Tom Pacyk wrote an article on how check the version of all endpoints connected to an OCS pool. Great way to weed out those users who haven’t upgraded.
http://www.confusedamused.com/notebook/checking-communicator-endpoint-versions-on-your-ocs-pools/
Microsoft has officially announced that OCS 2007 R2 will be supported starting in Q1 2010. They don’t give an exact date in Q1, but check it out on this page dedicated to listing apps officially supported by Microsoft on Windows 2008 R2.
Mark Russinovich of Sysinternals fame, has announced that he is retiring the NewSID utility. After questioning the common belief that duplicate SIDs posed a risk, he offers a compelling rationale why this is false and that we have been duped. The debate that follows in the comments leads me to the conclusion that machine images used for deployment should always be SysPrepped!
The new download pages on TechNet have just about any link you need for OCS 2007 R1/R2. My only criticism is there should be a section for all the latest hotfix patches. The Updates Resource Center has all the latest hotfix patches and firmware. Thanks Adam!
Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Clients Downloads
Office Communications Server 2007 and Client Downloads
Updates Resource Center for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Clients
New features were introduced in Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) 7.0 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Now these features are available to XP SP3 and Vista SP1/SP2 with update KB969084.
New features in the RDC 7.0 client update
Web Single Sign-On (SSO) and Web forms-based authentication
Access to personal virtual desktops by using RD Connection Broker
Access to virtual desktop pools by using RD Connection Broker
Status & disconnect system tray icon
RD Gateway-based device redirection enforcement
RD Gateway system and logon messages
RD Gateway background authorization & authentication
RD Gateway idle & session time-outs
NAP remediation with RD Gateway
Windows Media Player redirection
Bidirectional audio
Multiple monitor support
Enhanced video playback
So you’re in the middle of an OCS deployment and you need to change a WMI value. It’s easy to use PowerShell to view and modify OCS 2007 R2 WMI values and I find it to be much easier and faster than using the alternatives, WBEMTest or VBScript.
The PowerShell command that makes this possible is Get-WmiObject.
To view WMI values, use the following syntax:
PS > Get-WmiObject -computer HOSTNAME -query "select * from WMI_CLASS where
backend='SQL_SERVER\\SQL_INSTANCE'"
Enterprise Edition Example:
PS > Get-WmiObject -computer ocsent_hostname -query "select * from
MSFT_SIPGroupExpansionSetting where backend='SQL01\\OCSInstance'"
Standard Edition Example:
PS > Get-WmiObject -computer ocsstd_hostname -query "select * from
MSFT_SIPGroupExpansionSetting where backend='(local)\\rtc'"
Depending on where the WMI value lives, you may not need the
where backend='SQL_SERVER\\SQL_INSTANCE'
For example, the where clause is not necessary when using WMI to query Mediation server config settings. This is because a Mediation server is not associated with a particular pool. Any value that is associated with a particular Enterprise Pool or Standard Server will need this where clause.
Mediation Server Example:
PS > Get-WmiObject -computer ocsmed1 -query "select * from MSFT_SIPMediationServerConfigSetting"
This should produce output that looks like this:
