Skype for Business 2015 is the latest in the line of the Communications Server platforms from Microsoft. The platform originally started with Live Communications Server 2003 (some would say with Exchange Conference Server 2000!) and continued through Live Communications Server 2005, Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007, Office Communications Server 2007 R2, and the two incarnations of Lync: Lync Server 2010 and Lync Server 2013.
For those of you experienced with either version Lync Server (or indeed previous versions of OCS/LCS), this chapter will call out some of the core capabilities introduced in previous versions as well as the new capabilities specific to Skype for Business, so some of this content may be a refresher to knowledge you already have.
In this chapter, you will learn to
Describe the features of the client
Describe the features of the server
Describe the voice features
Understanding the Skype for Business Client
As an administrator, the first thing you’ll see is the Setup tool; however, the users will see the client. Therefore, understanding what the client can and will provide is important for administrators trying to sell the business justification. It is also important in terms of what policies will need to be configured to enable (or disable) features. The Microsoft Unified Communications family is so much more than a simple instant messaging (IM) tool or a phone, and treating it as either end of the messaging scale will impact the way you deploy it to users. At one end, the IM capabilities can be deployed quite simply, whereas the phone integration will take significant planning and should not be underestimated. Some of the additional training capabilities freely provided by Microsoft are covered in Chapter 14, “Planning for Adoption.”
With OCS (and to some extent LCS), the user experience was made up of a number of clients.
Communicator
Live Meeting
Group Chat
Lync 2010 consolidated the Communicator and Live Meeting clients into one; however, that still left the Group Chat client as a separate installation requirement. A number of large financial institutions that have a heavy reliance upon the Group Chat functionality have been asking for some time for the consolidation of this client. Group Chat (now known as Persistent Chat) was incorporated into the Communicator client in Lync 2013, so there’s only a single installation required. In addition, Persistent Chat is now a “full” function of Lync 2013 rather than a download add-on as it was previously—more on this later.
Chapter 5, “Mobile Clients,” covers in detail the mobility capability; this was first introduced with Cumulative Update 4 in Lync Server 2010 and has been expanded with each new iteration of the product.
With the Skype for Business branding, the client has had a facelift; new features introduced with Lync 2013, such as user photos, have been further improved, and other features have been moved around to make them easier to find for users.
In addition, device selection has been considered, with the clients being adapted to tablet devices as well as the expected mobile and desktop/laptop-style devices.
The Communicator client is also now part of the Office suite and is no longer available separately. Figure 1.1 shows the client when a user is first logged in.
To communicate and collaborate, Skype for Business client users need to be able to locate and connect to each other on the network. Over time, users will build their own contacts list (sometimes called a buddy list); however, they need to find other users to be able to create and add to the list. The basic search functionality from previous versions has been retained and has been expanded to include integration and key-skills searching within SharePoint as well as the expected Address Book search. Also available (introduced in Lync 2010) is the ability to remove the Address Book download capability and provide only an online web-based search function. Figure 1.2 shows the client search bar and results window when data has been entered into the search bar.
Figure 1.2 The client search bar and results window
From these results, you can initiate any type of communications modality. The submenu is opened by selecting the ellipsis (…).
To find more information from the user (the contact card), you have to at least appear to begin a conversation with them. Starting an IM conversation has the least impact in that until you actually send a message, there is no prompt to the recipient. Figure 1.3 shows the new-style contact card, which you can see once you initiate communications and expand the user data. This information is captured from a combination of Skype for Business, Outlook, and Active Directory attributes; if you don’t see information you’d expect to see, make sure the data is available in the source first!
The User Properties box is extended to provide a lot more contextual information.
Department
Office
Phone numbers (work, mobile, home, if permitted)
SharePoint links (to MySite, for example)
Calendar information
Location information (including local time and time zone)
This contact card provides a consistent client interface across all the integrated applications, such as Office and SharePoint. Connecting from other applications preserves context; if you start a conversation from an Outlook email, both the subject and the priority are carried across to the conversation windows and the document title is transferred from SharePoint. The contact card now includes the ability to provide location information, giving users a way to quickly establish where people are currently, which can help them determine whether personal contact or a video call is the more appropriate type of communication. The location information also provides the local time for the user, which can be extremely useful when people are spread across multiple geographies.
You can search across the following locations:
Skype for Business contacts
Active Directory
Outlook contacts (including suggested contacts)
The public Skype directory (optional, requires configuration)
Introduced with Lync 2013, in conjunction with Exchange 2013, is the Unified Contact Store, where all contacts are merged and stored within the user mailbox (specifically within the contacts folder). An additional capability introduced by the Unified Contact Store is the ability to store high-definition (HD) photographs of the users. In the past, photographs were stored in SharePoint or Active Directory; now they are stored within the user mailbox in Exchange 2013.
Searching allows you to easily establish availability and identity (the extended contact card provides more information to help identify the correct recipient) and quickly establish contact using any modality. In addition to searching by name, the SharePoint integration allows you to search by skills (or keywords) to help identify the correct person.
As mentioned, the ability to add contacts (or buddies) and group them is retained; in fact, it is expanded to include an auto-populated Frequent Contacts group. This group is automatically populated with your 10 most-frequent contacts, which are weighted based on modality. For example, someone you regularly call is going to be placed higher in the list than someone you IM. You’ll learn about other automatically created groups later in this chapter.
The Contacts tab, which is the default, contains a number of subtabs that provide different views (shown in Figure 1.4).
Groups This is probably the most frequently used subtab; it is where you can find all the contacts sorted alphabetically but also grouped together in user-defined groups.
