Lync 2010

Lync 2010 Cumulative Update April 2013

Johan Delimon — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:07:00 GMT

Lync 2010 Client

Lync 2010 Hotfix KB 2815347 (32 bit)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=25055

Lync 2010 Hotfix KB 2815347 (64 bit)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14490

This cumulative update fixes the issue that is described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article:

2832123 You cannot start Lync 2010 after you install the March 2013 cumulative update for Lync 2010 in Windows XP Pro or Windows Server 2003

Lync Attendee Client

Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendee - User Level Install
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15755

Lync 2010 Attendee Hotfix KB 2815352 (User level install)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=22157

This update improves the reliability, stability, and performance of Lync 2010 Attendee User level installation

Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendee - Admin Level Install
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23396

Lync 2010 Attendee Hotfix KB 2815354 (Admin level install)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13365

This cumulative update improves the reliability, stability, and performance of the Lync 2010 Attendee - Administrator level installation.

Lync 2010 Cumulative Update 8 (CU8) March 2013

Ruben Nauwelaers — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:57:00 GMT

Today Microsoft released new hotfixes and updates for Lync 2010. Previous update was CU7 released in October 2012.

Issues resolved for Lync Client

2796741 A user unexpectedly signs in to Lync 2010 as another user without a prompt for credentials after a cumulative update for Lync 2010 that is dated February 2012 or later installed
2796749 IM window opens unexpectedly when you use the IME to search in Lync 2010
2796750 Lync 2010 contacts list does not display in alphabetical order after a contact's name is changed in the Contacts folder in Outlook
2796753 An update is available to enable you to join a meeting by using Lync 2010 when a proxy authentication is required
2796757 Error message when you try to send an email message to a contact in Lync 2010 on a computer that does not have Outlook installed
2796742 An update enables participants to join meeting audio by telephone or phone when the meeting is organized by an audio/video-disabled user in Lync 2010
2796743 Call transfer is not successful when you use UI suppression in a Microsoft Lync 2010 SDK application
2796746 You cannot use Lync 2010 to join a Lync Online meeting that was created by a user in a non-federated organization
2793014 Error message when you try to join a Lync Online meeting that is created by a user in a non-federated organization in Lync 2010

Issues resolved for Lync Server

Lync Server 2010

2796755 Registrar service crashes on a Lync Server 2010 server when the SBA or SBS are deployed in branch sites
2796747 Intercluster routing component does not route a call in Lync Server 2010
2793344 "Server not compatible. Live Meeting cannot connect to the version of server" error message when you try to join a meeting by using Office Live Meeting 2007

Group Chat

2796758 User cannot join a Group Chat room after you add the user to a DG that is a member of the Group Chat room in a Lync Server 2010 environment

Core Components

2796740 Error message when you click a trend line in a Call Leg Media Quality Trend Report in Lync Server 2010
2796739 No content is displayed in the Call Leg Media Quality Report when you drill down to a specific leg in Lync Server 2010

UCMA 3.0 Runtime

2772396 UCMAPI 3.0-based Lync Server 2010 components crash when a client that can send invalid culture information joins a conference

Download Links

Download for Lync Server 2010
Download for Lync Server 2010 Group Chat
Download for Lync client 32-bit
Download for Lync client 64-bit

Lync CAL Licensing for Ad-Hoc Audio Conferencing : What CAL is required ENT or PLUS or Both?

Johan Delimon — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:48:57 GMT

I recently got the question on what CAL is required if you deploy Lync Enterprise Voice and you have the PLUS CAL for your users escalating to multi-party audio call but don’t have the ENT CAL for everyone.
Can users with STD + PLUS CAL conduct Ad-Hoc Audio Conferences, users do this when having a Audio/Telephone conversation and join in other Lync users or Phone Numbers.
While this may be a trivial question this Licensing is very complex across the Microsoft Portfolio and checking this information is important because this is something that potentially may have a huge impact on pricing for Lync Enterprise Voice

First some explanation about the Client Access Licenses

Client Access Licenses (CAL)

Standard (STD) CAL is Required by all Lync Enabled users and enable the basic Lync functionalities.
Enterprise (ENT) CAL is Required by all users creating a Conference
Plus (PLUS) CAL is Required for Enterprise Voice Features

While Audio Conferences (Ad-Hoc & Scheduled) are technically Conferencing because the MCU is involved, me as a technical person would say that ENT CAL would be required.