__GENUS : 2
__CLASS : MSFT_SIPMediationServerConfigSetting
__SUPERCLASS :
__DYNASTY : MSFT_SIPMediationServerConfigSetting
__RELPATH : MSFT_SIPMediationServerConfigSetting.InstanceID="{...
__PROPERTY_COUNT : 17
__DERIVATION : {}
__SERVER : OCSMED1
__NAMESPACE : root\cimv2
__PATH : \\OCSMED1\root\cimv2:MSFT_SIPMediationServer...
DefaultCodec : RTA_NB
GatewayEncryptionLevel : DoNotSupportEncryption
GatewayListeningAddress : 205.134.81.3
GatewayListeningPort : 5060
GatewayNextHopAddress : 205.134.81.2
GatewayNextHopPort : 5060
GatewayTransportType : TCP
InstanceID : {3338C248-FA9C-4151-AAE5-75A556E8C73E}
MediaPortRangeFrom : 60000
MediaPortRangeTo : 64000
ProxyEncryptionLevel : SupportEncryption
ProxyListeningAddress : 192.168.133.79
ProxyListeningPort : 5061
ProxyNextHopFQDN : CORPOCS3.contoso.com
ProxyNextHopPort : 5061
QoSEnabled : False
RemovePlusFromRequestURI : False
So now we can view WMI values in PowerShell, let’s see how to change a WMI value. I’ll show you how to configure the Mediation server to strip the leading (+) plus sign from outbound calls. For this example, the Mediation server is named ‘ocsmed1′.
First, I want to store the Mediation server WMI values in a temporary variable.
PS > $temp = Get-WmiObject -computer ocsmed1 -query "select * from MSFT_SIPMediationServerConfigSetting"
You can verify that the values were stored correctly by typing the variable and hitting Enter. It should return the exact same output as shown above:
PS > $temp
Now set the ‘RemovePlusFromRequestURI’ value to true:
PS > $temp.RemovePlusFromRequestURI = $true
Next, write the changed values back to WMI:
PS > $temp.Put()
On Windows 2008, use the following command to install PowerShell:
Servermanagercmd.exe -install powershell
Other platforms can download PowerShell here.
Office Communications Server and WMI
UPDATED: Install OCSASNFix.exe on OCS Servers before installing KB974571.
Applies to the following OCS/LCS Roles:
It’s finally here! An OCS client for iPhone users. Created by Microsoft partner Modality Systems, the iPhone App appears promising. Search for it in the App Store.
I wanted to point out another blog article that I think is very useful. Kevin Peters blogged about an issue regarding OCS Response Groups where the Response Group could not forward a call to an external number. In his original blog article, Kevin described a work-around to enable forwarding calls to external numbers. Now, it seems that the issue has been solved by Doug Lawty and some logging of the OutboundRouting component using OCSLogger. It turns out that when you create a Response Group Contact Object with RGSCOT.EXE, it will always assign the enterprise voice Default Policy. If you choose to not use the Default Policy and don’t assign any Usages or Routes to it, then calls forwarded to external numbers from the Response Group will fail because no routes can be found for the external number. There are two fixes for this issue: either populate your Default Policy with Usages and Routes or manually assign a new Policy to the Response Group Contact Object. See Doug’s Blog Post for the complete details on manually changing the Contact’s Policy with PowerShell.
I just passed this exam yesterday and I wanted to share my list of suggested study topics. As of 06/25/09, this exam is still based on OCS 2007 R1. Specifically the material in the Global Knowledge UC Voice Ignite training course, version 1.0. If you have access to the materials from this course, it will be your best bet for studying for this exam. Alternatively, I have compiled this list of topics which I feel are most important to passing this exam. The modules refer to the modules in the UCVI course.
074-924 Study Topics – Module(s)
Deployment Validation Tool – Module 15
Answering Agent Tool – Module 15
Validation Wizard – Module 15
VOIP Test Tool – Module 15
Software Update Service / SharePoint – Module 10
ConfigUpdatesServer.vbs – module 10
Exchange Autodiscover – module 10
Tanjay DHCP / DNS Requirements – module 10
DHCP Option 119 – module 10
SRV Records – module 13
Edge Ports / Certificates – Module 12, 13
Mediation Config / Certificates – Module 5 Part II
Pool Certificates / SAN Requirements – Module 13
Codecs / Bandwidth Requirements – Module 6
Exchange UM / OCS Integration – Module 17
ExchUCUtil.ps1 – Module 17 p6
OcsUMUtil.exe – Module 17 p6
Normalization – Module 7
ABS – Module 7 p 11
Certificate Auto-enrollment – Module 13 p11
Least Cost Routing – Module 7 p 16
Remember that this exam is based on UCVI version 1.0 material. Many of the questions do not have an answer that is completely correct. Choose the best answer based on the material in this course.