Byron Spurlock's Blog - OCS & VOIP Insight

Deployment Validation Tool (Auto Answering Agent - updated)

To begin with I’ve been getting a lot of hits on my blog about the DVT tool which is good, the downside is not all have been successful with installing and configuring it.  So I’ve decided to go ahead and update the blog with more screen pics. 

You might be saying, more screen pics, you didn’t have any screen pics before, well lets not dwell on that part but let’s look at the glass half full and see if this blog that’s been revived with screenshots that i created in my lab this morning don’t help out more people with the ability to call Rita successfully.

As you begin the installation of the deployment validation tool, you should see the following screenshots…

initiating setup…

Accepting the ULA….

Choosing a location for installation…

Watching the installation…

Watching the installation…

Watching the installation…

Deploying the Auto Answering Agent…

If this message appears after executing the dvtagent file, don’t worry, just click ok

Go ahead and execute the ucmaredist file

Watch it install..

Once it finishes installation, go back to the dvtagent and execute once again…

Click next…

Accept the ULA…

Choose location for installation…

Setting up the service account….make sure that information entered here has already been created.  You will need to create a service account for the Auto Answering agent to run, (create the account information in AD and make sure you give it a valid email address too, such as DVT@litwareinc.com)

proceed through installation…

proceed through installation…

If you encounter this message, don’t worry click ok and proceed on…

Configuring the Auto Answering Agent…

1) Make sure you give a valid SIP URI (which is the email address of the service account you created earlier)

2) Choose Manual Configuration and specify the FQDN of your pool (mine is ocs-std.litwareinc.com)

3)Make sure the port is set to 5061

4)Switch the agent type to Answering Agent

5)Click ok to complete this dialog window

Click on close…

Go to services and be sure to restart the DVT service…

Log onto Office Communicator as the DVT Account that you created earlier…

Confirm that you are logged on with available presence and then sign out of communicator…

Log onto a communicator client as another user and confirm that the DVT account is available…

Calling the DVT agent to confirm everything is working…

My call was completed and I can talk to Rita…

Hopefully this updated blog of how to deploy the auto answering agent provides the much needed screenshots that many where asking for.  Thanks for your patience…

Byron

Edge Planning Tool for Office Communications Server 2007 R2

The following is a link for the R2 Edge planning tool; I highly recommend going through this planning wizard before you deploy your edge server(s).

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=ec4b960c-3fe2-41bd-abdf-ae89cfcb8c6c

Which Server(s) to deploy the (DVT) Deployment Validation Tool

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 find out about problems with audio quality before a user reports a problem. The Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Deployment Validation Tool simulates audio traffic so that you can proactively identify and resolve audio issues.

Now that we know what it is, let's talk about where you should deploy it.  The DVT tool comes in two parts, an Oragnizer and Agents.  The Organizer will be responsible for collecting all the data from the agetnts that are deployed in an enviroment.  You should not deploy the Organizer on a OCS Standard Edition Server if you have a single server pool or you shouldn't deploy the Organizer on any of the Front-End Servers that make up your pool.  So you may be asking yourself, where does that allow me to deploy it?  Good question and glad you asked, the Organizer can be deployed on server that is not going to be leveraged a lot in the enviroment, also one that you can afford to install SQL Exress on for this is what the Organizer needs to be installed, for this is where the data that is collected from agents will be stored in.  So let's say you have an enviroment such as a Monitoring server (formerly QOE Server) this is a perfect server for the Organizer.  What about an Archiving server that you can install SQL Express on, this is another perfect scenario.  What if you didn't deploy either, well possible you have a file server that is not utilized very much where you can deploy SQL Express on, this might be a good choice to host the organizer as well.

