The Test Voice Routing feature (in the “Voice Routing” section of [...]]]> Here are 5 useful tips I found while recently configuring Lync inbound and outbound PSTN calling through an AudioCodes voice gateway – including some new features in Lync that made the job easier.

Tip #1: Use the new ‘Test Voice Routing’ Feature in the Lync Control Panel

The Test Voice Routing feature (in the “Voice Routing” section of the Lync Control Panel) is a very helpful tool for configuring outbound routing.

You can specify a sample number to dial, along with which dial plan and voice route that will process the call.  You can then see what the normalized number looks like and whether it matched the PSTN usage and voice route that you expected. You can save these scenarios as test cases and re-run them after you make configuration changes.

Tip #2:  Use the new PSTN Test Cmdlet’s

Lync server ships with a set of PSTN Connectivity Cmdlet’s.  Several of these cmdlet’s can be used to test the Lync configuration and ability to make calls.

The Test-CsPstnOutboundCall cmdlet is particularly useful for testing outbound PSTN calling. It saves having to jump out-of-context from your Lync server to make a test call with the Lync client (or device) to ensure everything is configured correctly on the Front-End and Mediation server.

Here’s a sample run of the cmdlet:

> $cred1 = Get-Credential “ExampleDomain\User01″
> Test-CsPstnOutboundCall -TargetFqdn Pool01.example.com -TargetPstnPhoneNumber “+16135551234″ –UserSipAddress “sip:User01@example.com” -UserCredential $cred1

Sample output:

TargetFqdn :  Pool01.example.com
Result     : Success
Latency    : 00:00:00.4362018
Error      :
Diagnosis :

The test cmdlet’s are synthetic transactions that can be scheduled to help monitor the PSTN connectivity.

Tip #3:  Use the Get-CsWindowsService Cmdlet to See the Current Activity on the Lync Mediation Role

The Get-CsWindowsService Cmdlet returns an ActivityLevel value which can be used to see the current number of outbound and inbound calls on a Mediation server. This is handy and a quick way to see if a call is currently being processed by the mediation server.

Sample cmdlet run:

> Get-CsWindowsService -Name RTCMEDSRV -ComputerName MEDSERVER01 | fl -property ActivityLevel

Sample Output:

> ActivityLevel : Current Outbound Calls=0, Current Inbound Calls=0, Current Outbound Priority Calls=0, Current Inbound Priority Calls=0

Tip #4:  Use Snooper.exe Version 4 from the New Lync Resource Kit to View the Call Logs on the Lync Mediation Server

The Lync resource kit was released on November 18, 2010: Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit Tools.

It includes a version of Snooper.exe that can be used to analyze the call log files on the Lync Mediation server.

Tip #5:  Consider Creating a Static Route if you are Getting a “503 Service Unavailable” because the “Gateway peer in outbound call is not found in topology document”

If you are getting this error, consider creating a static phone route with the ReplaceHost parameter. In a nutshell, depending on your outbound calling scenario, the host portion of the SIP INVITE that is sent to the Mediation server might contain a domain name and not IP address of the Voice Gateway.  The domain name isn’t a part of the Topology, hence the error the “Gateway peer in outbound call is not found in topology document”.  The ReplaceHost parameter used in the New-CsStaticRoute cmdlet will replace the host portion with the actual next hop destination – the voice gateway – which is part of the topology.

Tom Pacyk does a good job explaining this in the context of Dial-In conferencing, but it could apply in other outbound routing situations: Lync Dial-In Conferencing Static Route Configuration.

Here is a list or 10 resources I found useful for getting up and running with Microsoft Lync Server 2010:

In addition to the information in [...]]]> I recently co-authored a Microsoft Next Hop article that gives an introduction to configuring Direct SIP between Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 and Cisco Call Manager 7.1 – see Direct SIP: Cisco Unified Communications Manager 7.1. This post gives addition information about further integrating the systems from an end user perspective.

