Disabling IM for Lync 2013 Client

I suppose there are a few reasons that you might want to disable IM functionality for certain users in Lync.  This can be easily accomplished by modifying the registry (which can be controlled with a GPO).

Before we get started, let’s look at what typical options would look like for a Lync 2013:

As you can see, the IM button is present and active for my contacts.  The location in the registry to implement policies for Lync 2013 are in a different location compared to earlier versions.  Now you can locate or create policies in the HKLM (or HKCU)\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync

You can disable IM by running the following command from an elevated command prompt:

reg add HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync /v DisableIM /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

This will result in creating a new DWORD “DisableIM” with a value of “1”:

After exiting and restarting the client, the IM icon is no longer visible:

This post shows you how to disable IM functionality within the Lync 2013 client.

Administering Lync 2010 and 2013 Coexistence

As everyone is out migrating their Lync 2010 environments to Lync 2013, you must plan for coexistence.  This post will discuss the appropriate tools to use to administer certain scenarios once Lync 2013 is introduced into the environment.

Topology Changes

For any Topology changes (including adding Lync 2010 pools), you must use the Lync Server 2013 Topology Builder.  This is true even if a Lync 2010 pool is still hosting the CMS.  If you attempt to open the Lync Server 2010 Topology Builder, you will receive the following error:

“The topology is from a later version of the product.  Use the correct version of Topology Builder to open this topology.”

Moving Users Across Pools of Different Versions

For all user moves across pool versions, the Lync Server 2013 tools must be used (Control Panel and Management Shell).  If you try to move a user from Lync 2010 to Lync 2013 or from Lync 2013 to Lync 2010 with the Lync 2010 tools, you will get the following error:

“Move to or from the future version of the product is not supported.”

Moving Users Across Pools of Same Version

For all users moves across pools of the same version, that version of tools can be used to move the user.  This means that Lync 2010 tools can be used to move users between 2010 Lync pools and Lync 2013 tools can be used to move users between 2013 Lync pools.  Also, you can use the Lync 2013 tools to move Lync 2010 users between 2010 pools, but you cannot use Lync 2010 tools to move users between Lync 2013 pools.

Assigning User Policies or User Settings

Assigning user policies or changing user settings can be performed with either set of tools no matter what version of pool the user is homed on.

Summary

Below is a summary of the different scenarios above. 

	Lync 2010 Tools	Lync 2013 Tools
Topology Changes	no	YES
Move user from 2010 to 2013	no	YES
Move user from 2013 to 2010	no	YES
Move user between 2010 pools	YES	YES
Move user between 2013 pools	no	YES
Assign user policies and settings	YES	YES

Conclusion

To avoid any confusion, I recommend using the Lync 2013 tools exclusively for any administrative tasks once you have introduced Lync Server 2013 into your environment.

Exploring Default Installation and SQL Paths in Lync Server 2013

A shift has been made in Lync Server 2013 to process more SQL transactions local on the server than on Lync Server 2010.  One of the main reasons for this is to provide better resilience across all workloads (including user/conferencing services) compared to just voice resiliency in Lync Server 2010.  This post will review different installation paths of Lync components based on drives available at the time of installation.

First let’s review the SQL Express instances that are running local on the Lync Front-end servers.  In my example, I will be looking at the Standard Edition of Lync.  The Enterprise Edition Front-End server will only have LYNCLocal and RTCLocal SQL instances.

The following lists each SQL instance and the databases associated with it:

• LYNCLOCAL
  • Lyss
• RTC – located on local Standard Edition servers and in back-end SQL instance for Enterprise Edition
  • RTCab
  • CpsDyn
  • RgsConfig
  • RgsDyn
  • RTCShared
  • RTCXDS
• RTCLOCAL
  • XDS
  • RTC
  • RTCDyn

I wanted to see what would happen to default installation locations based on drives available.  Here are the scenarios that I tested:

Scenario #1 – C: drive only, default installation path

In a very default installation with only a C: drive, obviously all components get installed in their default locations.  The following screenshots shows the location of each Lync component.

Drive configuration:

Lync installation path:

SQL installation paths:

RTCReplicaRoot path:

Database and Logs paths:

Note that the RTCLocal database and log for XDS will always be located on the C: drive in the SQL installation path

Scenario #2 – C: and E: drive, default installation path

The following screenshots shows the location of each Lync component.

