Waveformation

Just caught wind of a new Communicator hotfix. It brings Communicator up to version 3.5.6907.22.

KB Article 971083 states this hotfix addresses the following issue:

971078 An Automatic Update download is not initiated on a computer that is running Office Communicator 2007 R2 build 3.5.6907.9

According to Matt Wade’s blog, this hotfix also provides compatibility for Exchange 2010. Although at the time of this post, the KB article does not include that information.

970057 Exchange Connection error when you use Office Communicator 2007 R2 with your mailbox in Exchange Server 2010: “Communicator could not retrieve calendar or Out of Office information from Exchange Web Services”

Download the hotfix here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=515d6dba-4c6a-48bb-a06a-d99c5742676d&displaylang=en

Rui Silva wrote a great post on configuring and troubleshooting the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Response Group Service. Highly recommended read!

http://blogs.technet.com/ucspotting/archive/2009/05/14/3241224.aspx

GotUC.net is offering free accounts on their OCS environment to developers looking for an OCS sandbox to test code. I just signed up for my account, what are you waiting for?

http://gotuc.net/blogs/gotuc/archive/2009/05/13/sign-up-for-the-uc-developer-sandbox.aspx

The OCS Team blog posted a  brief Q & A regarding virtualization support for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Check it out.

http://communicationsserverteam.com/archive/2009/05/13/489.aspx

Microsoft announced officially support scenarios for virtualization of some OCS roles. This is huge because OCS requires many servers to deploy all of the optional roles. Prior to this announcement, there was no guarantee that Microsoft would support your environment if you had an issue while running any role on a virtualized platform. This support limitation could be a deterrent to some organizations. Now that Microsoft has annouced these official supported configurations, more people will be likely to use these optional features. Only virtualization platforms running Hyper-V or a Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) certified partner solution will be supported.

Presence, Instant Messaging (including remote access, federation, and Public IM Connectivity) and Group Chat workloads are supported for virtualization. The following server roles can be deployed on virtual machines:

• Front-End Servers
• Back-End SQL Server 2008 64 bits
• Group Chat Channel Servers
• Group Chat Compliance Servers
• Edge Access Servers

Read the rest of this entry »

Just browse to:

http://getcomo.com

from your mobile device to download the latest version of Communicator Mobile Edition for OCS.

Today I was told about a certificate issue that can cause problems when OCS servers are deployed with certificates that implement the SHA-2 algorithm (SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512). The Cryptographic Service Provider in Windows XP SP2 and 2003 SP2 and older does not support these algorithms. Newer Operating Systems like Vista and Server 2008 provide support for these algorithms by default.

When applying this limitation to OCS, you may see the following error in the event log of a Communicator client on an older OS when certificates using these algorithms are deployed:

Source: Schannel
Event ID: 36876
Description: The certificate received from the remote server has not validated correctly. The error code is 0×80096004. The SSL connection request has failed. The attached data contains the server certificate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check out this exciting new feature for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 called DirectAccess.

The official description:
This paper contains an introduction to DirectAccess and instructions for setting up a test lab to demonstrate DirectAccess with a simulated Internet, intranet, and home network.

DirectAccess is a new feature in the Windows® 7 and Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating systems that enables remote users to securely access intranet shares, Web sites, and applications without connecting to a virtual private network (VPN). This paper contains an introduction to DirectAccess and instructions for setting up a test lab to demonstrate DirectAccess with a simulated Internet, intranet, and home network using the Release Candidate versions of Windows 7 and Window Server 2008 R2.

Step By Step Guide: Demonstrate DirectAccess in a Test Lab

Microsoft released a number of OCS 2007 R2 Server Updates in April. You can read all about them at the following KB Article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968802

According to the Office Communications Server Team Blog, these updates will start appearing on Microsoft Update around May 12th.

Office Communications Server Team Blog Article