Now luckily for us Microsoft included the Ad-Hoc Conferencing Capability for Audio into the PLUS CAL
And on the other hand if you only have an ENT CAL you can both do Ad-Hoc & Scheduled Audio Conferencing
This is a very good to know when competing with other UC solutions!

A blast from the past : Microsoft UC History!

Ruben Nauwelaers — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 07:36:00 GMT

Introduction

History.... I have to admit it was not one of my favorite classes in school. Right now, my work (IT) is completely focused on the future: new features, faster services and increased productivity. Nevertheless knowing the roots of all things we consider as "usual" right now, might give you a broader view on how great these systems actually are...

Therefore, I decided to create an historical overview of Microsoft's products and services related to Unified Communications. As you will see, Unified Communication did not fly in out of the blue with OCS 2007. It was lingering and growing in previous and other products released by the company, many years before.

Starting from LCS, I'll limit myself to the most important changes in the product line. I believe we then reached the point where more information can be easily found on the internet.

Let's get started... now!

Disclaimer: this is an unofficial historical overview based on my knowledge and information found on the "worldwide web". It's not proven to be 100% accurate and might be missing some information. If you have something to add, please do not hesitate to contact me through twitter (@rnauwelaers). We're all here to learn, aren't we?

Once upon a time.... there was E-mail (1988)

During the 90's, companies (including Microsoft) started to understand the real importance of networks and the internet from a business perspective. Things started as "workgroup-mail" and quickly evoluated to internet-based e-mail.

Microsoft Mail (1988)

The first Microsoft Mail product was launched in 1988 and build upon AppleTalks networks and the Macintosh platform (yes, you've read that correctly). Later on, an MS-DOS client was added for PCs on AppleTalk networks. The Macintosh mail product was sold to another company and as you can expect, no longer lives on.

Later on (in 1991), Microsoft created a "new" Microsoft Mail product for PC Networks. The product came again from an acquisition from Network Courrier and clients were developed for MS-DOS and Windows. The Windows client received the original name "Windows for Workgroups Mail".

Microsoft Mail for PC-Networks configuration

Windows for Workgroups Mail

A stripped-down version of the PC-based server, Microsoft Mail for PC Networks, was included in Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. The last version of Microsoft Mail was 3.5

Exchange Server (1996)

The first Exchange version was announced in April 1996 and released on 11th June 1996 with build number 4.0.837 (see all build numbers and release dates here). It was announced as an upgrade for Microsoft Mail 3.5.

Exchange 4.0 was completely based on X.400, which at that time was the most common used mail exchange protocol. It's only at a later time that SMTP was preferred and for backwards compatibility X.400 lived on in Exchange until around the year 2006.

By default Exchange 4.0 could not connect to different the Internet or other directory servers. There were optional components for that, that could be added using the installation disk or through a download.

Exchange 5.0 was released in March 1997, building on the Exchange 4.0 Legacy

Exchange 4.0 Box Exchange 5.0 Startup Screen

Outlook Web Access

Exchange server 5.0 also introduced Outlook Web Access, a web based email client.

Outlook Web Access on Exchange 5.5

Say hello to Chat Rooms (1996)

If we go back in time and look at the first chat/IM related products that Microsoft provided, we can consolidate this in chat rooms. Chat rooms were introduced in hosting-provider solutions like Microsoft Commercial Internet System in the dark ages of internet communication . During these dark ages, information availability was not as bright as today and most documentation vanished over time... As a result information is rare, but severa lookups on our favorite search engine Google Bing provided me with a complete set of MCIS documentation and some screenshots. The product was released around mid 90's, probably around 1995-1996.

