Author: Ståle Hansen

How to install OCS2009-DBUpgrade

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[tweetmeme source=”stalehansen” only_single=false]On several OCS 2007 Enterprise installations this patch was not that easy to install when you are using SQL 2008 backend database. Here’s what I had to do to install this patch

To apply the hotifx, you must have the following software installed.

  • OCS administration tools
  • MS SQL Native Client
  • If you decide to install SQL 2008 Client Tools, SQL 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2) Backward Compatibility must also be installed.
  • To install the  SQL 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2) Backward Compatibility you need to download and install
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Objects Collection
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components
  • Finally run the patch with the following command when on a OCS Enterprise deployment
    • OCS2009-DBUpgrade.msi POOLNAME=poolname

If the installation failes check Scott Oseychik’s post about SQL won’t allow update here: http://blogs.msdn.com/scottos/archive/2009/08/21/installation-of-ocs-2007-r2-hotfix-package-969834-may-fail-if-sql-settings-have-been-changed.aspx

View the full technical article here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969834

Updates: Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (Nov 2009)

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MVP Lee Desmond posted a great post about the November updates for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Check it out here: http://www.leedesmond.com/weblog/?p=607

Check out the latest Nov 2009 updates released for the different Office Communications Server 2007 R2 server roles as described in KB968802. This applies to both the Standard and Enterprise Editions.

A very important and welcome addition to assist the patch management process is the “Cumulative Server Update Installer” (ServerUpdateInstaller.exe) delivered as part of this release. Instead of having to determine and manually applying the relevant patches to the various R2 server roles, this tool relieves the administrator from those tedious chores by applying all updates for the appropriate server role in just one click. You can also use this tool on the command line with the switches /silent, /forcereboot and /extractall.

If not already present, you shoud also apply the update* for the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Back-end Database (KB969834).

Download for the updates (.msp), executable (.exe) and installer (.msi) can be obtained here.
Here is a good guide on how to install the updates: http://blogs.technet.com/ucspotting/archive/2009/11/26/3296447.aspx

Exchange Online Services Whitepaper

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The Migrate to Microsoft Online Services white paper guides you through the process of migrating your current e-mail environment to Microsoft Exchange Online by:

  • Describing supported coexistence scenarios
  • Describing the supported migration scenarios
  • Guiding you through a detailed information-gathering and planning process to help you prepare for a successful migration
  • Providing detailed step-by-step instructions for each of the supported migration scenarios

Installing Exchange 2010 Prerequisites on Server 2008 R2

Ståle Hansen 13 Comments

Commands to install the necessary prerequisites for Exchange 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2

Update 08.12.11: Exchange Server 2010 SP2 was released and require an additional prerequisite which is IIS 6 WMI Compatibility feature (Web-WMI).  This article and PowerShell Script was updated accordingly in all options containing the CAS role.

Before you begin, prepare your environment

  • Make sure that the functional level of your forest is at least Windows Server 2003
  • Also make sure that the Schema Master is running Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 or later
  • If Database Availability Groups (DAG) is going to be used install Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition
    • Exchange 2010 Standard Edition supports DAG with up to 5 databases
    • Exchange 2010 Enterprise Edition supports up to 100 databases per server
    • You can install all server roles on the same server when using DAG
    • But then you need a hardware load balancer  for redundant CAS and HUB due to a Windows limitation preventing you from using Windows NLB and Clustering Services on the same Windows box
    • Two node DAG requires a witness that is not on a server within the DAG
      • Exchange 2010 automatically takes care of FSW creation; though you do have to specify the location of the FSW
      • It is recommended to specify the FSW to be created on a Hub Transport Server
      • Alternatively, you can put the witness on a non-Exchange Server after some prerequisites have been completed
      • You can follow these steps to get your member server to act as FSW
        • add the “Exchange Trusted Subsystem” group to our Local Administrators Group on that member server
      • On servers that will host the Hub Transport or Mailbox server role, install the Microsoft Filter Pack. For details, see 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack (this allows office attachments content to be searched and indexed)
  • Set Pagefile size, RAM + 10MB (for systems with 8 GB of RAM or less, set pagefile to RAM * 1,5)
  • Disable IPv6 by using this guide: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929852
  • Run Windows Update untill all updates are installed

Install the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system prerequisites

  • Open powershell and run the following command
    • Import-Module ServerManager
  • For a server that will have the typical installation of Client Access, Hub Transport, and the Mailbox roles:
    • Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-Dyn-Compression,NET-HTTP-Activation,RPC-Over-HTTP-Proxy,Web-WMI -Restart
  • For a server that will host the Client Access and Hub Transport server roles:
    • Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-Dyn-Compression,NET-HTTP-Activation,RPC-Over-HTTP-Proxy,Web-WMI -Restart
  • For a server that will host only the Mailbox role:
    • Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server -Restart
  • For a server that will host only the Unified Messaging role:
    • Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server,Desktop-Experience -Restart
  • For a server that will host the Edge Transport role:
    • Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,ADLDS -Restart
  • After the system has restarted, configure the Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service for Automatic startup by running the following command:
    • Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic

PowerShell Script: MVP Pat Richard has created a script to automate the process of installing the prerequisites: http://www.ehloworld.com/152

NOTE: You can also install the above features using xml scripts found in a scripts catalogue on the Exchange media. You still need to manually configure Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service for Automatic startup though. There is one script for every role. Thanks goes to Alex Lewis for the tip: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/46829

For more information see Technet article http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(EXCHG.140).aspx
Also check out Chris and Robin’s Technology blog http://chrislehr.com/2009/10/installing-exchange-2010-quickly-using.htm
You should also check out MVP Elan Shudnows blog for how to install Exchange 2010 with DAG: http://www.shudnow.net/2009/10/29/exchange-2010-rtm-dag-using-server-2008-r2-%E2%80%93-part-1/

OCS DNS Automatic Configuration when Split DNS is not an Option

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Doug over at DMTF has written an excellent article about what do for OCS single sign on when internal domain and sip domain does not match. When split brain DNS is no option you can create two dns zones for the SRV records only. Here is an excerpt from his blog. View the full blog post here: http://blogs.technet.com/dougl/archive/2009/06/12/communicator-automatic-configuration-and-split-brain-dns.aspx

To implement this for Contoso, we would create a zone “_sipinternaltls._tcp.contoso.com” and zone “sip.contoso.com.” Notice that these are two zones – not two records in one “contoso.com” zone. A zone is a name resolution boundary in the hierarchical DNS namespace. By configuring the internal DNS server to be authoritative only for these two names, clients will continue resolving other names in the contoso.com domain as they always have.

Coincidentally, over on his blog, Geoff Clark has just suggested the same thing. He describes the problem and suggests the same solution but shows a method of creating the zone on a Windows DNS server via the DNS management console. Unfortunately, there is a limitation in the management console that is not present in the underlying Windows DNS implementation. This limitation required Geoff to create the zone as “_tcp.contoso.com” when what we would really like is a zone named “_sipinternaltls._tcp.contoso.com.”

This limitation in the user interface can be resolved by creating the zones and the records using the Dnscmd command line tool. For Contoso, here are the required commands:

dnscmd . /zoneadd _sipinternaltls._tcp.contoso.com. /dsprimary
dnscmd . /recordadd _sipinternaltls._tcp.contoso.com. @ SRV 0 0 5061 sip.contoso.com.
dnscmd . /zoneadd sip.contoso.com. /dsprimary
dnscmd . /recordadd sip.contoso.com. @ A 172.16.45.12

Of course, you’ll need to make the appropriate changes for your environment. If you are not running the command on your Windows DNS server, you will need to replace the first dot with your server name. You may also prefer a different zone type than “dsprimary.” If so, change the zoneadd commands appropriately. I doubt that your pool’s IP address is the same as my example but, if you have followed me this far, you already know what to change there.

When migrating from Exchange 2003 Outlook 2003 clients don’t see free/busy

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When you are migrating users from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007 and 2010, users that uses Outlook 2003 stop seeing Free/Busy on the users after you turn off or remove Exchange 2003. This has happened to me on two occasions now and you also see the following Event ID:

Event ID : 8207
Category : General
Source : MSExchangeFBPublish
Type : Error
Message : Error updating public folder with free/busy information on virtual machine <Exchange2007ServerName> . The error number is 0x80004005

To resolve the situation do the following:

  • Open the Exchange Management Shell
  • Run the following command
    • get-publicfolder -Identity “\NON_IPM_SUBTREE\SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY” -Recurse | fl name,Replicas
  • Notice that at least one of the SCHEDUE+ FREE BUSY folders is missing an Exchange 2010 or Exchange 2007 server listed as a replica. For example, the output may appear as follows:
    • Name : EX:/o=contoso/ou=First Administrative Group Replicas : {}
  • Run the following to add the Exchange 2007 server as replica for the folder
    • Set-publicfolder –identity “\NON_IPM_SUBTREE\SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY\EX:/o=<netbios domain name>/ou=First Administrative Group” –Replicas “<exchange server>\Second Storage Group\Public Folder Database”
  • Verify that the Exchange 2007 server is added as replica

Note All users whose free/busy data is not populated must accept or decline a meeting request to populate the free/busy data.

For more information see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945602

For now, hold off on installing KB 974571 on OCS 2007 R2 servers (and possibly R1)

Ståle Hansen 1 Comment

October 24 Update – The MS09-56: Vulnerabilities in CryptoAPI could allow spoofing article has been updated with a Known Issues section and FIX for the LCS and OCS product. That article is the authorized content as it requires the proper groups to coordinate and confirm the data published.