In addition to the information in the Next Hop Direct SIP article, it is worth clarifying that a new range of phone numbers assigned to Communicator endpoints must be defined in CUCM. This new range needs to be separate from any existing number range used for Cisco desk phone endpoints. For end users who have both a Cisco desk phone and a Communicator client, this means that the same number cannot be used for inbound and outbound dialing. This restriction exists because call routing for Communicator clients in CUCM is achieved by creating a new SIP trunk used solely for Communicator endpoints, and multiple device endpoints cannot share the same number when the call routing is defined on different SIP trunks.

One option to use an existing Cisco desk phone number for Communicator inbound and outbound calling is by implementing the CUCM Simultaneous Ring feature. CUCM will ring the Communicator endpoint for incoming Cisco desk phone calls, and outbound Communicator calls will show the caller-id of the users Cisco desk phone. Simultaneous ring is configured on a per user basis in a user’s Cisco Remote Destination Profile. See the Cisco document “Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition using Direct SIP to Cisco Unified Communications Manager 7.0(1) Simultaneous Ring Feature“. Additional references are included at the end of this article.

The CUCM Simultaneous Ring feature is configured per user on the Cisco IP-PBX, and is accomplished by setting a secondary extension to ring for that user when an incoming call is placed for their Cisco desk phone extension. The next section details the steps to configure it for a user.

Steps to Configure for a User for Simultaneous Ring

#1] Have the user log into the Cisco Unified CM Administration tool. By default this is installed at https://<ccmhost>/ccmadmin/showHome.do. CUCM can be configured to use the users AD credentials, or separate credentials for users. Here is a screen shot of the login screen:

#2] Select the ‘Remote Destinations’ menu option from the User Options | Mobility Settings menu on the left-hand side of the top menu bar.

#3] Select ‘Add New’ from the top menu. Note: if a user already has an existing Remote Destination Profile that they want to Edit, select the Find button in this menu to list the existing Remote Destination Profiles.  The Find button is highlighted in red in the screenshot below for this step.

#4] Specify a name for this Remote Destination Profile, and more importantly, the extension to ring. This will be the extension that will ring thru to OCS and ultimately the recipient Microsoft Office Communicator.

Additional Information

• Link to the Cisco document: “Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition using Direct SIP to Cisco Unified Communications Manager 7.0(1) Simultaneous Ring Feature”
• TechNet Blogs > Jochen Kunert > Voice scenarios with OCS 2007.
• Microsoft “Integrating Telephony with Office Communications Server 2007 and 2007 R2“
• Useful Microsoft OCS Forum Postings:
  • Enterprise Voice and Telephony > Best integration possible with CUCM 7.1
  • Dual Call Forking – CUCM 7.0.2.
  • OCS 2007 PBX Integration with CUCM 6.0
  • Configuring MOC to Answer Calls in Different Ways.
• Cisco Forum Reference to Routing with SIP URI:  “CUCM 7.0.2 – Dual Forking, not working!”
• Elan’s Blog: Two new Qualified IP-PBXs for OCS (CUCM and Seltatel)

** Sept 2, 2010 Update **: Microsoft has temporarily removed the Cumulative Update 6 (CU6) until an issue with the Response Group Service can be fixed. See News: Office [...]]]> There has been a new round of updates for Communicator 2007 R2, OCS 2007 R2, and OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat – known as Cumulative Update 6 (CU6).

** Sept 2, 2010 Update **: Microsoft has temporarily removed the Cumulative Update 6 (CU6) until an issue with the Response Group Service can be fixed. See News: 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.

** July 30, 2010 Update **: It appears that the reported CU6 problems have been attributable to either the back end database update not being installed first, or the OCS 2007 R2 .NET Framework 4.0 issue. Having said that, there was at least one report (on this blog) of the “mismatch error” even after the database install was applied first.

** July 26, 2010 Update **:  There have been several reports of problems (failure of the Front End Service to start) after applying the CU6 updates on the server. Consider holding off applying this update until more information is known.  It is important to install the CU 6 update to the back end database role first (see Description of the cumulative update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 database: July, 2010).  So far, the problems appear to be related to this, but more information to come.

