leedesmond’s blog

In contrast to OCS 2007 and R2, the actual installation of any Lync server role or service does not begin until the desired topology has been defined, validated and successfully published to the CMS*. This is typically accomplished using the new Topology Builder tool. Alternatively, the prescriptive guidance provided by the Lync Server 2010 Topology Planning Tool can be utilized.

A topology document basically contains information mapping the various server roles, services and components in the Lync infrastructure. From the Front-End pool, primary SIP domain, FQDN to Simple URL that describe the core Lync environment, references to “external” entities such as an Exchange Server 2007/2010 Unified Messaging role or previously supported versions in a migration/side-by-side coexistence scenario can be part of the topology. Likewise, the addition or removal of a server role is authored using the Topology Builder.

At this point in time, one other piece of information to understand is the new concept of Site. A Lync site maps to physical locations that are geographically separated. Machines in a site are usually connected in a high-speed, low-latency network. At least one Site must exist in every Lync deployment.

With the background theory behind us, let’s get the ball rolling. You should install the Topology Builder from the main menu (Lync setup.exe) if you have not already done so. The goal is to define our new, core Lync setup based on a single Standard Edition server with collocation of a number of supported server roles.

1. Launch Topology Builder via Start /All Programs / Microsoft Lync Server 2010
2. Select “New Topology”, hit OK and supply a [path]\filename to save the authored topology document. This will be tagged with the .tbxml file extension by default.
3. Enter yourdomain.com in the “Primary SIP domain” field. Notice the red asterisk which indicates a mandatory field. Click Next if no errors are reported.
4. If your organization needs to enable other domains for SIP traffic, provide the valid FQDNs in the “Additional supported SIP domains” field and click Add for each entry e.g. yourdomain.local. To move on, click Next.
5. Punch in a descriptive name for the first site in the obligatory “Name” field (mark with red asterisk) before pushing Next e.g. Zurich.
6. Although optional, it is considered good practice to enter information in the City, State/Province and Country/Region Code fields. Click Next.
7. The “New topology was successfully defined” dialog box appears with a check against “Open the New Front End Wizard when this wizard closes”. Click Finish to accept.

A new series of Wizard driven dialog to define New Front End Pool begins. Click Next on the introductory page.

1. Select the “Standard Edition Server” checkbox, enter the actual FQDN lyncse.yourdomain.com of your first SE server then hit Next.
2. On the “Select features” dialog, choose at least the “Conferencing, which includes audio, video, and application sharing” option. The other options can always be modified at a later time (Dial-in (PSTN) conferencing, Enterprise Voice or Call Admission Control). Hit Next to proceed.
3. Putting a tick mark next to “Collocate Mediation Server” enables this role on the same SE box, a new supported collocation option in Lync. The “Collocate A/V Conferencing service” cannot be detached from a SE box (grayed out). Hit Next.
4. Review the information on the “Associate server roles with this Front End pool” and click Next. If needed, these server roles (archiving, monitoring, Edge pool) can be added at a later stage.
5. All options on the “Define the SQL store” page are grayed out since SQL Express 2008 is installed and configured automatically on a SE server. Click Next.
6. The “Define a new file share” should already be selected with the “File Server FQDN” and “File Share” fields automatically filled with the correct information i.e. lyncse.yourdomain.com and share**. Otherwise, type in the relevant information that points to an existing NT share. Hit Next.
7. Accept the defaults on the “Specify the Web Services URL” page and push Next. The internal FQDN if fixed for a SE Front End server (grayed out). Should your organization not use a split DNS setup, the external base URL can be edited later although an entry must be supplied (red asterisk).
8. Hit Finish on the “Specify PSTN gateways” dialog to terminate.

Back to TB, expand the Site (Zurich), highlight and inspect the various nodes to verify the accuracy of the recorded information. Notice that the SE Front End lyncse.yourdomain.com appears under different “functional” roles or nodes e.g. A/V Conferencing pools, SQL stores, File stores, etc.

On the next upcoming post, we shall look at publishing the authored topology into CMS which will place us in a ready state to conduct the real (unattended) installation. See you soon!

* no more setupse.exe or setupee.exe to worry about
** provided that you followed my instructions in the pre-requisites and readiness post

Keywords: Lync installation setup step by step build configure guide

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