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Glossary of Pexip Infinity terms

The following table contains a list of many of the terms used in Pexip Infinity documentation.

Term Definition
Alias

The string that, when received by a Conferencing Node, will trigger the creation of a conference instance (or if one already exists, will cause the call to be routed to the appropriate conference).

Each alias is associated with a service (Virtual Meeting Room, Virtual Auditorium or Virtual Reception), which defines the type and settings (such as PIN) for the conference that is created.

In most cases, the alias received by the Conferencing Node will be the same as the alias that the conference participant dialed from their endpoint, but there are some exceptions (for more information see About aliases).

Depending on the dial plan, multiple aliases can be used throughout a network to access the same service.

Automatically dialed participant

A participant who will have a call placed to them from a Virtual Meeting Room or Virtual Auditorium whenever a conference using that service starts.

For more information, see Automatically dialing out to a participant from a conference.

Backplane

A link between the Management Node and a Conferencing Node, or between two Conferencing Nodes, used to transmit Pexip control messages. Backplanes between Conferencing Nodes also transmit conference audio, video, and data packets.

All packets are secured through authentication and encryption designed to protect the privacy of the data. For more information, see Encryption methodologies.

Local backplanes exist between Conferencing Nodes in a single location.

Geo backplanes exist between Conferencing Nodes in different locations.

Conference instance A conference with active participants that exists on one or more Conferencing Nodes. A unique conference instance is created when the first participant dials a Virtual Meeting Room or Virtual Auditorium alias and lasts until the last participant disconnects.
Conferencing Node A virtual machine (VM) that provides the capacity for conferences, handling the media processing and call signaling. For more information, see Conferencing Nodes.
Core

One single physical processing unit.

Intel Xeon E5 typically has 8 cores (10, 12 or more in newer versions)

Distributed conference

A conference instance that exists across two or more Conferencing Nodes. It can be locally distributed, globally distributed, or both:

Locally distributed conferences exist across two or more Conferencing Nodes in the same location.

Globally distributed conferences exist across two or more Conferencing Nodes in physically different locations.

Locally and globally distributed conferences exist across two or more Conferencing Nodes in one location and at least one other Conferencing Node in a different location.

Endpoint A device capable of participating in a conference. The endpoint's capabilities can vary from audio-only to full audio, video, and data sharing support.
Host A conference participant who has privileges to control aspects of the conference. For more information, see About PINs, Hosts and Guests.
Host server The physical hardware on which the virtual Management Node and Conferencing Nodes reside. For more information, see Host servers.
Hypervisor An application that is used to create and manage virtual machines. For more information on the hypervisors supported by Pexip Infinity, see Hypervisors.
Infinity Connect A suite of software clients that allows end users to connect to Pexip Infinity services from a web browser, an installable desktop client, or a mobile client. For more information, see Introduction to Infinity Connect.
IVR
(Interactive Voice Response)

IVR technology allows participants to use a DTMF keypad to interact with Pexip Infinity services to:

Management Node A virtual machine (VM) on which the Pexip Infinity software is installed. This machine hosts the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface. It is used to create one or more Conferencing Nodes and configure information about the conferences that can exist on those Conferencing Nodes.
NUMA node The combination of a processor (consisting of one or more cores) and its associated memory.
Pexip Infinity A virtual conferencing platform that encompasses a single Management Node and its associated Conferencing Node(s). Together they provide a coherent conferencing service to a single organization.
Pexip Infinity software The files that are used to deploy the Management Node on to the physical virtual machine (VM) infrastructure.
Port

Within Pexip Infinity, a port equates to a single endpoint connected to a conference. For more information, see Pexip Infinity license installation and usage.

Port can also refer to the virtual data connections used for network traffic between devices. For more information on the ports used by the Management Node and Conferencing Nodes to connect to other devices, see Pexip Infinity port usage.

Processor The hardware within a computer that carries out the basic computing functions. Can consist of multiple cores.
Proxy In a globally distributed conference, one Conferencing Node in each location will act as the proxy for any other Conferencing Nodes in the same location. Each proxy will funnel traffic between physical locations. This will prevent full mesh bandwidth occupation, minimizing bandwidth consumption and ensuring optimal WAN utilization.
RAM
Also referred to as "memory". The hardware that stores data which is accessed by the processor core while executing programs.
Service tag

An optional identifier that an administrator can assign to a service, allowing them to track usage of the service via the administrator log. For more information, see Tracking usage with a service tag.

Socket The socket on the host server's motherboard where one processor is installed.
System location A label that allows you to group Management Nodes and Conferencing Nodes together according to where they are physically located. For more information, see About system locations.
Thumbnail A smaller window at the bottom of the main picture which displays the live video stream from a conference participant. Sometimes referred to as a PiP (Picture in Picture).
Virtual Machine
(VM)
A software implementation of a computer, which runs on a host server and is implemented and managed using a hypervisor. The Management Node and Conferencing Nodes are virtual machines.
Virtual Auditorium A meeting space that is optimized for use by a small number of Host participants and a large number of Guests. For more information, see About Virtual Auditoriums.
Virtual Meeting Room A personal virtual meeting space. For more information, see About Virtual Meeting Rooms.
Virtual Reception A central IVR service from which participants can select the Virtual Meeting Room or Virtual Auditorium they wish to join. For more information, see About the Virtual Reception IVR service.
VM manager

An application that allows you to connect to one or more VMware vSphere ESXi Hypervisors (which manage host servers and their virtual machines). VM managers supported by version 11 of Pexip Infinity are vCenter Server and vSphere.

  • vCenter Server is an application that is used to manage one or more host servers running ESXi, through a single interface.
  • vSphere on the host is used when managing a single host server running ESXi.

For more information see Using a VM manager.