leedesmond’s blog

- Office Communicator 2007 R2 Phone Edition Update (July 2009)
This latest version (6907.35) deals with the list of fixes, changes and new functionality as described in KB972398.

- OCS 2007 R2 Client and Devices Technical Reference
Technical documentation on configuration of client and devices from group policies, certificates, diagnostics and logging, third-party integration to clients compatibility and interfaces with products like Exchange Server 2007.

- Office Live Meeting 2007 Testing and Troubleshooting Guide
Designed for system administrators depicting how to install, configure, and test Live Meeting 2007 in a laboratory environment with testing process and checklist.

- Live Meeting 2007 Technical Considerations Whitepaper
Documentation drilling down to infrastructure changes in LM 2007 such as Intrusion Detection System and Forefront virus scanning of all LM traffic beyond the usual visual aspects that most of us are familiar with.

- Getting Started with Microsoft Office Live Meeting
Guide on web-based meetings administration discussing how to join, schedule, use presentation slides or files, create meeting content as well as meeting handouts, recording and breakout rooms.

- Unified Communications Phones and Peripherals Datasheet
List of phone and peripheral devices qualified to display the “Optimized for Microsoft Communicator” mark.

- Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007 R2
This latest v6906.28 unified communications client for OCS 2007 R2 runs on Windows mobile 6.0 and above (or higher) for Pocket PC and smartphone devices (see also link).

- Microsoft Office Communicator for Java Frequently Asked Questions
Adds presence and IM capabilities of Office Communicator 2007 R2 to your mobile device (e.g. Nokia S60).

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

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This set of tools and documentation is for testing in a controlled environment prior to actual deployment in production. The updated Capacity Planning Toolkit (6907.37) fixes a number of issues, is unsupported by Microsoft and is designed for use only with OCS 2007 R2 running on Windows Server 2003 R2 (x64) and above.

Download and more information here. See also Capacity Planning.

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

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- List of available updates for Communications Server 2007 R2 (KB968802)
Apply to various server roles and services, redistributable components and Administration Tools for the Standard and Enterprise Editions of OCS 2007 R2. You can follow the instructions for the appropriate roles/topology to install by hand or rely on Microsoft Windows Update (or WSUS, SCCM, SMS, etc.) to manually download, approve and rollout the update packages after testing.

- Office Communicator 2007 R2 Hotfix (KB969695)*
This cumulative update fixes a list of 10 reported issues and brings the version up to 6907.37. It also addresses the issue outlined in KB971628 (Conferencing Add-in for Outlook conferencing request display issue) that must be used together with KB969696 and KB969821.

- OCS 2007 R2 Attendant Hotfix (KB970275)
Fixes the issue described in KB972402 when Office Communicator 2007 R2 runs concurrently with OCS 2007 R2 Attendant.

- Office Communicator 2007 Hotfix (KB969694)
Hotfix update MOC 2007 RTM to version 2.0.6362.137.

* update #4 for MOC R2 and replaces KB971083 (May 2009)

Keywords: patch, hotfix, update, rollup package, moc, ocs, r2

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

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- single-labeled DNS named domains are not supported
- not recommended but permitted is the use of underscores in FQDNs
- IPv6 networking protocols and addresses are not supported (although you can deploy the IPv6 dual stack but only IPv4 is supported)
- Windows Server 2008 RODC or read-only GC are supported provided that at least one writable DC is available (similar to Exchange 2007)
- OCS 2007 R2 supports a single forest or multiple-tree forest
- Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB) feature is not supported in production environment (need to use Hardware Load Balancer)
- it is possible to deploy Exchange 2007 SP1 roles either in the same or a different forest as OCS 2007 R2
- you must keep the Exchange 2007 SP1 self-signed certificate (required for internal communications) and provide separate certificates from trusted root CAs for Exchange 2007 SP1 UM and OCS 2007 R2 server roles to communicate
- certain OCS 2007 R2 roles require certificates to be configured with the Subject Name (CN) matching the Subject Alternate Name (SAN) in a proper way to work properly

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

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Deploying an OCS 2007 R2 Enterprise pool with Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering feature enables you to build a site resiliency solution across geographically separated locations. This can improve availability of core functionality from IM, presence to conferencing over classic backup and restoration procedures for site disaster recovery that can involve some downtime.

