Lync Server Draining

Got a bunch of great questions today about Lync server draining. I have added a few extra here to make it more complete but there is very little information available about this feature elsewhere.

What's the expected client behavior?

If you put a FE server in draining mode, all clients will have to reconnect but active calls and conferencing session should remain active until there sessions end. In my lab I only have the one Standard Edition server but below you can see my client has been disconnected but the conferencing session has remained up.

When is the best time to start draining?

During periods where your activity on the Lync environment is tapering off. Not from a registered user perspective but more from active calls and conferencing. As you all know not everyone logs off if you have a standalone device so this may or may not be a good indicator of concurrent users. The least possible interruption to calls in progress is your best plan.

What's required?

DNS load balancing and Lync client are requirements for server draining. Hardware based load balancing is not application aware so therefore when the server is no longer accepting connections the HLB may be still attempting to send clients to the server that is no longer accepting connections. Also older versions of Communicator do not support server draining.

How do you start server draining?

Two ways. Firstly through the Control Panel you can either select to prevent new sessions for all services or you can do it on a service by service basis. Second way is through PowerShell.

Below: Prevent new sessions for all services.

Below: Prevent new sessions for service. Stopping new sessions on a per service basis.

 

The full PowerShell syntax is below. This only stops Lync services and not Windows services. The graceful switch parameter must be used to prevent loss of active sessions (not registrations) and initiate server draining.

Stop-CsWindowsService [-Name <String>] [-ComputerName <String>] [-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]] [-Force <SwitchParameter>] [-Graceful <SwitchParameter>] [-NoWait <SwitchParameter>] [-Report <String>] [-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]]

How can I  Monitoring Active Connections?

Using PowerShell and the command Get-CsWindowsService gives you a fairly clean looking window of active connections. As you can see in my lab I have one active connection to my SE server. If I run the Get command I can see the active connection. See below:

After the draining has begun you can see the services being stopped as connections are being dropped. I have only one client in my lab connected into the conference but you can see its still connected to the MCU components. See below:

After the Stop-CsWindowsService has been performed all services show as stopped with no active connections. See below:

I hope this has been helpful.

Comments welcomed.

VoIPNorm

Counting Enterprise Voice Enabled Users in Lync

If you are like me you like to keep track of your deployment. Here is a quick tip. To count your Voice enabled users in Lync you can issue the following PowerShell command:

(get-csuser -OnLyncServer -Filter {EnterpriseVoiceEnabled -eq $true}).count

Quick and simple.

VoIPNorm

BTW Month of March over 10,000 hits on VoIPNorm. Biggest month to date.

BlackBerry Lync Support with BES 5.0 SP3

Blackberry have new release and provisioning notes that document BES 5.0 SP3 with Lync support. Check it out release notes here and provision notes here. Software release should follow soon.

“Support for additional instant messaging servers

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server is designed to support the following instant messaging servers:

• Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2
• Microsoft® Lync™ Server 2010”

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Telligent Connect integrates to Lync

Telligent have just released a Beta of their Connect software that includes integration for Lync. Using SharePoint as the base to build a Enterprise Social Community platform Telligent has really gone all out to integrate into Lync. Its great to see partners and developers taking advantage of the API set that Lync provides. Check it out here.

Comments welcomed.

VoIPNorm

Calling Portland and Boise UC Users

This month we hosted the Seattle Microsoft UC User group at Westlake Microsoft Campus in Seattle. It was a standing room only event with a great discussion lead by Josh Maher on Exchange HA strategies. Next week two new user groups will have their kick off meeting in Boise and Portland. This is a great opportunity to network with peers and hear from product experts. See the links below to register.

Boise UC User Group hosted by Microsoft and Enabling Technologies . See registration here.

Portland UC User Group hosted by Microsoft and Enabling Technologies. See registration here.

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Extending Lync: IM an Expert

Lync extensibility is a powerful tool and something I have had several posts on. Today I thought I would focus on “IM an Expert” which is a question and answer service based on UCMA 3.0 made available from Microsoft. You can get the documentation here and the software here.

What is IM an Expert really about? Firstly it’s a freebie that Microsoft developed internally and is giving away (although if you don’t have Lync its not going to be much use). Secondly it’s a nice supplement to the existing capabilities that are inherent in Lync with the find an expert SharePoint integration. Not everyone uses My Sites with SharePoint so this is a great alternative to having users input expertise into My Sites. Lastly and probably most importantly it is a great way to show internally to your peers how Lync can be extended. At a high level IM an Expert is a bot, Web Page and a database. Yes, there is a little more to it than that but there are a lot of applications you could potentially do with just these three tools and IM an Expert is a great way to show case this.