Status Under this subtab, all the contacts are sorted by availability, under the following groups:
Away (includes Off Work)
Unknown
Unavailable
Online (includes Busy, In a Meeting, and Do Not Disturb)
Relationships Here, you can manage the permissions assigned to each contact. The default categories are as follows:
Friends and Family This relationship must be assigned manually. It provides the following setting:
“Share all my contact information except meeting details.”
Workgroup This relationship must be assigned manually. It provides the following setting:
“Share all my contact information except Home and Other phone; contact can interrupt Do Not Disturb status.”
Colleagues Any users from within the same Skype for Business organization (or Lync if in coexistence) are automatically placed within this group and receive the following setting:
“Share all my contact information except Home, Other, and Mobile phone, and meeting details.”
External Contacts Any external (federated) users are placed within this group by default and receive the following setting:
“Share only my name, title, email address, company, and picture.”
Blocked Contacts This relationship must be manually assigned and provides the following setting:
“Share only my name and email address; blocked contacts can’t reach me via Lync.”
Auto-Assign Relationship This item is not found in the Relationships tab; however, it can be found on a contact and is used to reset the privacy level.
“Reset this privacy relationship to the default.”
New If users have added you to their contact list but you have not (yet) added them to yours, they will appear on the New tab.
Add A Contact Provides a submenu with the following list of options for finding and adding a new contact:
Add A Contact In My Organization
Add A Contact Not In My Organization
Create A New Group
Display Options
Communicating via the Client
As mentioned in the previous section, the Skype for Business 2016 contact card lets users quickly and easily establish any modality from any integrated application. In particular, Skype for Business allows users to receive phone calls on any device (including non-Skype for Business devices) as well as manage their own (and potentially other users’) communications easily and more effectively than before.
The final button (telephone icon) provides a single page for telecom interaction (see Figure 1.5), so users can make calls (from a dial-pad) and display and listen to voicemails. The dial-pad operates exactly as you would expect; for example, press and hold 1 to call your voicemail. If you need to access your voicemail box when it is empty (for example, to set your greeting), this is the only method to do so other than dialing the voicemail access number. The voicemail section allows quick and easy access to voicemails stored in your inbox. When there are voicemails in your inbox, a drop-down menu is available for direct access to set your greeting. If you are not enabled for Enterprise Voice, this button will not be visible.
Since Office Communications Server 2007 R2, high definition has been supported for peer-to-peer video only; Skype for Business now provides the capability for HD (using H.264 SVC codec support) conference calls (VGA was the default with Lync 2010). In addition to the higher resolution provided by this default codec, the Lync 2013 client supports direct integration with the Microsoft RoundTable devices, providing a panoramic video strip when used in calls.
The video screen can be detached from the client and viewed in a separate window, which can be extremely useful for users who have multiple monitors because the video channel can be displayed on a separate display from the main conference window, allowing a more true-life experience.
H263 codecs are no longer supported since Lync 2013, so organizations may need to upgrade legacy non-Skype for Business (or Lync) video hardware or look to additional gateway capability to continue operating.
Device Management
New device management functionality allows the client to intelligently select the appropriate device for your calls. Even changing devices within a call is much easier. The Audio And Video Tuning Wizard is no longer required; you simply use a drop-down menu with all the devices listed and select a new one to transfer the call to the selected device immediately with no further interaction. Devices can even be added mid-call, and the audio (or video) can be directed to the newly added device.
Audio and video device management and tuning is still possible from within the Options page from the Tools menu; however, doing so is now an optional task, whereas previously it was required every time a device was inserted.
The call-forwarding and team-call settings can now be managed with a single click in the main client window, shown in Figure 1.6.
Tabbed conversation view allows all conversations to be viewed in a single window. With previous versions, a new conversation window would open for each person. Indeed, the client can be configured to allow this mode of operation if preferred. Figure 1.7 shows the tabbed conversation view.
The tabbed conversation view can be confusing at times. If you move from IM to audio modalities, the new audio window does indeed detach to form a separate “floating” window (containing the previous IM conversation), and when the audio portion is finished and the call ends, the window “pops” back into the tabbed view.
The Conversations tab provides a single location where you can keep track of ongoing communications. From this tab, it is easy to bring up previous conversations, assuming this information has been stored in Outlook (or more accurately, Exchange). Figure 1.8 shows this tab with content.
Each entry contains the history of the interaction, including all attendees and the modalities in use. Conversations can be resumed from this tab, and they will include the information from the previous conversation if it is still available. From the user’s perspective, this will look like a continuation of the previous conversation.
A private line can be enabled for a user, in addition to their primary line, and is the equivalent of an incoming-only line. A user can have only a single private line, and when enabled, it is associated with the same Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address (that is, the user does not get a second SIP address). It is an unlisted number and does not appear within any address books or Active Directory. The Private Line function provides a user with the ability to give out a number that will always get through; any Do Not Disturb or delegated-call scenarios are ignored by an incoming private line, and a different style of toast (the name given to the pop-up notification for any incoming communications) will appear, indicating an incoming call on the private line. In addition, a different ringtone is sounded for private.
Skype for Business provides an easy method to initiate calls on behalf of others. Once you are configured as a delegate for someone (as an assistant might be for a boss), additional options are provided for making calls.
In the delegated-call scenario, incoming calls are displayed on the client for both the delegate and the boss, enabling the delegate to handle any call on the boss’s behalf. On the incoming toast, the availability of the boss is also displayed, allowing the delegate to quickly evaluate whether to pick up the call.
When added as a delegate, the user receives a notification indicating who added them. As shown in Figure 1.9, additional groups are also created, showing who the user’s delegates are as well as those for whom they act as a delegate.
When a user is designated as a delegate of someone, they can also place calls on their behalf, as shown in Figure 1.9.
Figure 1.10 shows the additional information added to the toast when a call is for someone who has delegates. If the delegate picks up the call, the toast will change to briefly show who picked up the call and an email message will be sent.