Some screenhots to "showcase" it's look 'n feel (do you even remember Windows 95 look 'n feel ?):

As you can see this is really back to basics. (If you are a "less-is-more" fan, I suggest you to have a look at these and ask your boss to run a proof of concept in a virtual machine ).

From a technical perspective, the underlying protocol used was Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

Note: The IRC protocol still exists today via multiple clients and server networks, where mIRC is without any doubt the most known client. My feeling is that IRC is not that popular with "regular" users but used more often by technical experienced guys. Once in a while you still see a website implementing chat rooms using a javascript or java based IRC web plugin.

Exchange Server on Steroïds (1997)

While Exchange Server was originally just a email system, Microsoft understood that networking could be used for a lot more than just e-mail communication. At that time, Exchange Server features were expanded with some chat room capabilities.

Microsoft Exchange Chat Server

With the release of Exchange Server 5.5 Microsoft introduced the Exchange Chat Server.

Just like the previous Chat server software, the Exchange chat server supported the IRC protocol together with a Microsoft proprietary protocol "Microsoft Internet Chat (MIC)". MIC was later phased out in favor of IRC. Microsoft also released their own IRC chat client "Microsoft Comic Chat" in 1996 which was delivered together with Internet Explorer 3.0.

Microsoft Comic Chat, probably the first chat client with avatar's expressing your mood

The Exchange Chat Service was delivered as a service for the "Internet Service Manager", the early version of what later would become IIS server. I found a great article on how to Configure Exchange Chat Server here.

Internet Service Manager main window Chat Server configuration

Exchange Server 5.5 Box Art

Exchange Server 2000: Chat, IM and Netmeeting Conferencing (2000)

The next version of Exchange Server was Exchange 2000 and was the first version to include support for Active Directory, first released on Windows 2000 Server.

Regarding communications, Microsoft added a new Instant Messaging Server, improved the existing Chat server and even created a "Microsoft Exchange Conferencing Server 2000" SKU. Microsoft Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server was designed for complete data, voice, and video conferencing. Service Pack 1 even added a web scheduler so users without the Outlook 2000 client could schedule a new conferences.

From a technical point of view, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server employed two mechanisms to provide the audio/video stream to video conferences:

IP Multicast (the preferred or default method)
H.323, which is also called Unicast (used in cases where IP Multicast is not available)

In 2002 Microsoft announced the MSN Messenger Connect Service, allowing organizations to link their Exchange IM capabilities to the MSN Network (at that time 75 million users) and have extensive archiving options.

You have to admit that a few things sound familiar:

Complete data, voice and video conferencing
Web Scheduler
MSN Messenger Connect providing similar functionality as Windows Live federation in Lync

Exchange 2000 installation wizard with Chat and Instant Messaging service

Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server Box Art Exchange Conferencing server configuration

MSN Messenger 5.0 with both MSN messenger and Exchange IM users

Live Communication Server 2003: the introduction of SIP

As instant messaging and presence products became more popular, Microsoft took the instant messaging engine out of Exchange 2000 and turned it into a stand-alone product, Live Communications Server 2003 which was released on 29 December 2003. Windows Messenger 5.0 was used as the client and the following protocols where supported

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)
SIMPLE (Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions)
RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol).

As you can see this is the first version of Microsoft's communication software that introduced support for SIP and made it the default protocol. The SIMPLE extensions for SIP were used to support presence.

With the installation of LCS, the Active Directory schema had to be extended with specific LCS attributes.

LCS 2003 Technical Library

LCS Installation Window LCS Tab Page in AD Users & Computers

LCS Administration MMC

Live Communications Server 2005

Compared to LCS 2003, Microsoft added the following features:

use SQL Server for user and configuration data.
Remote user access: allow signing in to the system externally

With the release of LCS 2005, Microsoft also introduced the new Communicator 2005 client while still supporting Windows Messenger.

Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 - Telephony Integration

LCS SP1 was the first version that supported telephony integration through Remote Call Control. Remote call control linked the telephony system to LCS and enabled LCS to receive telephony presence information. This allowed communicator to automatically set the user presence state to "in a call" during a phone call on the PBX phone. RCC was only supported with the Communicator client, not with Windows Messenger.

