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robert-czymoch avatar image
robert-czymoch asked j-swann commented

Desktop app issues in Enterprise environments

I am looking for comments and suggestions on using the Desktop app in an enterprise environment. Below I will cover some of the issues we are having.


We are a new RC customer with 400 users. Our initial experiences with the Desktop app have been mixed. For example we have a branch that is using nothing but the desktop app. The main number rings to a ring group. The phones assigned do not all ring at the same time. Some do not even ring at all, but they might for the next call. We have made firewall adjusts onsite as per RC knowledge base articles. The other issue is that there seems to be no Admin install version of the MSI file. We have no problems with users being able to install without admin rights, but when you run the app a windows firewall exception notice comes up with DOES require admin rights. Since our users are not admins this presents a problem in Enterprise environments. As a work around I deployed a group policy that adds the following program path as an exception:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\RingCentral\SoftPhoneApp\Softphone.exe


However if the user clicks cancel on the notice Windows actually puts a block on the softphone.exe. I am not sure if that overrides my exception.


Suggestions or thoughts?


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jeff-salisbury7355 avatar image
jeff-salisbury7355 answered

Robert - the RC Downloads page has two version of installers. Under the Users section the installers will install in the user's specific profile which appears to be what you are using. If you scroll down further there is an Administrators section which has the installers you would use for enterprise deployments and I believe that until recently they had this for the Windows version of the desktop phone. https://support.ringcentral.com/download.html



When I just looked it seems that they have removed the Windows desktop softphone and your only choice to pick is the RingCentral app which is Glip with some phone functionality integrated now. I'm pretty sure you can either ask support or your account rep to get you the enterprise deployable version of the desktop softphone as they need to keep providing it for customers who aren't deploying Glip.

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saadetswift16514 avatar image
saadetswift16514 answered andrew-wiggin16057 commented
Thanks for jumping in, Jeff.

I don't what happened (looking into it internally) but the download version for the RC Phone app under the User section is an MSI :/
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andrew-wiggin16057 avatar image andrew-wiggin16057 commented ·
The user section download is an MSI, but it is still a per-user installation. In fact, it can only be deployed with user level group policy - which means that it delays logon for several minutes when it is initially applied.
I added a domain wide firewall exception for "%LocalAppData%\RingCentral\SoftPhoneApp\Softphone.exe", but it has not worked consistently.
A system wide installation package would solve both the firewall & logon delay problems perfectly.
I am currently looking into the "ALLUSERS" property of MSIExec to accomplish this:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/Msi/allusers
msiexec /i RingCentralPhone.msi ALLUSERS=1 /qn
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andrew-wiggin16057 avatar image andrew-wiggin16057 commented ·
That didn't work.
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colin-bodkin avatar image
colin-bodkin answered
Robert,

We are experiencing this Windows Defender Firewall issue as well.  Were you ever able to determine if a block is indeed put on softphone.exe when the user clicks Cancel on the Windows Firewall message?
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michael-ritchey avatar image
michael-ritchey answered j-swann commented
old post, but getting the same thing, in further research it appers to be asking for INBOUND access on the windows built in firewall. I dont see a reason why any RC App should need Inbound port access. Outbound yes, inbound NO. 
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michael-ritchey avatar image michael-ritchey commented ·
if you look at what is blocked Ring Central is asking to ALLOW inbound any.... why does and application that is cloud based, establishing its connection outbound.... need inbound ports at the client level, this is why I am thinking its trying to do EXT to EXT calling.... maybe it is joining a multicast group, from my testing of denying RC there has been no impact to the client.
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andrew-wiggin16057 avatar image andrew-wiggin16057 commented ·
do you want to receive calls/txts?
that sounds pretty in-bound to me.
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michael-ritchey avatar image michael-ritchey commented ·
while you are correct. RC apps first establish outbound connection, and use the same outbound connection to receive the data.  if real inbound was needed you would need to open firewall ports up. the RC firewall requirements are for OUTBOUND only. 
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michael-ritchey avatar image michael-ritchey commented ·
also your firewall exception is most likely on the outbound side ? if yes the reason it is still popping up, its asking to allow INBOUND. Check your windows firewall rules you will see RC softphone only on the inbound side.   even if it was cancelled it would be listed as Denied, as I am running into this same issue.... but thinking to deny the inbound request anyways, my only guess is maybe it is used for EXT to EXT calling on the same Lan, in that case it could bypass the RC Call server. 
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j-swann avatar image j-swann commented ·
I'm curious, how do you make call EXT to EXT over LAN (presuming you mean not involving an internet connection)? How exactly do you force that?
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