For an overview of test methodology, tested and supported site resiliency solution and practical guidance, check out the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Site Resiliency White Paper now.

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

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One of the most anticipated announcements of the year has finally arrived! Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 have been Released to Manufacturing (RTM). Along with the core operating system, PowerShell v2.0, Hyper-V v2.0 and Live Migration (and the standalone Hyper-V Server 2008 R2) and Internet Information Server 7.5 are some of the highlights available out-of-the-box.

Windows 7 continues to be available in both x86 and x64 versions whereas Windows Server 2008 R2 is the first 64-bit only edition of the enterprise server platform. What an exciting milestone as this brings back fond memories where I was working on a project with Microsoft Gulf (Dubai)* even before Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V (was still called Windows Server Virtualization, WsV) went RTM back in 2007!

You can read details of the official blog posts here, here and here, and the Microsoft official press release here.

Update:
Windows PowerShell 2.0 RTM (23.7.09)

* in the gulf region to drive awareness, readiness and adoption for top clients plus speaker role for the TechNet & MSDN Roadshow

Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows Server Virtualization, Hyper-V R2, Powershell

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The monthly Swiss IT Pro User Group event took place on Tue 7 Jul 2009 with guest speakers from Microsoft and VMware. The fully booked event (delivered in person and via Live Meeting) covering technical insights into the hot topic of virtualization was a great success - thanks to you for your enthusiastic support!

You can now log in with your free account at swissitpro.ch, download the presentation materials and check out the photo highlights using the Members Only link. Watch this space for details on the next Tue 1 Sep 2009 event with tentative topic on Unified Communications in the Practice / Powershell 2.0.

Volunteer speakers wanted - contact us with your ideas today!

Technorati tags: Community/User Group, Events

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You must use the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Deployment Wizard to separately deploy the R2 Administration Tools. The OCS 2007 R2 management components for Active Directory Users and Computers will automatically be installed if the latter is present.

For R2 Front-End servers or administrative workstations running on top of Windows Server 2008, using the Find option of the dsa.msc snap-in to locate and modify a user’s properties on the Communications tab* may cause ADUC to crash unexpectedly. This can happen when the account has not been UC-enabled for OCS 2007 RTM or R2 before, regardless of the administrative account used.

The workaround is to drill down to the OU where the actual user account resides and perform the required changes in this way. Apparently this is a known issue in Windows Server 2008 and may already be fixed by recent patches or hotfixes.

* or any other tabs of the found account

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

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When you attempt to move a user homed on a LCS 2005 SP1 server pool sitting behind a hardware load balancer over to an OCS 2007 R2 pool, an error may be logged on the latter:

Cannot move user from pool. User: lcsuser Source Pool: CN=LC Services,CN=Microsoft,CN=lcsusertest,CN=Pools,CN=RTC Service, CN=Microsoft,CN=System,DC=swissitpro,DC=ch Error: 0xC3F7580A Cause: The server is not responding. Resolution: Verify the health of the pool. If a load balancer is used, please check to make sure port 135 is enabled. Check product documentation for more information about load balancer configuration.

This can be caused by a misconfiguration where the HLB redirects all traffic to port 5061 on the R2 Front-End Enterprise pool. As a result, RPC services running over port 135 that the LCS and R2 Administrative Tools depend on will also be affected i.e. incorrectly mapped to port 5061. Fixing this configuration will resolve the issue. Thanks to a colleague for sharing this useful tip.

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

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In order to avoid the error notifying of an invalid certificate when loading and logging in using the Group Chat Administration Tool, ensure that the certificate which is used to secure the OCS 2007 R2 Front-End server (SE/EE) is configured with X.509v3 Subject Alternative Name (SAN) with its first entry in the list matching the Subject field name (CN) in the certificate.

Additional hints to this error condition include automatic stopping of the started Group Chat Lookup service (failed attempt to connect to the Front-End server when it starts) and an entry in the Group Chat Server (GCS) Event Log indicating problem with the hostname of the target machine.

The GCS is an optional R2 installation on a separate machine comprising of services known as the Lookup Server, Channel Server and Compliance Server.

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

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