Configuring Data Conferencing Options

As with Lync video conferencing, administrators can control data conferencing functionality through a set of policies that are delivered in-band by the Lync Server. Lync conferencing policies are used to control data conferencing functionality. These policies are managed using the following PowerShell commands:

• Get-CSConferencingPolicy

• Set-CSConferencingPolicy

• New-CSConferencingPolicy

This section explains common conferencing policy attributes that are used for Lync Server 2013 data conferencing.

• AllowAnnotations—This setting will indicate whether or not annotations will be allowed on any content shared during a meeting. Additionally, this setting determines whether or not whiteboard sharing is allowed in a conference. This setting applies to the organizer of the conference.

• AllowParticipantControl—This setting will control whether or not meeting participants are able to take control of desktops or applications that are shared during a meeting. This setting applies to the organizer of the conference.

• AllowPolls—This setting will control whether or not users are allowed to create polls during online meetings. This is also a setting applied based on the organizer of the conference.

• AppSharingBitRateKb—This setting can be used to define the maximum bit rate in kilobits that can be used for application sharing. Administrators should use this to control the bandwidth used by each application and desktop sharing session. This setting will apply to peer-to-peer and conferencing sessions.

• AllowUserToScheduleMeetingsWithAppSharing—This setting specifies whether an organizer can schedule a meeting with application and desktop sharing. This setting applies to the organizer of the conference. If this is set to false, any conference the organizer schedules will not allow app sharing of any type. If this is set to true, and administrators wish to limit what certain users can share in meetings, they should set the EnableAppDesktopSharing attribute.

• EnableAppDesktopSharing—This setting controls what type of applications are able to be shared in a conference. Administrators can specify the following options:

Desktop—Users are able to share their entire desktop.

SingleApplication—Users are allowed to share only a single application.

None—Users are not allowed to share any applications or their desktop.

This setting is enforced at the per-user level. For example, some users in the conference might be allowed to share their desktop, some might be allowed to share an application, and some might be allowed to share nothing.

• EnableDataCollaboration—This setting controls whether users can organize meetings that allow the sharing of whiteboards and annotations.

• DisablePowerPointAnnotations—This setting applies specifically to PowerPoint sharing in Lync Server 2013. If this is set to true, users cannot annotate PowerPoint presentations. However, if AllowAnnotations is set to true, users have access to whiteboard functionality.

Lync Server 2013 provides administrators with the ability to enable or disable functionality for data conferencing scenarios at the organizer, and the participant level. This is important because some participants may require restrictions on content that they can share, but they should be able to join meetings that include application or desktop sharing sessions.