Inside OCS » OCS R2

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.

Microsoft to Acquire Skype

Curtis Johnstone — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:30:11 +0000

June 30, 2011 Update: Office 365 To Get Skype Integration. It appears Microsoft will integrate Skype functionality into Office 365 voice and video conferencing: http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/231000726.

June 17, 2011 Update: Microsoft Wins Antitrust Approval From FTC To Buy Skype: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110617-713214.html.

This is not Microsoft OCS/Lync news per se, but in case you missed it, this morning Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire Skype: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2011/may11/05-10CorpNewsPR.mspx.

This is exciting news – the acquisition in itself significantly extends Microsoft’s Unified Communication’s reach to many more millions of people world-wide, and the potential of integration with Microsoft Lync, the Office platform, and other Microsoft devices is powerful.

From the press release: “Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms”.

The thought of potentially having Skype users in my Lync client and vice-versa is appealing!

Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.

Integrating OCS 2007 R2 and Polycom Telepresence

Curtis Johnstone — Fri, 06 May 2011 19:43:48 +0000

A quick tip to anyone integrating the Polycom HDX 8000 video conferencing unit with Microsoft OCS 2007 R2.

When you create the OCS 2007 R2 user to be used for the Polycom HDX 8000 (aka Conference Room User), a key requirement is that this OCS 2007 R2 user CANNOT be fully enabled for Enhanced Presence (by full enabled, I mean that the OCS R2 has the “Enabled enhanced presence” checkbox enabled on their account AND have logged in at least once with Office Communicator 2007 or Communicator 2007 R2).

The user can have the Enhanced Presence checkbox enabled, they just must not have signed into OCS 2007 R2 with a Communicator 2007, 2007 R2, or Communicator Web Access (in OCS 2007 R2).

When you create a new user in OCS 2007 R2 this Enhanced Presence checkbox is enabled by default. The state that the OCS user is in before they sign into OCS at least once with Communcator 2007 or 2007 R2 is referred to as “Stage 2″ in this blog article which describes the 3 stages an OCS account can exist in regards to enhanced presence: http://blogs.technet.com/b/lync/archive/2008/03/06/differentiating-between-stages-of-enhanced-presence.aspx.

For the adventurous spirits out there, I attempted to ‘revert’ the OCS 2007 R2 Conference Room User from Stage 3 to Stage 2 by changing the associated “RichMode” value to False for the user in the OCS database, and this did not work. I believe signing in the first time with Communicator 2007 or 2007 R2 also changes some other settings.

Also, if you encounter this error “The registrar has rejected the system’s attempt at registration”, Jeff Schertz has a good blog write-up on why this could be happening and how to resolve it: http://blog.schertz.name/2011/01/hdx-sip-registration-with-server-2008-r2/.

For more on integrating the Polycom HDX 8000 with OCS, see the

Polycom® HDX and RMX™ Systems Integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Deployment Guide

http://downloads.polycom.com/bridging_collab/rmx/relnotes/OCS_Deployment.pdf

A quick tip to anyone integrating a Polycom Room Telepresence solution (e.g. the HDX series) with Microsoft OCS 2007 R2.

If you are having trouble signing into OCS 2007 R2 with the OCS conference room user on the Polycom unit, read-on, and consider upgrading the software on the Polycom.

Older Polycom software had a requirement that the OCS 2007 R2 user used with the Polycom unit (aka ‘Conference Room User’) COULD NOT be fully enabled for Enhanced Presence. By “fully enabled” I mean that the “Enabled enhanced presence” check-box was enabled on the OCS account AND the account has been logged into at least once with Office Communicator 2007, Communicator 2007 R2, or Communicator Web Access.

Once the OCS 2007 R2 conference room user was enabled for enhanced presence and had logged into OCS 2007 R2 at least once, the Polycom unit could not sign-in.

Enhanced Presence is supported on newer software releases for the HDX units (for awhile now). Recent Polycom support guides and software downloads can be found at the bottom of this page: http://support.polycom.com/PolycomService/support/us/support/strategic_partner_solutions/microsoft_software_download.html.

The latest version of the Microsoft UC Integration Guide that covers both Lync and OCS is available here: http://support.polycom.com/global/documents/support/setup_maintenance/products/video/Deploying_Visual_Comm_Admin_Guide_WV4.pdf.

Some older Polycom guides still show in Internet searches and are out-of-date, such as this one: the Polycom® HDX and RMX™ Systems Integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Deployment Guide.