Client Updates

Communicator 2007 R2:

• The July, 2010 update for Communicator 2007 R2 can be found here:  Description of the cumulative update package for Communicator 2007 R2: July 2010. This update brings the Communicator version up to 3.5.6907.206 from the last update in April 2010 (3.5.6907.196).
• Note: the links to the knowledge base article for the individual fixes do not work right now, or not ready yet, on the Microsoft support site.
• The update can be downloaded here.

Communicator 2007 R2 Phone Edition:

• The July, 2010 update for Communicator 2007 R2 can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2267962/.
• The update can be downloaded here.

Communicator 2007 R2 Mobile:

• This was update was released about 2 weeks ago, but the knowledge base article has been updated. The description can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969816.
• You can download the Smartphone update here.
• You can download the Pocket PC packager here.

OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat Client:

• The July 2010 update can be found here: Description of the update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Client: July 2010.
• The update can be downloaded here.

Server Updates

OCS 2007 R2 Server:

• Note: the update for the SE/EE Back End Database is here: Description of the cumulative update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 database: July, 2010.  This update (OCS2009-DBUpgrade.msi) SHOULD BE RUN FIRST.
• All of the Cumulative 6 server updates can be found here: Updates for Communications Server 2007 R2.
• The updates can be downloaded here.
• It looks like the update includes new hotfixes for the following server roles: Audio/Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing Server, Core Components, Communicator Web Access, Conferencing Attendant, Standard/Enterprise edition Server Back End, and the UCMA Managed API 2.0 Core Redist 64-bit.
• Note: the links to the knowledge base article for the individual fixes do not work right now, or not ready yet, on the Microsoft support site.

OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat Server:

• The Cumulative 6 updates for the Group Chat Server can be found here: Update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server: July 2010.
• The Group Chat Server update can be downloaded here.

OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat Admin Tool:

• The update can be found here: Description of the update for the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Administration Tool: July 2010.
• The update can be downloaded here.

I had always assumed the root cause was that the Live Meeting client was getting confused between on-premise and  hosted live meetings because I [...]]]> On a desktop I use regularly, I had a nagging Live Meeting issue when trying to attend a hosted Live Meeting. After clicking the “Join Meeting” link I received the following error:

I had always assumed the root cause was that the Live Meeting client was getting confused between on-premise and  hosted live meetings because I use the same client to attend both. BTW, I good tip - if the meeting URL starts with “meet:”  it is an on-premise OCS server hosting the meeting, and if it starts with a “https:” it is a hosted live meeting.

I dug into the issue, found the problem, fixed it, and wanted to share my experience for the benefit of others.

The fixed turned out to be an Internet Explorer setting (see KB article: You are prompted to open or to save a file that is named “Launch.rtc” when you try to join a meeting in Live Meeting 2007).  This article discusses many causes for this error, but after taking the first action (Disable the “Do Not Save Encrypted pages to disk” option in Internet Explorer”) everything worked like a charm.

Below is high level description of what happens when a hosted Live Meeting is launched from the web browser. When the user clicks on the “Join Meeting” link:

1. The meeting URL launches in the browser with the meeting details (e.g. https://www.livemeeting.com/<meeting url, id, and role>).
2. The web site redirects the client to a Microsoft RTC Connection File (i.e. “launch.rtc” file).  The RTC file contains the meeting information (role, meeting start time, end time, etc…)
3. The RTC file is (should be) associated with the program “Microsoft Office Live Meeting Router” application.
4. The “Microsoft Office Live Meeting Router” starts the local Live Meeting Console with the information about the meeting from the RTC file.

In general, users can minimize chances of other Live Meeting client issues by running the most up-to-date client.  The new OCS Update Resource Center makes this easier.

Users can also point their browsers at the Inside OCS Client Version Tool to easily see what versions of each client they are running.