 Now that we know where we want to deploy the Organizer, we should look at places not to deploy the Organizer.  As I mentioned before, the Front-End Servers should be out of the question, neither your edge serves for the Organizer.  What about Mediation Servers and Group Chat Servers?  I wouldn't deploy it on either of them for you have to keep in mind that the Organizer is a service that runs on these machines, and aside from that requires that SQL Express be installed.  These two servers mediation for voice should and group chat servers shouldn't contain any extra applications if possible running on them, specifically the mediation server.

As for the Agents, well the agents will talk to the Organizer on whatever polling interval that is setup in the admin console of the organizer, by default every 60 seconds.  Agents should be installed on workstations or possibly file servers at locations you are interested in gathering data from.  I would prefer File servers for workstations are far and few between with regards to finding a dedicated workstation that nobody is using.  If you where to install it on person's PC, yes it will install and yes it would work, but now your results would not be accurate.  For everytime the person shuts down their machine, the agent would be "offline" and now your no longer polling for that location because the PC is off and now the agent is "offline"; that is why i said a file server earlier.  In almost every organization where I rolled out the DVT to the headquaters and branch locations, there have been file servers to install the agents.  For remember, the basic premise of installing the agent is mearly to get a snapshot of the physical acting as an endpoint going back to the organizer.  The organizer doesn't care if its on a PC or file server, but only the connection is alive and the basics regarding latency, delay, and roundtrip from the location of the agent (more than likely a branch location or office on a different subnet).

Note: Agents can be installed on servers (technically), but in some scenarios i would ask you to ask yourself, doesn't really make sense for me to install an agent on an Archiving Server, Front-End Server, Mediation Server, Group Chat Server, etc....Probably not.

 In conclusion this blog was to enlighten you on which servers you should and shouldn't deploy the "Organizer" and where to deploy the "Agents".

OCS 2007 Resource Kit Book R2 - Chapters

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 and Security Considerations
 Chapter 5 - Basic IM and Presence Scenarios
 Chapter 6 - Conference Scenarios
 Chapter 7 - Remote Access and Federation Scenarios
 Chapter 8 - Public IM Scenarios
 Chapter 9 - Remote Call Control Scenarios
 Chapter 10 - Dual Forking Scenarios
 Chapter 11 - VOIP Scenarios
 Chapter 12 - Voice Mail Scenarios
 Chapter 13 - Enterprise Voice Application Scenarios
 Chapter 14 - Planning Example
 Chapter 15 - Deployment Example
 Chapter 16 - Monitoring
 Chapter 17 - Backup and Retore
 Chapter 18 - Administration
 Chapter 19 - Client and Device Administration
 Chapter 20 - Diagnostic Tools and Resources
 Chapter 21 - Troubleshooting Problems
 Chapter 22 - Routing and Authentication
       

OCS 2007 R2 Edge Server Topologies

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 - Single Site Edge
4) Multi Site Edge

Now with R2 we have done some changing around with the topologies.  To being with one of the biggest new items that comes to R2 is the concept of the consolidated edge topology now. This is where we have all three roles (Access Edge, Web Conferencing Edge, and Audio Video Edge) all on the same box.  Now the other roles that we have consist of the Load Balanced Edge, and the multi-site edge.  The last two don't differ from the first one all that much.

So with the three topologies we have now with the Edge for R2, now you mau be wondering where does that leave me if I deployed something not like the ones above for R1?  Pretty simple, NOT SUPPORTED.  This may sound harsh but, in reality its true and unfortunate. 

So not to leave you on a sour note, there are some nice things about having these consolidated edge topologies now. 

1) Simpler Edge deployments
2) Load Balancing the Edge (with two boxes now)
3) Support for Multiple Access Edge Servers in a Forest now

More blogs coming soon...

Over the next few blogs I will be posting information regarding tools that will assist people with deployment and troubleshooting OCS 2007 and OCS 2007 R2. 

The following are just a few of the tools that i will be covering in depth:Deployment Validation Tool, LCSDiscover, DBAnalyzer, LCSClean, and VOIP Test Tool just to name a few.