Live Communications Server 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) also added the following features:

Federation with Public IM Networks
URL Filter Application
SPIM Filters

LCS 2005 with SP1 Technical Library

Exchange 2007 : Unified Messaging

Unified Messaging combines voice messaging, fax, and e-mail messaging into one store, accessible from a telephone and a computer. Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging integrates Exchange Server with telephony networks and brings the Unified Messaging features to the core of Exchange Server.

Unified Messaging in Exchange 2007 gives users features such as:

Call Answering Call answering includes answering an incoming call on behalf of a user, playing their personal greeting, recording a message, and submitting it for delivery to their inbox as an e-mail message.
Fax Receiving Fax receiving is the process of submitting a fax message for delivery to the Inbox. The fax receiving feature lets users receive fax messages in their Inbox. T.38 is used as the underlying transport protocol.
Subscriber Access The subscriber access feature enables dial-in access for company users. Company users or subscribers who are dialing into the Unified Messaging system can access their mailbox using Outlook Voice Access. Subscribers who use Outlook Voice Access can access the Unified Messaging system by using the telephone keypad or voice inputs.
Auto Attendant An auto attendant is a set of voice prompts that gives external users access to the Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging system. An auto attendant lets the user use either the telephone keypad or speech inputs to navigate the menu structure, place a call to a user, or locate a user and then place a call to that user.

Office Communications Server 2007 : Multiple Point Of Presence & Enterprise Voice

OCS 2007 introduced the concept of Multiple Point of Presence. A point of presence is a client that explicitly provides presence information on behalf of a user (presentity). In MPOP, the presentity is allowed to log in from a multitude of endpoints and provide presence information to the server. The server will aggregate this presence information and provide all ‘watchers’ a unified view of the presentities presence. MPOP and the server side aggregation (also called the aggregation script) are central to providing the right user experience.

Enterprise Voice is Microsoft's software-powered VoIP solution and was first added in OCS 2007. Together with IM, conferencing, audio/video features, and full integration with Outlook and Exchange Unified Messaging, Enterprise Voice enables Communications Server users to choose the most appropriate way to communicate with colleagues throughout the enterprise. From their PCs, users can place a call by clicking an Outlook or Communicator contact.

New features for OCS 2007

OCS 2007 Technical Library

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 : additional voice Features

OCS 2007 R2 was released in October 2008, only a year after the initial release of OCS. This release was focused on delivering more voice-related features, enabling OCS 2007 R2 to be a PBX replacement in specific user cases.

What's new in Office Communications Server 2007 R2

-THE END-

If you don't know what followed after OCS 2007 R2, I would recommend you to read our website a bit more

That being said, I think it's time to snap my fingers and return back to present time.

If you have any comments or remarks, feel free to reply below or contact me using Twitter.

Cheers!

Update for Lync 2010 for Windows Phone: October 2012

Johan Delimon — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 21:22:00 GMT

There is an update to the Lync Mobile client for Windows Phone. Finally this update displays Mobile Phone numbers on the Contact Cards (this was something I really missed)
Additionally : If you were having issues joining an online meeting with Lync Mobile on WP7 then this is your solution :)

This cumulative update fixes the following issues:

2750301 An update is available that enables Microsoft Lync 2010 for Windows Phone to display an Inactive presence status after 5 minutes in an idle state
2736032 An update is available that adds an example of a user name format in the "Details" section in Lync 2010 for Windows Phone
2736033 "Could not connect to conference" error message when you click a "Join online meeting" link in Lync 2010 for Windows Phone
2735320 Mobile phone number is not displayed in a user's contact card in Lync 2010 for Windows Phone
2751200 You cannot join a conference by clicking a URL in Lync 2010 for Windows Phone

Download

Lync 2010 Cumulative Update 7 (CU7) October 2012

Johan Delimon — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 22:07:00 GMT

The new Lync Cumulative Update has been released.

