Unified Communications News Tips and Tricks : OCS

OCS front end service fails to start after KB967831

David Figueiredo — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:51:00 GMT

KB967831 patch will try to update OCS and afterwards will try to start RtcQmsAgent (aka Monitoring Agent)

If you dont use or configure this service it will never start, causing the rollback of the patch and with it the failure of the frontend service.

So just install MS messaging queue services (ServerManagerCmd -i MSMQ-Services) and MS messaging queue server (ServerManagerCmd -i MSMQ-Server) and reapply the patch that will apply with success since now he is able to start Monitoring Agent Service.

OCS R2 Global settings changes in AD

David Figueiredo — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:04:20 GMT

After a new deployment, a great question mark appeared in my head when the follow popup appeared:

So what's next?

In some multidomain scenarios where the configuration stays in the root domain there where some reports of performance issues so the OCS team decided to enable the ability to change the the settings from the system container to the configuration partition in AD.

I’ve found this info on the The Three UC Amigos blog to how to do this move:

“How do I move the OCS global settings from System container to Configuration container?

Here are the steps from the R2 deployment guide:

You can run any of the following steps in read-only test mode by appending the /Check parameter to the MigrateOcsGlobalSettings command. This parameter prints the status of target objects and properties without making updates.

If any of the following steps fails to complete successfully due to network, replication, or permission issues, you can rerun the step until it completes successfully.

Important:

Before you begin the migration process, use the Office Communications Server snap-in to stop all Office Communications Server services on all Office Communications Servers.

To migrate global settings to Configuration container

1. Copy the global settings tree structure to the Configuration container by opening a command prompt and then running the following command:

cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action:MigrateGlobalSettingsTree

2. Copy the global settings attributes to the Configuration container as follows:

cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action: MigrateGlobalSettingsProperties

3. For Office Communications Server 2007 and Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1, run forest preparation to set permissions as follows:

Important:

Do not use the Office Communications Server Prep Forest wizard for this step. The wizard will show that the forest is already prepared, although the ACEs are not in the new container yet.

LcsCmd /Forest /Action:ForestPrep /global:configuration

For Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1, also run domain preparation in every domain the runs Live Communications Server as follows:

LcsCmd /Domain /Action:DomainPrep

Wait for the global settings tree to replicate to most forest global catalogs before proceeding to the next step.

4. Update server distinguished name (DN) references to the new global settings tree as follows:

cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action: MigrateServerDnReferences /SearchBaseDN:<server search base DN>

Where /SearchBaseDN specifies the migration scope for servers.

5. Update DN references for user, contact, and inetOrgPerson objects to point to new global settings tree as follows:

cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action: MigrateUserDnReferences /SearchBaseDN:<user search base DN>

Where /SearchBaseDN specifies the migration scope for users.

Wait for this step to complete before proceeding to the next step (for example, with stable network connectivity, it takes about one hour to migrate 30,000 users).

Use the Office Communications Server snap-in to restart the Office Communications Server services.

6. Try to send instant messages and perform some conferencing tasks to verify that the migration was successful.

Remove the original global settings tree structure from the System container as follows:

Important:

Do not perform this step until steps 5 and 6 are complete.

cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action: DeleteSystemGlobalSettingsTree”

from:http://blogs.technet.com/ucedsg/archive/2009/02/27/where-should-i-store-my-ocs-r2-global-settings.aspx

OCS E-Learning content - Introducing Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

David Figueiredo — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:40:37 GMT

Has promised here's more online content for OCS, here's some e-learning content available.

This collection of 2-hour clinics explains the enterprise capabilities provided by Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. These clinics are for infrastructure specialists working within organizations that are looking to deploy Office Communications Server within their solutions.
Topics covered within the collection include:

Enterprise Instant Messaging
On-Premise Conferencing and Telephony
Incorporating Office Communications Server Functionality within custom applications

Student prerequisites
Familiarity with the following:

Active Directory concepts
Exchange messaging concepts
SharePoint concepts
Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 fundamentals
Fundamental concepts of Windows Server 2003
Fundamental networking knowledge and experience

E-Learning

Clinic 5126: Introducing Enterprise Instant Messaging Using Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 (Beta)

Clinic 5127: Introducing On-Premise Conferencing Using Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

Clinic 5128: Introducing Enterprise Telephony Using Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007

Clinic 5129: Customizing Real-Time Communication with Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

TechNet Webcast on-demand: Unified Communications Devices for Communications Server 2007!

David Figueiredo — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:43:39 GMT

So OCS is almost here! and we have a bunch of webcasts available to all

So heres goes my weekend recomendation for those sunny afternoons in the office

TechNet Webcast: Unified Communications Devices for Communications Server 2007 (Level 200)

Original Air Date: June 28, 2007

Customer Rating:

To a full webcast list click here.