Chad McGreanor's Blog

#Lync Mobility and internal vs Public certificates

Chad McGreanor — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:37:03 +0000

Now that Microsoft has released the mobility solution for Lync we are finding that most customer environments would like to use the mobile client on the internal WiFi network. That is great! Now here is the issue. For that to work correctly you need to have the certificates that are on you Director and Front End Servers trusted by the mobile clients. So your internal CA is most likely out of the question. What that means is that you now need to purchase approved public certificates for those roles.

Since this has been an issue we have been running into we are now considering moving towards an all public certificate best practice for Lync server Front End, Director, and TMG servers. Anyone else running into this same scenario?

#lync mobile released for all major platforms

Chad McGreanor — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:44:07 +0000

The Microsoft Lync mobile client has been released to Windows Phone 7 (over a week ago), Android late last week, and iPhone and iPad as of today. I have tested it on all the platforms listed here except iPhone. We have also deployed it for several customers. The Mobility documentation can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28355

#lync mobile clients available the week of December 12th 2011

Chad McGreanor — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:54:24 +0000

Microsoft announced that clients for Windows Phone 7, Android, and iPhone will be available the week of December 12th. The server side requirements are already available. Pending Android, and Apple store approval the clients will be downloadable.

There are server side configurations that need to be completed. The server side mobility bits, certificate changes and reverse proxy changes.

#Lync Mobility Update

Chad McGreanor — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:56:00 +0000

2 Documents are available on Microsoft’s website regarding the Lync mobile client this first one is interesting because it talks about the client being available on “slate” devices.

UPDATE this is the actual Mobility BITS

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28356

When you deploy the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Mobility Service, users can use supported iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, or Nokia mobile devices to perform such activities as sending and receiving instant messages, viewing contacts, and viewing presence. In addition, mobile devices support some Enterprise Voice features, such as click to join a conference, Call via Work, single number reach, voice mail, and missed calls. By using Call via Work, users can maintain their work identity during a call, which means that the call recipient does not see the caller’s mobile number, and the caller avoids incurring outbound calling charges. With single number reach, a user receives calls on a mobile phone that were dialed to their work number.
When you use the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Autodiscover Service along with the Mobility Service, mobile devices can automatically locate the URLs for Lync Server Web Services and the new Mobility Service regardless of network location. It supports client connections using either HTTP or HTTPS.

Documentation here

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28355

#Lync Mobile… It is getting closer

Chad McGreanor — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:19:10 +0000

Just received my Microsoft Voice Partner newsletter… Found this… Registered for December 9th, 2011

a. Join the upcoming web seminar: Lync Mobile: Clients, Server & Deployment

#Lync Server new cmdlets for mobility

Chad McGreanor — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:56:28 +0000

Here is a screenshot of some of the new mobile PowerShell commands that are available

EnableApplePushNotificationService

EnableMicrosoftPushNotificationService

#Lync Cumulative Update 4 Released

Chad McGreanor — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:07:33 +0000

Microsoft has released Cumulative Update 4 CU4 for Lync Server 2010

Lync Server 2010 Hotfix KB 2493736
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=11551

What Avaya Aren’t Telling You About ACE

Chad McGreanor — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:18:22 +0000

Re-post from VoIPNorm blog with permission

There have been some interesting discussions recently about what is really best for the “Customer” regarding a Unified Communications Solution. Keep it simple, and Unified.

What Avaya Aren’t Telling You About ACE

I have seen a lot of information or should I say misinformation recently around ACE about what it does and what it can save you when combined with Lync. Most of you know by now I have never been a believer in plugins, even before I started working at Microsoft I was never a fan. My first tests with plugins showed me just how disjointed a user experience they really are. Paired with that is the misinformation that vendors are spreading around licensing cost savings with being able to go back to Standard Cal for Lync because of a plugin that only does telephony which by the way is not free in it self.

