Johann's Unified Communications : faq

Exchange DST questions

jkruse — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:55:35 GMT

Alan's Tip O' The Day (not updated daily).

Alan Cardenas is an Exchange engineer from the Sydney GTSC, and has provided the following FAQ for the Australian Daylight Savings changes in Exchange. For information on Windows Mobile updates - see Rog42's post.

DST

Is there a video that I can watch before reading all the KBs: Yes there is. Click here to start watching.

What are the steps involved in using the DST tool?

Apply the Windows OS patch. This makes the computer aware of the changes in DST schedule.
Run the rebase tool. This adjusts existing appointments to comply with the DST changes.
Apply the Exchange patch. This ensures succeeding appointments are DST-aware when booked.

Applying Windows patches

Where do I find the patches? For XP, 2003 and Vista, They are found here. For Windows 2000, registry keys need to be copy/pasted. Details are found here.
What if Vista SP1 is being used. If SP1-Beta is being used, uninstall SP1 and apply SP1-RTM found starting here.
What if there is an issue with the installation of the patches? This is a hotfix issue. Log a support incident classified as a Windows update issue (NOT an Exchange/DST issue).

Running the rebase tool

What if the Exchange patch has been applied before using the rebase tool? DST adjustments will not take effect. Exchange patch needs to be uninstalled and rebasing repeated.
Do I really need to use the rebase tool? No. Calendar items can be manually updated using the “How to manually update calendar items” section of this article.
What should I check before running the tool? Go through the “What to do before you run the Exchange tool” section of this article.

What if there is error running the rebase tool? Using the Find option of your browser, this KB contains most of the error codes associated with the DST tools.

Error codes not found in the KB

Is the SystemPatchDate parameter being used? Re-run the tool without the parameter because there is a bug.

What if the tool is still generating an error? Log a support incident classified as an Exchange/DST issue.

Applying the Exchange patch.

Where do I find the Exchange patches? For 2003, they are found here. For Exchange 2000, an Extended Hotfix Agreement is required.

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Exchange 2007: Platforms, Editions, Product Keys and Versions

jkruse — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 08:39:33 GMT

Scott Schnoll has a great post on the differences between the various versions of Exchange 2007.

He also sheds light on one of the most commonly asked questions - can you upgrade from the Trial version to Retail? (the answer is yes)

http://blogs.technet.com/scottschnoll/archive/2006/12/31/exchange-2007-platforms-and-product-keys.aspx

LCS - common questions

jkruse — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 05:04:00 GMT

When I talk to customers about Live Communications Server (LCS) and Office Communicator (MOC), I often get asked the same questions.

I've addressed most of these below but feel free to ask more by replying to this post - as more questions are asked I will add them to this page.

1. What are the system requirements for LCS?

See the Live Communications Server 2005 system requirements. In addition, you can review the Live Communications Server 2005 planning and quick start documentation available on the Live Communications Server Deployment Center.

2. What clients are supported

Office Communicator
Windows Messenger 5.1 *
Communicator Web Access
Communicator Mobile

* While Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 continues to support Microsoft Windows Messenger 5.1 for presence and instant messaging scenarios, Communicator 2005 is the preferred client for enterprise-to-enterprise federation, telephony, and public IM connection scenarios.

3. What versions of Office does Live Communications Server work with?

There are a couple of points to consider here:
- MOC 2005 will presence-enable Office 2003 and newer
- Smart-tags require Office 2003 SP2 or newer
- LCS/MOC do not require Office - they can exist independently to provide presence and RTC capabilities

4. What is the difference between Standard and Enterprise editions?

Standard Edition is best for small and mid-size companies, or smaller enterprise organisations, with user data stored locally and support for up to 15,000 active users per server. Enterprise Edition is built for large organisations, with user data stored in a back-end SQL Server database and support for more than 100,000 active users per server pool. For more information, see the Live Communications Server Feature Comparison.

5. What versions of SharePoint does LCS work with?

2003 and newer

6. How do I federate my LCS server with Microsoft?

Make sure your LCS infrastructure meets the following requirements:
- Live Communications Server 2005 with Service Pack 1 must be installed
- Live Communications Server Access Proxy must be installed
- Public interface of the Access Proxy must be accessible to the Microsoft Access Proxy. Do a DNS look up against sipfed.microsoft.com for the current IP if ACL reuired
- _sipfederationtls._tcp.sip-domain.com must be published of type SRV in public DNS pointing to the access proxy's FQDN on port 5061
- Certificate used on the Public interface of the Access Proxy must be signed by a public Certificate Authority
- Certificate common name must match the FQDN of the Access Proxy
- Certificate must be 128bit
- Branding.am script must be configured on the Access Proxy
- Network of Origin icon must be 16x16 Pixels, 96 dots per inch, and PNG format
- Network of Origin icon must be published on a SSL web site
For more information please reference the below links:
- Live Communications Server 2005 Document: Reference Guide
- Live Communications Server 2005 Document: Deploying Access Proxy
- Live Communications Server 2005 Document: Configuring Certificates
- Live Communications Server 2005 with Service Pack 1 Resource Kit
- NOTE: the branding.am for NOO or Network of Origin is located and documented in the Resource Kit
If you meet the above requirements, contact your Microsoft Account Manager, or me by using the form on this blog, to discuss federation with Microsoft

7. Which Public IM networks does LCS work with?

MSN, Windows Live, Yahoo and AOL

8. Can I trial Public IM Connectivity?

Yes there is a free, 60 day, 10 seat Public IM Connectivity trial. To qualify for the trial, participants must be either a Select, Enterprise, or Open Value customer. Since Public IM Connectivity is dependent on Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1, the trial participant must either have licenses for or be running Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1. To request a trial, please contact your Microsoft account manager.

9. When will web conferencing be part of LCS?

We currently have a hosted web-conferencing service called LiveMeeting
Office Communications Server 2007 (currently scheduled for Q2 CY2007) will have on-premise web-conferencing capabilities