Figure 1.10 The toast received for an incoming call
Collaborating via the Client
As mentioned earlier, previous versions of the Microsoft communications platform provided a separate client targeted for group collaboration: Live Meeting. This provided an interface whereby large groups could “meet” and collaborate on shared content (desktop or documents). Also, an additional add-in client, the Conferencing Add-In for Microsoft Office Outlook, was required to provide integration with Outlook, allowing meetings to be scheduled from the Outlook client.
Since Lync 2010, both the additional Live Meeting client and the Conferencing Add-In for Outlook have been removed, simplifying not only the installation process but also the user interaction. In addition, Lync 2013 removed the need for a separate Group Chat (now called Persistent Chat) client. All functionality from within the Live Meeting client is included in the client. The single installation package includes the Online Meeting Add-In for Skype for Business, which provides the online meeting capability previously provided via the separate installation of the Conferencing Add-In for Outlook.
In some cases, it was difficult for users to understand which client was the correct one to use to join meetings or conferences; consolidating the features into the single client removes any scope for this confusion.
The Online Meeting Add-In for Skype for Business (automatically installed as part of the client) provides a single-click approach to creating a meeting. The user no longer needs to decide whether a meeting will be audio only or whether it will require desktop sharing; the client dynamically adapts and provides the needed resources from the server.
Here are some other collaboration highlights:
The sharing model within Skype for Business provides a flexible approach to sharing individual applications, screens, or the full desktop as well as enabling the coediting of a document opened from SharePoint.
Meetings now include a lobby, where users can wait to join a meeting. Previously users could only enter the conference directly or have their call dropped if the conference had not started or they were not permitted to join.
Presenting PowerPoint sessions enables an Asynchronous Viewing mode, allowing other presenters to navigate through the content and review it.
Media can be embedded into PowerPoint presentations and played back to participants.
Dial-in conferencing supports the use of DTMF (touch-tone) commands for control of the conference as well as providing voice announcements of attendees.
Users can share notes from OneNote during a meeting rather than sharing the app itself.
Web-based access to conferences is provided on the platforms shown in Table 1.1.
Conference call video management has been further improved with the ability to view multiple live video streams (maximum of five) simultaneously. Previously, you could view only active speaker and previous active speaker video streams (and potentially active panorama and previous active panorama if multiple RoundTable devices were present). While this function is limited to five concurrent active streams, any additional users are moved to the “sitting” row in the video view, and these sitting users, rather than display a video stream, provide their photo view. This is also known as the Gallery View; see Figure 1.11 for standing and sitting row views.
A specific video stream can be locked as the meeting focus for everyone in the conference call if required. This stops the video stream from bouncing from person to person in the event of strong background noise (this was often distracting with older client conference calls).
Understanding Skype for Business Server 2015
Customer feedback always plays a large role in driving the changes implemented by Microsoft. Some of this is purely reacting to the types and volume of support cases received, and some of it is the direct feedback from customers. Some of the issues admins brought to Microsoft’s attention in previous versions are listed here:
There was no common store for configuration items, which could be found in Active Directory and SQL Server as well as in individual server metabases or WMI.
There were no methods to validate configuration changes prior to deployment.
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) was becoming complex.
Automation was difficult.
Deploying certificates correctly the first time was complicated.
There was no “proper” support for virtualization.
Multiple-site deployments required too many servers.
Complicated sign-in processes for hybrid scenarios.
Windows Fabric was too much of a “black box.”
These issues were addressed within the Lync Server 2010 and 2013 releases, and further updates were made within Skype for Business Server 2015 to address the following issues:
High-availability options that were unrealistic and unnecessarily complex for multiple datacenters
Failover from pool to pool, providing only basic voice capability
Archiving capability not compliant with many industry requirements
Client-side virtualization
Video gateway integration
Cloud-capable/hybrid scenario support
Managing Skype for Business Server 2015
Lync Server 2010 introduced a completely new interface compared to any of the previous communications platforms, and this is continued with Skype for Business Server 2015, with another update, albeit mostly branding. Gone is the MMC interface used to navigate and manage the configuration of Live Communications Server and Office Communications Server. (Well, the MMC interface is almost gone. The Topology Builder application is the only application to continue to use it.) Replacing it is a combination of PowerShell and a Silverlight-based Control Panel application.
Following the lead of Exchange Server and other applications, Microsoft built Lync Server 2010 on a base of PowerShell, which you can learn more about in Appendix B, “Introduction to PowerShell, the Skype for Business Management Shell, and Regular Expressions.” When carrying out configuration requests, Skype for Business Server’s Silverlight-based Control Panel interfaces directly to PowerShell.
Lync Server 2013 also built on the initial Lync Server 2010 introduction of role-based access control (RBAC), allowing separate disparate groups to manage separate areas of the application, such as users or telephony. Skype for Business has not changed the RBAC capability and is covered in detail in Chapter 11, “Role-Based Access Control.”
Topology Builder
You’ll learn how to use Topology Builder in Chapter 7, “Planning Your Deployment,” where we’ll define the architecture and overall topology of the environment. The actual configuration of policies and implementation, however, is carried out using either PowerShell or the Control Panel application (in some cases, configuration items are available only in PowerShell). As you’ll see, Topology Builder provides the first checkpoint for the topology and ensures configuration consistency; it will not allow configuration items to be removed if they are still in use.
The Topology Builder also consolidates all the information required for generating a certificate. It ensures that any additional subject alternative name (SAN) entries are included as required, ensuring that when the Setup program for a server gets to the Certificate Wizard, all the information is already in place. Additional user input and control over the certificate template used are provided using this wizard. The Edge server consolidates the external-facing requirements from three separate certificates in previous versions to a single external certificate.