Updates for Lync Server 2010
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2493736

Lync Front-End Server

2745103 URLs that contain special characters bypass the URL filter in Lync 2010

2735324 Event ID 14428 that has 0x80090322 code is logged unexpectedly after you install the update of KB 2670352 in Lync Server 2010

2735316 Excessive LDAP traffic across a WAN in Lync Server 2010

2735321 "Block all" setting of the global file transfer filter does not work in Lync Server 2010

Core Components

2736035 An update is available for Monitoring Server to create a Media Quality Comparison report in a Lync Server 2010 environment

2736037 An update that enables Monitoring Server to create a Call Leg Media Quality Report in a Lync Server 2010 environment is available

Web Components

2741291 You cannot share an application in a meeting by using Lync Web App after you install update of KB 2670534

2735325 Continuous System Center Operations Manager warning messages after you install a cumulative update for Lync Server 2010

Mobility Service

This update improves the reliability, stability, and performance of Lync Server 2010, Mobility Service

Description of the cumulative update package for Lync 2010: October 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2737155

2735322 An update is available to display the extension number for non-US telephone numbers in contact cards in Lync 2010

2739693 "Presence unknown" status is displayed for a user's contacts after you install update 2571543 in Lync 2010

2735313 No notification of an incoming file transfer when you minimize a Lync 2010 conversation window

2735319 A user name that is included in a Lync Online meeting URL is incorrect when delegate is configured

Description of the cumulative update for the Lync 2010 Attendee - Administrator level installation: October 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2752160

Description of the cumulative update for the Lync 2010 Attendee - User level installation: October 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2752157

New unofficial Click-To-Call app for SNOM Phones UPDATE

Ruben Nauwelaers — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 06:23:00 GMT

While you can use Lync as a complete softphone solution, many of my customers still have users who prefer to have a hard phone on their desk. For best user experience, click-to-call is the most obvious feature they are using.

If you look at the Lync solution ,Lync Aries devices and the USB better-together feature are the way to go to have integration between a PC and a desk phone. Many of my users are currently using this feature and are very happy with it.

So what options do you have if you decided on investing in SNOM phones instead of the Aries phones? So far none.... but this changes now!

A new call-via-phone app has been published lately to facilitate click-to-call with SNOM phones on the latest Apollo firmware. The bad news is that it's not yet clear if this will be a free or commercial application (it has a 30 day limitation but linked to a freeware section), and this first release will probably not be production-ready.

Some Screenshots

A new Tools menu-item has been added to configure the application

Configuration window

End-user experience for click to call

Source: http://msucblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/call-via-phone-app/

As far as I know, similar functionality is not (yet) available for the Aries phones because they do not have an API built in to trigger the remote call..... Maybe a good idea for future firmware releases, Microsoft?

*UPDATE*

- There is a 64-bit version available right now
- The author is planning to implement it at a customer so the stability of the app might be very good.

Lync Push Notification Service down for maintenance

Ruben Nauwelaers — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:20:00 GMT

Today the Microsoft Lync Team announced through Twitter that the Lync Push Notification Server will be down for service maintenance until the 8th of October 2012.

https://twitter.com/DrRez/status/253614580952100864

"NOTICE: Push Notification Service is down until Monday Oct 8 2012 due to service upgrades and maintenance. Spread the word! "

The Push notification service is used by Lync Server to send Push messages to Windows Phone and iOS devices. As long as the service is down, iOS and Windows Phone will not receive any Push notifications.

Windows Server 2012 Released - What about Exchange/Lync?

Ruben Nauwelaers — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 06:27:00 GMT

As many of you might already know, Microsoft released Windows Server 2012 this week.
Some great information can be found here:

Without any doubt, this is the best Windows Server edition ever released with tons of new features like Hyper-V 3.0 and a much improved server manager. If you want to try it yourself, visit the Windows Server 2012 Trial page and download yourself a free trial copy.

But how does Windows 2012 go with our much beloved UC products Lync Server & Exchange Server?
Please find an overview below

Lync Server 2010

To know which server edition of Windows is supported for use with Lync Server 2010, we take a look at the Server and Tools Operating System Support page in the Lync technet library. This page was not updated for Windows Server 2012 which means that right now it is not supported to install Lync Server 2010 on Windows Server 2012.

