Skip to main content

API Management Center

Configuration Sections

The MindLink Management Center will load with the logging configuration as its default page. The user can navigate through different configuration settings by using the navigation tree, which includes the following configuration sections:


Licence

The licence page ensures the products you are using are firstly; supported by MindLink and secondly; that only the correct products (as stated by contract) are in use.

Opening the license tab, you are given the ability to browse for a file. This will be the file you received within the correspondence with your account manager.

Click the Browse for license file button which will open file explorer. Navigate to your license file.

icon

Click the Browse for license file button which will open file explorer. Navigate to your license file. Selecting a valid license file will show similar details to the corresponding management center image below.


Logging

The logging section enables the user to configure the logging level as well as the log file location for the Connector Service.

Please note that logging on the Connector Service is performed using the Microsoft Enterprise Library Logging Application Block.

logging

By default logging is configured as follows:

  • Error level - Error class events
  • Warning level - Warning class events (Recommended)
  • Info level - Info class events
  • Verbose level - All class events

Logging Configuration You can Configure the Connector service logging level and log file location by clicking on the Browse button will let you find an absolute path to a new log file location, or you can manually edit the field to a path relative to the Connector Service install location.

The account used to run the Connector Service must have write access to the install location of the product in order to log to the rolling log file. The file can by default be found at %ProgramFiles%\MindLink Software\MindLink Application\ConnectorService\Logs\Connector.log


General

The General section lets the user configure the general settings that will be applied to the Connector Service.

API General

Information Service

Information service port: The port number used when behind a load-balancer to provide a service heart-beat.

Features

As of 17.3 the MindLink Foundation API has the functionality required to disable the group chat modality. This is contained under the general& section of the API management center.

If IM is disabled for the API then the Active Directory node is disabled. Conversely, if it is enabled the Active Directory node becomes enabled.

With IM disabled the app/bot is unable to send a message to a channel that is not valid, thus the channel ID parameter would be invalid hence the bad request that would be subsequently thrown. This is because REST APIs throw errors when the schema isn't met.

Enable instant messaging: When set, allows connected clients to use instant messaging.

When not checked, user presence will not be published, instant messaging will be disabled, and the client will be limited to group messaging functionality. Any client that exposes instant messaging functionality when instant messaging is disabled will receive failure notifications from the server when an attempt is made to use such functionality.

Enable group chat: When set, allows connected clients to use group chat.

When not checked, group chat preferences are not loaded and users will not see any groups or chat rooms to which they are subscribed in their contacts list nor will they be able to search for and add groups.

Message Constraints

Maximum message length: The number of characters that a single message can include.

If an attempt is made to send a message that is longer than the specified length, the server will not send the message and an information message will appear in the server logs.

Maximum story length: The maximum number of characters that a single story can include.

If an attempt is made to send a story that is longer than the specified length the server will not send the story and will return an error indicating that the story exceeded the allowed story length.


Skype for Business

Skype for Business The Adaptor section manages the selection of the underlying chat system to which to connect and the infrastructure DNS servers that define the chosen platform.

Topology

Server Version: Select the chat platform version.

Auto Provisioning Server Information: Enable the auto detection of the Front End Server. This will allow the server to detect any server changes within the Topology and auto configure the new servers. This requires Skype Core Components to be installed

Auto Provisioning Application ID: Enter the Application ID of the trusted application on the Front End.

Local Server Name: Manually enter the FQDN of the local machine

Next hop connection

Server Name: Manually enter the FQDN of the Skype for Business front end or pool server.

Trusted Application Server

Server/Listen Ports: The default communication port for Skype for Business used by the Front End Server to listen on when using trusted authentication. To allow Collocation the default ports are as below :

Platform Certificate: The certificate to use for establishing an MTLS connection with the Skype for Business server.

Persistent Chat

Auto Provision Group Chat Information: Automatic discovery of the lookup address for querying Group Chat. Use this option to look at multiple chat pools

Lookup Server Address : Manually enter the lookup address for querying Group Chat. This is the address created upon activation, , use Get-csPersistentChatEndpoint to identify.

Connect to Multiple Persistent Chat Pools Multiple Persistent Chat Pools

Users can connect to multiple persistent chat pools. This allows users to join any chatrooms that are located on any of the specified persistent chat pools

Explicit Explicit connections involve specifying specific chat pools in the management tool. Only users within those specified persistent chat pools can login. A single chat pool can be specified in the Default Persistent Chat pool endpoint address field. Multiple chat pools are specified by clicking the Connect to multiple Persistent Chat pools checkbox. Entries added to the table can be removed by pressing the Delete key.

Explicit

Auto provision Auto provisioned connections allow users to login as any user located on the configured persistent chat pools on the server. The user does not need to specify any of the configured chat pools to login as users located on them.

Enable deleting groups support: API Channel Management requires an additional setting to be enabled to allow the DELETE channel operation for chat rooms. Enabling this setting will enable deletion functionality, however there are some additional prerequisites that must be met in order for an agent to leverage the functionality.

  • The service account must be a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group
  • PowerShell 5.1 or above must be installed on the MindLink server
  • The Skype for Business Administration Tools must be installed on the MindLink server

Preferences

Preferences: Sets the file repository for saving local preferences.

Sessions

Session timeout: This sets the timeout for MindLink Anywhere. The MindLink client will be set to an idle/away status after being disconnected from the network after the configured time has elapsed.


Active Directory

active directory figure

LDAP Connections

Autodiscover global catalogue

Skype for Business forest name: Select the relevant forest name in which platform is installed and base for AD operations for users.

Server name: Manually enter the FQDN of the LDAP server is Auto-Discover is not detecting correctly.