Central Management Store
The multiple configuration stores from previous versions have been replaced with the Central Management Store. It is the sole location for all the configuration data for the deployment and operation of Skype for Business. Combining all the various configuration stores into a single Central Management Store means there is only a single point of failure, which is this database. Replicating this database to all servers in the environment results in the following benefits:
Mitigates the single point of failure
Allows servers to continue operating without access to Active Directory
Removes reliance on Active Directory schema changes
Provides consistency in server configuration (especially the Edge server)
The Central Management Store is stored within SQL Server (in a Standard Edition deployment, this is SQL Express) and can be made highly available by the use of a supported SQL high-availability mechanism (such as clustering, mirroring, or AlwaysOn).
The Central Management Store operates in a master-replica state. In the event of a catastrophic loss of the Central Management Store, a replica can be promoted to be the master database. During an outage of the master database, no changes can be made to the environment; however, Skype for Business will continue to operate based on the configuration at the time of loss (this also includes server restarts).
Lync Storage Service
The Lync Storage Service (LYSS) provides an abstract storage framework allowing Skype for Business to access storage systems within other applications. Currently the other applications are limited to Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange 2013 (via Exchange Web Services). Aside from the Skype for Business databases, it is used for Exchange 2013 archiving integration and the Unified Contact Store.
Windows Fabric
Another underlying infrastructure change is the implementation of the Windows Fabric system. This provides a background enablement function that places users within a pool. This feature was introduced with Lync Server 2013 and is responsible for defining the user accounts’ primary, secondary, and tertiary home server locations.
LYSS uses Windows Fabric for replication.
As a result of the Windows Fabric replication, additional requirements are needed to ensure full capability within a Front End pool. Table 1.2 shows the number of servers required to be functional in a pool for the pool to be functional.
Table 1.2 Servers required in a pool for pool quorum
Total Servers in the Pool
Minimum Required for Full Functionality
1 or 2
1
3 or 4
2
5 or 6
3
7 or 8
4
9 or 10
5
11 or 12
6
What happens if the number of available servers drops below the minimum listed here? Well, the pool goes into survivability mode, and if after five minutes the pool is still in survivability mode, it will shut down all Skype for Business services. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg412996.aspx for more information.
DNS Load Balancing
Lync Server 2010 introduced DNS load balancing as a method to provide connection-based resilience to both client and server interactions. DNS load balancing provides functionality only for SIP-based traffic.
Using DNS load balancing reduces the configuration requirements of a hardware load balancer (at the cost of creating a few additional DNS entries), allowing the hardware load balancer to focus on load balancing HTTP traffic (a job for which it is much better suited).
For example, Table 1.3 shows the configuration required when using hardware to load balance a pool of three Front End servers.
Table 1.3 DNS records required when using hardware load balancing
Item
DNS FQDN
DNS A Record
Pool VIP
Pool.company.com
192.168.0.1
Front End
FE1.company.com
192.168.0.2
Front End
FE2.company.com
192.168.0.3
Front End
FE3.company.com
192.168.0.4
Table 1.4 shows the configuration required when using DNS load balancing on the same pool of three Front End servers.
Table 1.4 DNS records required when using DNS load balancing
Item
DNS FQDN
DNS A Record
Web VIP
Poolweb.company.com
192.168.0.1
Pool
Pool.company.com
192.168.0.2
Pool
Pool.company.com
192.168.0.3
Pool
Pool.company.com
192.168.0.4
Front End
FE1.company.com
192.168.0.2
Front End
FE2.company.com
192.168.0.3
Front End
FE3.company.com
192.168.0.4
Figure 1.12 diagrams the process through which a client will connect when using DNS load balancing. It is important to note that this is only for the first connection; once connected, the client will cache the server name and IP address for subsequent connections.
The following steps correspond to the numbered links in Figure 1.12 and describe the actions within each communications step:
The client queries DNS for the service record (SRV). (A service that was published using the Domain Name System [DNS] can be discovered through its SRV record. Its SRV record includes information such as protocol, port, priority, and weight in the single record entry.)
The DNS server returns the SRV record pointing to the pool fully qualified domain name (FQDN).
The client queries DNS for the pool FQDN.
The DNS server returns the IP addresses of pool members.
The client connects to a randomly selected IP address from the list returned by the DNS server.
If this server is not the home server for the client, the server returns the home server name.
The client queries DNS for the address of the home server.
DNS returns the IP address of the home server.
The client connects to the server and registers the user.
Installable Server Roles
Skype for Business Server introduces the new Video Interoperability server role, but more importantly it restructures and consolidates the existing roles (compared to OCS or Lync Server 2010), allowing organizations to consolidate resources by combining various roles onto a single server deployment. Chapter 8, “Installation,” covers the steps required to define and install each role.
Office Communications Server 2007 introduced the concept of an expanded topology, whereby a single pool could be separated into its constituent parts: web services, conferencing, and Front Ends. The move to a 64-bit deployment with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 allowed this topology to disappear (it was still supported, although not recommended) because of the capability of the 64-bit hardware to address more memory resources and make them available to the application.
Lync Server 2010 provided the capability to do either, depending on the deployment needs. When the user count was greater than 10,000 in a pool, Microsoft recommended separation of the Audio/Video Conferencing Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) to a separate server/pool.
Lync Server 2013 removed this expansion option, and Skype for Business has continued this separation of resources and supports only the consolidated model.
Virtualization is now fully supported for all server roles (except the Survivable Branch Appliance), and more detail is provided in Chapter 5.
The following server roles are provided in Skype for Business Server 2015:
Front End
Back End
Edge
Director
Mediation
Persistent Chat
Video Interoperability Server
Survivable Branch Appliance
Survivable Branch Server
The next sections describe these roles in detail.
