Tag Archives: Lync Server 2010

Who do you actually federate with? #Lync

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If you have set up “Allow automatic discovery of federated partners” you cant just run get-csalloweddomains to get a list of the domains you federate with since you are open to federation business with who ever wants to, so how do you get a list of all the domains that you federate with???
Well, back in OCS you could see a list in the MMC of all the domains that you federated with but where do we find this in Lync?

Look no further than the Event Viewer and just look for the Event ID 14601. You should see a list of all the partner domains that your employees are talking to.

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And while we are talking federation, I hope you haven’t missed my fellow MVP Matt Landis Federation project list. http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2011/09/usa-microsoft-lync-federation-directory_02.html

The Microsoft Lync 2010 Training Download Package just got updated

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And it got some great stuff in it, so make sure to download and put it on your intrawebz.

This zipped folder contains all of the available training and user education resources for Microsoft Lync 2010. The included Lync Training Plans workbook helps you choose the resources that will work best for your users.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=9642

What was in Lync Cumulative Update (CU) 5 #Lync

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Lync CU5 is out and there are some good stuff in it…

One of the most talked about new features is that Video Calling for RCC-Enabled Users was added. Great news for some orgs that still sits with PBX´s.
But there are still some caveats to this that can be read about in the NextHop post by Jamie Stark

It is also now possible to use DFS fileshares in topology builder, details here: 2666344  You cannot add a DFS file share as a file store in Topology Builder of Lync Server 2010.

Some other fixes of notice:

2621841 A Lync 2010 user can still send files that contain a long file name after the file transfer is blocked

2664650 Microsoft push notification messages are not delivered to Lync mobile clients

2658817 Calls do not always connect if you have a DNS balancer and multi-homed network deployed in a Lync Server 2010 environment

2675221 A Front End Server does not route network traffic to Lync 2010 Mobile clients if the Collocated Mediation Server option is enabled in Lync Server 2010

2670434 A user cannot sign in by using a mobile device in a Lync Server 2010 environment that has Mobility Service deployed

And many more fixes…

It can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=11551

And one more thing: Don’t forget to update the Database. Best practices when updating Lync servers can be found here. http://www.ultimate-communications.com/2011/12/best-practices-when-updating-lync-server-with-those-cumulative-updates-lync/

Lessons learned: Faxes… (f#”&!g faxes) – Lync

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Ok this will be the short version, the longer version will follow as soon as I have time to write a longer more in detail post on how we actually solved the fax problem.

The thing is that Lync does in fact support faxes the problem is that it doesn’t work. Great huh? Open-mouthed smile

Ok so you can set up a analog gateway and then create a analog device and set it to Set-CsAnalogDevice -Identity <UserIdParameter> -AnalogFax $true and the benefit from this is that you will actually get statistics of your faxes in your monitoring server and just stop….

Save yourself the trouble and time and just route the fax outside of Lync. Route it directly to the analog gateway without passing Lync. There is just to much that needs to fit for the fax to work good through Lync and lets not start talking on remote sites and how to get this working over WAN and with SBA´s

So the lesson learned, Leave the faxes outside of Lync, even better host them on a online faxing service and have it sent by email, its 2012 already Winking smile (ok I know it might be requirements that forces organizations to keep them)

Whats your experiences with FAX´s? Have you gotten it to work via Lync or did you rout it outside of Lync directly to the gw? Post a comment and tell us.

Weekend reading, December update for Lync docs – #Lync #Weekendreading

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There are a lot of docs that have been updated and some new or some that I haven’t read at least.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Administration Guide & Windows PowerShell Supplement

The Lync Server Administration Guide and the Windows PowerShell Supplement contain procedures and guidance for administering a Lync Server 2010 deployment.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of migrating and deploying Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components that are required to let organizations set up searchable, topic-based…

Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010

This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

Enabling Quality of Service with Microsoft Lync Server 2010

If your Windows Server network supports Quality of Service (QoS) management, you can take advantage of this functionality to optimize media traffic in your Microsoft Lync Server 2010 deployment. This guide shows you how.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Voice Deployment Guide

This download contains two documents: Deploying Enterprise Voice at Central sites and Deploying Branch Sites

Uninstalling Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Removing Server Roles

…the retiring or decommissioning of existing components that you replace with different or newer components. “Uninstalling Lync Server 2010 and Removing Server Roles” includes procedures for removing server roles and decommissioning a deployment.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Active Directory Guide

This document guides you through the process of preparing Active Directory for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and includes the Active Directory schema reference.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing for Lync Server 2010.

Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Lync Server 2010

This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Security Guide

The Security Guide provides guidelines for assessing and managing security risks to your Lync Server 2010 deployment.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group Deployment Guide

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Response Group feature for Enterprise Voice.

Deploying the Survivable Branch Appliance in Lync Server 2010 for Cisco Integrated Services Router/Service Ready Engine

This white paper describes how to use a Cisco 3925 ISR G2 configured with a SRE-900 Service Module (Cisco Service Ready Engine Virtualization (SRE-V) support platform) to be deployed as a Survivable Branch Appliance (SBA) in a Microsoft Lync Server 2010 environment.

