Chapter 24

bbbserver.de IntegrationAPI

The IntegrationAPI on bbbserver.de is a proxy that mirrors the standard BigBlueButton API while distributing conferences across multiple servers with sufficient capacity in the background.

Where to Find API URL and Shared Secret

Your API URL and shared secret are available in the bbbserver admin panel under Integrations & APIs → Integration-API. The IntegrationAPI can also be enabled or disabled there.

You do not need shell access or bbb-conf commands to retrieve credentials when using bbbserver.de.

Plugin Compatibility

The following platforms work out of the box. In most cases, you only need to enter the API URL and shared secret into the standard BigBlueButton integration.

  • Moodle (BigBlueButtonBN)
  • ILIAS
  • Nextcloud
  • WordPress
  • Greenlight

Differences from the Standard API

The IntegrationAPI mirrors the standard BBB API closely, but several behaviors on bbbserver.de are different enough that they should be understood explicitly during integration.

Capacity Reservation

When you create a conference through the IntegrationAPI, bbbserver.de must assign it to a backend server with enough remaining resources. This is why maxParticipants and duration act as a reservation request for connection and runtime capacity rather than merely documenting expected usage.

Both values should therefore be provided on create calls. If they are omitted, the defaults from Integrations & APIs → Integration-API are used.

Capacity Reservation Example

The following example shows how reservation-based capacity planning changes the behavior compared to a normal single-server assumption:

Situation Effect on Capacity
Your account allows 20 concurrent connections This is the total connection pool available for active reservations.
Conference A is created with maxParticipants = 15 and duration = 120 minutes Conference A reserves 15 of the 20 available connections for the full two-hour reservation window.
Another conference is created during those two hours It cannot reserve more than the 5 remaining connections while conference A is still inside its reserved time window.
The two hours are over and conference A is still running Conference A may continue, but its reserved capacity is no longer guaranteed or protected.
Conference B is later created with maxParticipants = 10 The system may automatically terminate conference A in favor of conference B because conference A is no longer protected by an active reservation.

Behavior of parameter "duration"

On bbbserver.de, duration is part of capacity planning and does not automatically end a meeting when the configured time is exceeded.

Because duration has this reservation meaning on bbbserver.de, exceeding the configured duration never ends a meeting automatically. If your workflow requires a fixed end time, schedule an explicit end API call.

Additional Parameter for White-labeling

deactivateBbbserverDefaultChatTexts accepts true or false and defaults to false.

While it remains false, bbbserver.de adds its own chat text with dial-in instructions and a hosting notice. Your welcome and moderatorOnlyMessage texts are appended afterwards. Set the parameter to true if you want to disable those default bbbserver texts for white-labeling.

Unavailable Endpoints

The following API calls exist in the standard API, but are not implemented by the IntegrationAPI:

updateRecordings, getDefaultConfigXML, setConfigXML, getRecordingTextTracks, putRecordingTextTrack

Webhooks

Hooks must be registered for specific meeting IDs. Registration for all meetings without specifying a meeting ID is not supported.

Webhook events may contain sensitive information. bbbserver.de therefore removes or obfuscates privacy-sensitive fields automatically, so data such as participant IP addresses may be unavailable.

Rate Limits

There are no rate limits on the IntegrationAPI.

In addition to the IntegrationAPI, bbbserver.de offers a separate System API with platform-specific features such as account management and usage statistics. The System API is not BBB-compatible and is not covered in this guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Open the bbbserver admin panel and navigate to Integrations & APIs → Integration-API. There you can view the API URL, copy the shared secret, and enable or disable the IntegrationAPI.

The IntegrationAPI is designed to work with standard BigBlueButton integrations such as Moodle, ILIAS, Nextcloud, WordPress, and Greenlight.

The bbbserver.de IntegrationAPI mirrors the standard BBB API, but maxParticipants and duration reserve capacity, meetings are not auto-ended, deactivateBbbserverDefaultChatTexts controls platform chat texts, some endpoints are unavailable, and webhooks are meeting-specific.

You can temporarily enable the request log. While it is active, all requests sent to the IntegrationAPI are logged. This lets you test the API itself, test your own integration, and inspect how the API behaves in practice.