Sunday, 19 May 2013

Lync Online Certificate Update - June 1st 2013

This has been a crazy/busy start to the 2013 year. I do apologies to everyone that reads my blog I have had 0 time to post any migration articles. But will try to get back into it very shortly.

But here is an interesting article that was I was pointed to by some folks at Microsoft here in Canada.

My team and I have been doing alot of work with Office 365 Wave 15. Migrations, co-existence, hybrid with Lync on-premises. And was advised that Lync Online is going to be changing their certificates as of June 1st 2013.

I wont post about the changes, as they can be found here,

http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2013/05/13/action-needed-lync-online-certificate-update.aspx


Long story short from the article, you will need to download the Baltimore Root certificate if you do not use Windows Update on a regular biases, or you have security policies in place that do not allow for all trusted root certificate authority certificates to be stored on your servers.

You can download the root certificate here.

https://cacert.omniroot.com/bc2025.crt

NOTE: This root certificate will need to be installed on every server that will come in contact with Lync Online.

Steps to install

Step 1: Download and Save the crt file above.


Step 2: Install Certificate into Trusted Root Certificate Store

Open, MMC (Start -> Run, type mmc)

Add the Certificates Snap in


 Select "Computer" in the manage certificates window.


Select Local Computer, then click Finish



Once the Certificates Snap-in is loaded, expand Certificates (Local Computer), Trusted Root Certification Authorities then Certificates. Right click Certificates, All Tasks and Import.


Click Next, Browse to the file that you downloaded above.



Click Next and Finish, you should receive a message that the import was successful.

To confirm check the list of root certificates to see if Baltimore CyberTrust Root is installed.



And there we have it. If you do not download specific updates, or have company regulations against storing specific certificates, this certificate needs to be installed by June 1st 2013 or any federation/hybrid/co-existence you have with Lync Online will stop working.

Thank you for reading, I hope I can start writing my co-existence articles very soon.

Sunday, 6 January 2013

Coexistence Between Lync 2010 and Lync 2013 Pools Part 1


With a lot of the new features in Lync 2013 , a lot of company's will be wanting to migrate from Lync Server 2010 to 2013. The below guide will co-exist a current Lync Server 2010 topology (csfe.lyncmeblog.local) with Lync Server 2013 (ls13pool.lyncmeblog.com).

The deployment steps are the same as my Lync Server 2013 Preview Deployment Guide, but there are screen shots but a lot of the steps are missing up to the co-existence.

The following assumptions are made:

You currently have Lync Server 2010 running and functioning including a healthy CMS and all DNS records are created.

You have installed all required prerequisites on your "Lync Server 2013" Server including PowerShell 3.0, ASP .NET 4.5 which I outlined in my Lync Server 2013 Preview Deployment Guide.

NOTE: Some of the screen shots reflect the "Preview" edition. I started writing this post using Preview before my lab died. When I reinstalled Lync in my new lab I used the RTM copy of Lync 2013. But the process outlined in this guide are the same as using RTM through out the deployment.

Step 1: Prepare Active Directory for Lync Server 2013


Step 2: Install Administrative Tools which includes the Lync 2013 Topology Builder.

 
Step 3: Open the new Lync Server 2013 Topology Builder, and Download the existing topology. This will download your current Lync Server 2010 topology so we can start to add our new pools.

As you can see the new topology builder spread's out both deployments into 3 separate categories (Lync Server 2010, Lync Server 2013 and Shared Components).
 
Step 4: For this guide I will be creating a Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition Pool, But the same concept applies for creating a Enterprise Pool.

 
For this guide I will be only be enabling Enterprise Voice as I had to scrap my Web Apps Server for my Lync Server 2010 server. But in my last guide noted above I did deploy a Web Apps server for conferencing.
 




Defile your existing file store on Lync Server 2010.

 
Now publish your topology.
 


 
After you published your topology, go back to the deployment wizard and select "Setup Lync Server Components.


Next request your certificates for your server default, internal and external web services.

 
 

Next request your Lync Server 2013 Preview OAuth certificate, and publish.



Start Lync Services.

Confirm the services started.



Now here is where I slow down this guide and start the co-existence and migration steps.

Once the Lync Server 2013 Preview services are started, you need to run the following command
PS: > Update-CsAdminRole

This command updates RBAC settings in the current Lync Server 2010 Topology to insure Lync Server 2013 Preview PowerShell and Control Panel works correctly.

 
Also note that since we now have Lync Server 2013 installed in the existing Lync Server 2010 environment, we can no longer use the Lync Server 2010 Topology Builder. All new Topology tasks will be performed using the new  Lync Server 2013 Topology Builder.
 
 
 
Now we have basic coexistence between Lync 2010 and Lync 2013,
 
 
Moving users between Lync 2010 and 2013 pools
 
 
Moving users between pools is a fairly simple process, but confirming all features will be available to all users for a seamless migration is sometimes not so simple. I have outlined below a list of "features" and how we can confirm they are functional for users in both pools/editions.
 
