Inside OCS » Client

Lync 2010 Mobility Service and Documentation Available

Curtis Johnstone — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:40:26 +0000

Details posted on InsideLync: Lync 2010 Mobility Service and Documentation Available for more information.

The Remote UC Troubleshooting Tool (RUCT)

Curtis Johnstone — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:37:08 +0000

I haven’t done a blog entry for awhile on InsideOCS because I have spent a lot of my extra time developing a small free tool called: The Remote UC Troubleshooting Tool (RUCT).

The tool was born out of my former MOCLogin troubleshooting tool, but I decided to rename it because of the expanded features and all the great things it can do besides just troubleshoot DNS entries with Communicator and Lync client automatic sign-in.

I’ll go on record as saying that I think this is one of the best tools available for troubleshooting Lync and Communicator certificate issues!

A full description of RUCT is available here, and the tool can be downloaded here.

Here is a summary of what the tool can do:

1. Easily Query Important DNS Records used by Microsoft Lync Server and OCS.

DNS queries for the following Lync and OCS records are issued with one-click:

All Lync and Communicator internal and external records used for automatic sign-in.
Lync sign-in records used for Lync Online (in Office 365).
Lync simple URL records used for Dial-In, Meetings, and Administration.
Home registrar location records used by Lync devices.
The automatic partner discovery record used in an Open Federation configuration.

2. Test Network Availability.

Easily test the network connectivity to the hostname and port belonging to any matching DNS SRV record, or IP address belonging to an A record.
A TCP connection is attempted for hostnames and ports, and a ping is attempted for IP addresses.

3. Certificate Retrieval, Installation, and Export.

The tool can remotely retrieve X509 Certificate information on any Lync or OCS port that is secured using TLS (or SSL). Certificate information returned includes the Common Name (CN), Subject Name, Issuer, Certificate Authority, Expiry Date, Creation Date, and Subject Alternative Names (SANs), and the complete certificate chain.
The remote certificate can also be installed locally or exported to a file. This makes client access to labs and self-signed certificates much easier to setup.

4. Easily Retrieve Important Client-Side Troubleshooting Information.

Important client-side environment settings such as O/S version, 32-bit or 64-bit, current domain credentials, and Lync/Communicator sign-on settings are automatically retrieved and consolidated in one place.
Recent Lync and Communicator specific event log errors and warnings can be retrieved with one-click.

Screenshots

DNS Information

Certificate Functionality

Client Troubleshooting

I hope this tool is a big help to people troubleshooting Lync Server and OCS issues. Feel free to provide any feedback.

File Transfers in Microsoft Lync Online

Curtis Johnstone — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:02:41 +0000

A new post on InsideLync.com about file transfer support in Microsoft Lync Online: http://blog.insidelync.com/2011/10/file-transfers-in-microsoft-lync-online.

Communicator & Lync Sign-In Troubleshooting Tool (Version 3)

Curtis Johnstone — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:30:52 +0000

A major upgrade is now available to my popular OCS and Lync Sign-In Troubleshooting Tool. This is a small free tool to help troubleshoot client-side Communicator, and now Lync, sign-in issues (see The OCS 2007 Automatic Sign-In Troubleshooting Tool V2.0 for more information on previous releases).

A major upgrade is now available to my popular OCS and Lync Sign-In Troubleshooting Tool. This is a small free tool to help troubleshoot client-side Communicator and Lync sign-in issues (see The OCS 2007 Automatic Sign-In Troubleshooting Tool V2.0 for more information on previous releases).

In addition to several bug fixes, Version 3 of the tool now supports remotely retrieving certificate information from the TLS port on the OCS or Lync server where the client will connect (based on the matching returned DNS records). This will be a major help when trying to debug sign-in issues.

You can read more about the tool and download it here: http://www.insideocs.com/tools/MOCLogin.htm

Here is a screenshot of the main screen:

Here is a screen shot of the certificate information that is retrieved remotely, including the Common Name (CN), Subject Name, Issuer, Certificate Authority, Expiry Date, Creation Date, and Subject Alternative Names (SANs):

Thanks to all the users who have reported bugs. Retrieving the installed version of Lync or Communicator now works on x64 along with a few other issues.

Blackberry Support for OCS 2007 R2 and Lync is Now Available

Curtis Johnstone — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:37:21 +0000

In case you missed it, BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange SP3 was recently released.

BES SP3 adds long awaited support for connecting to OCS 2007 R2 and Lync Server 2010 (without an OCS R1 CWA server).

In case you missed it, RIM recently released BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange 5.0 SP3. BES 5.0 SP3 adds long awaited support for connecting to OCS 2007 R2 and Lync Server 2010 (without requiring an OCS R1 CWA server).

Description of BES 5.0 SP3: What’s new in BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 SP3
The link for the SP3 download is here.
Also, SP3 is also adds certification for Microsoft Hyper-V 2008 r2 virtualized environments. For more information, there is a Tutorial of What’s new in SP3.

New OCS 2007 R2 Updates & Microsoft Federated Edge Server IP Address Change

Curtis Johnstone — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:44:01 +0000

A new round of OCS 2007 R2 client and server updates were released today – collectively known as OCS 2007 R2 Cumulative Update 8 (CU 8). Note: some links will not be available until late next week.

Client Updates

Office Communicator 2007 R2	KB Article 2501722	Microsoft Download Link
Group Chat Client 2007 R2	KB Article 2491979	Microsoft Download Link
Group Chat Admin 2007 R2	KB Article 2502323	Microsoft Download Link
Attendant Console 2007 R2	KB Article 2502321	Microsoft Download Link
UCMA Redist 2007 R2	KB Article 2501720	Microsoft Download Link
OcsAdoption Tool 2007 R2	KB Article 2501718	Microsoft Download Link

Note: the updates will appear in Microsoft Update on April 26, 2011.

