Byron Spurlock's Blog - OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2 & VOIP Insights

Webcast - Capacity Planning with OCS 2007

2009-10-13T06:02:00Z

Here is another webcast that I did on Capacity Planning with OCS 2007.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032372033&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Till next time again...

Webcast - DNS, Certificates, and Load Balancers

2009-10-13T05:56:00Z

I wanted to provide a URL to the webcast that I did regarding configuring OCS 2007 with DNS, Certificates, and Load Balancers.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032343625&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Till next time...

OCS 2007 R2 Web Scheduler Now Available!

2009-08-27T23:45:59Z

In OCS 2007 R1 the web scheduler was a nice to have handy to allow people to schedule meetings and not have to have the full client or add-ins available. Now in R2 the web scheduler is back and available once again. Keep in mind that the support agreement still applies and that’s a best effort support with the tool. Some of the main features of the scheduler are as followed:

Authentication using Windows credentials
Schedule a Live Meeting or a Conference call
Verify names of enterprise invitees
Specify Meeting Access Types
- Open
- Closed
- Anonymous
View List of Scheduled Conferences
Modify\Delete Scheduled Conferences

Take a look at the link below to get a copy of the tool…

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6d6848ec-e7d6-41f4-82d9-5bed3526fcbd&displaylang=en

Communicator Attendant Console (Part 1)

2009-07-24T18:41:00Z

In today’s blog we will discuss the Attendant Console which is a new client in Office Communicator Server 2007 R2.

[Figure 1]

The first thing for us to take a look at today what is the Attendant Console (AC)? The AC is the client side application similar to Office Communicator (OC), we can make voice calls, send IM, participate in conference calls, and much more. Probably the most used case of the AC will come from the “Boss\Admin” scenario. What is the “Boss\Admin” scenario you ask, well this is for those scenarios where executives have delegates and have delegates answering phone calls on their behalf.

This was a major need that was asked from customers when OCS 2007 was released and now in R2 its here. Scenarios that cause for delegation to additional personnel the AC fits the need. This blog might take several posts to get you everything you should know with the AC, but we will take this step by step and let you know about the user interface first.

What you see above in figure 1 is the main interface of AC; the interface is broken down into two panes, a right and left pane. The right pane contains your contact list that is familiar to how OC would see it and the left pane contains the views that you will probably be in most.

The top portion of the left pane contains the area for incoming calls, this is where to look for when calls are coming into the main switchboard of your organization. The middle section contains the active conversation; the active conversation is where you just took the call, typing a message, or sending an IM. The third pane is at the bottom and contains the pending or on hold conversation.

So an operators AC would have the following views while attending to calls at the front desk…

1) Call comes into the front desk of the organization = top pane

2) Operator answers the call and is talking to the caller = middle pane

3) Operator sees another call that is incoming and puts the current caller on hold = bottom pane

Pretty simple right? Great! What we will look at in the next post is more detailed information with user interface for AC.

Byron

Deployment Validation Tool (Auto Answering Agent - updated)

2009-06-24T01:59:46Z

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…

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…

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

2009-05-07T02:31:00Z

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

2009-04-21T17:45:00Z

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

2009-03-04T19:26:00Z

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

2009-02-18T20:27:00Z

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...

2009-01-31T00:04:00Z

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

2009-01-20T11:10:00Z

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

2008-08-04T18:07:00Z

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

2008-07-07T18:17:00Z

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!