A Refresher on the Multiple States of Enhanced Presence: When a new user is created in OCS 2007 R2 the Enhanced Presence checkbox is enabled by default. The state that the OCS user is in before they sign into OCS at least once with Communicator 2007 or 2007 R2 is referred to as “Stage 2″ in this good blog article which describes the 3 different stages an OCS account can exist in regards to enhanced presence: http://blogs.technet.com/b/lync/archive/2008/03/06/differentiating-between-stages-of-enhanced-presence.aspx.

Tip: For the adventurous spirits out there, I attempted to ‘revert’ an OCS 2007 R2 Conference Room User from Stage 3 to Stage 2 by changing the associated “RichMode” value to False in the OCS database, and this did not work. I believe signing in the first time with Communicator 2007 or 2007 R2 must also change other settings which cannot be reverted.

Also, if you encounter this error “The registrar has rejected the system’s attempt at registration“, Jeff Schertz has a good blog write-up on why this could be happening and how to resolve it: http://blog.schertz.name/2011/01/hdx-sip-registration-with-server-2008-r2/.

For more on OCS 2007 R2 Enhanced Presence see the InsideOCS blog post: Enhanced Presence and Upgrading Communicator Clients.

Recently Released OCS & Lync Resources

Curtis Johnstone — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:44:40 +0000

I recently published a recap of 10 goodLync resources released in the last few months: http://blog.insidelync.com/2011/04/recently-released-lync-resources/.

One that I found useful for OCS 2007 R2 is the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Address Book Service Configuration Tool available here:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/drrez/archive/2011/03/14/office-communications-server-2007-r2-tool-address-book-service-configuration-tool.aspx

This tool allows you to change the OCS address book settings that can only be made through AD or WMI which was always a challenge.

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 & OCS Migration Top 10

Curtis Johnstone — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:58:18 +0000

Here are my Top 10 quick frequently-needed facts when you are first considering a Lync 2010 migration from OCS 2007 R2 (or if you are considering co-existence).

1. Lync 2010 Servers Can Coexist with OCS 2007 R2 Servers (in an OCS 2007 R2 Deployment)

• They can coexist in the same AD Forest and AD Domain, but not in the same OCS 2007 R2 Pool.

• Lync Server 2010 can coexist with OCS 2007 servers also, but it CANNOT coexist in an OCS deployment with BOTH OCS 2007 and OCS 2007 R2 servers. If you have a mixed OCS R1 and R2 environment, you need to finish your R2 upgrade first.

2. An Inside-Out Lync Deployment Approach is Generally Recommended

• For example, in an existing OCS 2007 R2 deployment, the internal Lync server pilot pool would be deployed first, followed by the Lync Edge Server and Director, etc…

3. Side-by-Side is the Only Supported “Upgrade” Path

• There is no ability to do an in-place upgrade of an existing OCS 2007 R2 server.

• Users can be moved from the OCS 2007 R2 server /pool to the Lync 2010 server/pool with the management console.

4. Using the Lync 2010 Client against an OCS 2007 R2 Server is not Supported.

• Using a legacy Communicator 2007 R2 client against a Lync 2010 server IS supported.

5. The Lync 2010 Client Cannot Run side-by-side with Communicator 2007 R2.

• If you install the Lync client on a client with Communicator 2007 R2 installed, it silently removes Communicator 2007 R2. It does keep registry settings such as those in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Communicator.

6. At this time Lync Server 2010 (and OCS 2007 R2) Databases are NOT supported on SQL 2008 R2.

• See http://blogs.technet.com/b/toml/archive/2010/11/10/ocs-2007-r2-lync-server-2010-and-sql-server-versions.aspx for more information.

• This TechNet article details the supported SQL Servers for the Lync monitoring server role: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg413054.aspx

7. The Lync Edge and Lync Director should be Deployed in Parallel

• You should not mix Lync and OCS versions of the Edge and the Director role – they should be upgraded (or deployed in parallel) at the same time.

• A OCS 2007 R2 Edge is supported with a Lync Server 2010 pool.

• A Lync Server 2010 Edge is NOT fully supported against an OCS 2007 R2 Pool.

• See Chapter 6 – Planning for External User Access.doc – of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Planning Guide for more information.

8. The Lync Edge and Lync Mediation server should be Deployed in Parallel

• This is not documented well, but if you are using enterprise voice, you should not mix the Lync and OCS versions of the Edge and Mediation roles.