Use default port: Default port number of the Global Catalogue used to look-up user SIP addresses from Active Directory i.e. 3268.

Port number: To enter a custom port number to look-up user SIP addresses from Active Directory.

Timeout (seconds): Specify the time interval in seconds for Active Directory queries.

Use default naming context: Auto-discover the name of the root context of the directory. Use this is membership is not restricted.

Naming context: Manually enter full OU path if users are to be restricted to this AD OU object


Advanced

Advanced tab

Behind each UI configuration in the Management Center, a key-value pair is responsible for mapping configuration values to assigned functionality. These key/value configurations are saved to C:\Program Files\MindLink Software\MindLink API\ManagementTool\staging.config

The Advanced page gives administrators an accessible interface to directly configure key/value pairs in the Management Center.

  • This section is usually used to add new configuration keys for features that don't have an existing UI configuration available yet.
    • In most cases, these take the form of debug keys - a key with debug. at the start.
    • If advanced keys are required for a feature, the documentation will outline each key and the expectations for its value in the respective feature's documentation section.
  • While the Advanced page can be used to configure keys for any of the functionality with a UI configuration, too, it is not recommended and is rarely beneficial.

Custom Settings

Advanced tab

Configuration KeyConfiguration setting value
KeyValue
global.message.maxlength200
KeyValue

Configurations are added to the Advanced page as table rows. Each row requires a key and a value, creating a key/value pair.

Some configuration changes require several dependant key/value pairs to complete the configuration, such as MCE.

Notes when using Advanced Keys
  • Invalid keys will be ignored
  • Invalid values for valid keys are likely to cause the MindLink service to crash on start-up
  • Rows are mutually exclusive: while some features require multiple key/value pairs to set up, you can add other keys on rows between them
    • For ease-of-use it is recommended to keep related keys grouped together.
    • Rows cannot be reordered in the Management Center, but it is possible for advanced administrators to modify the order of advanced keys in the staging.config file directly.
      • For maximum resiliency, creating a backup of the staging.config is recommended before attempting this.
      • The Management center should be closed before modifying the Staging.config file.
      • Advanced keys are saved at the bottom of the Staging.config file, with the format <add key="advanced: " value=" " />
      • Selecting an entire line and cut-pasting it above/below other advanced keys will re-order the Advanced table after changes to the config file are saved and the management center is re-opened.
      • Advanced keys should not be moved out of the assigned advanced key section at the bottom of the config file; reordering advanced keys should remain localized to above/below the other advanced keys.

Advanced Keys and UI configurations - What takes priority?

In a scenario where you have Advanced keys that map to a feature also configured in the UI pages, only one of these can be applied to the final configuration.

There are several factors that determine the final configuration, with the specifics detailed in the dropdown below.
In short, advanced keys will be prioritized if the UI also configures the same underlying key.

  • Manually adding a new key (without the debug. prefix) will be prioritized.
  • Upgrading from a version without a UI configuration to a version with a UI, the key will still be prioritized if it doesn't include the debug. prefix, though the upgrade process should also migrate key's values to the UI and remove the old keys.
  • debug. keys are added to earlier release versions before a UI configuration is released.
    • A key with debug. wont have a UI configuration yet, so it will always be applied.
    • When the UI configuration is added, we remove the debug. prefix from the corresponding key(s). Each key's value will be migrated to the UI automatically and the old debug. keys will be ignored.
Full details for keys' application and upgrade scenarios:
  • Generally, Advanced keys take priority over UI configurations.

    • This happens whenever a key added to the Advanced page is the same as the underlying key of the UI configuration.
    • Advanced keys are applied after the UI configuration on start-up.
    • Key/value migration will take place when upgrading from a version requiring Advanced configuration to a new version that adds a UI configuration (this applies to debug. and Standard keys)
      • Values for old keys will be automatically migrated to the new UI configuration section
      • The old key(s) should be removed from the Advanced page.
  • In the event you upgrade your MindLink version from a version requiring Advanced keys to configure functionality to a newer version that includes UI configuration for that functionality, the results will depend on the type of keys that were used:

    • starts with debug. - If the previous version configured the feature with debug keys, the debug key(s) will be ignored.
      • When adding the UI configuration, the debug. prefix is removed from the underlying key(s).
      • Old debug keys that have been migrated no longer correspond to the feature and will be ignored.
        • If, for whatever reason, a debug key is not removed in the migration (or is added back later) it will be ignored.
    • does not start with debug. - If the previous version configured the feature with standard keys, the key(s) on the advanced page will take priority.
      • When adding the UI configuration, the same underlying key(s) will be used.
      • Standard keys that have been migrated still correspond to the feature and their values and will be applied if they remain in the Advanced configuration.
        • If, for whatever reason, a key is not removed in the migration (or is added back later) it will be applied over the corresponding values in the UI.

This section manages the MindLink Foundation API settings.

MLM

Server

Service port: The port on which to listen for incoming API connections.

Disable security: If ticked, the foundation service will be hosted as an HTTPS service, meaning that all data is encrypted between agents and the service.

Certificate: The server certificate to use for incoming connections required only when configuring for HTTPS.

Channel search timeout (seconds): Specify the timeout, in seconds, for the search channel operation against the MindLink Foundation API Service API Channel Search Timeout

Enable channel management services: Enables the Channel Management functionality that allows API users to leverage channel management operations.

Authentication

Authentication mode:
select from ntlm, windows or manual modes.

Super User:
A full username (including domain, in the format DOMAIN\user) of the user who will be the super user. This user will always be able to access the provisioning functionality of the foundation API, regardless of the user configuration. Other users with access to provisioning functionality can be created using the API itself.