Front End
The Front End server provides the connection point for the client. It is responsible for all registration, via the Registrar service, and routing requests for clients. Because of this routing responsibility, all clients belonging to the same user must register on the same Front End server. In addition, the Front End server holds all the conference MCUs.
Web
App sharing
IM
Audio/video
The Front End server is also home to the web component services, such as Address Book, Group Expansion, Control Panel, and Reach, which the Silverlight application that provides web-based access to conferences.
High availability is achieved by the deployment of multiple (up to 12) Front End servers into a single pool and the utilization of hardware (with or without DNS) load balancing.
Back End
The Back End role is the SQL Server database, which provides both conference capability and contact/buddy lists. In deployments that also configure the built-in voice applications (Response Group Service, Call Park, and Dial-In Conferencing), their data is also stored within this SQL Server database. The Central Management Store is also stored in the Back End role.
High availability is achieved by deploying SQL Server in a log shipping configuration, with an optional Witness server. The advantage of the Witness server is that it will allow for automatic failover, whereas it’s a manual process without the Witness server.
Edge
The Edge role is deployed within the perimeter network and provides remote capability to Skype for Business. Remote capability is defined as follows:
Remote access
Federation with other organizations
Public Internet Connectivity (PIC) federation with Skype and XMPP gateways (such as Google’s gTalk). In addition, the Edge server provides a method to reroute calls via the Internet if insufficient internal bandwidth is available. In this case, an Edge server (or pool) is required at each location.
Multiple Edge servers may also be deployed to localize Internet conference traffic. For this purpose, each Edge server (or pool) is associated with an internal Front End pool, and users homed on the Front End pool use their locally defined Edge server for all traffic except SIP. SIP traffic (including federation) will travel only via a single Edge location.
High availability of the Edge environment is achieved with the deployment of multiple Edge servers in a single location. High availability of the federation functionality (including PIC) requires the use of a hardware load balancer and is available in only a single location.
Skype for Business includes the ability to communicate with Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) gateways natively. Previously this was enabled via a separate download and separate server instance. XMPP is used by systems such as Google Talk.
Director
The Director role performs authentication and previously was recommended when you are also deploying an Edge server; it is now optional. You should consider using the Director role to perform authentication when you are deploying an Edge server. The Director role provides a stop-off point for all external traffic. By placing this function at the first point of authentication, you ensure that all (any) malicious traffic is intercepted here rather than at a Front End (where internal clients may be impacted). When an Edge server is used, the Director server is configured as the next hop and proxies the external traffic to its final destination. Figure 1.13 shows a typical Director placement.
When used for internal traffic, the Director is defined as the result of the DNS SRV query for automatic login and, in this scenario, will redirect traffic to the correct home pool. With the additional support for multiple DNS SRV records, this requirement is redundant within the internal infrastructure.
Unlike the Office Communications Server versions, Skype for Business Server 2015 makes the Director a defined role, not a normal pool with its features disabled.
High availability of the Director role is provided by deploying multiple servers and using DNS (or hardware) load balancing.
Mediation
The Mediation role is the interface into the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Typically, it is used in conjunction with a media gateway device, allowing an interface either into an existing PBX (private branch exchange) or directly to the PSTN. The latter configuration, known as SIP trunking, is now becoming more prevalent; it allows the Mediation server to connect directly to the PBX or PSTN without the need for an additional hardware media gateway device.
With previous versions of the Communications Server platform, the Mediation server was used to transcode the codec used internally (typically, RTAudio) into the codec used by the media gateway, whether it was PBX or PSTN (typically, G711). Lync 2010 introduced the concept of media bypass, whereby the client can communicate using G711 directly to the media gateway or PBX, alleviating the need for the transcoding to occur and thus removing the need for transcoding by the Mediation role. Media bypass direct to the PSTN is not possible because there is no termination point to which the client can connect.
By removing (or at worst reducing) the need for transcoding on the Mediation role, media bypass reduces the tasks carried out by this role, which means that less-powerful hardware can be used to run this role. This, in turn, allows for colocation of the Mediation role with a Front End role, reducing the server footprint required.
Office Communications Server 2007 (both versions) had a one-to-one ratio of Mediation servers to media gateways; Lync Server 2010 removed this requirement, introducing a one-to-many ratio, and Lync Server 2013 supported a many-to-many ratio. Also, introduced with Lync Server 2013 was the concept of trunks. These allow for additional configuration to be applied to calls traversing the trunk.
High availability of the Mediation role is provided by deployment of multiple servers. Certain configuration options may perform better with or even require the hardware load balancing.
Persistent Chat
Persistent Chat functionality previously was available via a separate download and was called Group Chat.
Skype for Business Server 2015 incorporates this functionality directly into the client as well as providing a fully fledged role deployed via Topology Builder.
Persistent Chat provides chat room, or channel, capability where the content is not lost after a user has logged out and is retained indefinitely. It also provides a searchable resource to users.
A maximum of four active Persistent Chat servers can be deployed for high availability and load sharing. Channels will be instantiated on a single server initially, and when the load of users trying to connect becomes large enough, the channel will then be created on another server. New clients will be directed to the channel on the new server by the lookup service. This process will continue until the channel is created on all available servers.
Data submitted to a channel is broadcast to all other subscribing servers and then broadcast back to listening clients while at the same time the data is written back to the SQL database for future queries.
Survivable Branch Appliance
The Survivable Branch Appliance (SBA) is a hardware device provided by one of three hardware vendors (all support for these devices is provided by the hardware vendor directly).
Audiocodes
Sonus
Ferrari Electronics
The SBA is an all-in-one device that provides some of the functionality of a pool (specifically, registrar and routing) as well as having a colocated Mediation role and media gateway. The function of this device is to continue to provide local service to users in the event of a wide area network (WAN) or pool outage in the central location.