Stay tuned.

No More Director Array in OCS 2007 R2

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 you about; in OCS 2007 R2 we are no longer supporting the topology of the director array with Standard Edition Servers.  Now please remember the whole sentence as you go back to your organizations and spread the word about to your other IT staff.  This is a sublte change that has taken place, notice that i didnt say that we dont support the role of the director, but rather the role of the director array with Standard Edition Servers for OCS 2007 R2.

Now for those that are not familar with this role, its the topology were you would have two or more OCS Standard Edition Servers in your topology load balanced and acting as directors.  Now we still support the director role in R2, but in limited scenarios, those topologies are

1) Director - Single Standard Edition Server

2) Director - Enterprise Edition Server

3) Director - Enterprise Edition Servers Load Balanced

Those are the three topologies that we support for R2 in the director capacity.  So basically if you want redundacy for your directory role in R2 you are looking at topology #3.  Now just to make sure that we are on the same page, once you move to an Enterprise Edition Server for a director you are looking at separating the database from the Front - End Server. 

Starting in the coming weeks once again I will be updating my blog site back to once a week with helpful information regarding OCS 2007 and OCS 2007 R2.

Validation Wizard - Configuration Checker

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 from the validation wizard.  Now the interesting part about the configuration checker is it can take less than 5 mins to run and tell you what is and what is not configured in your OCS 2007 enviroment. 

The ideal time to run the configuration checker is through out your deployment process with OCS.  Once you deployed your first server for OCS go ahead and take part of running the validation wizard. So lets say for example you deployed the Standard Edition server; go ahead after setup and run the configuration checker in the validation wizard. 

What this will tell you is what has been configured and what has not been.  The idea is to get use to running the checker and looking at the results. 

Now to reading the results, the important thing I would say is to understand the "red" and "amber" indicators of results.  What I have come across are results that are not actaully saying something is wrong, but rather warning messages.  The messages that are "amber" are basically letting you know that somethings are not configured and this could be done for a reason.

Now the results from the configuration checker that are in "red" indicate more than likely that something is wrong and may not be working.  This is something to address as soon as possible in your configuration.

To gain practice at looking at the results and not being overwhemled I would look at the configuraiton checker results alone and just scroll down and see what it has to offer.

The item that we will take a look at next is my personal favorite the "connectivity checker".

Validation Wizard - Overview

With OCS 2007 there are many ways now to see if your deployment is going sound.  One of those methods I will discuss with you is the Validation Wizard.  Now to those that are familiar with LCS 2005,  you should be glad that we now have something to validate if what we are doing is right or not.

The validation wizard with OCS 2007 can be used when deploying your Standard or Enterprise edition servers.  One of the nice things with the validation wizard is that have the ability to check server configuration, server connectivity, and SIP Logon. I will discuss these later in more depth in another blog entry. 

Scenarios the validation wizard can be used is when you first installed your Standard or Enterprise edition server(s).  One of the things that people run into all the time is getting too far into their installation and not knowing that something is not configured correctly.  I have personally used the validation wizard through out my whole deployment process. 

In a later blogs we will jump into each of the options that the validation wizard has for us to look at in more depth.

Console Logger Components Defined!

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.

DVT Auto Answering Agent - Step by Step (Revised) works with OCS R2

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 I setup the DVT Answering Agent, the steps are pretty much step by step. I use two machines in my example and those are DC1 that contains my domain Controller and will act as the machine that will host the AAT.  And  I have my machine OCS-STD will contains my OCS Standard Edition Server.

