinks.
• Event sinks only operate on Transcoding Conferencing Nodes (i.e. not Proxying Edge Nodes).
• You should not deploy of mixture of Transcoding Conferencing Nodes and Proxying Edge Nodes in the same system location.

This means that, for example, you could have:

• A system location containing Proxying Edge Nodes that are used to handle the call signaling with Mattermost. This location should be configured with the policy profile used for the external policy server.
• One or more system locations containing Transcoding Conferencing Nodes that are used to handle the media transcoding for Mattermost calls (that are proxied via the Proxying Edge Nodes). These locations should be configured with the event sink.

Adding a policy profile

1. From the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface, go to Call Control > Policy Profiles.
2. Select Add Policy profile.
3. Enter a Name for the new profile.

4. From the External policy server section, enter the following:

   URL	This should be in the format: https://<mattermost-domain>/plugins/com.pexip.pexip-app/api/ where <mattermost-domain> is the Site URL of your Mattermost server, for example: https://mattermost.pexample.com/plugins/com.pexip.pexip-app/api/ To find your Site URL, in the Mattermost System Console go to Environment > Web server > Site URL:
   Username	Enter the Pexip Infinity Username generated from the Mattermost admin console.
   Password	Enter the Pexip Infinity Password generated from the Mattermost admin console.

5. From the Service configuration policy section, select Enable external service configuration lookup.
6. Select Save.

Assigning the policy profile to the Mattermost system location

1. From the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface, go to Platform > Locations.
2. Select the location containing the Conferencing Nodes that are used to handle the call signaling with Mattermost.
3. From the Policy profile drop-down, select the policy profile you created above.
4. Select Save.

Configuring an event sink

You must configure an event sink and assign it to your location(s) to enable the plugin to monitor conference status.

1. Go to System > Event Sinks.

2. Select Add Event sink and configure the event sink. The options are:

   Option	Description
   Name	The name used to refer to this event sink. Each event sink must have a unique name.
   Description	An optional description of this event sink.
   Version	Default: Version 2
   URL	This should be in the format: https://<mattermost-domain>/plugins/com.pexip.pexip-app/api/event_sink where <mattermost-domain> is the Site URL of your Mattermost server, for example: https://mattermost.pexample.com/plugins/com.pexip.pexip-app/api/event_sink
   Username and Password	Enter the External Policy Username and Password generated from the Mattermost admin console.
   Verify TLS	Ensure this option is selected.
   Location	Select all of the possible transcoding locations that can handle media for Mattermost calls, including any overflow locations.

3. Select Save.