Once again i will talk about one of my favorite tools with OCS and that's the DVT Tool. However in this blog I will talk about where you should and shouldn't deploy the DVT tool. First lets explain what the tool is; The DVT tool can be found in the OCS 2007 R2 Resource kit. It allows administrators to...

For those that haven't gone out and gotten the Resource Kit Book R2 yet, I've figured I would go ahead and give you a little incentive by stating what the chapters are in the book. Chapter 1 - Overview of OCS 2007 R2 Chapter 2 - New Features Overview Chapter 3 - Server Roles Chapter 4 - Infrastructure...

For those that have already deployed OCs 2007 R2 and have external users working with IM, Conferencing, and perhaps voice as well have seen the changes we have for R2 Edge. In OCS 2007 we had four different topologies that one could deploy: 1) Consolidated Edge 2) Single - Site Edge 3) Scaled ...

For those who have followed the role of the director in LCS, OCS 2007, and now OCS 2007 R2, rest assure there is a subtle change that is happening. Now I wont go into details again about the director for I have already posted previous blogs about this infamous role. Now for the change that I was telling...

The deployment validation wizard can really be broken up into three main parts. Those parts are as follows: Configuration Checker, Connectivity Checker, and the SIP Logon Checker. The one that we will tackle today is the "Configuration Checker". The Configuration Checker is a checker that can be run...

The following table represents the options that are available once you in the console logger. The console logger is a tool used for troubleshooting OCS. Component Name Server Role Description of Logged Contents ABServer Front End Server Enables...

So for those who have seen the blog posting about the DVT (Deployment Validation Wizard) or have seen my webcast about Detecting Audio Quality Issues with OCS 2007, have pinged me about how to deploy it. More specifically about it appearing "Offline" and how to resolve it. So the below steps are how...

So I have deviated from this session for quite a while now, not on purpose but for there where other areas that just crossed my mind that I wanted to chat about. Now back to the last section of the Remote Access Edge Topologies. Where we left off was talking about the 3rd topology which was the Scaled...

A very cool webcast has just been done, its OCS 2007 Resource Kit Tools. This is level 200 webcast containing information about the tools that OCS 2007 have available from the Resource Kit Tools install. I have been asked quite a bit about what tools are there and how to use some of them. This sort of...

Last week I did a webcast regarding the Deployment Validation Tool (DVT). This was a much needed webcast that had to be delivered for I talked about this tool at quite a few Voice Ignite sessions. Now interesting thing about this webcast is that I dont talk about the intall but rather I dive into the...

Just completed another webcast today on OCS 2007 Migrations Lesson Learned and the link can be found here http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032372042&Culture=en-US . Now this webcast talks about how to migration from LCS 2005 SP1 to OCS 2007; in addition we talk about...

I will be speaking at this event... INTERACT2008 Join Microsoft at INTERACT2008—an exclusive event for key community influencers in the unified communications space. This event provides a unique opportunity for you to develop deep technical knowledge...

The deployment validation tool is a tool that helps administrators predict, troubleshoot, and validate voice calls with OCS 2007. In this series we will take a look in depth at the "DVT" short of Deployment Validation Tool. We will take a look at the two tools that are available with this suite, the...

So I just delivered a webcast this past friday on Capacity planning for OCS 2007; the link can be found at this location http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032372032&Culture=en-US . The webcast includes information in regards to the different topologies that are available...

Hi all, there are some upcoming webcast that are centered around OCS 2007 that I want you all to participate on. The link is here http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/unifiedcommunications.aspx?tab=webcasts . I will be delivering quite a few of these webcast as well, infact I just finishing delivering...

We are taking a small break from our edge topology series to bring your attention to something that could possibly be important if not now, maybe somewhere down the line. I was asked this question from a customer and the more I thought about it, the more I thought others should know about this as...

Today we will briefly discuss of remote access by talking about the “single-site” topology. This topology consist of the three edge roles, but now they are no longer all on the same box, but rather split between two boxes now, let take a look. The single-site scenario consists of the Access Edge server...

This week I will talk about 1 of 4 Edge topologies for OCS 2007. That’s right 1 of 4 topologies that are possible, for those that are familiar with LCS 2005 SP1 this may be a little of a shocker for you, the only thing for me to say is hold on for the ride. So let’s begin… Before we jump into the...

One of the areas that comes up quite a bit is creating and verifying the DNS entries that are needed for an OCS implementation. Creating DNS records are not very difficult (if you have created them before). What I will try to do is make that whole process easier for you by giving you guidelines on how...

As we continue this discussion of the director role we will look at today some of the topologies that are available once you have decided that you want a director in your enviroment. As we stated in part 1 of this 3 blog series, the director can come in the following shapes and sizes, Standard Edition...

One of the server roles with LCS 2005 SP1 and now with OCS 2007 that is often overlooked is the director. What we take a look at in this two part blog is why director is recommended, topologies that are available with the director, and planning once the director is in place. So let's begin by answering...

Configuring DNS, Certificates, and Loadbalancers have been areas in LCS 2005 that have given customers the most headaches during deployments. I delivered a webcast that talks about configuring DNS, Certs, and loadbalancers in OCS 2007. We cover some basic topologies in OCS with internal servers and an...

Now that Office Communications Server 2007 has gone RTM, you can download an eval copy and install. This eval edition is not to be used in production enviroments, but rather labs to test out and look at the many new cool features that are available out of the box. Microsoft Office Communications Server...