Drive configuration:

Lync installation path:

SQL installation paths (on C: ):

Note that the RTCLocal database and log for XDS will always be located on the C: drive in the SQL installation path

RTCReplicaRoot, Database and Log paths for RTC, RTCLocal, and LYNCLocal instances (all on E: ):

Note that you can tell what SQL instance each database belongs to by looking at the parent folder to the DBPath/LogPath folders.

Scenario #3 – C:, E:, and F: drive, default installation path

The following screenshots shows the location of each Lync component.

Drive configuration:

Lync installation path:

SQL installation paths (on C: ):

Note that the RTCLocal databases and logs (XDS) will always be located on the C: drive in the SQL installation path

RTCReplicaRoot, Database and Log paths for RTC, RTCLocal, and LYNCLocal instances (on E: ):

Note that you can tell what SQL instance each database belongs to by looking at the parent folder to the DBPath/LogPath folders.

Log paths for RTC, RTCLocal, and LYNCLocal (on F: )

Scenario #4 – C:, E:, and F: drive, Change installation path to E:

The following screenshots shows the location of each Lync component.

Drive configuration:

Lync installation path:

SQL installation paths (on C: ):

Note that the RTCLocal databases and logs (XDS) will always be located on the C: drive in the SQL installation path

Lync Program Files, RTCReplicaRoot, Database and Log paths for RTC, RTCLocal, and LYNCLocal instances (on E: ):

Note that you can tell what SQL instance each database belongs to by looking at the parent folder to the DBPath/LogPath folders.

Log paths for RTC, RTCLocal, and LYNCLocal (on F: )

The 2013 Collaboration Wave Has Arrived!

 

Today was a big day for Microsoft…  No, I am not talking about Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 or Surface or Windows Phone 8.  Wow, it is truly a big year.  I am the most interested in the Office 2013, Lync 2013, Exchange 2013, and yes even SharePoint 2013 RTM releases.  Today, all of these products are available for download via MSDN/Technet.  If you do have a subscription, start downloading and learning about the final releases of these products.  Here are a few resources to help along the way:

Lync 2013

• Help CHM file
• Visio Stencils

Exchange 2013

• Help CHM file

I will be sure to update my Lync and Exchange References pages in the near term as new resources become available.  Happy downloading and installing!

Looking forward to a lot of new blogging material.

Lync October 2012 Server and Client Updates Released

The Lync team has released server and client updates for October 2012. Here are all the details:

Server Updates (7577.205) – Download – KB 2493736

• Core Components (KB 2740403)
• Web Components Server (KB 2737902)
• Standard/Enterprise Edition Server (KB 2737915)
• UCMA API 3.0 Runtime (KB 2740406)
• Mobility Service (KB 2743736)

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

Clients (7577.4356)

• Lync 2010 (32-bit) – Download – KB 2737155
• Lync 2010 (64-bit) – Download – KB 2737155

OCS 2007 R2 September 2012 Updates Released

Microsoft released a few updates for OCS 2007 R2 in September 2012.

Here are the components that were updated:

Group Chat (6907.265)

• Server – KB 2728998
• Admin Tool – KB 2728997
• Client – KB 2735021

XMPP Gateway (6907.263)

• KB 2742290

Failover\Fallback SQL Mirror in Lync Server 2013

NOTE: The following post is based on Lync Server 2013 Preview. Procedures and screenshots are subject to change when Lync Server 2013 is RTM.

In my previous post, I described how to add a SQL mirror to your back-end database for SQL high availability.  In this post, I will describe how to failover and then fallback the SQL databases between the mirror.

Before failing over the SQL mirror, you need to determine whether or not your back-end database is hosting the Central Management Store (CMS) database.  You can determine this by running the following command:

Get-CsService –CentralManagement

If the output shows the pool that you are failing over the back-end for then you must failover the CMS database.  In my lab I have all databases as part of the mirror configuration: User, CMS, Archiving, Monitoring, Apps, PersistentChat, PersistentChatCompliance:

Primary SQL Node:

Mirror SQL Node:

You can also check the state of your mirror status by running the following:

Get-CsDatabaseMirrorState –PoolFQDN pool01.w15lab.local –DatabaseType User

The supported –DatabaseType values are: App, Archiving, CentralMgmt, Monitoring, Provision, User, PersistentChat, PersistentChatCompliance

I need to run the following commands to failover all databases:

Invoke-CsDatabaseFailover –PoolFQDN pool01.w15lab.local –DatabaseType User –NewPrincipal mirror

Now I run the similar command for the rest of my database types:

Invoke-CsDatabaseFailover –PoolFQDN pool01.w15lab.local –DatabaseType App –NewPrincipal mirror

Invoke-CsDatabaseFailover –PoolFQDN pool01.w15lab.local –DatabaseType CentralMgmt –NewPrincipal mirror

Invoke-CsDatabaseFailover –PoolFQDN pool01.w15lab.local –DatabaseType Archiving –NewPrincipal mirror

Invoke-CsDatabaseFailover –PoolFQDN pool01.w15lab.local –DatabaseType Monitoring –NewPrincipal mirror

Invoke-CsDatabaseFailover –PoolFQDN labad03lyse01.w15lab.local –DatabaseType PersistentChat –NewPrincipal mirror (note that my persistent chat pool is my Standard Edition server)

Invoke-CsDatabaseFailover –PoolFQDN labad03lyse01.w15lab.local –DatabaseType PersistentChatCompliance –NewPrincipal mirror (note that my persistent chat pool is my Standard Edition server)

After all commands have been executed, I can look at my SQL nodes again and see that my mirror node now has the active database:

Primary SQL Node:

Mirror SQL Node:

When you are ready to fallback to the primary SQL node, just run the same commands but change the –NewPrincipal parameter to “primary”

Invoke-CsDatabaseFailover –PoolFQDN pool01.w15lab.local –DatabaseType User –NewPrincipal primary

This post describes how to manually fail your mirror databases over to the secondary SQL node and then fall back.

Adding a SQL Mirror to an Existing Lync Server 2013 Back-End

NOTE: The following post is based on Lync Server 2013 Preview. Procedures and screenshots are subject to change when Lync Server 2013 is RTM.

Lync Server 2013 now supports SQL mirroring (synchronous) for back-end databases.  In fact, this is the preferred/supported configuration.  This post will describe how to add a SQL mirror database to an existing pool’s back-end SQL instance.  This post is not meant to show SQL specific configurations. 

Here are a few prerequisites, requirements, and notes:

• All SQL servers including the mirror must be at the same SQL version
• The two SQL mirror nodes must use the same Edition, the mirror can be different
• Use a witness server if you want to achieve automatic failover of the SQL database between the mirror
• You must deploy the witness at the same time as the mirror is set up within the Lync topology
• The database instance that will be used as the mirror should have the same LUN/file path configuration as the primary database
• The SQL mirror does not need to be configured beforehand, publishing the Lync topology will configure and enable mirroring
• The SQL servers and witness must be members of the same domain

In my example, I am going to deploy the SQL mirror without a witness server due to lab constraints.  This post also assumes that you have a second SQL instance already configured to host the mirrored databases.

If you are adding the SQL mirror after deploying your primary database, make sure that the mirroring port is configured on the SQL instance in the topology.  You can see this setting by navigating to Site –> Shared Components –> SQL Server Stores

First step is to edit the topology.  Navigate to the Enterprise Front-End pool and select Edit Properties…

Check the option to Enable SQL Server store mirroring, then click the New… button:

Next define SQL server store for the mirror:

Click OK and then publish your topology.  You will be prompted to configure a File Share on the Create Mirror Databases dialog:

Click on the “File Share is required” error and click Settings… button and define a files share:

Remember, for your file share to make sure the proper permissions are set up so that both SQL servers have access to the share.  Thanks to Doug Deitterick’s Blog for that help.

Finish the Publishing Wizard, make sure everything is a “Success”. 

Also, check the “To-Do List” link. It says I need to restart my Lync services on the FE Pool servers.  This can easily be done by running:

Get-CsWindowsService | Stop-CsWindowsService

Get-CsWindowsService | Start-CsWindowsService

Checking the SQL Mirror Node, we can see the Lync databases:

You can also added your Monitoring and Archiving databases to the SQL mirror by editing the topology and adding the already defined mirror on those databases:

This post described how to add SQL mirroring to your Lync Server 2013 back-end.

Exchange 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 4 Available

An update for Exchange 2010 SP2 has just released and can be downloaded at: Exchange 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 4 Download.

This will take you Exchange version up to 14.2.318.2

For a description of all the included fixes, see KB 2706690

For those of you running DAGs, please see the following article: Applying Updates to Exchange 2010 SP1 and SP2

If you are running third party products (like anti-virus, etc), it is important that you disable them before updating.

More information can be found on the Exchange Team Blog site.

Exchange 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 7 Available

An update for Exchange 2010 SP1 has just released and can be downloaded at: Exchange 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 7 Download.

