When planning to deploy Office Communications Server, the Litware team needs to define the technical elements of the project. This team should be composed of IT members with different expertise in the Litware environment. The planning team should be staffed appropriately to avoid gaps in the input to the planning process. As a team, members should have the following roles represented:
Server management and administration. Builds and deploys servers; manages and maintains in production. Responsible for defining the proper hardware to support a given functional requirement. Include Exchange and SQL management in this group, with appropriate representation.
Infrastructure and Internet network engineering. Responsible for the day-to-day management and maintenance of all networking and network infrastructure, including perimeter networks, firewall configuration and design, routers, and switches.
Desktop deployment. Responsible for the day-to-day maintenance and deployment of desktop machines, operating systems, and applications. Also responsible for the definition of desktop standards, including the computer hardware, peripheral hardware, and software standards.
Telephony. Responsible for managing, configuring, and maintaining the PBX, phone trunks, and data-carrying infrastructure provided from the phone company (for example, Integrated Services Digital Network [ISDN] lines). Also responsible for managing and deploying desktop phones and telephony devices for employees.
Training. Responsible for internal training of employees for the majority of needs. They develop their own training materials and conduct classes on business and light technical topics.
Information security. Responsible for the security of data at rest and in motion in your company. They define and set policies that govern what must be protected and how it must be protected. Areas of influence span from the desktop to servers and software, telephony infrastructure, and the physical security of data centers.
Also, this team is likely to have input on these recommendations and requirements. Take each of these down and look at them in the same context as you would any other recommendation from a known technical expert. These requirements have been added to their feature mapping because of internal team requirements:
Strong authentication and encryption between servers. Strong encryption is required between servers and clients.
Internal public key infrastructure (PKI). Required for all certificates in the environment, public certificates must be used on external (public-facing) edges of all infrastructure and servers.
Taking the P0 and P1 requirements mentioned previously, the team can now discuss and decide on reasonable plans of action, potential blockers, cost issues, and upgrades needed. Mapping the requirements to features offered will produce results similar to those shown in Table 14-3.
Table 14-3. Mapping Requirements to Features of Office Communications Server 2007 R2
REQUIREMENT | HARDWARE AND COMPONENTS FOR OFFICE COMMUNICATIONS SERVER OR OFFICE COMMUNICATOR |
|---|---|
Retire legacy PBXs in all locations | Mediation Server, media gateway (third party), direct Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and IP-PBX |
Allow for availability and status of employees visible to others at a glance in often-used applications | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, presence-aware applications (for example, Office Outlook, Microsoft Office SharePoint) |
Make use of presence ability to manage communication type with users | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, Exchange for calendar features, Outlook client, or other presence-aware applications |
Presence enable in-house developed line of business applications | Office Communications Server Software Development Kit (SDK), test environment |
Enable use of collaboration tools (desktop sharing, IM) | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, conferencing component |
Team meetings for small (2-50) to medium (50-100) attendees | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, A/V component |
Rich media for presentations and desktop sharing for meetings | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, conferencing component (potential for Application Sharing Server component) |
VoIP inter-site and intra-site | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client |
Advanced voice mail system allowing for access from many places and many devices | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, Exchange Unified Messaging (UM), plus dependencies on PBX pilot mentioned for external access |
Remote access for employees at home and on the road | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, Edge Server(s) in perimeter (potential discussion topic: Communicator Web Access Server(s) in Phase II), reverse proxy |
Administrative assistants able to answer calls for assigned staff and management | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, Attendant Console |
Administrative assistants able to take messages and forward directly to voice mail | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, Attendant Console, Exchange integration |
Employees able to manage own phone forwarding and location options | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator, Communicator Phone Edition, Communicator Web Access, Communicator Mobile, and Communicator Mobile for Java |
IM, desktop sharing, and presentations with federated partners | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, perimeter-placed Edge Servers, reverse proxy, agreement and configuration for federation, partner must have Office Communications Server |
IM with customers not using Office Communications Server | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, perimeter-placed Edge Servers, reverse proxy, public IM connectivity enabled and configured, license for public IM connector |
A/V conferences, presentations with partners and customers | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, perimeter-placed Edge Servers, reverse proxy |
Ability to better communicate with suppliers to more easily collaborate and ease workflow bottlenecks | Front-end server, SQL Server (back-end server), Office Communicator client, perimeter-placed Edge Servers, reverse proxy, conferencing components on Edge (potential for Application Sharing Server on front end), federation agreement, partner must have Office Communications Server |
Requires strong authentication and encryption between servers; strong encryption is required between servers and clients | Office Communications Server and clients require either Mutual Transport Layer Security (MTLS) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates; this requirement is met |
Internal PKI is required for all certificates in the environment; public certificates must be used on external edge of Edge Servers and load balancers | Office Communications Server can use the certificates as required from the security team |
In an effort to assist customers, Microsoft has developed a Planning Tool for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (see the section titled "Additional Resources" at the end of this chapter for the link to the Planning Tool). This tool uses metrics that Microsoft has tested and can support for a given number of criteria, such as the number of users in your environment mapped against features (IM, Web Conferencing, audio, video, telephony) you plan to enable. Litware will use the tool to map out the required number of servers per location to meet the requirements that have been set forth. This tool will estimate the requirements based on the input provided by Litware’s administrator.
