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Evoko Overview Screen

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The Overview screen is a great way to get a quick look on the status of meeting rooms or finding your way to a specific meeting. 

By using a large screen to display an overview of certain meeting rooms of your choice you are providing a way for guests/employees to easily find their way to your meeting or find an available room for instant meetings.

The overview screen displays the status of each room using the same familiar Liso colors (green/amber/red) as well as in which direction it is located.
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Every few seconds, the tiles flip to display meeting details. And then back to displaying the direction again.
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To use the Overview Screen you need to setup a server. The Overview Screen server is written as a separate Node.js application from Evoko Home which runs on it's own dedicated port (default 4000) that utilizes the Evoko Home API to fetch meeting room data. Since the Overview Screen server is separate from Evoko Home you get to decide for yourself if you want to run it on the same server as Evoko Home or on a separate server.

Another thing, it runs in a web browser! Meaning that you don't need to have any particular media player or screen. As long as you can get a fairly modern web browser with a connection to your Overview Screen server running on your screen, you're good to go.

Install the Evoko Overview Screen sever on Windows

This part will go through how to install Evoko Overview Screen server on a Windows server.

Windows server prerequisites

  • A server running a Windows server 2008 R2 (or later).
  • A free and accessible application port (default 4000).
  • Access to the Evoko Home server running v2.X on the application port (default 3000 / 3002).
  • SSL/TLS certificate to use HTTPS (recommended). HTTP can be used however is discouraged for accessing the Overview Screen admin portal from anything other than localhost as Evoko Home admin credentials will need to be submitted to login to the admin portal.

Windows installation steps

  1. Download the latest version of Overview Screen server for Windows to the server.
  2. Run the executable evoko-overview-screen-server-v2.x.y.exe.
    201.png
  3. Select where to install.
    202.png
  4. Make sure to install the Overview Screen server as service so it always will run in the background.
    203.png
  5. Once complete, press "Finish" and open the configuration file.
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  6. Edit the configuration file (C:\ProgramData\Evoko\config.toml) according to your environment and then save. See below table for more details. 
    [evokohome]
# If Evoko Home is installed on another host, replace localhost with
# the address of your Evoko Home installation. Note that you may
# need to change the protocol as well: use "wss://" for encrypted
# and "ws://" for unencrypted communication.
uri = "ws://localhost:3000/websocket"

# Replace email/pass with a valid admin user in Evoko Home
email = "evoko-home-admin@domain.tld"
password = "evoko-home-admin-password"

[appconnector]
# Replace with your external hostname
domain = "server.domain.tld"

# Appconnector server port
port = 8443

[overview]
# Overview server port
port = 4000

[ssl]
# Path to private key and certificate. These are required to enable
# encrypted HTTP (HTTPS). If left empty (default) an attempt is made
# to locate and use the certificates of Evoko Home on the same host.
# If no usable certificates was found, overview and get-a-room will
# fall back to using unencrypted HTTP, which is not recommended for
# real use.
key = ""
cert = ""

[smtp]
# The adress used in the from field in sent emails
from = "User Name <user@sample.dnsname.org>"
host = "smtp-relay.gmail.com"
# port = 25
# ssl = true
# tls = true
# user = "smtpusername"
# password = "smtppassword"
# timeout = 5000
# domain = "evoko.test.org"
# authentication = ["PLAIN", "LOGIN", "CRAM-MD5", "XOAUTH2"]
    Value Description
    uri URL for the Evoko Home server.
    • Use "ws://localhost:3000/websocket" if Evoko Home runs on the same host.
    • Use "wss://evokohomeserver.tld:3002/websocket" if Evoko Home runs on another host.
    email Email address of an Evoko Home admin account to use for API authentication.
    password Password for the Evoko Home admin account.
    port The Overview Screen server listen port (default 4000).
    key Path to SSL/TLS key. Both *.pem and *.key formats are valid. If left empty the Appconnector will check for a key in the default Evoko Home install folder C:\Program Files\EVOKO\EvokoHome\liso_files\certificates\server.key.
    cert Path to SSL/TLS certificate. Both *.pem and *.crt format should be accepted. If left empty the Appconnector will check for a certificate in the default Evoko Home install folder C:\Program Files\EVOKO\EvokoHome\liso_files\certificates\server.crt.

