leedesmond’s blog

OCS 2007 R2 (RTM) Installation Walkthrough Part I
OCS 2007 R2 (RTM) Installation Walkthrough Part II
OCS 2007 R2 (RTM) Installation Walkthrough Part III

See also:
Article: Moving to Office Communications Server 2007 R2
Article: Moving to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 - Part II

—

Current environment: Active Directory (Windows Server 2003 R2 x86 domain controllers/Global Catalog)
Forest functional level: Windows 2000 (native)
Domain functional level: Windows Server 2003
PKI: Windows Server 2003 R2 x86 Enterprise CA with Web-enrollment support
Unified Communications platform: OCS 2007 RTM standard edition (Windows Server 2003 R2 x86)
Server roles: front-end server (core features)

Task:  Add a new OCS 2007 R2 RTM standard edition front-end server running Windows Server 2008 x64 to an AD domain (x86 DCs) with OCS 2007. This is probably going to be one of the most common scenario out in the field for enterprises that have already deployed OCS 2007 prior to the RTM of R2.

Once you pop in the DVD with Autoplay enabled, the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 setup page loads in a browser window with the installation options: Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition. Regardless of the choice you pick, setup (and R2 itself) will only run on x64 Intel/AMD platform with a 64-bit Windows operating system. This can be Windows Server 2003 SP2 or Windows Server 2008 which is now officially supported.

Like its predecessor, you will be offered the chance to install the latest Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable as well as the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 runtime if they are not present. Thereafter, setup will start working with just a plain, no frills dialog box showing the progress:

Microsoft Windows
Please wait while Setup configures the components. This may take several minutes.

A machine reboot is required at the end of the .NET Framework setup phase. On a Windows Server 2008 machine, there will be 2 cycles taking place to finalize the configuration. Take the opportunity early to raise the forest functional level to Windows Server 2003 mode or higher on a domain controller. Allow ample time for AD replication to propagate the changes to other DCs. This is an OCS 2007 R2 requirement that if not met will cause an error to be logged:

Action Warning: The specified forest functional level is invalid. Office Communications Server requires forests running in Windows Server 2003 mode or higher.

To save time and to avoid switching between consoles, join the machine as a member server to the target AD domain in advance. After you login with a domain administrative account, you must start R2 setup again in order to begin the proper installation of OCS itself. Check the side note below to ascertain that the current OCS environment is updated with the required hotfix/patches. In addition, ensure that the Remote Server Administration Tool* is available beforehand since we are running schema/forest/domain prep on a non DC. Otherwise the error below will stop you dead in the tracks:

Not available: Schema Prep requires the Active Directory Domain Controller Tools feature to be installed. This feature can be found under Remote Server Administration Tools in the Windows Add Features Wizard.

Because of role service dependencies** that will automatically be added, a reboot is mandatory at the conclusion of adding the RSAT feature.

With all preparatory tasks ready, begin with Prepare Active Directory on the main setup page and execute Step 1 through 7. Accept the default schema extensions that shipped with setup to upgrade the Schema.

This descriptive text will become clear when you are at Step 3:  Prep Forest as illustrated.

You should use the default SIP domain when installing R2 in an existing OCS environment which must already be raised to the required Windows Server 2003 domain functional level anyway. As such, Step 5: Prep Current Domain may be unnecessary (marked as Complete). With the last step 7 verified, Active Directory is ready to receive new OCS 2007 R2 servers.

Side note:
1. To make R2 play well in an existing OCS 2007 environment, make sure you apply KB956389 and KB956829 on all the applicable servers for the latter. For Communicator 2007 client, KB957465 is required to function with R2.
2. There is still no official news if a 32-bit version will be released for trial, evaluation, testing or training purposes on today’s ubiquitous x86 client workstations.

* comprise of Role and Feature Administration Tools; both should be auto selected
** Web Server (IIS), Windows Process Activation / Configuration API

Update:
www.msxfaq.de - OCS2007R2 Standard Setup

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

No Comments »