Users are provided local calling functionality via the device, but they rely on a central pool for conference and contact/buddy list information. In the event of a WAN or pool outage, the local PSTN breakout will continue to operate, allowing both incoming and outgoing calls. However, contact/buddy list information and access to conferencing will be unavailable, and the client will go into Survivable mode. Figure 1.14 shows the client feedback when in Survivable mode, and as with OCS 2007 R2, any calls currently in progress will continue. Upon restoration of the failed service (network or server), the client will return to normal operations automatically.
A Survivable Branch Appliance may only be a primary registrar and must be configured with a backup central pool.
High availability is provided by the backup central pool.
Survivable Branch Server
The Survivable Branch Server provides similar functionality to a Survivable Branch Appliance, except that it includes no media gateway. This option is typically used in locations that already have a media gateway deployed, such as, for example, where OCS 2007 was previously deployed, and the cost of replacement cannot be justified.
The Survivable Branch Server is simply defined in Topology Builder and deployed as a server directly by an organization’s IT department, like any other server would be. It’s not a directly purchased device (appliance) and could even be virtualized if required (assuming, of course, the virtualization requirements are met).
Like a Survivable Branch Appliance, the Survivable Branch Server may only be a primary registrar and must be configured with a backup central pool.
High availability is provided by the backup central pool.
Monitoring and Archiving
Monitoring and Archiving are no longer separate roles; rather, they are incorporated into the Front End role. In essence, they have been reduced to a feature. The Monitoring feature provides the capability to capture both Quality of Experience and Call Detail Record information objects about all the calls in the environment.
This information is stored in a SQL Server database and evaluated using the provided SQL Reporting Services report pack, which contains almost 50 built-in reports. Additional reports can be created using SQL Reporting Services Report Builder.
The Archiving role provides a capture of all IM traffic and records any file transfers (filename and location, not content) occurring in the environment.
This information, like that captured by the Monitoring role, is stored within a SQL Server database. However, it should be noted that there are no additional compliance checks on this database; it is a store only.
High availability is provided through the use of an Enterprise pool, with multiple Front End servers, and through a SQL database configured for high availability using SQL mirroring.
For those organizations with stricter compliance needs or those that want archiving of all products to be centralized in one location, the Archiving feature can be enabled to use the archiving capabilities built into Exchange 2013, such as Legal Hold and Compliance Search.
Video Interoperabilty Server
The Video Interoperability Server (VIS) provides an integration point between Skype for Business and other third-party video conferencing solutions. The best way to think of it is as a mediation server for video. You need to create and configure “video trunks” to enable and apply the configuration.
At the time of writing, integration with the following video conferencing solutions is supported:
Cisco C40
Cisco C60
Cisco C90
Cisco MX200
Cisco MX300
Cisco DX80
Cisco EX60
Cisco EX90
Cisco SX20
All are required to be running TC7.0.0 or higher for interoperability.
Office Web Applications Server
The Office Web Applications (OWA) server (not to be confused with Outlook Web Access) is used to enhance presentation capability with Skype for Business. It is not part of the Skype for Business Server installation media and is not a required role. However, some functionality is available only if it is present (such as video streaming in PowerPoint).
It has separate installation (as well as licensing) requirements, and the detailed installation is out of scope of this book; we do cover how to configure Skype for Business Server 2015 to leverage it, though, in Chapter 8!
Colocation
With previous versions of the Microsoft Unified Communications platform, there were significant limitations on what can be colocated. Table 1.5 calls out the permitted colocation options for Skype for Business.
Table 1.5 Supported Skype for Business Server 2015 colocation deployments
Server Role
Colocated Roles
Notes
Enterprise Edition Front End
Mediation
Back End database of Front End pool
Database for Persistent Chat Database instance for Archiving Database instance for Monitoring
Mediation
None
The Mediation server may be colocated with the Front End pool.
Director
None
Edge
None
Video Interoperability Server
None
Survivable Branch Appliance
Mediation Media Gateway
Survivable Branch Server
Mediation
No gateway is included in a Survivable Branch Server.
Persistent Chat Server
Standard Edition server
The Persistent Chat server still requires a separate SQL server installation. This is not a recommended configuration for production environments but is suitable for testing.
Trusted Application servers
None
Exchange Unified Messaging (no longer a stand-alone Exchange role, but combined with CAS and Mailbox roles)
None
Exchange Server roles may be colocated with each other but not with Skype for Business Server 2015 roles.
Reverse proxy
None
Reverse proxy may be colocated with other server applications as detailed in the reverse proxy support guidelines; however, no Skype for Business roles may be colocated.
Archiving and Monitoring have not been specifically called out here because, unlike with previous versions, they can no longer be installed as stand-alone servers; their database instances can, of course.
Automation Capabilities
Skype for Business is built from the ground up on PowerShell. This architecture provides significantly easier scripting and automation capability than Office Communications Server and Live Communications Server, which relied on Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) for most (but not all) configuration options. You can find more information about the use of PowerShell in Skype for Business in Appendix B.
Hybrid and Cloud Scenarios
Skype for Business enables hybrid scenarios where some infrastructure is located in the cloud and some infrastructure is located on the customer premises. This is enabled by supporting a split-domain model, whereby the same domain can be shared between two Skype for Business organizations—one being on premises and the other being in the Office 365 cloud.
As this book goes to press, this functionality is still developing with additional functionality, currently known as Broadcast Meetings and Cloud PBX in beta. Hybrid is covered in more depth in Chapter 10, “Online and Hybrid,” which covers the configuration aspects directly and touches on some of the (currently) beta functionality. Lync 2013 provided capability for “private cloud” scenarios with a separate version known as Lync Server 2013 Hosting Pack, and while support continues on that version, it is no longer available and no equivalent is planned for Skype for Business.
