March 29th, 2011 | Tags: ,

Prior to Lync CU1 (released in January), all manually created locations needed to validated against a Master Street Address Guide or MSAG (a database used to find the appropriate emergency service number that a 911 call should be routed to).

The problem is that outside of North America this functionality ceases to exist and therefore those that wanted to populate their Lync location databases were stuck, but as previously stated this is no longer an issue…

…so given this has changed how do I 1) create a location 2) associate it with a subnet and 3) validate it works, never fear it’s easy!

1 & 2) Create a location with subnet – to do this you’ll need to open the Lync Server Management Shell (via Start -> Microsoft Lync Server 2010)

You’ll need to use the Set-CSLisSubnet cmdlet, in my example below I create location for the subnet 192.168.1.0:

Set-CSLisSubnet -Subnet 192.168.1.0 -Description "HomeNet" -Location "Home" -CompanyName "" -HouseNumber "555" -HouseNumberSuffix "" -PreDirectional "" -StreetName "I'm a UC Ave" -StreetSuffix "" -PostDirectional "" -City London -State "" -PostalCode "123 456"  -Country "UK"

Upon successful input will prompt the feedback as seen below. (alternatively the Get-CsLisSubnet cmdlet will return all subnets within the location database).

3) Before this can take effect you will need to publish your location information – quite simply execute the Publish-CsLisConfiguration cmdlet to commit changes.

For this to take effect you will need to quit and re-open your Lync client (don’t foget you will need to apply CU1 here as well) to speed things up delete your EndpointConfiguration.cache this is a file located within your user profile directory.

Location for Windows XP computers:

%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Communicator\sip_<username@domain>\

Alternatively the location for Windows Vista or Windows 7 computers (see example below):

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Communicator\sip_<username@domain>\

Providing your Lync client is located on the corresponding network (in my case 192.168.1.0) your updated location information should be automatically displayed – see below

If you would like to learn more about Lync Server location services I would recommend you read a recent “NextHop” post by Jens Trier Rasmussen on Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Locations here

March 25th, 2011 | Tags: ,

Skype for Asterisk has just been updated to version 1.1.4

Summary of changes within this release:

To download this update, please visit:
http://downloads.digium.com/pub/telephony/skypeforasterisk/

So how do I update existing installations of Skype for Asterisk?

1) # yum update asterisk16 <-- this updates Asterisk
2) # yum update asterisk16-skypeforasterisk <-- this updates Skype for Asterisk
3) Restart Asterisk

(bold character denotes a version variable, i.e. for Asterisk version 1.4 change to ”asterisk14”)

March 21st, 2011 | Tags:

I just caught a post over at “UnplugThePBX“, (a fellow Lync MVP blog) – and it turns out that Microsoft are adding Lync to their enterprise level CAL suites. This is great news for businesses that currently own a Core CAL and would like to “dip their toe in the water” and discover how enterprise IM and presence can really change the way they work. Following suit those corporates that possess eCALs will also gain access to conferencing and collaboration capabilities. (see table below)

Those that want to go for the whole “kit and caboodle” i.e. telephony with PSTN breakout (or Enterprise Voice as Microsoft call it) will alas still require a Plus CAL. This all kicks into play as of 1st August 2011, which conveniently is when my enterprise agreement expires…thank goodness we have software assurance!

*Suite components currently planned for August 2011, and would be available with active Software Assurance coverage on or after the products become available for purchase in Volume Licensing. Because Microsoft must be able to respond to changing market conditions, these plans are subject to change at any time.

Source: here

March 20th, 2011 | Tags: ,

I just found myself glued to a Channel 9 video that features a US development organisation Gold Systems. Using UCMA 3.0 (the Lync Server development API) they demonstate some impressive CEBP examples, typically applicable to a Contact Centre environment.

Very impressive stuff and a solid example on why the Microsoft UC stack has a great ROI for organisations that want to create truly interactive IVR systems.

(video can be seen below, Silverlight plug-in required)

Source: here

March 15th, 2011 | Tags: ,

I have come across various posts within the TechNet forums for Lync Server 2010 installations that have failed where Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 is applied. Whilst SP1 is supported the following error is experienced:

Executing external command: C:\Windows\system32\dism.exe /online /norestart /add-package
/packagepath:C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-Media-Format-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7600.16385.mum /ignorecheck
MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM
Installation result: -2146762496   MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM
Error: Prerequisite installation failed: Wmf2008R2

Some have enabled “Desktop Experience” as a workaround, this is not recommended and the suggested workaround is to apply the Windows Media Format Runtime prior to running the Lync Server installer. This manual step can be achieved via the following command:

%systemroot%\system32\dism.exe /online /add-package /packagepath:%windir%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-Media-Format-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.mum /ignorecheck

Please note:a reboot is required prior to re-commencing the Lync Server installation process.

Source: here

March 11th, 2011 | Tags:

Remember Office Communications Server?

Of course you do and luckily so do the folks at Microsoft, who have just released their latest batch of cumulative updates for OCS 2007 R2.

Links to the KBs/download links can be found below:

Client-side updates

Server-side updates

Other March updates

  • Adoption Reporting Tool for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 – download
  • Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Redist (64 Bit) Hotfix KB 2501720 – download