Mission: Update Beta OCS R1 Phone Edition to Lync Phone Edition

I recently received two “original” Tanjay (Polycom CX700) phones from a colleague asking me if I could get them upgraded to Lync.  These contained beta Phone Edition software on them: 1.0.199 (1.23)

Since this was pre-OCS R1, I really wasn’t interested in installing OCS R1 and configuring the awful WSS method to update devices.  I know for a fact, that you cannot directly upgrade these to Lync firmware, so all of my hopes were being able to perform the first couple of upgrades using an OCS R2 server.

I started searching the Internet for tips and came across a guide that addressed my exact need!  Rick Varvel wrote this very detailed guide that explained the process of getting the beta firmware to an OCS R2 firmware.  Once on an OCS R1/R2 firmware, I knew I could easily get it to Lync firmware since either version can be upgraded directly to Lync.

I won’t go into too much detail since the guide is very detailed itself.  You must follow this guide exactly!  I actually skipped a step that made my first couple of attempts fail.  My OCS R2 deployment was internal only so I thought I could get away with not setting the External URL settings for the Device Update service.  As the guide says, you must configure the ExternalUpdatesDownloadURL and ExternalUpdatesStoreURL to a non-NULL value.  Once I did this, the updates started flowing.

The high-level update process was as follows:

OCS R2 Update Service

• 1.0.199 (1.23) –> 1.0.522.101 (1.23)

Lync Server Update Service

• 1.0.522.101 (1.23) –> 4.0.7577.296 (1.23)

Now my newly updated CX700 shows the latest Lync firmware:

I know this post won’t help out too many people unless they find a dusty closet with a bunch of phones in it, but thought I would document the experience any way.

Lync November 2011 Server and Client Updates Released (CU4)

The Lync team has released server and client updates for November 2011. There are a lot of important updates in this CU, including preparing your environment for mobile clients.  Here are all the details:

Server Updates (7577.183) – Download – KB 2493736

• Core Components (KB 2514981)
• Conferencing Server (KB 2514978)
• Web Components Server (KB 2514979)
• Standard/Enterprise Edition Server (KB 2514980)
• Mediation Server (KB 2640253)
• UCMA 3.0 Runtime (KB 2500449)
• Policy Decision Point (KB 2502809)

Note: Use the cumulative LyncServerUpdateInstaller.exe to install the updates to make sure all needed updates are applied.

Clients (7577.4051)

• Lync 2010 (32-bit) – Download – KB 2514982
• Lync 2010 (64-bit) – Download – KB 2514982

Phone Edition (7577.4047)

• Polycom CX500, CX600, CX3000 – Download – KB 2636067
• Polycom CX700, LG-Nortel 8540 – Download – KB 2636066
• Aastra 6721ip, 6725ip – Download – KB 2636068
• HP 4110, 4120 – Download – KB 2636069

Group Chat

• Server (7577.4051) – Download – KB 2514984
• Admin Tool (7577.4051) – Download – KB 2636063
• Client (7577.4051) – Download – KB 2636065

Enabling Outlook Delegates the Ability to Create Lync Online Meetings

During a recent Lync implementation the client heavily used Outlook delegates to manage calendars and to set up meetings on behalf of others.  After the users were enabled for Lync, delegates were unable to create Lync Online Meetings on behalf of the “boss”.  This did not break scheduling regular meetings, just Lync Online Meetings.  When trying to schedule, the following error appeared:

“You do not have permissions to schedule online meetings on behalf of the owner of this account.  Please contact the owner of the account to get delegate permissions in Lync.”

In order to enable delegates to schedule Online Meetings, the client policies need to be modified to enable the –EnableExchangeDelegateSync parameter.  In my example, I will be modifying the specific client policy by running:

Set-CsClientPolicy –Identity ExchangeDelegateSync –EnableExchangeDelegateSync $true

Now when looking at my client policy by running: Get-CsClientPolicy –Identity ExchangeDelegateSync, I can see the parameter set:

After logging back into the Lync client, Delegates will automatically get created in Lync.  You can see this from the main buddy list, as new groups are automatically created for both the “boss” and the delegate.

Boss – “Delegates” Group

Admin – “People I Manage Calls For” Group

Now that the Outlook Delegates have been synced from Exchange, in our example the AdminAsst can now schedule Online Meetings on behalf of the BossMan and the meeting will reflect the BossMan’s meeting URL.

If users are enabled for Enterprise Voice, Lync delegates can be managed directly through the Lync client by clicking Options –> Call Forward Settings:

This post showed you how to enable users to create Lync Online Meetings on behalf of others.