Download the Planning Tool from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=132927&clcid=0x409.
Launch the Planning Tool
On the Welcome page, select Get Started.
A series of questions will be presented to record what Litware, Inc.’s requirements will be. The team would answer the questions, which are typically radio buttons or check boxes, until the initial section of the tool is completed.
Audio and video conferencing. Within the enterprise for computer-to-computer audio and video using Office Communicator or Microsoft Office Live Meeting. (Litware, Inc. intends to use this feature.)
Web Conferencing. Enterprise users inside and outside the firewall can create and join real-time Web conferences or meetings. (Litware, Inc. intends to use this feature.)
Communicator Web access. By using a browser, users can access IM, presence, and conference features. (Litware, Inc. has moved this consideration to Phase II.)
Enterprise voice. A VoIP solution enabling users to place calls from their computers and find contacts through Outlook or Office Communicator (Litware, Inc. plans to use Enterprise Voice internally, but external testing is being deployed to a pilot group in Chicago.)
Monitoring. Monitoring Server A role that captures call detail records and quality metrics for A/V sessions. (Litware, Inc. plans to employ monitoring.)
Archiving Server. Role that allows for the capture and storage of IM conversations for compliance purposes. (Litware, Inc. plans to install archiving.)
Unified Communications Applications Application Server. A platform on which to deploy, host, and manage UC applications. There are four options currently available:
Response Group Service Automatically answers and distributes calls to a configured pool of live agents. (Litware, Inc. is considering this for a later phase.)
Conference Auto-Attendant Enables callers for the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to connect to and join conferences. (Litware, Inc. plans to pilot this in Chicago.)
Conference Announcement Service Plays announcements in conferences, such as a recorded name. (Litware, Inc. plans to use this feature.)
Outside Voice Control Provides Enterprise Voice functionality and call control to mobile phones not enabled for Enterprise Voice. (Litware, Inc. plans to pilot this feature in Chicago.)
Group Chat Server. Powerful business and communication tool that enables large numbers of people to communicate in real time in a persistent chat mode. Information from the Group Chat sessions can be persisted as long as necessary, and federated partners can also join in. (Litware, Inc. is not planning on implementing this feature.)
Device Update Service. An automated method with which to update all UC devices deployed in your enterprise. (Litware, Inc. plans to implement this feature.)
Federation. Provides the enterprise the ability to establish communication between your infrastructure and another partner using Office Communications Server. Public IM connectivity is a form of federation and is included. (Litware, Inc. plans to deploy this feature.)
High Availability. Select this feature if your infrastructure should not suffer unplanned downtime. (Litware, Inc. desires this functionality.)
The interview portion of the tool has concluded and it now prompts the team for basic information on sites, domain name(s), and number of UC–enabled users (Figure 14-1). There is also a summary of selections that were made during the interview, and the selections can be fine-tuned here.
Litware, Inc. continues to fill out the tool with the first site name (Chicago), domain name (litwareinc.com), and 70,000 users.