2008-05-07T20:50:00Z

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 logging for the Address Book Service that provides global address list information from Active Directory to the Office Communicator client.
ABServerHttpHandler	Web Components Server	Redirects client requests for address book files to the appropriate file path in the output location configured for the Address Book Server.
AcpMcu	Front End Server (Telephony Conferencing Server)	Enables logging for the Telephony Conferencing Server that is responsible for ACP (audio conferencing provider) integration.
AggregationScript	Front End Server	Enables logging for the component that determines the aggregate user state and capabilities across all endpoints.
ApiModule	Front End Server, Access Edge Server	Enables logging for the component that exposes the Office Communications Server API to MSPL (Microsoft SIP Processing Language) and managed code applications.
ArchivingAgent	Any Front End Server that you have enabled for archiving and is therefore running the Archiving Agent	Enables logging for the Archiving agent that runs on the Front End Server and writes SIP messages to Message Queuing.
AvMcu	A/V Conferencing Server	Enables logging for the A/V Conferencing Server.
ClientVersionFilter	Front End Server, Access Edge Server	Enables logging for the Client Version Filter, an application that can be used to allow/block access from clients that conform to certain versions.
Collaboration	Communicator Web Access, Administrator Tools	Logs activities of the collaboration object layer pertaining to instant messaging.
CWASnapin	Communicator Web Access	Logs administration activities within the Communicator Web Access Management Console.
CWAAuth	Communicator Web Access	CWAAUTH logs activities of user authentication and authorization through Active Directory.
CWASearch	Communicator Web Access	CWASEARCH logs activities of user search in Active Directory.
CWAPolicy	Communicator Web Access	CWAPOLICY logs activities of CWA WMI settings accessed.
CwaServer	Communicator Web Access	Logs all standard activities of the Communicator Web Access server.
CwaWebPages	Communicator Web Access	Logs activities of ASP.Net access layer.
DataMCU	Web Conferencing Server	Enables logging for the Web Conferencing Server.
DataProxy	Web Conferencing Edge Server	Enables logging for the Web Conferencing Edge Server which provides the functionality for external users to participate in your internal conference meetings.
Dlx	Web Components Serve r(IIS)	Enables logging for the Group (DL) Expansion Service.
ExumRouting	Front End Server	Enables logging for the component that routes calls to Exchange Unified Messaging for voice mail.
IIMFilter	Front End Server, Access Edge Server	Enables logging for the Intelligent Instant Messaging (IIM) application that filters incoming IM traffic using criteria specified by administrators.
ImMcu	Front End Server (IM Conferencing Server)	Enables logging for the IM Conferencing Server, which enables group IM by relaying IM traffic among all participants.
InboundRouting	Front End Server	Enables logging for the Inbound Routing component that handles incoming calls largely according to preferences that are specified by users on their Enterprise Voice clients.
LCCertHelper	Any server running Office Communications Server Setup or the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Enables logging of the component used for certificates-related functionality in SipStack, MMC, WMI, and the Certificates Wizard.
LCDSUIEx	Any server running the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Enables logging of the Find Users functionality in the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.
LcManagedTaskHandler	Any server running Office Communications Server Setup or the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Enables logging of the component used by validation tasks that are invoked either from the Validation Wizard or LcsCmd.
LcsAdUcSnapin	Any server running the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Enables logging of the extension for the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.
LcsCmd	Any server running Office Communications Server Setup or the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Enables logging of the command-line tool that lets you perform all Office Communications Server setup tasks such as activation and pool creation.
LcsServer	Front End Server, Access Edge Server	Enables logging of the RtcSrv service. On a Front End Server the RtcSrv service is the Office Communications Server Front End service. On an Access Edge Server, the RtcSrv service is the Office Communications Server Access Edge service.
LcsSnapin	Any server running the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Enables logging of the component that provides the management console for SipStack.
LCSWizard	Any server running Office Communications Server Setup or the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Component used by Setup and MMC Wizards such as the configuration wizards.
LcsWMI	Any server running Office Communications Server Setup or the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Enables logging of the component that is the WMI provider for Office Communications Server.
LcsWMIUserServices	Any server running Office Communications Server Setup or the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Enables logging of the component that provides the WMI consumer for UserServices.
LcTaskHandler	Any server running Office Communications Server Setup or the Office Communications Server administrative tools	Enables logging of the component used by LcsCmd, Setup wizards and MMC wizards.
LcWmiConsumerManaged	Front End Server (IM Conferencing Server, Telephony Conferencing Server), Web Conferencing Server, A/V Conferencing Server, A/V Edge Server	Enables logging of the WMI consumer for services built using managed code.
LDM	Web Conferencing Server	Enables logging of Web Conferencing Server Connection Management which manages TLS/MTLS connections from clients and other servers such as the Web Conferencing Edge Server.
MCUFactory	Front End Server (IM Conferencing Server, Telephony Conferencing Server), A/V Conferencing Server, Web Conferencing Server	Enables logging for the Focus Factory which determines which conferencing server is available to service the conference scheduling request.
MCUInfra	Front End Server (IM Conferencing Server, Telephony Conferencing Server), A/V Conferencing Server, Web Conferencing Server	Enables logging for the component that provides communication between the Focus and the conferencing servers.
MediationServer	Mediation Server	Enables logging for the Mediation Server that translates between the Office Communications Servers and the media gateway.
MRAS	A/V Edge Server	Enables logging for the Office Communications Server Audio/Video Authentication service, which provides authentication services for the A/V Edge Server, the component that provides the functionality to share audio and video with external users.
OutboundRouting	Front End Server	Enables logging for the Outbound Routing component that routes calls to PBX or PSTN destinations, applies call authorization rules to callers, and determines the optimal media gateway for routing each call.
QueueDLL	Front End Server, Access Edge Server	Enables logging for the component that facilitates inter-process communication between the server and applications.
RtcHost	Front End Server, Access Edge Server	Enables logging for the component that is the host for all server API applications.
RTCSPL	Front End Server	Enables logging for the component that is the host for running MSPL (Microsoft SIP Processing Language) script based applications.
S4	Communicator Web Access	Logs all SIP messages sent to/from the Communicator Web Access server.
SIPStack	Front End Server, Access Edge Server	Enables logging for the SipStack component that handles TLS/MTLS connection management and SIP call flows.
TranslationApplication	Front End Server	Enables logging for the Translation Service which is the server component that is responsible for translating a dialed number into E.164 format based on the normalization rules defined by the administrator.
UserServices	Front End Server	Enables logging for the UserServices component that provides closely integrated IM, presence, and conferencing features built on top of the SIP proxy. Includes the Focus and Focus Factory.

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

2008-05-05T17:22:00Z

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.

Create an account for the DVT agent such as OCS_DVT
Confirm that the DVT (the one you just created) account has an email address; (example OCS_DVT@Litwareinc.com)
Enable account for OCS
On DC1 install the client side agent
Run setup of the agent

During install chose account that you created for the agent as below
Agent configuration menu should look like the following:
SIP URI should be OCS_DVT@litwareinc.com (this has to be the same SIP URI that you created above)
Enable Use Default Credentials
Select Manual Configuration

Server URI = FQDN of server example: OCS-STD.Litwareinc.com
Server Port = 5061
Enable TLS
Agent Type = Answering Agent

Go to Services and configure OCS Service account to be DVT account that you created above

Restart service (confirm that the service is running before you close this window)

Log on to communicator as OCS_DVT account; confirm that your presence is marked as (available) then proceed to sign out of communicator
Log onto another MOC as someone else and add DVT to contact list

Should be online.

Log on to Office Communicator anywhere in your network and search for the OCS_DVT account and make a communicator call to it.
Once you hear "Rita" you know that you have completed the setup.