9. The Topology Builder or the Lync Management Shell can be used to Merge the OCS Topology into Lync

• From the Topology Builder, use the Merge Topology Wizard in the right-hand Tasks Pane.

• In the Lync Management Shell, use the Merge-CSLegacyTopology and the Import-CSLegacyConfiguration cmdlet’s. See the Import-CsLegacyConferenceDirectory cmdlet if you have OCS 2007 R2 conferencing directories.

10. The Lync and OCS Administration Tools must be used with their Respective Server Version

• With the exception that you can view a read-only copy of your OCS deployment in the Lync Topology.

• See Lync and OCS Administration Tools (http://blog.insideocs.com/2010/12/10/lync-and-ocs-administration-tools/) for more information.

Lync 2010 Migration Resources

1. Microsoft TechNet Guide: Migration from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Lync Server 2010

2. Microsoft TechNet Guide: Migration from Office Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010

3. Microsoft Video: Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010

4. Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Planning Guides: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=2da9fa26-e032-4dcf-b487-da916ddc508f

Here are 10 frequently-needed facts when you are first considering a Lync 2010 migration from OCS 2007 R2 (or if you are considering co-existence):

1. Lync 2010 Servers Can Coexist with OCS 2007 R2 Servers (in an OCS 2007 R2 Deployment)

They can coexist in the same AD Forest and AD Domain, but not in the same OCS 2007 R2 Pool.
Lync Server 2010 can coexist with OCS 2007 servers also, but it CANNOT coexist in an OCS deployment with BOTH OCS 2007 and OCS 2007 R2 servers. If you have a mixed OCS R1 and R2 environment, you need to finish your R2 upgrade first.

2. An Inside-Out Lync Deployment Approach is Generally Recommended

For example, in an existing OCS 2007 R2 deployment, the internal Lync server pilot pool would be deployed first, followed by the Lync Edge Server and Director, etc…

3. Side-by-Side is the Only Supported “Upgrade” Path

There is no ability to do an in-place upgrade of an existing OCS 2007 R2 server.
Users can be moved from the OCS 2007 R2 server /pool to the Lync 2010 server/pool with the Lync management tools (the Lync Control Panel or Lync Management Shell) after the OCS topology has been merged with your Lync topology (see #9 below).

4. Using the Lync 2010 Client against an OCS 2007 R2 Server is Not Supported.

Using a legacy Communicator 2007 R2 client against a Lync 2010 server IS supported.

5. The Lync 2010 Client Cannot Run side-by-side with Communicator 2007 R2.

If you install the Lync client on a client with Communicator 2007 R2 installed, it silently removes Communicator 2007 R2. It does keep registry settings such as those in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Communicator.

6. There is a 32-bit and 64-bit Version of the new Lync Client

This is not entirely true. The “64-bit” version is actually just a 64-bit installer wrapping a 32-bit version.
The 64-bit installer version integrates with the 32-bit version of Microsoft Office.

7. The Lync Edge and Lync Director should be Deployed in Parallel

You should not mix Lync Server and OCS versions of the Edge and the Director role – they should be upgraded (or deployed in parallel) at the same time.
A OCS 2007 R2 Edge is supported with a Lync Server 2010 pool.
If your users are experiencing a “Presence Unknown” for federated and PIC contacts after you have recently configured your Lync pool to use the existing OCS 2007 R2 Edge, consider rebooting the OCS 2007 R2 Edge. See Quick Tip – External Contacts with Lync Coexistence for more information.
A Lync Server 2010 Edge is NOT fully supported against an OCS 2007 R2 Pool.
See Chapter 6 – Planning for External User Access.doc – of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Planning Guide for more information.

8. The Lync Edge and Lync Mediation server should be Deployed in Parallel

This is not well documented, but if you are using enterprise voice, you should not mix the Lync and OCS versions of the Edge and Mediation roles.

9. The Topology Builder or the Lync Management Shell can be used to Merge the OCS Topology into Lync

From the Topology Builder, use the Merge Topology Wizard in the right-hand Tasks Pane.
In the Lync Management Shell, use the Merge-CSLegacyTopology and the Import-CSLegacyConfiguration cmdlet’s. See the Import-CsLegacyConferenceDirectory cmdlet if you have OCS 2007 R2 conferencing directories.

10. The Lync and OCS Administration Tools must be used with their Respective Server Version

With the exception that you can view a read-only copy of your OCS deployment in the Lync Topology.
See Lync and OCS Administration Tools (http://blog.insideocs.com/2010/12/10/lync-and-ocs-administration-tools/) for more information.