Server Updates

Office Communications Server 2007 R2	KB Article 968802	Microsoft Download Link
Database Upgrade	KB Article 2512777	Microsoft Download Link
Group Chat Server 2007 R2	KB Article 2491973	Microsoft Download Link

If you are unsure what updates you have installed on your servers, Jens Trier Rasmussen has made a script available that should help you identify which update you have installed:

Script to see highest version of a component installed on a OCS/Lync server (Cumulative Update)

http://blogs.technet.com/b/jenstr/archive/2011/03/10/script-to-see-highest-version-of-a-component-installed-on-a-ocs-lync-server.aspx

Script to see highest version of a component installed on a OCS/Lync server (Cumulative Update)

Microsoft Federated Edge Server IP Address Change March 18, 2011

If you are federated with Microsoft and have done so using the IP address of their Edge server, you will want to read this: http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2011/03/08/microsoft-federated-edge-server-ip-address-change-march-11-2011.aspx.

BlackBerry Support for OCS 2007 R2 & Lync Coming in Early 2011

Curtis Johnstone — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:54:21 +0000

April 4, 2011 Update: BES 5.0 SP3 has been released which adds support for Microsoft OCS 2007 R2. See Blackberry Support for OCS 2007 R2 and Lync is Now Available for more information.

Many readers of this blog are interesting in BlackBerry support for Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 and Lync, so I wanted to provide this quick update.

RIM has recently updated their BlackBerry Enterprise Server Add-on product website to mention support for Microsoft® Lync® Server 2010 as “…being available in an upcoming BlackBerry Enterprise Server Service Pack.”

OCS 2007 R2 is not specifically listed here, but some recent product roadmap slides from RIM mention that “The latest BES will add a host of new features including …. certification with Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 and Lync 2010”. It also mentions that this will be in BES 5.0.3 (as a Service Pack) and it will be available “in early 2011”.

Thanks to Graham_Walsh (on Twitter) for flagging this.

You can read more about BlackBerry Client Support for OCS 2007 R2 today here: http://blog.insideocs.com/2009/07/31/blackberry%C2%AE-client-support-for-ocs-r2/.

Lync 2010 – Setting User Location

Curtis Johnstone — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 03:42:20 +0000

One of the great new features of Microsoft Lync 2010 is the ability for users to show their geographic location in their client, including the ability to have it auto-detected based on their network information. The ability for Lync to autodetect a users location is a whole feature set onto itself which utilizes the new Location Information Server (LIS), and I’ll cover that in a future blog entry. This post focused on the ability for the user to manually set their location.

If you have just deployed the Lync Server 2010 RC in a lab, and are running the Lync client on a virtual image, you’ll notice the ability to set your location is disabled as circled in red in the picture below:

Before you start modifying your Location Policies in an attempt to enable this functionality, know that the location cannot be set when Lync is running in a Remote Desktop session – the case if you are running on a virtual image.

Based on the Release Candidate documentation, the ability for users to set their location manually, or to have it set automatically, needs to be enabled by the Lync Server Administrator.

Specifically there is a Lync server user policy controlling the Lync client location feature: the Location Policy. This policy contains a setting called Location, which once set and applied to a user(s), the Lync 2010 client retrieves this setting via in-band provisioning when signing in.

You’ll notice the ability to edit the default Global Location Policy is disabled when you try to edit it for a specific user in the Users group in the Lync Control Panel. To edit the Location Policy you need to go into the the “Network Configuration” group in the Lync Control Panel.

Here you can create Location Policies for specific Lync Users or all users in a Lync Site.

Noteworthy Updates: SQL 2008 R2 Support, CU6, & Communications Server 2010

Curtis Johnstone — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:13:21 +0000

Three recent OCS developments you should be aware of:

1] Communications Server 2007 R2 Does Not Support Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

An official statement was released regarding OCS 2007 R2 not supporting SQL Server 2008 R2 for the back-end database. The primary reason is that OCS 2007 R2 hasn’t been tested with SQL Server 2008 R2 which contains some significant changes to functionality. For more information see:

> http://blogs.technet.com/b/drrez/
> Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Storage Requirements

2] The July 2010 Cumulative Update 6 (CU6) has been Pulled Until Further Notice

In case you missed it, on Sept 2^nd, Microsoft temporarily removed the Cumulative Update 6 (CU6) until an issue with the Response Group Service can be fixed. See: Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Response Group Service Fails After Applying July 2010 Cumulative Updates for more information. The corresponding Microsoft Knowledge Base article is KB 2401878 and can be viewed here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2401878.

3] Communications Server 2010 TechNet Documentation Available

Microsoft TechNet has posted some documentation for Communications Server 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff770144.aspx including a section on “New Features in Communications Server 2010”. Thanks to Tommy Clarke for pointing this out: http://www.cinline.se/2010/09/technet-documentation-of-communications-server-2010-ocs-cs14/.

Updates to Office Live Meeting and the Outlook Conferencing Add-In

Curtis Johnstone — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 02:07:47 +0000

The July, 2010 updates to the Office Live Meeting client and the Outlook Conferencing Add-In are available. This is in addition to the previously released July 2010 Updates to Communicator and OCS Server (Cumulative Update 6).

Office Live Meeting Window Client

Download the Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 client (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/download-the-microsoft-office-live-meeting-2007-client-HA010173383.aspx). This update installed version 8.0.6362.190 from the last update 8.0.6362.187.
Description of the update package for the Windows-based Live Meeting 2007 client: July 2010 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2029026)

Conferencing Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook

Download the Conferencing Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/redir/XT101961398.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA010236890)
Description of the update for the Live Meeting Conferencing Add-in for Outlook: July 2010 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2029027)