 
Moving users can be done either via the Control Panel or PowerShell.
 

 Lync 2013 Control Panel
 
Lync 2013 Management Shell
 
 
When testing Lync 2010 and 2013 coexistence I always create test users before my pilot migration to confirm Conferencing, Voice, Monitoring, IM/Presence and Mobility.
 
Simple URLs
 
During coexistence simple URLs can continue to point to your Lync 2010 pool until all users have been migrated to 2013 and your ready to decommission your Lync 2010 pool.
 
 Below I have illustrated moving my user account (tday@lyncmeblog.com) from Lync 2010 Pool (csfe.lyncmeblog.local) to Lync 2013 Pool (ls13pool.lyncmeblog.com) and using the same meeting URL (https://meet.lyncmeblog.com) to join an online meeting. At first the connection always goes to the Lync 2010 front-end as that's where I have the meet URL pointing too, but once I move the user to Lync 2013 the Join Launcher will redirect to the new pool.
 
 
Move User to Lync 2010 Pool
 
 
Launch meeting URL
 
 
Move User to Lync 2013 Pool
 
 
Launch meeting URL
 
 
 
 
So when migrating your users from Lync 2010 and Lync 2013, there is a very seamless integration between both editions. The dial in URL works a little differently. While the dialin.domain.com URL is pointing to your Lync 2010 Pool, all your 2010 and 2013 users will use the 2010 dial in page. When the user is on a 2013 pool and logs into the 2010 dial in page, no "2013" redirection will occur. They can use the Assigned Conference Information URL to use to login to their 2013 Lync Web App.
 
If you wish to move your dial in page to point to your Lync 2013 Pool you can do so at anytime. The 2013 dial in page will authenticate 2010 Pool users the same way.
 
But during co-existence leave your meet.domain.com page pointing at your 2010 Pool while users are still homed on 2010.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IM/Presence
 
There is no real process for IM co-existence between both 2010 and 2013 versions. Just move one of your test users to your 2013 pool and send an IM to a user still on the 2010 Pool. Below I have sent a message between pools, and captured the logging data in Snooper just so we can see the connection between the pools being made.
 
 
 

 
 
 Also started a conference with 2 users homed on both editions and started program sharing.
 
 
 
This is part 1 of a 2 part co-existence guide.
 
The next part will go into voice coexistence. Also we will be moving the CMS from Lync 2010 to Lync 2013.
 
I hope you enjoyed this guide, and please leave your comments.
 

Sunday, 9 December 2012

Lyncme Blog - New Version New Lab

As I mentioned in a few posts my old lab died on me, and instead of fixing it I took the opportunity to build a new one. which will allow me to scale out more VMs and test scaled deployments with out needing to shut other VMs down.

I am almost done building out the VMs :)

for anyone that's interested my lab server now runs an Intel i7 3820 3.60Ghz, 64GB Ram, and 2 RAID 1 array's so I can separate the VMs load across multiple disks.

 
 
Once I get the VMs prepped, I will be deploying a "DR" site in the lab. The next posts will be Persistent Chat and the new Lync 2013 failover pool features and configuration.
 
Thanks for reading, and if you have suggestions on what you would like to see reach out and let me know.
 

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Lync 2013 Metro and Basic Client Details...

With all the buzz going around about the wave 15 server product launches some exciting client side products including the Lync 2013 Metro and Basic client apps.


Microsoft has done an excellent job on creating this app to work very well with Windows 8.
I like how clean Microsoft decided to leave it, which makes for a very fluid app.

 
Even window snapping works very well in this app, one thing I noticed when you click one of the menu items it will expand the app to show a larger screen view and wont stay pinned to the side but over all a good feel.

 

As for the Lync 2013 Basic client, looks very much the same as the full client, IM, dial pad, voicemail preview. But there is a underneath change in the basic version of the client.
 
 
  • Advanced call features; advanced call features include team ring, call forwarding, simultaneous ring, voice mail, call park, call delegation, response groups, and remote call control
  • Calendar delegation
  • Gallery video view
  • OneNote sharing
  • Recording
  • Skill search
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
I could see this version being used on "Home" computers or laptops for basic Lync 2013 functionality for IM and voice. The Basic client can be downloaded from
 
 
 
 

Monday, 29 October 2012

Lync Server 2013 RTM now available to MSDN, Technet and Partners

Good Afternoon,

I apologies for the scattered posts, I have been busy on a few large scale projects which haven't left a lot of time for posting! BUT, I did notice today a great piece of information.


 
Lync, Exchange, SharePoint and Office 2013 RTM products are now available via TechNet, MSDN and Partner downloads. So as I mentioned in an earlier post regarding the new MCSE certifications for the new wave of products, this shows we are very close to world wide offering of Lync Server 2013 and its related certifications.


Also, I have finished building my new lab as my old one died a few months back. I will be getting back on track with some exciting posts on Lync Server 2013. Including Edge configurations, persistent chat, and Hybrid Voice configurations with Office 365!