Note: one of the original Top 10 used to be that Lync did not support SQL 2008 R2 for it’s databases. As of April 2011, Lync is fully supported with SQL 2008 R2: http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2011/04/20/lync-server-2010-support-for-sql-2008-r2.aspx.

Lync 2010 Migration Resources

InsideOCS - Migrating your OCS Federated Partner Settings to Lync

Microsoft TechNet (excellent short video on the basics) - Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Lync Server 2010

Microsoft TechNet - Migration from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Lync Server 2010

Microsoft TechNet - Migration from Office Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010

Microsoft Video: Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Planning Guides: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=2da9fa26-e032-4dcf-b487-da916ddc508f

Lync and OCS Administration Tools

Curtis Johnstone — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 05:06:03 +0000

A quick post with 5 key reminders about administering OCS and Lync in a coexistence scenario. As with previous OCS/Lync releases, the general rule is that you must use the administrative tools that ship with the server version that you want to manage.

1. The Lync Server Administration Tools Cannot be Installed Alongside the OCS 2007 or OCS 2007 R2 Tools.

If you try to install the Lync Administrative Tools on a machine that already as the OCS 2007 R2 Administrative Tools, you will see the following error:

Note: if you want to by-pass the Lync Deployment Wizard GUI to install the Administrative tools directly from the setup files, this worked for me:

1. First install the core components from: .. \Lync Server 2010 Eval (US)\Setup\amd64\Setup\ocscore.msi

2. Next, install the administrative tools from: ..\Lync Server 2010 Eval (US)\Setup\amd64\Setup\admintools.msi.

Note: if you want to by-pass the Lync Deployment Wizard GUI to install the Administrative tools directly from the setup files, this worked for me:

First install the core components from: .. \Setup\amd64\Setup\ocscore.msi
Next, install the administrative tools from: ..\Setup\amd64\Setup\admintools.msi.

2. You can View your OCS 2007 R2 Topology in the Lync Topology Builder

A key step in the the OCS migration process is to merge topology information. This merges data from a previous OCS 2007 or OCS 2007 R2 topology data into the Lync Central Management Store. See Microsoft TechNet Lync Server Migration (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg425746.aspx) for full migration details. This is a key step to allow side-by-side coexistence and user migration.

The “Merge 2007 or 2007 R2 Topology…” action from the Topology builder (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg398172.aspx) creates a root tree node named “BackCompatSite” which shows up in the Lync Topology Builder where you can view your OCS Topology components. The OCS information under this node is just read-only; no actions can be taken.

Important Notes:

Always save a copy of your existing Lync topology first.
Before you merge the topology, you need to install the “WMI Backward Compatibility Package”. This compatibility package is located in the Lync distribution at:
- …\Setup\amd64\Setup\OCSWMIBC.msi
The “BackCompatSite” OCS tree node is a snapshot of your legacy OCS environment – it does not keep it synchronized! If you makes changes, you will need to remerge.

3. The OCS WMI Classes can be Installed on a Lync Server Admin Machine and can be Used with PowerShell

The WMI Backward Compatibility Package (OCSWMIBC.msi) can be installed on any machine in the domain that has the Lync Server 2010 Core Components and Lync Server Management Shell installed, and has access to the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 topology (WMI provider to Active Directory and SQL Server). OCSWMIBC.msi is typically installed on a Front-End server in the topology.

You can then use PowerShell to query information about your OCS environement, such as:

Get-wmiobject -class msft_sipesusersetting | Select-Object DisplayName, Enabled (to see user information)
Get-WmiObject -class MSFT_SIPLocalNormalizationRuleData” (to see your OCS normalization rules)
Get-WmiObject -class MSFT_SIPLocationProfileData | Select-Object -Property Name (to see your OCS location profiles)
Get-WmiObject -class MSFT_SIPTrustedServiceSetting | Select-Object FQDN, Port (to see your OCS servers and services)

Do not use the WMI classes to change anything in your OCS environment – use the respective OCS Administrative Tools for that.

Again, the WMI Backward Compatibility Package is available on your distribution media at: …\Setup\amd64\Setup\OCSWMIBC.msi.