    Tip! If copying the password from the credentials email sent by Evoko Home, make sure not to include the period at the end. If unsure, please verify the credentials by logging on to Evoko Home.

  7. In order for changes in config.toml to be applied we need to restart the service under services.msc.
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  8. Look for a service named Evoko Overview Screen and restart it.
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  9. If there are no errors in the configuration nor any firewall blocking you should be able to access the Overview Screen admin portal via a web browser (e.g. https://localhost:4000/admin).

Install the Evoko Overview Screen server on Linux

This part will go through how to install Evoko Overview Screen server on a Linux server.

Linux server prerequisites

  • A server running a Debian based distribution (Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS recommended).
  • A free and accessible application port (default 4000).
  • Access to the Evoko Home server running v2.X on the application port (default 3000 / 3002).
  • A user with sudo permission.
  • Internet access during installation to download dependencies.
  • Node.js (v8.x) (already installed with Evoko Home if using the same server).
  • SSL/TLS certificate to use HTTPS (recommended). HTTP can be used however is discouraged for accessing the Overview Screen admin portal from anything other than localhost as Evoko Home admin credentials will need to be submitted to login to the admin portal.

Linux installation steps

  1. Download the latest version of Overview Screen server for Linux to the server.
  2. Make sure that Node.js and npm is installed, you can do this by checking the version: 
    nodejs -v && npm -v
    If not, then you can install Node.js/npm using the below command: 
    curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs
  3. Install using npm with the below command: 
    sudo npm install -g evoko-overview-screen-server-v2.*.tgz
  4. Once the installation is finished, to test that it was successful and to view available commands run: 
    evoko-overview --help
  5. To proceed, generate a configuration file using: 
    sudo evoko-overview config

    Note! The Overview Screen server and Get A Room Appconnector share the same configuration file so no need to run the above command if you already have a configuration file generated.

  6. Open the configuration file with a text editor (we're going to use nano): 
    sudo nano /etc/evoko/config.toml
  7. Edit the configuration file according to your environment and save (ctrl + x > y > enter). 
    [evokohome]
# If Evoko Home is installed on another host, replace localhost with
# the address of your Evoko Home installation. Note that you may
# need to change the protocol as well: use "wss://" for encrypted
# and "ws://" for unencrypted communication.
uri = "ws://localhost:3000/websocket"

# Replace email/pass with a valid admin user in Evoko Home
email = "evoko-home-admin@domain.tld"
password = "evoko-home-admin-password"

[appconnector]
# Replace with your external hostname
domain = "server.domain.tld"

# Appconnector server port
port = 8443

[overview]
# Overview server port
port = 4000

[ssl]
# Path to private key and certificate. These are required to enable
# encrypted HTTP (HTTPS). If left empty (default) an attempt is made
# to locate and use the certificates of Evoko Home on the same host.
# If no usable certificates was found, overview and get-a-room will
# fall back to using unencrypted HTTP, which is not recommended for
# real use.
key = ""
cert = ""

