Lync

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! ...

Note this script is provided as an example only - By default a user can set their own Client Pin via the Dial-In Conferencing page (usually dialin.domain.com). You may have a requirement to bulk set a Client Pin if you’re rolling out a large number of VOIP phones. The script example below sets a 6 digit client PIN consisting of a two digit prefix followed by the last 4 digits of the users LineUri: ...

The biggest news from Microsoft Ignite is the announcement of Microsoft Teams replacing Skype for Business Online. This has sent the Community, Skype for Business service providers and Integrators around the globe into a bit of a rumour mill. So the key point is Teams will replace Skype for Business Online. Microsoft will be announcing a new version of Skype for Business Server 2019 (Formerly LCS, OCS & Lync) that we all know and love next year, however this will be for On-Prem customers (I.E. not in a Microsoft datacentre). You will be able to have a Skype for Business and Teams Hybrid deployment. ...

During a side-by-side Lync 2013 to Skype for Business migration I encountered an error moving Response Groups using Move-CsRgsConfiguration. Move-CsRgsConfiguration -Source lyncfepool.domain.local -Destination skypefepool.domain.local This resulted in the error “Move-CsRgsConfiguration : Object reference not set to an instance of an object.”. To resolve I ran Move-CsRgsConfiguration again with the -verbose switch: Move-CsRgsConfiguration -Source lyncfepool.domain.local -Destination skypefepool.domain.local -verbose Verbose output below: VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Move-CsRgsConfiguration" on target "service:ApplicationServer:skypefepool.domain.local/531286fe-e965-4c1c-9949-26eca4d8d3db". VERBOSE: Handle audio files... VERBOSE: Update associations with holiday sets... VERBOSE: Update associations with managers... Move-CsRgsConfiguration : Object reference not set to an instance of an object. At line:1 char:1 + Move-CsRgsConfiguration -Source lyncfepool.domain.local -Destination skyp ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : WriteError: (Microsoft.Rtc.R...lRgsDataContext:TransactionalRgsDataContext) [Move-CsRgsC onfiguration], NullReferenceException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.Rtc.Rgs.Management.MoveCsRgsConfigurationCmdlet VERBOSE: Rollback transaction. ...

I recently had a customer that required 90 Common Area Phones creating in Skype for Business. This is quite a tedious task so the easiest way is to populate a CSV and use a PowerShell script to do the import. When creating a Common Area Phone in Lync/SfB it can take a few seconds before you’re able to assign Policies and Pin numbers to the objects. This slows the script down significantly if waiting 20 seconds between creating the object, then assigning Policies. So, I’ve actually made three ForEach loops, the first one creates the Common Area Phone objects, then it waits 20 seconds before assigning policies to every object, then it waits another 20 seconds before assigning the pins (I found that assigning Pins would fail if I didn’t wait longer). ...

The short answer is no, you require Exchange Unified Messaging, whether that is provided by Exchange 2010 SP3, 2013 2016 or Exchange Online. But, what about if you deploy an Exchange server just to service Voicemail and forward the Voicemail on as an attachment to Lotus Notes, or any other email platform for that matter? *NOTE - You will need to license any users that have an Exchange Mailbox & UM.* ...

I was recently installing the latest Skype4B CU and came across a strange issue where one of the updates would not install. The error message I received was: “Skype for Business Server 2015 Update Installer: There were errors during the installation process. For details, see the log file atC:\Users\chris\AppData\Local\Temp\Skype_patchinstallerlog-FE01-[2016-08-01][15-28-31].txt” Checking the log files indicated an error 1603. A bit of googling led me to various blog posts advising to ensure all MMCs were closed, checking there was enough disk space on the Front End and also running the Deployment Wizard again. None of these solutions worked for me, I tried running the installer from an elevated prompt and also tried installing server.msp manually. ...

Microsoft recently released Office Online Server to replace Office Web Apps. OOS allows you to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote from your browser. Lync and Skype for Business utilise OOS for enhanced PowerPoint sharing. All Microsoft articles advise to download Office Online Server from the Volume Licensing Service Center, however it’s quite difficult to find. Try searching for “Office”, “Office Online”, “Online” and you won’t find an “Office Online Server” download. That’s because it’s actually part of Office Professional Plus 2016. ...

Back in 2012 I wrote a post on how to hide Response Groups from the Address Book in Lync 2010 using ADSI Edit. The same process also applied to Lync 2013. Original Article: /2012/10/16/hiding-response-groups-from-address-book-lync-server-2010/ The original article involved finding the Response Group AD Object manually using ADSI Edit and changing the msExchHideFromAddressLists (Exchange property) to TRUE. You could then run Update-CSAddressbook and Lync clients would pickup the change within due course. ...

I recently came across an issue with Lync 2013 where SCOM (System Center Operations Manager) was periodically reporting errors with the Conferencing Attendant and IM MCU. The SCOM errors were as follows: Alert: [LYNC] Conferencing Attendant failed to join the conference. Source: LS Conferencing Auto Attendant Component [F05.DOMAIN.LOCAL] Path: FE05.DOMAIN.LOCAL Last modified by: System Last modified time: 4/11/2016 11:01:50 AM Alert description: Conferencing Attendant failed to join the conference. Microsoft.Rtc.Signaling.ConnectionFailureException:Operation failed because the network connection was not available. ---> Microsoft.Rtc.Internal.Sip.TLSException: TLS Negotiation took too long to complete Alert: [LYNC] Lync Server IM MCU failed to connect to the SIP Front End. Source: LS Instant Message Conferencing Component [FE03.DOMAIN.LOCAL] Path: FE03.DOMAIN.LOCAL Last modified by: System Last modified time: 4/11/2016 11:35:24 AM Alert description: Lync Server IM MCU failed to connect to the SIP Front End. Local Machine name: FE03.DOMAIN.LOCAL FE hostname: FE06.DOMAIN.LOCAL IP address: 10.10.10.13:5061 Message: TLS Negotiation took too long to complete Strangely, no users had reported issues and initial thoughts were performance problems with the Lync Front End servers. This is quite a large Pool with 7 Front Ends and each Front End would periodically generate the above errors in SCOM. All servers were running the latest CU and all certificates were valid for 2 years. ...