Controlling VMR access using host and guest PINs

As a personal VMR room owner, you can set PINs to control who can enter your VMR and who can open meetings in your VMR, and you can use either the Pexip desktop app or the Pexip web app for this. Here we cover the Benefits of setting host and guest PINs and How to set PINs, as well as supporting information about Role assignment when joining a Pexip meeting and Pexip's Automatic disconnect policy.

Benefits of setting host and guest PINs

You can use your VMR without setting a PIN but we highly recommend you at least set a host PIN.

Using host PIN

This section explains the benefits of setting a host PIN.

Controlling how meetings start

Your Pexip meeting room opens (letting in participants waiting in the lobby and allowing immediate entry for all future participants) as soon as host-role is assigned to a joining participant. When a room has a host PIN set, host role is assigned to:

  • room owners joining their own VMR after logging in to one of the apps
  • company administrators joining any VMR in the company after logging in to one of the apps
  • a participant who enters host PIN (joining via a Pexip app or VTC system).

So when a host PIN is set meetings can only start when either you or a company administrator logs in to the Pexip app and joins your VMR, or when you enter the host PIN when joining via a video endpoint. If you want to allow someone else to start meetings ahead of you joining your VMR, you can give your host PIN to someone you trust. Note that host-PIN holders cannot lock the room, mute or disconnect participants, or invite additional participants during an ongoing meeting.

If there's no host PIN then any people who go to your VMR, at any time, will always join immediately, which may not be what you want.

Using a video endpoint to start a meeting in your room

When entering your room via a video endpoint you always need to enter the host PIN to start the meeting (unless another host has already joined). For more information about joining a VMR using the host PIN, see Joining a VMR.

Using guest PIN

When you set a guest PIN as well as a host PIN everyone must enter a PIN to join meetings in your room, except for you and company administrators when logged in and joining from the app. Note that, if a participant enters the guest PIN while logged in to one of the Pexip apps, the app saves the PIN, so they won't have to enter it again until you change it.

How to set PINs

You need to use the Pexip desktop app or the Pexip web app to set or change your VMR's PINs, and the guidance below applies to both apps. The same host and guest PIN are used for all meetings in your room, until you change them. Note that it's possible that your company administrator has automatically set a host PIN on all personal VMRs, so you may find your room already has a host PIN set.

To find the PIN codes page, select the Settings cog and then select Room settings. Now select PIN codes.

  1. Type in a host PIN between 4 and 9 digits, and the Guest PIN box becomes available. Before you can add a guest PIN, you have to set a host PIN first.
  2. Select the Save button at the bottom.

Remember to include the guest PIN, if using, in your invitations. Only share the host PIN with someone you trust.

Role assignment when joining a Pexip meeting

Every participant who joins a Pexip meeting is assigned either host or guest role. This enables the Pexip Service to:

  • determine when to start the meeting (admitting participants waiting in the lobby and letting new participants straight into the meeting), and
  • apply its policy for automatically disconnecting a Pexip meeting, which is done for security reasons — see also Automatic disconnect policy.

Here we explain how roles are assigned as participants join a Pexip meeting.

When proactively joining a Pexip meeting

When a participant joins a Pexip meeting proactively either via video endpoint or via the Pexip apps, roles are assigned as described here.

Host role assignment

When a room has no access PINs set, all participants joining the room are assigned the host role.

Alternatively whether the room has host PIN only or both host and guest PINs set, the following are assigned host role:

  • room owners joining their own VMR after logging in to one of the apps
  • company administrators joining any VMR in the company after logging in to one of the apps
  • a participant who enters host PIN (joining via a Pexip app or VTC system).

Guest role assignment

Guest role is only relevant when the room has a PIN set, and guest role is assigned to:

  • Participants who enter guest PIN (room has both host and guest PINs set).
  • Participants who automatically enter a room. This happens when a room has host PIN only set — when the first host-role participant joins the room participants waiting in the lobby are admitted to the room automatically and any participants joining thereafter enter the room straight away.

When accepting an ad hoc call to join a Pexip meeting

When a participant joins a Pexip meeting by accepting an ad hoc call from someone already in the meeting, they don't enter a PIN, and so the host and guest role assignment is a little simpler.

Host role is assigned if the room has no host PIN set, or if the person being dialed into the meeting is the room owner / a company administrator and answers the invitation via a Pexip app; all other participants are assigned guest role.

For more information about calling someone directly from a meeting see Using the Pexip apps.

Automatic disconnect policy

For security reasons, the Pexip Service has implemented some disconnect policies.

The following only applies to meetings in Pexip VMRs:

  • If the room has host PIN set, any remaining guests are disconnected five minutes after the last host has left the VMR and there are audio messages letting people know that the conference will end shortly. See also Role assignment when joining a Pexip meeting.
  • If there is only one participant in a personal or team VMR, they are disconnected after four hours.

The following applies to VMRs, point-to-point calls (endpoints registered on the service) and connections through interoperability gateways (CVI, Google Meet):

  • If a participant is not sending any media (neither audio nor video), the participant is disconnected after two minutes.
  • All participants are disconnected after 12 hours of continuous connection.