Lync 2010

Are you using Citrix or any other 3rd party application that handles media (e.g. Call Recording / Contact Centre) with Skype for Business? You may find you’re not marking this traffic with the correct DSCP markings. You should configure QoS in the usual method using a Windows GPO. Mark Vale documents this process really well: https://blog.valeconsulting.co.uk/2015/09/07/skype-for-business-configuring-quality-of-service-qos/ Pat Richard has a really useful QoS Calculator here: https://www.ucunleashed.com/2821 “Why does it matter if I’m using Citrix or a call recording application like Verba?” Answer - They have their own executables and don’t use the standard SfB exe’s to send/receive media! ...

Ok here is a little tip when trying to add trusted root certificate authorities to Skype for Business 2015 and Lync 2010/2013 Edge servers. Microsoft have a list of Unified Communications Certificate Providers detailed here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929395 Windows now automatically downloads Trusted Root certificates when you access a web page on HTTPS. We can exploit this to get all Trusted Root certificates on our Edge servers which is required for Federation to work correctly. An example of this is where you only get one way IM or a federated partner may see your presence as unknown. ...

A customer was having problems with their Lync 2010 deployment federating with Office 365. When searching for a Lync Online user they would see “Presence Unknown” and be unable to send Instant Messages. They could Federate with other On-Prem Lync organisations OK. They had LyncOnline configured as a Hosted Provider and Partner Domain Discovery Enabled (Dynamic Federation). Their _sipfederationtls._tcp DNS record was configured correctly as was the O365 customer. Using OCSLogger and Snooper on the Edge server I was able to spot the problem. ...

I recently ran into a problem with Checkpoint Firewalls on a Lync 2010 deployment. The customer already had a single 2010 Front End and wished to enable external sign in over the internet as it did not work over their VPN solution (Direct Access). I installed the Edge server and Reverse Proxy but then encountered a strange issue where I was unable to sign in over the Edge server. Some of the troubleshooting steps I took (Thinking it was my fault): ...

When you deploy Lync and assign internal certificates to your Lync servers (E.g. Front End, Internal Edge, SBA and Gateways) by default you will only have a 2 year certificate from the “Web Server” template. I like to create a new Certificate Template for Lync with a 5 year lifespan as it can be quite annoying having to renew certificates, especially on the Edge servers and Gateways where you have to export the cert request. I have tried creating a 10 year Certificate Template but the Lync Deployment Wizard complains that the cert is valid for over 5 years. It’s also a good idea to set your Certificate Authority validity period to a long period, I usually opt for 20/25 years. This article will cover how to create a 5 year Certificate Template for Lync. By assigning Certificates to your Lync servers with a longer validity period you won’t have to renew them as often. ...

You need to restart all Lync services, open services.msc and see 10+ Lync Server services. Rather than go through each one hitting the stop or restart button with your mouse you can use PowerShell! Stop all Lync Services: Stop-CsWindowsService Start all Lync Services: Start-CsWindowsService

So you need to calculate how much bandwidth Lync will use, you launch google and type “Lync bandwidth requirements”. You click the top link for Microsoft Downloads “Lync 2010 and 2013 Bandwidth Calculator” here http://windowspbx.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/simple-smb-lync-bandwidth-calculator.html. You download the zip, open the excel file then realise you don’t have a degree in quantum physics or it’s Friday and you just want some quick figures to work with. Behold Matt Landis’ “Very Simple SMB Lync Bandwidth Calculator” here: http://windowspbx.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/simple-smb-lync-bandwidth-calculator.html ...

Struggling with Telnet/Microsoft Port Query Tool to test the correct firewall ports are open between Lync servers? I almost started making my own tool/script but this guy has done the hard work for me! http://flinchbot.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/portqueryui-config-xml-file-for-lync/ Really useful.

The scenario is you have created a Response Group (IVR) with an option to call an Out Of Hours engineer. You configure a queue overflow to forward straight to a mobile telephone number outside of your organisation as follows: The out of hours engineer changes on a rota and you want staff to be able to change the queue overflow number without giving them having to access the Lync Control Panel. I have created a PowerShell script that allows users to accomplish this. They can select from a list of names in the menu or manually type a number. Any changes are logged to a text file. ...

I recently deployed an SBA at a branch office and configured an RGS for the Reception. If the receptionist does not answer within a certain time period then the call is forwarded to an external party. When calling the reception response group, after the queue timeout period the call would be forwarded to the external party (simple!). I came across a problem where my the RGS is hosted on a Lync Front End server in the UK data centre (as SBA does not support RGS). The Front End server has a site Voice Policy configured to route all PSTN calls via the UK gateway. The problem was when the queue timed out, my RGS would forward the call out of a central gateway in the UK rather than the gateway built in to the SBA (in the Netherlands). To resolve this issue I had to assign a User Voice Policy to the Response Group that had the correct PSTN usage, route and trunk to the gateway. ...