At the moment it is not known if Microsoft will release an update for Lync Server 2010 which will enable support for Windows Server 2012. Please keep in mind that Lync Server 2010 was not designed to work on a newer release of Windows Server and it will depend on technical limitations if Microsoft will release such an update.

Current Conclusion: not supported

Lync Server 2013 (Public Preview)

The Lync Server 2013 Public Preview technet library has the same Server and Tools Operating System Support page, which states that Windows Server 2012 is supported.

Conclusion: supported

Lync Client 2010

On the Lync 2010 System Requirements page we find no mention on Windows Server 2012, which means it is currently not officially supported.

Since Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 are build with backwards compatibility in mind, my personal opinion is that Microsoft will add official support it later on. This official support can be added with either a Cumulative Update or just an update to the system requirements page if they found no issues.

Current Conclusion: not yet officially supported

Lync Client 2013 Public Preview

The Lync Client 2013 requirements page states that Windows 8 and Windows 7 are supported; and since Windows Server 2012 is the server edition of Windows 8, we can conclude it is supported.

Conclusion : supported

Exchange Server 2010

Same as with Lync Server 2010, the System Requirements page for Exchange server 2010 was not yet updated and Microsoft did not release a statement regarding Windows Server 2012 support.
Important to know is that some Technet pages already talk about Exchange 2010 SP3, but it is unknown if Windows Server 2012 support is one of its features.

*update* : blog post from msexchange team stating that it currently is not supported but support coming in a future update! (My bet: SP3)

*update2* : Exchange SP3 was announced by the MS Exchange team. It will be available Q1 in 2013 and will support Windows Server 2012.

Current Conclusion: supported with SP3, to be released Q1/2013

Exchange Server 2013 Public Preview

The Exchange Server 2013 Public Preview System Requirements page mentions support for Windows Server 2012.

Conclusion: supported

Virtualization

Windows Server 2012 includes Hyper-V 3.0 with a lot of new exciting features. So what about support for virtualized Lync and Exchange environments?

Understanding Exchange 2010 Virtualization states that only Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 Hyper-V are supported hypervisors for Exchange 2010.

Virtualization Support for Lync Server 2010 states that Microsoft Hyper-V is a supported hypervisor, not defining a specific version. If we look further and check he Server Virtualization in Lync Server 2010 document , we find that only Hyper-V 2.0 (Windows 2008 R2) with a specific hotfix is validated to work. Hyper-V 1.0 (Windows Server 2008) is not supported at all because it does not have specific features required for real-time communication workloads.

Since Hyper-V 3.0 is a much improved version of version 2.0 and includes the same and more features, it is just a matter of time before Microsoft will validate Hyper-V 3.0 as a supported hypervisor platform for Lync/Exchange workloads. At this time, the official documentation does not mention anything about it, so....

Current Conclusion: not yet supported

What does "Not Officially Supported" mean?

Not officially supported means that Microsoft did not validate the product to work in these specific conditions and that Microsoft can not guarantee that the software will work as expected.

If you do use the software in an unsupported scenario and have issues while doing so, you can call Microsoft Support for help but this will be "Best Effort". Microsoft will not take any responsibility what so ever in an unsupported scenario.

Presence Bootstrapping Tool for Lync Server 2010

Johan Delimon — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 22:58:00 GMT

The Presence Bootstrapping Tool for Lync Server 2010 sets default presence policies for identities that have never previously signed into a Lync Server client. This utility is intended to be run once for users of some qualified client applications that are not released by Microsoft (for example, Polycom KIRK). Any qualified partner solution that requires use of this tool will explicitly direct you to it. Use this tool only if directed by a qualified partner solution provider or by documentation for the users of that solution. For further information please see Knowledge Base article 2737277.

Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34590

Instructions

Presence Bootstrapping Tool for Lync Server 2010 must be set up and configured as a Lync trusted application before running. The Lync trusted application ID must be set in PresenceBootstrapper.exe.config.
See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh347354.aspx for information on configuring a trusted application. Note that optional steps pertaining to Active Directory Contact Objects may be ignored.
The utility can be run on a single identity or multiple identities. Examples:

PresenceBootstrapper sip:adamb@fabrikam.com
PresenceBootstrapper -file URIs.txt where URIs.txt contains a line separated list of URIs:
- sip:adamb@fabrikam.com
- sip:joses@fabrikam.com
- sip:joeb@fabrikam.com

Notes-

URIs processed will temporarily appear available during execution of this utility, and should return to offline after a few seconds.
When running PresenceBootstrapper, you may experience delays of a minute or more during application startup before URI processing begins.

DirectX Video Acceleration for Lync Video Codecs

Johan Delimon — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:34:00 GMT

Microsoft published the following documents describing DirectX acceleration for Video a little while ago.
Now I am wondering whether this would lower the Hardware Requirements for HD video in Lync?

The Current Hardware Requirements for VGA & HD Quality video are the following: Video: Dual Core 1.9 GHz processor or the latest version for VGA; Quad Core 2.0 GHz or the latest version for high definition
More info on the Hardware Requirements here : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg412781

DirectX® Video Acceleration Specification for Windows Media Video® v8, v9 and vA Decoding (Including SMPTE 421M "VC-1")
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=25228
Defines extensions to DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) to support decoding of Windows Media Video.
Note : VC-1 is actually the Video Codec used by RTVideo

DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) Specification for H.264/MPEG-4 Scalable Video Coding (SVC) Off-Host VLD Mode Decoding
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30154
This document is the specification for support of Scalable Video Coding (SVC) according to the H.264/MPEG-4 video coding standard within the Microsoft Windows DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) API/DDI context.
Note : H.264 SVC is the Video Codec used by Lync 2013

Which Lync Certified Devices also work on Lync for Mac 2011?

Ruben Nauwelaers — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:45:00 GMT

Most of you will be well aware that Microsoft has a Compatible Devices Program for Lync 2010, which is updated regulary. On this list you'll find all devices that were successfully tested and working with Lync 2010.

Because of the different underlying architecture of the Mac OS system, this list is not applicable for Lync for Mac 2011.

While it is not an official list, Tom Laciano created a Lync for Mac 2011 Devices blog post on Technet where all community verified devices (working or not working) are documented.

Community Day 2012 Session Lync Logging and Troubleshooting PowerPoint available

Ruben Nauwelaers — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 07:12:00 GMT

This is the powerpoint file of my community day 2012 Session regarding Lync Logging And Troubleshooting Presentation.

If you have questions regarding this presentation, contact me using the credentials in the author slide.

Get it here: http://www.pro-exchange.be/media/p/1490.aspx

Lync Firewall Rules Viewer

Ruben Nauwelaers — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 06:27:00 GMT

This is one excellent tool that will prove to be very valuable in troubleshooting scenario's.

The Lync Firewall Rules Viewer is a Windows 7 application that visually illustrates the network traffic between any pair of server or client Lync endpoints. When the administrator selects a source endpoint in the left pane, the list of possible destination endpoints this source can communicate with is shown in the right pane (See figures below).

Source and Download: NextHop

Warning

On a 64-bit system I got the following error when opening the application:

It asks to download and install the Office System Driver Data Connectivity Component for your office version: Office 2007 - Office 2010

I did exactly that but still it didn't work. I only get it working on a 32-bit system, what's your experience? I'll contact the author for more information

Update for Lync for iPad now enables viewing PowerPoint presentations during conference

Ruben Nauwelaers — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 07:25:00 GMT

Microsoft just released the Lync for iPad client version 1.5 on iTunes, and a great new feature has been added.

Your Lync servers need to be patched with CU6 (June 2012), and then your iPad users will be able to see the PowerPoint presentations shared during a Lync Conference. This is how it looks like:

As said, this only works when:

using the iPad client (no Windows Phone, iPhone or Android yet)
Lync server back-end is patched with Lync CU6

Download Lync for iPad update on iTunes

Sources: Matt Landis Blog, VoIPNorm Blog