Get best practices on Lync deployment from MSIT and early adopters – #Lync

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This document talks on Microsoft IT’s early adopter experiences, best experiences, and lessons learned from MS´s own deployments of Lync within their global enterprise. By leveraging best practices, you can make decisions about how to best plan for, deploy, and manage Microsoft solutions in your own environment.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28551 

 

And there is also a IT Showcase On Microsoft Lync Deployment

Microsoft IT (MSIT) replaced PBX systems in seven sites located in the three major regions. MSIT implemented user adoption strategies that resulted in a very successful deployment with high user satisfaction scores.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28552

Best practices when updating Lync Server with those cumulative updates – #Lync

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Cumulative Updates (CU) are kind of a service pack that comes out quarterly for Lync Server and the clients. It includes fixes and some times new functionality is added.

The latest is Cumulative Update is CU4 (as of December 2011) and it can be downloaded here http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=11551

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As you can see there are a lot of files to download and you could just download and update specific components or you can download the LyncServerUpdateInstaller.exe package that includes all the latest updates. So go ahead and download it and then copy the file to your Lync Servers.

To start the update process log in to your server. And start the Lync Server Management Shell

  1. Check that no users are talking on the phone or are in a meeting before you start the update. You can do this by running Get-CsWindowsService (read more in this post http://www.ultimate-communications.com/2011/11/lync-powershell-tip-5/ )
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    1. In the screenshot above there are one active call in the call park service and it would be a bad idea to turn off the services right now as this would terminate the call.
  2. So the solution would be to prevent new sessions for a while and drain the active connections. This can be done running Stop-CsWindowsService –Graceful
    (Read more on server draining at http://voipnorm.blogspot.com/2011/03/lync-server-draining.html )
    1. image
      As seen in the picture the services is now stopped.
  3. Next thing would be to stop the World Wide Web service. By typing: net stop w3svc
  4. Now Close all Lync Server Management Shell windows.
  5. Install the cumulative update for Lync Server 2010 by running LyncServerUpdateInstaller.exe
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    This will start the update tool and you should se what updates are needed and what version is already installed. (As you can see in the picture I have already installed the latest update package and it shows a green checkmark at every line. If there were some services that wouldn’t be updated this would show a red stop mark instead.)
    1. Restart the computer if you are prompted to do so
  6. The next step is something that is almost always forgotten. To update the Lync Server Databases (this step is normally not done if you just used Windows Update to update your Lync server and should then be done manually after Windows Update has updated your server.)
    1. Start the Lync Server Management Shell: (Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Lync Server 2010, and then click Lync Server Management Shell.)
    2. To apply the changes made by LyncServerUpdateInstaller.exe to the SQL Server databases do one of the following:
      1. On Standard Edition Server and Enterprise Edition: Front end servers, once you have installed update for core components, the updated sql files will be dropped on the server. Then run the following cmdlet to apply the changes:
        Install-CsDatabase -Update -ConfiguredDatabases -SqlServerFqdn <EEBE.Fqdn> -UseDefaultSqlPaths

        Notes

        • In a Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition environment, run the cmdlet from the Standard Edition server.
        • In a Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition environment in which the archiving/monitoring services are collocated with an Enterprise Edition back-end server, run this cmdlet from the Enterprise Edition back-end server.
        • In a Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition environment in which the archiving/monitoring services are not collocated with an Enterprise Edition back-end server , run this cmdlet from the Enterprise Edition front-end server.

        If the RTCDyn databases are removed after you run the cmdlet without the UseDefaultSqlPaths parameter, run the following cmdlet to restore the RTCDyn databases:

        Install-CsDatabase -Update -ConfiguredDatabases -SqlServerFqdn < EEBE.Fqdn > -DatabasePaths <RtcDyn log path>, <RtcDyn data path>
  7. Now when the database is also up to date, its time to start the IIS & Lync Server services. At the command line, type:
    net start w3svc
    Start-CsWindowsService

And that’s it Open-mouthed smile you should now be up to date and ready to roll out the client updates to your Lync clients and phones.

Have I missed something that you considerer being a best practice when updating your server? Please comment bellow.

Lync PowerShell tip: 6 #Lync #Exchange #PowerShell

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All credit for this tip should be directed to @patrichard that runs the blog http://www.ehloworld.com/

Get-mailbox | Set-mailbox -MailTip “This looks like a message that would be better to send in Lync!”

What this one does is to create a internal MailTip for all messages that are sent to internal recipients. Making it look something like this

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Lync PowerShell tip: 4

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Get-CsWebServiceConfiguration -Filter “site:*” | Set-CsWebServiceConfiguration -MaxValidityPeriodHours 72

What this does is to turn down the validation time on the certificate that Lync client uses to log on to the Lync Server from the default of 6 months to 3 days.

Its actually possible to extract certificates with the private key and then import them on an different computer and then log-on as the owner of the certificate. So to completely disable a user you will also need to disable their certificates.

Running the Disable-CsUser cmdlet deletes user data. So if you need to maintain any user data, do not use this cmdlet. Instead use Set-CSUser -Enabled $false -Identity <userIdentity> to disable all Lync functionality (not just certificate authentication), but still retain the user data.
You can also use the Revoke-CsClientCertificate to prevent client access.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg398396.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg195642.aspx

Lync PowerShell Tip:1

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This will (hopefully) be a new series on the blog with some one-liners that I use in my daily work as a consultant installing Lync Servers.

Set-CsConferenceDisclaimer -Header “Litwareinc.com Online Conference” -Body “Important note: This is a private system for invited attendees only, Conferencing proceedings can be recorded and archived.”

Now when a Lync client joins the meeting they will first see this screen
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And it will look something like this when the web clients enter
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http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg398776.aspx