Microsoft has released  official information that is indeed a problem with OCS and LCS systems. Check out the updated article with known issues here: MS09-56: Vulnerabilities in CryptoAPI could allow spoofing

I didn’t discover this one, so I’m just the messenger passing word on – KB 974571 (part of Patch Tuesday today – specifically related to Crypto-API/ASN1) will make OCS think it is an evaluation version that has expired. Uninstall KB 974571 and OCS works again. You will want to apply the KB once an updated patch, or an updated patch for OCS becomes available. Originally documented here.

The issue is currently being escalated, but until a fix can be found, delaying the install of KB974571 is recommended. Check here for updates: http://communicationsserverteam.com/archive/2009/10/14/632.aspx

Thanks to Aaron Tiensivu for the heads up: http://blog.tiensivu.com/aaron/archives/1905-For-now,-hold-off-on-installing-KB-974571-on-OCS-2007-R2-servers-and-possibly-R1.html

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications 2009

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[tweetmeme source=”stalehansen” only_single=false]Gartner updated their magic quadrant for Unified Communications september 1st, 2009. It is always interesting to see what Gartner has to say about the UC market. It is good to see that Microsoft still is in the lead followed closely by Cisco and IBM. I often use this in presentations at seminars to explain some of the reason why we promote Microsoft as the UC vendor of choice. Here is an excerpt from the article.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s UC solution is based on Exchange Server, OCS, and Active Directory. Microsoft also has strategic partnerships in specific areas, such as live voice/IP-PBX and conference bridges, and a growing set of major system integration and channel partners.

Strengths

  • The OCS Pilot and Lighthouse programs have allowed Microsoft to increase OCS voice and audioconferencing deployments, despite the slow economy. Through these programs Microsoft, its partners, and its channels have gained experience with the OCS solution. As a result, while the UC solution remains in the early stage in key areas, it is making progress and is being deployed to more sites and to larger numbers of users.
  • Exchange UM continues to gain acceptance and maturity in the market. Deployments have expanded beyond smaller (fewer than 2,000 subscribers), into the midsize (2,000 to 5,000 subscribers), with a few deployments in the very large (10,000 plus subscribers) market.
  • Microsoft’s historic strength in several UC areas, combined with promising emerging initiatives, results in significant potential. Historically strong areas include clients (desktop, Web and mobile clients), e-mail, collaboration (IM, presence, Web-conferencing, and SharePoint). Emerging areas include increased visibility of SIP trunks from carriers and from IP-PBX providers, significant new end-to-end UC solution providers, such as HP, and increased presence in contact centers.
  • Enterprises looking into UC, particularly those with Microsoft applications already in place, should understand the Microsoft portfolio, because it represents a new paradigm for communication by a market leader. Microsoft’s solution, while comprehensive, is also the basis for a range of partner offerings.

Cautions

  • The telephony functionality in OCS remains in the early stage. Although these have made progress in the last year, they are not yet competitive with best-of-breed products. Enterprise planners should understand their limitations before committing to expanded deployments. Planners should anticipate that clear, accurate material explaining the products and how to support them is sometimes lacking.
  • While the UM component of Exchange has gained acceptance, it has limitations, including requiring an Exchange 2007 upgrade, third-party PBX integrations for trunks and alerts like message waiting notification (MWI), it requires an e-mail license for all users, even those who only want voice mail, and only one form of telephone user interface (TUI).
  • Microsoft’s OCS audioconferencing and videoconferencing product set has expanded its interoperability and endpoint support abilities this year, but these functions remain new and have not yet been proved in the market.
  • Many of the OCS communication functions, such as telephony, video and public switched telephone network (PSTN) integration, require solution integrators and employees with different skills than many firms presently have. Planners should ensure that their providers and internal staff have relevant experience in key areas.

 Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications

  169996~1
Source: Gartner 2009

Evaluation Criteria


Ability to Execute

Gartner analysts evaluate UC product providers based on the quality, efficacy and overall maturity of the products, systems, tools and procedures that enhance individual, group and enterprise communications. Ultimately, UC providers are judged on their ability and success in capitalizing on their vision (see Table 1).

Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria
Weighting
Product or Service
high
Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy and Organization)
high
Sales Execution/Pricing
standard
Market Responsiveness and Track Record
standard
Marketing Execution
standard
Customer Experience
standard
Operations
standard
Source: Gartner (September 2009)

Completeness of Vision

Gartner analysts evaluate UC product providers on their ability to convincingly articulate logical statements about current and future market directions, innovations, customer needs and competitive forces, and how well these map to Gartner’s overall understanding of the marketplace. Ultimately, UC product providers are rated on their understanding of how market forces can be exploited to create opportunities for providers and their clients (see Table 2).

Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria
Weighting
Market Understanding
high
Marketing Strategy
standard
Sales Strategy
standard
Offering (Product) Strategy
high
Business Model
standard
Vertical/Industry Strategy
standard
Innovation
standard
Geographic Strategy
standard
Source: Gartner (September 2009)