1. Create an account for the DVT agent such as OCS_DVT
4. Confirm that the DVT (the one you just created) account has an email address; (example OCS_DVT@Litwareinc.com)
5. Enable account for OCS
1. On DC1 install the client side agent
2. Run setup of the agent
1. During install chose account that you created for the agent as below
2. Agent configuration menu should look like the following:
3. SIP URI should be OCS_DVT@litwareinc.com (this has to be the same SIP URI that you created above)
4. Enable Use Default Credentials
5. Select Manual Configuration
1. Server URI = FQDN of server example: OCS-STD.Litwareinc.com
2. Server Port = 5061
3. Enable TLS
4. Agent Type = Answering Agent
6. Go to Services and configure OCS Service account to be DVT account that you created above
1. Restart service (confirm that the service is running before you close this window)
7. Log on to communicator as OCS_DVT account; confirm that your presence is marked as (available) then proceed to sign out of communicator
8. Log onto another MOC as someone else and add DVT to contact list
1. Should be online.
3. Log on to Office Communicator anywhere in your network and search for the OCS_DVT account and make a communicator call to it.
4. Once you hear "Rita" you know that you have completed the setup.

WEBCAST: ALL ABOUT DMZ AND EDGE SERVERS IN COMMUNICATIONS SERVER 2007

I just delivered a webcast about edge servers in the perimeter network; you can find the webcast at the link below...

https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=1032372435&role=attend&pw=2A9BDB1F

 I reference the different scenarios in which to use the edge servers and go through the topologies that are available.

Edge Topologies 4 of 4

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 - Single Site Topology.  Now lets talk about the 4th topology for the Edge servers; the good thing is you recall the 3rd topology then the 4th topology is almost just like it in the since that now we are concentrating on the remote site besides the main data center.  Now the premise here is that the remote site that is not the datacenter has a permiter network just like the main data center.  For our example we are going to say the Main Data Center is in Chicago and the second data center is in Denver.  Chicago has a pool and a permiter network and Denver has a pool and a perimeter network as well.

 Chicago has a Single - Site Topology which consist of 1 AV Edge and 1 Colloated AE \ WC Edge.  Now comes the 4th Edge Topology setup; Denver has in the perimeter network 2 servers, and they are the WC Edge and the AV Edge.  Notice that we didnt include AE for the Denver location for we can only have a single Geographic location of AE servers.  Meaning one data center can contain the AE roles leveraging a single SRV record.  So that single external SRV record that we would have external users use such as _SIP._TLS.<domain> can not be supported with multiple domain names for a single SRV record and can only go to a single location of edge servers as well,

 Now, I clearly didn't say that you could not have multiple AE Servers in different perimeter networks, but rather haveing them point to the same SRV record is not supported today for OCS 2007.  So the Denver location would have 2 servers in the perimeter network the WC Edge and the AV Edge.  This is not a problem by having a single location for the AE servers for the AE servers are only proxing external SIP traffic and organizing the SIP channel for VOIP calls.  The AE does not do any authentication for the internal director, SE, or Pool will do that. 

The traffic that we pass through the AE is bursty in nature and is not a constant stream such as the media or conferncing from the other roles. So nowt that I have covered the last section of the Edge Topologies we will move on to something else soon that takes a series of post to get the message out there. 

I will be doing a webcast soon on the Edge Server Topologies of OCS, dont know that date as of yet, but tune into the site again and I will be posting a link to all the remaining OCS 2007 webcast that I will be delivering on.

OCS 2007 Resource Kit Tools

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 topic would have taken forever to blog about, so I was able to work this into the OCS webcast series. 

I talk about tools such as:

• RouteHelper
• Snooper
• Bulk User Import
• Database Analyzer
•  LCSSync

These are just some of the tools that I talk about; in addition to the lecture I give some demos of a few of the tools in action. If you want to tune in the link is where you can get the on demand webcast for later viewing.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032372046&Culture=en-US

Have a good one.

Deployment Validation Tool Webcast

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 configurations of the DVT and in's and out's of configuring it. 

Also I discuss the Auto Answering Agent which is a cool tool as well that comes with the Deployment Validation Suite.  I even give a demo of how it works.

The following link will direct you to the site to catch the webcast.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032372044&Culture=en-US