So if you are a company running Lync and Avaya comes knocking with ACE here are a few questions to ask:

How does ACE support VPNLess access?
How Does ACE work with Lync Federation?
How does ACE tie in with my CEBP presence enabled applications?
How does ACE support video?
How does ACE support dynamic location aware E911?
What about dynamic bandwidth codecs on the internet?
Lync Audio and web conferencing support?
If I drop back to Standard Cal with Lync can I still use Lync audio, video and web conferencing?
Does ACE support media Encryption?
Is the ACE integration supported by Microsoft?
How long after a Microsoft releases a new version of Lync does ACE support become available?
If I use ACE, what is the conferencing experience like?
What additional components and costs are needed for Avaya’s conferencing solution?
Can I escalate a peer2peer voice session into a Lync data collaboration experience? How many steps are required?
What happens to call control if ACE is un-available but Lync is? Isn’t that confusing to my end-users?

You will be surprised by just how many of these answers are no, breaking the UC experience or offering you limited support. I strongly encourage people to read my post on plugins versus native to see more of my insight as to why breaking the Lync experience to preserve a legacy deployment with a plugin is not as easy as competitors make out.

Reference: http://voipnorm.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-avaya-arent-telling-you-about-ace.html

Vox Network Solutions #Lync event! Register Now! Irvine, Bellevue, Santa Clara

Chad McGreanor — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:49:54 +0000

“LYNC” up with us at the location nearest you to discover how your business can:

Lower operating expenses
Improve employee productivity
Increase customer satisfaction

To attend click on the city closest to you.

EVENT DETAILS
This event is focused on addressing your business challenges and will be interactive. Unified Communications Strategist, Marty Parker, will be our keynote speaker. This will be a great way to get the latest look at Microsoft Lync Server 2010: the next generation of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2.Lync Server 2010 offers:

A single interface uniting voice communications, presence, instant messaging, and audio/video/web conferencing.
A familiar user experience accessible through MS Office, SharePoint, and Exchange.
Interoperability with existing systems for smoother deployment and migration.

At each location, we will be raffling Jabra headsets, Polycom CX100 speakerphones and a UC Readiness Assessment (valued at over $2000)! Lunch will be provided.

AGENDA

10:30-11:00 a.m.
Registration, Coffee

11:00-11:30 a.m.
Keynote – Marty Parker

11:30-11:45 a.m.
Your Business Challenges

11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Demonstrating Solution Applications & ROI Possibilities

12:30-1:00 p.m.
Lunch & Connecting

1:00-1:15 p.m.
Q & A and Wrap Up

1:15-1:30 p.m.
Raffle for gifts

We look forward to having you participate in this exciting event!

Seating is limited – Reserve your spot today!
(Click on the city below to register)

City
Date

Irvine, CA
Dec. 6

Bellevue, WA
Dec. 6

Santa Clara, CA
Dec. 6

Marty Parker
VOX Network Solutions would like to thank all of our sponsors:

#Lync Commit Dial Plan error – Snapshot isolation transaction failed accessing database ‘xds’

Chad McGreanor — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:01:37 +0000

Today one of our engineers Chris Stewart ran into an issue that we both have never come across. He was creating a new dial plan in Lync and added all the necessary information and attempted to commit the changes. Upon clicking commit the error below was presented in Lync Control Panel.

Set-CSDialPlan : Snapshot isolation failed accessing database “xds” because snapshot isolation is not allowed in this database. User ALTER DATABASE to allow isolation.

After doing some checking we found that all of our other Lync databases at other sites and our lab were set differently. The fix is below.

Go to your SQL Backend server and run the following query:

SELECT snapshot_isolation_state_desc from sys.databases
where name=’xds’

If the value is OFF, that is the problem

The fix was accessing the SQL 2008 R2 cluster and running the following query from the SQL Server 2008 R2 Management Studio:

ALTER DATABASE xds
SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION ON

To verify the value is correct run the same query as we ran to check the value above:

SELECT snapshot_isolation_state_desc from sys.databases
where name=’xds’

I am not sure what caused the XDS database to be set incorrectly, but if you come across the issue the fix is pretty easy. After modifying the value we were able to save the dial plan.