Although the released version may differ somewhat from what I have below in my screenshots I think you will get the general idea of what its all about. There are several components to in the IM an Expert service with the main end user interaction as the Webpage and the IM an Expert Bot.

• Bot: The automated service that users communicate with via instant messaging (IM). This handles question processing, expert location, and dialog management.
• Website: A website describing the service, where users can also provide profile information, review and answer previous questions, and see their position on the leaderboard.

There are also some backend processes (obviously) with the following components:

• Databases: SQL Server databases containing user profiles, questions, conversations, ratings, and indexed content used in ranking experts.
• PageCrawler: Automatically crawls the contents of websites listed in user profiles, and then stores them in a database table.
• Indexer: Indexes all available content about a user in preparation for expert finding.
• Monitor: Ensures the Bot is up and running normally, and sends an email to the administrators if it detects a problem

Below is a diagram taken from the documentation that follows the work flow from asking a question through to finding the right expert via Lync.

The screenshot below is the end user webpage where someone can add their current expertise. The home page gives some insight in the use of IM an Expert.

Below is where a user (expert) builds their profile and enters things like a blog etc for the web crawler service. There is also a more structured approach by allowing users to enter specific terms that would help find them.

Below is a demo I ran to give everyone an idea of what the end user experience is like. The first window shows me asking the question, “What is Unified Communications?”. The service then searches for the most appropriate expert and sends an IM to the expert with my important question.

The final screen shot below shows me IMing with the expert over the answer suggested. It also let me rate the answer which is latter added to Alex’s tally so I know if I can trust his answer on the leaderboard.

So a pretty basic service. But lets think about how else this could be applied to development with UCMA 3.0. A similar type of application could be developed to retrieve customer information or account information or a bug id from a issue tracking service. A quick simple way to access data without opening another application. You could also add voice into a similar service with the IVR capabilities in UCMA. So instead of IMing a person what about a call out service for a DR system. Lots of possibilities and endless uses. So in the case of IM an Expert we actually reach out to another user based on database information but this could be a simple retrieval of information for other applications. It really depends on your needs.

This of course ties into CEBP and how we best use our tools to enable our business processes. Although CEBP might be starting to be a tired term with every vendor trying to capture the minds of IT it does have a lot of potential. There are a number of development partners in the Lync eco system that can help with custom development. Some of these partners have prepackaged applications and other more complicated scenarios will require custom development.

Comments welcomed.

VoIPNorm

Pacific Northwest User Group Activities

We have a lot going on in Pacific Northwest in the next month or so with two new user groups forming in Boise and Portland. These events being lead by Enabling Technologies are the first Microsoft UC User Group meetings being held in these cities. Similar to the Seattle group these informal gatherings are about networking and talking with experts on hand about Microsoft UC technologies. See meeting invite links below.

For those in the Seattle area SMUCUG, formerly UCDoers, will be hosting its first meeting for 2011 in downtown Seattle at the Microsoft Westlake Office. Join Josh Maher as he takes us through Exchange 2010 High Availability.

Seattle Microsoft UC User Group. See invite here.

Boise UC User Group hosted by Microsoft and Enabling Technologies . See registration here.

Portland UC User Group hosted by Microsoft and Enabling Technologies. See registration here.

Lync 2010 and Microsoft Office Compatibility

Seems to be a common question that is actually pretty easy to find with a Bing search but I thought I would post it any way.

Lync 2010 and Microsoft Office Compatibility

Capability	Microsoft Office 2003 (SP3)	Microsoft Office 2007	Microsoft Office 2010
Presence in Microsoft Outlook To and Cc boxes	Presence on hover	Presence always displayed	Presence always displayed
Reply with conference call from Presence menu	No	Yes	Yes
Presence in a Meeting Request on the Scheduling Assistant tab	No	Yes	Yes
Reply with IM or call from received e-mail toolbar or ribbon	No	Yes	Yes
Presence in Outlook From box	Yes	Yes	Yes
Reply with IM or voice from Presence menu	Yes	Yes	Yes
IM and presence in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel (smart tags enabled)	Yes	Yes	Yes
IM and Presence in Microsoft SharePoint (Outlook must be installed)	Yes	Yes	Yes

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Lync End User Training

I just wanted somewhere to store this great collection of training links but also thought it would be good to share. So here they are:

Adoption and  Training :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=f01a17e2-bec0-42c7-b1ce-fd4842ab1c91

Training PACK :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e9310f75-5025-4462-b42e-a6cf5cb34fe4

Quick Start Guides :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=1214a649-6de1-4c64-9086-4651dbabe898

What's New Video's & Articles :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=f9585b64-e96a-4801-b411-8671c232bdf2

Short Video's :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=420fe3f6-d4f9-47c8-b042-9cb11f570102

