A system for monitoring the status of a video conference via a network, the video conference being provisioned by a video conferencing system that includes a multipoint control unit, the multipoint control unit being configured to manage the allocation of conferencing channels, to process the video, audio, control and data signals exchanged during the video conference and to receive several channels from access ports, the system comprising: a web server including a network interface and a multipoint control unit interface, the multipoint control unit interface being configured to receive status information from the multipoint control unit; a client computer device having a display and being communicatively connected to the web server through the network interface; a server script running on the web server in a continuous loop, the server script being operative to request and receive status information from the multipoint control unit interface and when the status information is new, to generate a client script based, at least in part, on the new status information, and automatically download the client script to the client computer device; and a web browser running on the client computer device and enabling the client computer device to interface with the web server via the network interface, the web browser, in response to receiving a particular URL, being operative to initially download a monitoring web page from the web server, the monitoring web page being a HTML file and defining a visible pane and an invisible pane, the web browser being further operative to receive the client script from the web server and to run the client script which updates the display of the client computer device and thereby displays the new status information without a need to reload the full monitoring web page; wherein the invisible pane of the monitoring web page is operative to receive the client script, and wherein the visible pane is visible on the display of the client computer device and is updated when the client script is run; wherein the multipoint control unit interface is further configured to provide control information to the multipoint control unit; wherein the monitoring web page further defines at least one control element, in particular one or more action buttons or push buttons; and wherein the web browser is further configured to request the web server to send a control action to the multipoint control unit over the multipoint control unit interface when the at least one control element is actuated, the control action being associated with the actuated control element and in particular including actions such as muting a participant, changing the display layout of a video conference, changing the zoom or pan of a participants camera or dropping a participant from the conference. a web server including a network interface and a multipoint control unit interface, the multipoint control unit interface being configured to receive status information from the multipoint control unit; a client computer device having a display and being communicatively connected to the web server through the network interface; a server script running on the web server in a continuous loop, the server script being operative to request and receive status information from the multipoint control unit interface and when the status information is new, to generate a client script based, at least in part, on the new status information, and automatically download the client script to the client computer device; and a web browser running on the client computer device and enabling the client computer device to interface with the web server via the network interface, the web browser, in response to receiving a particular URL, being operative to initially download a monitoring web page from the web server, the monitoring web page being a HTML file and defining a visible pane and an invisible pane, the web browser being further operative to receive the client script from the web server and to run the client script which updates the display of the client computer device and thereby displays the new status information without a need to reload the full monitoring web page; wherein the invisible pane of the monitoring web page is operative to receive the client script, and wherein the visible pane is visible on the display of the client computer device and is updated when the client script is run; wherein the multipoint control unit interface is further configured to provide control information to the multipoint control unit; wherein the monitoring web page further defines at least one control element, in particular one or more action buttons or push buttons; and wherein the web browser is further configured to request the web server to send a control action to the multipoint control unit over the multipoint control unit interface when the at least one control element is actuated, the control action being associated with the actuated control element and in particular including actions such as muting a participant, changing the display layout of a video conference, changing the zoom or pan of a participants camera or dropping a participant from the conference.