Understanding the Voice Capabilities
Since the release of Office Communications Server 2007 in October 2007, Microsoft has been relentlessly developing and pushing the voice capabilities of OCS. Skype for Business continues to develop this functionality, and most of the changes expected in this version will be focused on Office 365 capability.
There are still areas in which Skype for Business Server 2015 does not completely address the functionality provided by a traditional PBX. Many of these functions, however, are being made redundant as people move to new ways of communication. One example is ringback. On a PBX, if you call a number and it is busy, you can enter a DTMF code to tell the PBX to call you back when the line becomes free. It can be argued that the use of presence information removes this requirement (if the callee is busy initially, the call will not be placed) and provides the capability to notify of presence changes.
The focus points for voice capabilities are as follows:
Resiliency Lync Server 2010 introduced the concept of a backup registrar and also increased the scope of the multidatacenter (Metropolitan) pool scenario supported to include all modalities. Lync Server 2013 expanded the resiliency options further by increasing the backup registrar functionality to be more than simply registrar backup but is capable of providing significantly more redundancy. Skype for Business continues to develop and build on this model, mostly by minor improvements in this version rather than a step change.
The Metropolitan pool scenario—a single pool stretched between two data centers—was no longer a supported model under Lync Server 2013, and Skype for Business continues with this nonsupported approach.
The backup registrar continues to provide telephony functionality in the event of a failure to the primary registrar. The client will register to the primary registrar when available; however, in the event that either the network connection to the primary registrar or the registrar itself fails, the client (following a configurable timeout) will register to the backup registrar and enter Survivable mode. As mentioned previously, this mode provides only telephony functionality and limited search capability for other users; all centralized services are lost, including conferencing, contact/buddy lists, and voice applications.
Any pool type (Enterprise or Standard) can act as a backup registrar to only a pool of the same type (Enterprise or Standard) as well as to a Survivable Branch Appliance (or Server). The Survivable Branch Appliance (or Server) can be designated only as a primary registrar. When you are configuring backup registrars, you need to consider the server specification and overall capacity of the backup registrar, taking into account a potential failure of the primary registrar and the total number of users who could then be homed in on the backup registrar.
In addition to the backup registrar, Skype for Business includes the capability to pair pools. This provides increased functionality in the case of a failure. With the backup registrar, only telephony voice capability was provided; however, with paired pools, significantly more functionality is available, such as conferencing, presence, and buddy lists.
Call Admission Control Call Admission Control (CAC) is the capability to manage the number of Skype for Business calls being placed on the network at any time. It is covered in detail in Chapter 17, “Call Admission Control.”
Call Park Call Park is the capability to place a call into a parked location for pickup (typically by another person) on another device or even location. Call Park is frequently used in conjunction with paging systems. A call will be received by an operator and put into an orbit. Then a notification will go out on the paging system/intercom; the callee can then retrieve the call from orbit simply by dialing the orbit number. Hospitals and manufacturing plants typically use this feature; everyone has heard something like “Call for Dr. Smith on 1234.”
Media Bypass The introduction of media bypass in Lync Server 2010 (and client) reduces the role of the Mediation server, which is no longer involved in the transcoding of the codecs, because both the client and the gateway are talking to each other with a common codec (typically, G711). As mentioned, removing this transcoding requirement from the mediation role also means there no longer needs to be one Mediation server per media gateway, allowing a single mediation role to support and control multiple media gateways.
Removing the extra hop of a Mediation server has the side benefit of improving voice quality (because the media traffic has a shorter path to travel) and also removes another potential point of failure.
Enhanced 9-1-1 Enhanced 9-1-1 is the provision of location-based information when calling emergency services within North America. E9-1-1 is covered in detail in Chapter 18, “E9-1-1 and Location Information Services (LIS).”
Analog Device Management Although Skype for Business does not directly support and manage analog devices, it does control the signaling information and, as such, can provide controls to restrict the class of service to which the devices have access (for example, you can choose not to permit international dialing, and you can place similar restrictions). The device is connected to the environment via a media gateway using an analog terminal adapter (ATA), and Skype for Business does not interfere in the media stream, only the signaling. Not being involved in the media stream allows fax machines to also benefit from this management.
Call detail records can be captured for all these analog devices because the signaling is controlled from the Skype for Business servers.
Private Line As mentioned previously, the Private Line functionality is a means to assign a second number to a user. Incoming calls to this Private Line number do not follow any delegation rules (or other routing options, such as Do Not Disturb or Call Forward) and will always go through to the recipient. This function is for incoming calls only. Figure 1.15 shows the incoming toast, which has a different ringtone associated with it.
Routing Changes For anyone familiar with the routing within OCS 2007, you will see significant improvements with Skype for Business Server, such as changes to the number normalization and outgoing caller ID capability. Outbound normalization is now possible and can be defined centrally on a per-route (or per-gateway) basis; this allows simplified administration of the media gateways, especially in a global deployment where, perhaps, the same media gateway model (or indeed manufacturer) cannot be used in every country.
Caller ID can be managed on a per-user or per-group basis to suppress or alter the calling party number data presented. This feature is automatically overridden for the simultaneous-ringing scenario, where when the call is forwarded to a mobile device, you want to present the originator number.
Common Area PhonesCommon area phones are Phone Edition devices that are deployed in a communal area such as a lobby. Figure 1.16 shows a Polycom common area phone.
Skype for Business provides the capability to manage these devices, even though they are not associated with a user and no one is logged onto them.
The ability to control the functions of these common devices ensures that they cannot be misused (e.g., by placing international calls).