This will take you Exchange version up to 14.1.421.0

For a description of all the included fixes, see KB 2743248

For those of you running DAGs, please see the following article: Applying Updates to Exchange 2010 SP1 and SP2

If you are running third party products (like anti-virus, etc), it is important that you disable them before updating.

Exchange 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 8 Available

An update for Exchange 2007 SP3 has just released and can be downloaded at: Exchange 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 8 Download

This brings the build number to: 8.3.279.3

• For a description of all the included fixes, see KB 2734323

If you have a clustered environment, please see this article: Applying Exchange 2007 Update Rollups to Clustered Mailbox Servers

Remember to disable or remove all third party software during the upgrade (like antivirus, backup agents, disclaimers, etc.)

More information can be found on the Exchange Team Blog site.

Installing Office Web Apps Server for Lync Server 2013

UPDATE: I have updated this post for Lync Server 2013 RTM, although some screenshots may still say “preview” on them.

Introduced in Lync Server 2013 is the requirement of Office Web Apps server to support the use of PowerPoint presentations in Lync Online Meetings.  The purpose of this post is to show the absolute minimum requirements in order to get Office Web Apps integrated and usable with the Lync Server 2013 environment.  This does not take into account high availability or other design decisions that may need to be made for your overall implementation.

Requirements and Prerequisites

Office Web Apps cannot be collocated on any Lync server, so I am starting off with a fresh installation of Windows 2008 R2 SP1 (Windows 2012 can also be used).  You will need to install the following on the Windows 2008 R2 server:

• .NET Framework 4.5
• Windows Management Framework 3.0
• KB2592525

Next thing needed is to install supporting Windows Components.  For Windows 2008 R2, run:

Import-Module ServerManager

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Server,Web-WebServer,Web-Common-Http,Web-Static-Content,Web-App-Dev,Web-Asp-Net,Web-Net-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-Includes,Web-Security,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Filtering,Web-Stat-Compression,Web-Dyn-Compression,Web-Mgmt-Console,Ink-Handwriting,IH-Ink-Support

For Windows 2012, run:

Import-Module ServerManager

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Server,Web-Mgmt-Tools,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-WebServer,Web-Common-Http,Web-Default-Doc,Web-Static-Content,Web-Performance,Web-Stat-Compression,Web-Dyn-Compression,Web-Security,Web-Filtering,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-App-Dev,Web-Net-Ext45,Web-Asp-Net45,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-Includes,InkandHandwritingServices,NET-Framework-Features, NET-Framework-Core, NET-HTTP-Activation, NET-Non-HTTP-Activ, NET-WCF-HTTP-Activation45

Installation of Office Web Apps Server

Download the Office Web Apps Server and start the installation.  Default installation is fine:

Configuration of Office Web Apps Server

The first step is to create an Office Web Apps Server farm.  I will do this by running the following command.  Note that I am only configuring an Internal URL for my lab and already have a certificate provisioned for the URL referenced.

New-OfficeWebAppsFarm -InternalURL “https://labad03app01.w15lab.local” –CertificateName “Office Web Apps Certificate”

Validate the configuration by navigating to the discovery URL of the Office Web Apps server.  In my case, that is https://labad03app01.w15lab.local/hosting/discovery

You should see something similar to the following XML output:

If you get an error, try repairing .NET by running:

%systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe -iru

Configure Lync Topology

To add the Office Web Apps server to your Lync 2013 Topology, open Topology Builder and navigate to “Site –> Shared Components –> Office Web Apps Servers”.  Right-click and select “New Office Web Apps Server…”

Next, type in the FQDN of your newly deployed Office Web Apps server and the discovery URL should auto-fill:

Next validate (or assign) the Office Web Apps server to your Front-End servers:

Publish your topology.

Validate Lync Functionality

The first things to validate for your Office Web Apps implementation is look at the Front-End servers Event Viewer.  In the Lync Server logs, you will see two different Events:

Event 41032 stating that Web Conferencing Server Office Web Apps Server (WAC) discovery succeeded:

Event 41034 stating that PowerPoint content is enabled:

If you see Event 41033 then something is wrong.  Go back and check all the previous steps.

Now on to validating PowerPoint uploads with the Lync client.  In this example, I am just going to start an ad-hoc conference with Meet Now and upload a PowerPoint presentation:

This post described how to get an Office Web Apps server deployed and integrated with Lync Server 2013.