March 1, 2013

#Lync Server 2013 CU1 Database update error

Being that I love being on the bleeding edge, the first night that CU1 was out, I went to install it. The update package installed fine and I rebooted the server. Then when I went to run the database updates, I got the following error:

Install-CsDatabase : Command execution failed: Cannot find any suitable disks for database files. You must manually specify database paths. At line:1 char:1

Install-CsDatabase -ConfiguredDatabases -SqlServerFqdn server.corp.domain …

+ CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Install-CsDatabase], Depl
oymentException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ProcessingFailed,Microsoft.Rtc.Management.Deploy
ment.InstallDatabaseCmdlet

My environment still has Lync 2010 in it and the Central Management Store is located on the 2010 pool.  I naturally thought this must be the issue but then I looked a bit deeper.  The answer was somewhat simple.  The disk that the SQL databases were on had less than 10% free.  I expanded the drive and the database update went through without issue.

Lesson learned, make sure you have plenty of disk (just like Exchange) when doing the updates.

*** UPDATE ***

Microsoft has released a KB article about this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2816266/en-us?sd=rss&spid=924

Key take-away, when performing the update, you must have 16GB free on the local disks.

February 25, 2013

Lync Server 2013 and the #Lync 2010 Client (Cross-post)

The latest published article I wrote for my employer:

http://pei.com/2013/02/lync-server-2013-and-the-lync-2010-client-2/

It is important to note that you should upgrade your Lync 2010 clients to the September 2012 update prior to moving the users over to the 2013 server.

Thanks!

February 15, 2013

#MSExchange 2010 SP3 Released

Exchange 2010 SP3 is here. Woo-hoo! Oh wait, there’s some gotcha’s. What do you need to know?

First, it doesn’t give you the ability to migrate from 2010 to 2013, yet. It does support co-existence with Exchange 2013 CU1 (Cumulative Update). You can test migrations with RTM in a lab setting but this is unsupported in production.

Second, once you move a mailbox database to an Exchange 2010 server with SP3 installed, you can no longer move it back to a pre-SP3 server. There is an schema update to the database when it moves to a server with SP3.

February 15, 2013

#AudioCodes Mediant 800 SBA and #Lync 2013

A week or so ago, I was in the middle of deploying an AudioCodes Mediant 800 at a remote site. The device had the Lync SBA installed as well. We were trying to get the SBA to work with our Lync 2013 deployment. This is just to document the issues we ran into.

***NOTE: The gateway must be updated to version 6.6 prior to upgrading the SBA.

First, an SBA that is based on Lync 2010 cannot be an SBA for a Lync 2013 Front-end. This should make sense as a backup registrar must be on the same platform as the Front-end it is backing up (i.e. 2010 and 2010 or 2013 and 2013). Sadly, I battled this way longer than I should have before this realization hit me.

January 29, 2013

Colorado UC User Group 1/31 #lync #msexchange

Come join us for the Colorado UC User Group this Thursday (1/31) from 4-6pm at the Microsoft offices in the Denver Tech Center. Find out more and RSVP at www.coucug.org.

January 22, 2013

Lync 2013: What's new in Persistent Chat (Cross-post)

One of the reasons I don’t post very often here anymore is because I write blog posts for my employer (PEI). Here is a Lync 2013 post I did on Persistent Chat:

Lync 2013: What’s New in Persistent Chat

I’m trying to post up new articles here but figure I can point folks back to some good articles over there as well.

Thanks!

January 16, 2013

Lync 2013 Refer Support

This isn’t a major change, merely just a “if you aren’t paying attention it might just slide past you” type of thing. In Lync 2013, the option for Refer Support has changed from a Check-box to a Drop-down menu.

Here is what it looks like in Lync Server 2010:

And here is what it looks like in Lync Server 2013:

Not really such a big deal but if you are just comparing check boxes between the two system, it can easily be over-looked.

January 10, 2012

VCP 5

Well, I passed. I have to say, when I hit submit, I wasn’t really sure that I had. I love that screen when it says “Congratulations!” You are so focused on that word that it takes a minute to see what your score was (I got a 361).

To any who see/read this that want to know what I did to pass, I read, alot. I seriously spent a lot of time just reading the documentation that is posted on vmware.com. I also put together a lab though I didn’t use that as much as I thought I would. For me, just reading the docs and thankfully all of the blogs I keep up on I believe gave me the edge here. A lot of the test I answered based on gut feel for the products rather than hardcore knowledge.

December 22, 2011

Lync Web Services through the Reverse Proxy

As a Lync consultant, I get asked about what the Reverse Proxy does in the Lync Architecture frequently. I can always recite the basics off the top of my head such as Address Book download and Meeting Content but here is what actually is tied to it:

* Enabling external users to download meeting content for your meetings.
* Enabling external users to expand distribution groups.
* Enabling remote users to download files from the Address Book service.
* Accessing the Microsoft Lync Web App client.
* Accessing the Dial-in Conferencing Settings webpage.
* Accessing the Location Information service.
* Enabling external devices to connect to Device Update web service and obtain updates.
* Enabling mobile applications to automatically discover mobility URLs from the Internet.

One thing to note here is the last one. Just a week or so ago, the Lync Mobility Service was released. The Lync Mobility Service is published via the Reverse Proxy as well as the other pieces.

December 14, 2011

Lync client for Android

This is available in the market place. Check it out!