After the initial site screen, the team is presented with selections and questions relating to phone settings (Figure 14-2). Because Litware, Inc. is intending to pilot full voice capabilities at the Chicago site, the planning team decides to pilot 5 percent of the population, or 3,000 users. In the Enabled Users text box, the number 5 is provided. The next selection asks about external phone traffic and how many calls to the PSTN users will make at this site. Litware, Inc. decided to leave this at two calls per hour. Litware, Inc. is asked if there is a T-1 or an E-1 in their facility, and they answer T-1 for the Chicago site. The next question asks whether they have an IP PBX that is compatible with Office Communications Server. Litware does not, so they leave this unchecked. (There has been discussion of an option to upgrade the existing PBX to an IP PBX, but this is in the early phases of discussion.) When asked about a media gateway, they respond that they will use a four-port gateway. When asked about the Mediation Server that they will use, they respond with a dual processor, quad core, 3-gigahertz (GHz) server.
The Planning Tool is now asking about external user access, which Litware, Inc. is interested in, as shown in Figure 14-3. Because this is the first site, they select, Yes, And I Want To Deploy My Edge Servers In My Perimeter Network. They have also selected high availability.
Figure 14-3. External User Access enables you to define the location of your perimeter network and high availability option.
The team then defines the site information for Paris and Singapore and removes the check mark for Enterprise Voice because Paris and Singapore will not use Enterprise Voice initially. They indicate that Paris has Edge services, but Singapore will use the Edge located in Chicago. On completing the Planning Tool Wizard, they have the output shown in Figure 14-4.
Figure 14-4. Global topology view of the Litware, Inc. proposed design output from the Planning Tool
Figure 14-5 illustrates the Planning Tool output once you have double-clicked the site of interest. In this case, the team selects Chicago to view and to review for any missing elements or other requirements.
The topology diagram that is output by the Planning Tool shows the suggested number of servers based on the team’s input. However, this does not mean that this is the required number; it is just recommended.
The team reviews the output and makes a few recommendations based on their experience with traffic and load on these sites.
The Singapore site should have a single Standard Edition Server instead of an Enterprise pool. At present, the need for high availability does not justify the added expense. They adjust this in the Planning Tool by editing the Singapore site and removing the High Availability option.
Chicago should have six front-end servers, over the recommended five. Traffic will be heaviest and grow faster in this site than any other.
Chicago currently needs only two Edge Servers. More can be added later, but the current external access is not anticipated to grow for another 6–12 months, and the number of servers can be easily scaled because of the load balancers.
Paris needs an additional front-end server for the same reasons as Chicago. Internal use will be heavier, especially between Paris and Chicago.
Because of the Planning Tool and gathering detailed environment information, the team now has enough information to put together a reasonable recommended server count, location, and configuration of the topology. Table 14-4 illustrates this configuration, with active/ passive SQL Server clusters defied by (A/P) and hardware load balancers defined by (LB).
Table 14-4. Recommendations of the Planning Team for Server Equipment and Placement
LITWARE, INC. REQUIREMENTS | CHICAGO | PARIS | SINGAPORE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Total number of employees | 100,000 | 40,000 | 5,000 | |
Concurrent users | 70,000 | 38,000 | 4,000 | |
Server roles | ||||
Standard Edition Server | 1 | |||
Enterprise pool | ||||
Front-end server | 6 | 4 | ||
Back-end server | 2 (A/P) | 2 (A/P) | ||
Director | ||||
Role | EE 2 (LB) | |||
SQL | 2 (A/P) | |||
Mediation Server | 1 | |||
Monitor Server | ||||
Role | 1 | 1 | 1 (Monitor Server and Archiving Server are collocated) | |
SQL | 1 | 1 | ||
Archiving Server | ||||
Role | 1 | 1 | ||
SQL | 1 | 1 | ||
External server roles | ||||
Reverse proxy | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
Edge Server | 2 (LB) | 2 (LB) | 1 | |
Note
A TechNet article posted at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=134841&clcid=0x409 specifically discusses server user models.
Notice that Table 14-4 shows that Litware has chosen to use separate SQL Servers for their deployment in Paris and Chicago for the monitoring and archiving roles. The database administrator and the server administrator brought to the project management’s attention that the SQL Servers can host multiple instances (one instance for archiving and another separate instance for monitoring), requiring only one cluster in each location as suggested in the UC blog post, "OCS Support for Shared SQL Server," at http://communicationsserverteam.com/archive/2008/01/18/73.aspx. Project management has taken the suggestion under consideration for future deployments.