4. There is only a 64-bit Version of the Lync Server Administrative Tools

There is only a 64-bit version of the Lync Administrative tools currently available. There are a couple of options:

You can use the web-based Lync Server 2010 Control Panel (from any computer running IE 7, IE 8, or Firefox 3+), but having administrative access via PowerShell will allow you to do more powerful custom administration – specifically Topology related administration.
It is possible to launch a remote PowerShell 2.0 remote session on a 32-bit machine to the Lync server, load the Lync Server Management module, and use the Lync PowerShell cmdlets if you are in a pinch. For more information on this see my blog post: Microsoft Lync Remote PowerShell Administration.

5. There is no Active Directory Users and Computers Add-In for Lync Server

Lync user management should be done through the Lync Control Panel Administration tool. As usual, the non-Lync user Active Directory attributes can be managed through ADUC.

Tip: If you are trying to enable an AD user for Lync, and get the error: “Insufficient access rights to perform the operation“, see the following:

New Releases: OCS November Updates & the Lync Resource Kit Tools

Curtis Johnstone — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 18:00:37 +0000

The November 2010 updates were just released for OCS 2007 R2 and the Clients (Communicator, Communicator Phone Edition, Live Meeting, and the Live Meeting Add-In). As Aaron Tiensivu reports, this round of udpates is apparently the true CU7 (the previous release was apparently just a CU6 add-on hotfix for the Routing Group Service).

OCS 2007 R2 Server Update: can be found in KB 968802: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968802/en-us (binary version 6907.221). Remember to use the Cumulative Server Update Installer can be used to update all components on your server.

> Note: there are several fixes which address Lync coexistence issues.

Client Updates:

Communicator 2007 R2: Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Hotfix KB 2291453 (Note: this updates the client to version 3.5.6907.221).
Live Meeting: Description of the update package for the Windows-based Live Meeting 2007 client: November 2010
Live Meeting Outlook Add-In: Description of the update for the Live Meeting Conferencing Add-in for Outlook: November 2010
Communicator Phone Edition: Description of the cumulative update for Office Communicator 2007 R2, Phone Edition: November 2010

XMPP Gateway: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway Hotfix KB 2404570

AND

The Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit Tools were recently released. It is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=80cc5ce7-970d-4fd2-8731-d5d7d0829266.

In addition to a new version of Snooper.exe (v4) that can be used to analyze Lync server call logs, there are some interesting new tools I am looking forward to trying out:

Bandwidth Utilization Analyzer – reports on bandwidth capacity and utilization of audio traffic across WAN links.

Bandwidth Policy Service Monitor – view a list of bandwidth policy services, and the bandwidth usage as reported by each bandwdith policy service.

TopologyValidator – validates the health of a Lync Topology by running sythetic PowerShell transactions.

Network Configuration Viewer – view call adminission control (CAC) network topology

MsTurnPing – check the status of servers running the Lync Server A/V Edge & Authentication Services, Lync Server Bandwidth Policy Service (Authentication), and the Lync Server Bandwidth Policy Service (Core).

The Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit Tools were recently released. It is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=80cc5ce7-970d-4fd2-8731-d5d7d0829266.

In addition to a new version of Snooper.exe (v4) that can be used to analyze Lync server call logs, there are some interesting new tools I am looking forward to trying out:

Bandwidth Utilization Analyzer – reports on bandwidth capacity and utilization of audio traffic across WAN links.
Bandwidth Policy Service Monitor – view a list of bandwidth policy services, and the bandwidth usage as reported by each bandwdith policy service.
TopologyValidator – validates the health of a Lync Topology by running sythetic PowerShell transactions.
Network Configuration Viewer – view call adminission control (CAC) network topology
MsTurnPing - check the status of servers running the Lync Server A/V Edge & Authentication Services, Lync Server Bandwidth Policy Service (Authentication), and the Lync Server Bandwidth Policy Service (Core).

OCS 2007 R2 Cumulative Update 7 (CU7) is Available

Curtis Johnstone — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 15:43:35 +0000

A new update is available for components of the OCS 2007 R2 server.

The download and details are availalble here: Microsoft KB article 968802 (”Updates for Communications Server 2007 R2″): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968802.

Included in this update is a fixe for the Response Group Service (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2400367/), and fixes the previous CU6 issue with the Response Group Service issue (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2400367/).

There are also updates to the Core Components, Admin Tools, UCMA 2.0 API, and the Web Components.

The details and download are available from the Microsoft KB article 968802 (”Updates for Communications Server 2007 R2″): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968802.

Included in this update is a fix for the Response Group Service (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2400367/). This addresses the previous CU6 issue with the Response Group Service (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2400367/).

There are also updates to the Core Components, Admin Tools, UCMA 2.0 API, and the Web Components.