In addition to these functionality changes, the portfolio of devices has been significantly increased, with additional device partners on both the end user and media gateway sides.
A number of additional certification programs are in place for each of these areas, and all can be found here:
Open Interoperability Program The Open Interoperability Program is an interoperability testing and certification program not managed by Microsoft. Any devices (not limited to user devices, but also gateways and services such as SIP trunks) qualified through this program are fully supported for interoperability with Skype for Business Server 2015.
As this book is going to press, Skype for Business is transitioning from the Open Interoperability Program to the Partner Solutions Program; you can find details here:
The principal of both is the same; they will provide a catalog for supported products in different categories for Lync Server or Skype for Business Server as necessary.
Optimized for Skype for Business The Optimized For program ensures that devices “just work” on installation—meaning there is no user configuration required; they simply need to be plugged in—and provide high-quality audio/video user experience. These devices are built and tested following the Skype for Business specifications, and they are created by global partners at the Certified or Gold Certified level.
Other Compatible IP Phones This program is designed for IP phones based on the publicly available Windows protocols and the Microsoft Office protocols documentation. As with the Optimized For program, they are created by global Certified or Gold Certified partners.
Software and Hardware Load Balancers These applications and appliances are tested by the vendor and reviewed by Microsoft to meet Skype for Business requirements.
Understanding the Unified Communications Managed API Capabilities
The Microsoft approach to unified communications is to remove the islands of legacy technology—the voicemail solution that doesn’t integrate with the switchboard solution, and so on—to provide one identity and one mailbox from which all capabilities can be taken.
Microsoft provides the familiarity of both the platform and the infrastructure to build new applications, ensuring that they can fully integrate across the environment.
Skype for Business includes a RESTful API and provides extensibility and interoperability by building on the two pillars of development.
.NET
Web services
By building on the Skype for Business infrastructure, developers know they already have an enterprise-class platform; by using the .NET framework and the web services layer, they have an easily extensible foundation, which can be developed using skills they already have.
Skype for Business allows the creation of presence-aware (known as Communications-EnabledBusinessProcess [CEBP]) applications; this allows the applications to react and make decisions based on the presence of users in the environment, providing notifications or alerts as needed and in the modality required.
Presence can be embedded in already developed applications, or the Skype for Business 2016 client can be expanded to include the conversation window to show rich context on both sides of the conversation.
Unwrapping the SDK
The Skype for Business software development kit (SDK) allows four scenarios for which developers might need to customize a deployment.
To integrate with existing line-of-business applications
To provide contextual conversations
To add custom applications to the client
To completely customize the client UI
Developers can utilize the Visual Studio Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight controls to quickly add Skype for Business functionality (drag-and-drop controls) into internal applications; this can include functionality such as docking the conversation windows within the application itself.
Deploying the Skype for Business client and (ideally) using it as the main collaboration toolset doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the feature set provided. Application launch links can be sent within conversations, allowing data to be shared in third-party applications; you can see this in the continuation of subject and priority messages started from Outlook. These links also enable developers to extend the menu functionality of both contact cards and the client itself.
An important point with application launch links is that no code is registered on the receiver side; the client simply calls out to existing installed applications. A current example of this functionality is sending of hyperlinks, where clicking the link does nothing other than open the web browser with the address listed in the link; no additional code is executed.
Even scenarios where the client is completely customized are supported; the Skype for Business controls can be retemplated in Expression Blend.
It should be noted that the Skype for Business client is still required to be installed in all of these scenarios (with the exception of the web services development); however, it is possible to run the client in UISuppressionMode, whereby only the features from the customized user interface (UI) are presented to a user and all the interaction is behind the scenes.
Further investigation into the customization and development of applications is beyond the scope of this book. See Professional Unified Communications Development with Microsoft Lync Server 2010 by George Durzi and Michael Greenlee (Wiley, 2011) for more information about developing custom applications; although the book is focused on Lync Server 2010, a large number of the technologies continue within Skype for Business, and the approach is equally valid across product versions.
The Bottom Line
Describe the features of the client. The Skype for Business client is designed to achieve three core goals: connect, communicate, and collaborate. This new client makes it much easier to find people and verify identity, initiate communications (typically, with a single click), and collaborate with full-blown information sharing. Device integration and call management have been greatly simplified, removing the need to run through wizards constantly.
Master It You are assembling a new product development team. The new product will be similar to a previously released product, and you want to ask members of the previous team for guidance. How can you find people associated with the previous product team?
Describe the features of the server. Skype for Business Server 2015 provides most of the server roles included in Office Communications Server and introduces the Survivable Branch Appliance (or Server) to help in the high-availability scenarios. The management approach has changed through the introduction of the Topology Builder application and role-based access control to limit administrative access to defined users and scopes as required. PowerShell and Silverlight combine to provide the day-to-day administration of the environment.
Master It When deploying high availability, which of the following roles can be a primary registrar?
Director
Enterprise Edition Front End
Standard Edition Front End
Survivable Branch Appliance
Survivable Branch Server
Describe the voice features. Significant investment and development have gone into Skype for Business Server 2015’s voice feature set. The new set has allowed it to become a match for a large portion of the PBX workload and, in many cases, a viable replacement for a PBX.
New functions (such as Private Line, Call Admission Control, Call Park, E9-1-1, and Common Area Phones) provide welcome additions to the user experience. By contrast, behind-the-scenes features (such as Media Bypass, routing improvements, resiliency improvements, and analog device management) provide a more integrated and available solution for the administrator while they help reduce the number of servers required.
Master It As the network and telephony administrator for your company, you want to invest in SIP trunks rather than legacy PBX-style PSTN connectivity using media gateways.
How should you configure media bypass and deploy mediation servers?