[smtp]
# The adress used in the from field in sent emails
from = "User Name <user@sample.dnsname.org>"
host = "smtp-relay.gmail.com"
# port = 25
# ssl = true
# tls = true
# user = "smtpusername"
# password = "smtppassword"
# timeout = 5000
# domain = "evoko.test.org"
# authentication = ["PLAIN", "LOGIN", "CRAM-MD5", "XOAUTH2"]
    Value Description
    uri URL for the Evoko Home server.
    • Use "ws://localhost:3000/websocket" if Evoko Home runs on the same host.
    • Use "wss://evokohomeserver.tld:3002/websocket" if Evoko Home runs on another host.
    email Email for an Evoko Home admin account to use for API authentication.
    password Password for the Evoko Home admin account.
    port The Overview Screen server listen port (default 4000).
    key Path to SSL/TLS key, both *.pem and *.key format should be accepted. If left empty the Appconnector will check for key in the default Evoko Home install folder /home/$USER/Evoko Home/liso_files//certificates/server.key.
    cert Path to SSL/TLS certificate, both *.pem and *.crt format should be accepted. If left empty the Appconnector will check for certificate in the default Evoko Home install folder /home/$USER/Evoko Home/liso_files//certificates/server.crt.
  8. To make sure the configuration checks out, temporarily start the overview server by running: 
    sudo evoko-overview start
    If started successfully you should get a similar output to the below: 
    Starting Evoko Overview Screen 2.0.0
 * Loading config from /etc/evoko/config.toml: OK
 - Found Evoko Home installation
 - SSL certificates found. Using secure HTTPS.
    If successful you should be able to access the Overview Screen admin portal via a web browser (e.g. https://localhost:4000/admin).
  9. Press Ctrl + C in the shell once done with the temporary test to stop the Overview Screen server.
  10. We want the Overview Screen server to run as a service so it will continue running even after we close our shell, we can accomplish this using systemd by running: 
    sudo evoko-overview install
  11. Enable the Overview Screen server to start on boot: 
    sudo systemctl enable evoko-overview-screen
  12. Start the Overview Screen server: 
    sudo systemctl start evoko-overview-screen
  13. Now that the installation is finished you may remove the installation package: 
    sudo rm evoko-overview-screen-server-v2.*.tgz

How do I use the Evoko Overview Screen?

Once you got the Overview Screen server installed you can start creating Layouts and connecting Screens (i.e. web browsers). The Overview Screen is rather simple and consists of two web pages:

Web browser support

Before jumping straight into a web browser, consider which one to use. Use the below list as a general guideline when picking a web browser (we of course recommend running the latest version available).

  • Mozilla Firefox 32+
  • Microsoft Edge 15+
  • Google Chrome 51+
  • Apple Safari 11+

Internet Explorer 11 (and below versions) are known to be incompatible and is not supported.

Note! The Overview Screen uses web browser local storage (similar to cookies) to store configuration details, if these details are cleared then the screen will return to unconfigured state.

/overview - where you display

To get started, open the web browser you've decided to use on your screen and enter your Overview Screen server URL followed by /overview (e.g. https://localhost:4000/overview).
If successful, a page similar to the below image should be displayed along with a unique screen name, in our case "Remarkable meeting".
401.png

That's it! It's that simple to register a new screen. To configure the screen move on to the admin portal.

If you want to register several screens then you can do so by entering the same Overview Screen URL (e.g. https://localhost:4000/overview) in the web browser running on the other screens and each screen will get their own unique screen name.

/admin - where you administer

Now that we have a screen registered and connected to the Overview Screen server we can configure it from the admin portal by entering the Overview Screen server address followed by /admin (e.g. https://localhost:4000/admin).

This will prompt a login form, sign in with an Evoko Home admin account.
402.png

Once signed in, we can now see our our screen "Remarkable meeting" under Online screens.
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Navigate to Layouts and press the blue button in the bottom right corner to create a new layout. There are a few options that goes into a layout, mainly setting up your grid of rooms by declaring the number of columns/rows you want followed by selecting the appropriate room for each tile.
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Now navigate back to Screens and select the newly created layout for the screen, then press Save.
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Once we've saved our layout for our screen it will start to be display on our screen.
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Optionally under Settings a logo in .png format can be uploaded to be displayed on our screens.
407.png

Once uploaded the logo will be displayed in the bottom left corner.
408.png

Note! Time, date and time zone displayed on the Overview Screen will be fetched locally from the Overview Screen server it's running on. Meaning you will currently not be able to have multiple overview screens in different time zones all displaying the correct time.
Success! Now that we've gone through the setup you've hopefully learned a thing or two how it works. If you wish to leave feedback then we suggest you do so by submitting a request.
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