security, unified communications, PowerShell, virtualization // snowboarding, scuba diving
Mar 31st 2009Desmond LeeCommunications Server 2010 (Wave 14) / LCS/OCS 2007 R2/
With an OCS 2007 R2 infrastructure in place, you can add the multilingual user interface (MUI) functionality to the Office Communicator Web Access 2007 R2 release (CWA) on any supported web browser (running any language).
Download and more information here.
Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2
Mar 30th 2009Desmond LeeTutorial/ Blogcast /Webcast & Communications Server 2010 (Wave 14) / LCS/OCS 2007 R2/
Converting a series of digits or dial string from one format to another is known as phone number normalization. In the world of [IP] telephony, this process becomes more evident as the various interconnecting devices are likely not to converse using the same “language”.
A number of components or services in OCS 2007 and R2 need to perform this important task. This includes the Address Book Server (ABS) and internal in-/out- bound routing logic on the Front-End Server role. Obviously, the Office Communicator (incl. Phone Edition) client must know about phone normalization rules as well which are provisioned in-band to provide that single, consistent look-and-free. Do not forget that SIP/PSTN gateways must also understand how to normalize dial strings to a usable format.
Here a a few examples to illustrate how phone number normalization works:
| Rule Name | Number Pattern | Translation | Remarks | Example |
| Local | ^([1-9]\d{3})$ | +4122456$1 | Take 1 digit from range in square bracket follow by 3 digits then replace the parenthesized dialed string in $1. | +41224561234 |
| National | ^0(\d{9})$ | +41$1 | Any 9 digits grouped in the parenthesis (discard leading 0) | +41443451234 |
| International | ^900(\d*)$ | +$1 | Throw away leading 900 and replace $1 with the variable number of digits. The 9 is for access to an external line in legacy PBX/PSTN (00 for international calls). | +4952712222333 |
Tip: You can use the excellent Enterprise Voice Route Helper tool to help develop and debug regular expressions used in phone number normalization.
Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2
Mar 29th 2009Desmond LeeCommunications Server 2010 (Wave 14) / LCS/OCS 2007 R2/
To understand the integration strategy of Office Communications Server 2007 (RTM and R2) with IP telephony at large, consult the Microsoft white paper titled “Integrating Telephony with Office Communications Server 2007 and 2007 R2″ for the various programs available.
More information and download here. You will need Word 2002, 2003 or 2007 to read the document.
Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2
Mar 28th 2009Desmond LeeExchange Server 2010/ 2007/ 2003/E14 /Forefront
Order your own free hard copy of the Exchange 2007 Architecture poster here (while stock lasts).
Technorati tags: Exchange Server
Mar 27th 2009Desmond LeeCommunications Server 2010 (Wave 14) / LCS/OCS 2007 R2/
Accessing any of the tabs - Location Profiles, Phone Usage, Policy or Routes - from OCS 2007 R2 / Forest / Properties / Voice Properties may result in back-to-back error messages as shown:
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Error
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Office Communications Server Snap-in cannot read information for class <WMI_classname> from Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). Restart WMI, and then try again.
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OK
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where <WMI_classname> can be one of the following:
MSFT_SIPGlobalUCSetting
MSFT_SIPPhoneRouteData
MSFT_SIPPhoneRouteUsageData
MSFT_SIPGlobalUCPolicyData
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Error
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Office Communications Server Snap-in cannot read information from Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). Restart WMI, and then try again.
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OK
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Technically, these 2 refer to the same error condition where no Domain Controllers can be reached. As a result, OCS fails to read the global settings that are stored in Active Directory in the domain. Under all the 4 tabs (Voice Properties), you will find zero entries and modifications are not possible even though in reality they have been defined i.e. grayed out.
Check that the network cable is properly secured to the affected OCS machine, the configured DNS server IP addresses are contactable and a DC/GC is available in the same AD site or close by (Autosite DC coverage). Then right mouse click or F5 to refresh the forest level on the Office Communications Server 2007 MMC snap-in management tool to regain access to contents of the Voice Properties tabs.
Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2
Mar 26th 2009Desmond LeeSystemCenter & Communications Server 2010 (Wave 14) / LCS/OCS 2007 R2/
The OCS 2007 R2 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1 delivers the capability to monitor event log entries, performance counters and QoE in a stateful manner. Previously, the Quality of Experience (QoE) MP was available separately.
You can run this release of MP (Version 6.0.6907.21) on x64 versions of Windows Server 2003 with SP2 or 2008 with either the Standard or Enterprise Edition of OCS 2007 R2 only. Additionally, System Center Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 is required. RTM versions of SCOM 2007 or Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 are not supported.
Download and more information here.
Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2 , System Center
Mar 25th 2009Desmond LeeCommunity/User Group/Talk & Communications Server 2010 (Wave 14) / LCS/OCS 2007 R2/ & Events/Training
No plans on week nights? Then mark your calendar for each first Tuesday of every month to take part in the Swiss IT Pro User Group after-work event for IT Pros by IT Pros in Zurich. Network with your IT Pro peers, speakers as well as the core team of swissitpro.ch volunteers in your community.
The Swiss IT Pro User Group has the pleasure to invite Sasa Juratovic from the UC Deployment Readiness Team at Microsoft Switzerland as the guest speaker for the next monthy event on Tue 7 Apr 2009. He will be talking about exciting OCS 2007 R2 new features and provide an “insider” look at deployment and migration techniques from OCS 2007 as well as LCS 2005 SP1.
Detail session information and registration can be found here.
Technorati tags: Community/User Group, Events, LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2
Mar 24th 2009Desmond LeeCommunications Server 2010 (Wave 14) / LCS/OCS 2007 R2/ & Windows Server 2008 R2/ 2003/ Server Core & Exchange Server 2010/ 2007/ 2003/E14 /Forefront
I wrote about how to setup a test lab based on virtualization technology recently*. This serves as a useful guide for IT Pros to build everything from scratch and encourages learning by doing.
If time is something that you severely lack (like most of us), an alternative would be to use pre-created/configured virtual machines. This presents an effective and fast means to evaluate and learn about Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Unified Messaging in Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Active Directory, etc. and how the pieces can work together.
Provided that you have Microsoft Hyper-V role installed on x64-bit version of Windows Server 2008 with hardware-assisted virtualization as well as data execution prevention (DEP) enabled, the OCS 2007 R2 VHD can be downloaded for a free 60-day trial period to do just that.
* search for “Article: Build Your Own Virtualized Test Lab (5 Jan 2009)” on this blog
Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2
Mar 22nd 2009Desmond LeeWindows Server 2008 R2/ 2003/ Server Core & PowerShell
Up to now, using PowerShell to drive anything Active Directory means one of the following:
- fall back to classic scripting techniques using [ADSI] type modifier or WMI (not 1-liner)
- harness the (still) not so well-known ds*.exe in %wirdir%/system32
- use third party solutions like Quest’s ActiveRoles Management Shell for AD
This is not expected to change for AD deployments based on Windows Server 2003 to 2008. The exciting news though is the new ADPowerShell that is expected to ship in the upcoming release of Windows Server 2008 R2. This relies on PowerShell v2 which is still at CTP3 as of this writing where ADPowerShell requires at least a Domain Controller running WS08 R2.
You can find out more information at the official Active Directory PowerShell team blog.
Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008 R2, PowerShell
Mar 19th 2009Desmond LeeWindows Server 2008 R2/ 2003/ Server Core & Exchange Server 2010/ 2007/ 2003/E14 /Forefront
For organizations that deploy domain controllers running only the Windows Server 2008 Core edition, attempts to perform the step below directly on the SC machine itself will cause an error:
setup.com /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:”Desmond Lee, Inc”
Exchange Server 2007 requires .NET Framework 2.0. Please visit “http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=63033″ to download and install it.
To prepare Active Directory to receive Exchange Server 2007 in such an environment, perform the task on a member server or workstation (x86 or x64). Ideally, the latter should be in the same IP subnet or close proximity to the Schema Master FSMO role. Further, allow sufficient time for AD replication to complete if DCs are moved between (AD) sites before starting the AD Schema and forest/domain preparation steps.
Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server