Pexip app for Windows planning and prerequisites

The Pexip app for Windows is an installable software client that provides access to Pexip Infinity conferencing services, allowing users to join conferences and make calls. It is currently supported on Microsoft Windows 10 or later. The information on this page provides an overview of the prerequisites and minimum requirements of the Pexip app for Windows, and how to prepare your Pexip Infinity deployment beforehand.

On this page:

Pexip Infinity minimum version

Pexip Infinity version 37 or later is required.

Minimum hardware requirements

We recommend that Windows devices using the Pexip app meet the following minimum CPU and GPU specifications for DirectX 12 rendering:

  • Processor (CPU) minimum:

    • Intel: 11th Gen Intel Core (Tiger Lake-H) (e.g., Intel Core i5-11300H or i7-11800H)
    • AMD: Zen 3 (Ryzen 5000 Series) (e.g., AMD Ryzen 5 5600U or Ryzen 7 5800H)
  • CPU must support AVX.

  • Dedicated GPU (if available):

    • NVIDIA: GeForce GTX 1660 / RTX 2060
    • AMD: Radeon RX 5500 XT
    • Intel: Arc A380

  • Recommended minimum integrated GPU (if no dedicated GPU is available):

    • Intel Iris Xe Graphics (found in 11th Gen Intel Tiger Lake CPUs such as i5-1135G7 or i7-1185G7)
    • AMD Radeon Vega 7/8 (found in AMD Ryzen 5 5600U / Ryzen 7 5800U)

  • DirectX 12 requirements:

    • System must support DirectX 12 with feature level 12_0 or higher.
    • For optimum performance, we recommend dedicated GPUs, but modern integrated GPUs such as Intel Iris Xe and AMD Radeon Vega 7/8 can provide acceptable performance at lower resolutions.
    • Ensure the latest GPU drivers are installed to fully utilize DirectX 12 acceleration.

Enabling registrations

As part of preparing your environment, you must enable and configure the registrar service in your Pexip Infinity deployment.

Registration is mandatory as it allows the app to:

  • receive calls
  • place calls (outbound calls are always routed via the Conferencing Node to which the app is registered)
  • use directory services to filter and lookup the contact details (phone book) of other devices or VMRs that are set up on the Pexip Infinity platform, making it easier to call those addresses.

Authenticating registrations and users

Registration authentication for the Pexip app occurs via an Identity Provider (IdP), with end users entering their SSO credentials to sign in and register.

We have provided step-by-step guidesfor configuring common SAML Identity Providers, including the open-source Keycloak (which may be an option if you only require an IdP for Pexip app registrations).

When authenticating with the IdP using SSO, users enter their email address as their username. If your users' aliases (video addresses) are different to their email addresses, we recommend you use a SAML-based IdP. This allows you to create a custom attribute in the IdP to validate that the video address being registered matches the user's email address.

When registering a Pexip app to Pexip Infinity, the alias being registered by the Pexip app must match one of the entries on the Management Node under Users & Devices > Device aliases. When configuring a device alias, you can specify whether and how a Pexip app that is attempting to register with that alias should authenticate itself. To set up registration authentication, ensure that:

Configuring your Identity Provider for Pexip app registrations

We recommend that you create a new Identity Provider group containing a single Identity Provider and use this for the sole purpose of authenticating Pexip app for Windows registrations.

The Pexip app requires specific ​IdP attribute entries in your configuration for validating user authentication. The video address that a user signs in and registers with must match an IdP attribute to validate that the correct person is using the video address to sign in.​

  • If users' video addresses are the same as their email, use the email attribute for validation.
  • If users' video addresses are not the same as their email, you must create a custom attribute. This is a top-level SAML configuration and does not require a new entry for every user.

Creating device aliases

Pexip app registration uses device aliases. You can either create device aliases manually or import them using the LDAP synchronization template to synchronize all required users. When creating device aliases, note that the following entries must be provided:​

  • Device alias: The device alias must contain the user's video address.
  • Description: It is important to specify the description as it is included in the in-app directory (phonebook) information.
  • Service tag: We recommend that you include a service tag as it provides a data point for filtering which may be required if you are running Pexip Infinity version 37 or earlier.

There is a known limitation in Pexip Infinity version 37 or earlier when using an LDAP sync template for device alias registrations. The options to Enable registration using IdP SSO and enter a corresponding Identity Provider group are not included so you must manually set these fields after importing the new aliases, or use an update script. Contact your Pexip authorized support representative​ with the reference 42719 to obtain the update script.

In Pexip Infinity version 38 or later, the LDAP sync template contains the Enable registration using IdP SSO and Identity Provider group fields so you are not required to manually set the fields after importing the new device aliases.

App display name

A Pexip app user's display name in the app is obtained from the Identity Provider during registration and cannot be changed by the user.

When configuring the Identity Provider you can optionally specify the display name using the Display Name Attribute Name (SAML) or Display Name Claim Name (OIDC) field. If this field is left blank the user's alias is used as their display name.

Session duration and timeout

To prevent a user from authenticating with your Identity Provider and staying authorized indefinitely, the Pexip app for Windows periodically invalidates the session and requires users to re-authenticate their registration. If you have not customized the session timeout duration, the session will be invalidated 24 hours after successful authentication.

For OIDC IdPs, the session timeout duration is controlled via the required exp field of the JWT provided by the IdP.

For SAML IdPs, you customize the session timeout duration either:

Setting up DNS records

The Pexip app for Windows takes the domain entered by the user in the app's Your video address field and performs a DNS SRV lookup on _pexapp._tcp.<domain> to locate a Conferencing Node to which it can send its registration request. Once registered, all outbound calls from the app are placed via this Conferencing Node.

You must therefore ensure that appropriate DNS records have been set up. For more information, see DNS records and firewalls for Pexip Windows app connectivity.

In many cases, your Pexip Infinity deployment will be located inside a private network. If this is the case and you want to allow Pexip app users who are located outside your network (for example on another organization's network, from their home network, or the public internet) to connect to your deployment, you need to provide a way for those users to access the private nodes and to switch between private and external networks. In DNS records and firewalls for Pexip Windows app connectivity, ensure that you follow the guidelines for using Pexip apps from outside your network and deploying Proxying Edge Nodes to prepare for this scenario.

Customization

App customization, such as the ability to display an image or logo on a landing page, is not currently available in the Pexip app for Windows.

User guide

For end user information on how to install and use the Pexip app for Windows, see Pexip app for Windows user guide.