Work Smart :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ff736048-bff7-4c70-b4f3-0834f0eb163e

Presence & IM Training :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=39fe5fb8-90ce-42b7-adec-7f8db3faf47a

Voice & Video Training :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=719ab200-4729-4fd0-879e-1e8ad3f63e3a

Conferencing & Collaboration Training :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=3a1f2a84-d7ac-43db-b225-4b97d95d0d38

Web App Training :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c1d8c821-efbd-4c0d-ba03-0f68a0322570

Delegate Training :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=a6e28e1f-9126-489f-8421-121c88190b74

Attendant Training :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=09794bf0-362c-4f1d-92af-72b93e1c998e

RGS Training :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=8f93590d-3758-4b3c-9cf6-c6dc316b5c37

VoIPNorm

Polycom HDX Integration to Lync with ICE/STUN and TURN

So for those of you that read Jeff Schertz’s blog he recently wrote about the great Lync integration that has just been released with Wave 4 for the Polycom HDX and RMX lines. Native Lync integration is very cool and I am a big fan of what this can do. Even though Jeff goes in to some great detail there is one piece that I wanted to elaborate further that I think is a bigger deal than HD video and has been around for a little while now.

Below is a screenshot of Polycom HDX endpoint video call to my Lync client. This is a big deal namely because I am on the  MSIT Lync deployment and the Polycom HDX is not. The HDX is actually sitting on the Polycom network natively registered to the Polycom Lync deployment.

How is this possible you may ask? ICE/STUN and TURN protocols. Just like you would contact someone from a another organization using federation with Lync you can also do the same with Polycom HDX endpoints since they both support ICE/STUN/TURN and register as a native endpoint in Lync. This also means you can also use the HDX with VPNless remote access using the Lync Edge same as you would the Lync client for your own organization.

Lets take a look at a quick diagram. Below shows the ability to do federated video calls using the HDX.I have kept this really simple. I just want to highlight what is happening at a high level with the screenshot above. So in this case I have the HDX in my buddy list in Lync and I initiated the video call to the Polycom owned HDX device:

A similar scenario can also be achieved with remote access for a companies internal resources. In the diagram below the remote HDX of company A  is calling a Lync client from company A using remote access across the Lync Edge. The same can be achieved with the other internal HDX depicted. Seeing as both HDX’s can be registered as Lync endpoints it really opens up the ability to use the HDX’s as true Lync clients and utilize the Lync infrastructure.

Why is this so important? I think for most companies infrastructure consolidation through integration is going to be huge. Requiring less infrastructure in your DMZ or on premise to provide seamless video capabilities for remote and federated users shows the real value of the Polycom Microsoft partnership.

Comments welcomed.

VoIPNorm

Streaming Video Content or Using Two Web Cams during a Lync Meeting using ManyCam

Note:This is an unsupported configuration using a third party to plug in a video stream into Lync via the use of webcam drivers so use at your own risk.

Ever wondered how to stream mpeg or wma video files into a Lync meeting? Or how about using two webcams on the same PC with Lync? I got this question just recently from a company wanting to stream  prerecorded video through Lync to the masses over a Lync meeting. At the time I said no but stupid me should have realized where there is a will there is a way. This is not the most elegant of solutions such as using multicast or something more fancy dedicated to video distribution but it does achieve the desired effect.

Webcam simulator will add a virtual software camera to your operating system to allow you to play the recorded video instead of using your webcam. ManyCam can do the same thing but has a better user interface. Although on the main website it has some really stupid video effects that it shows as its main features it really has some better uses than that in my opinion. I have some snap shots below of a video I have playing during a meeting using ManyCam to inject a .wma file.

The virtual webcam is selected under the video settings in Lync.

The ManyCam software also allows PIP as well so I can have another source used in the same video feed. In this case I am using a web cam as the second feed embedded into the main picture.

In this last screen shot I am using the ManyCam to integrate two web cams on the same PC into the one image that is feed into Lync. This is probably the most useful of all in my opinion because you might want a room view and then a focus in on one presenter.

So far I have found two issues. Firstly is audio when playing prerecorded video. Its not a big issue since you can relay the audio from the playing recording back through a microphone into the meeting but I have yet to find a clean solution. The second is getting rid of the ManyCam inbuilt advertising. Kind of annoying but not something that would force me to stop using it.

I didn’t discover this great use of the ManyCam software but I sure wish I had. It is really cool and I can envision some people getting good use from using it.

Comments welcomed and please let me know if you have tried this or other web cam software to do similar things.

VoIPNorm

Update: The issue of the advertising was solved by John K who also discovered this clever use of ManyCam. Just unselect the ManyCam logo under effects. Easy. Thanks John.