toml-lcskid Live Communications Server

I am testing the new Writer beta for the blog. Nice compact window and rather simple options for the most used features I can think of using.

I don't think I can insert pictures on this site but let's try the process. So the insert is rather easy and if successful it is a black and white picture of my daughter.

And that fails because the sites don't allow for image upload. Now to figure out how to redirect uploads to another location... hmmmm..

I will have to test this with the personal blog, I like this a lot.

I really appreciate knowing that a lot of folks find the blog useful and am happy to have had opporunity to share the vouchers with you. I have received the 10 requests for vouchers.

TomL LCSKid

I received an email via the blogs from Arun this week about the options he has to connect to LCS while running a UNIX/Linux OS.

The Microsoft solution is Communicator Web Access, but this is a server install enabling browser support for clients. Like many of us Arun is not that admin so this is not an option.

3rd party clients is the only other way to go -

Trillian and Gaim are the two options I am aware of, and from an earlier post you can see that I use Trillian personally due to my support for Public Internet Connectivity (PIC) which requires me to be able to test AOL, MSN, Yahoo! accounts with customers. Trillian also offers a SIP plug-in for which I have used successfully while internal to our corporate network (it does not work when I am home via the Access Proxy for some reason).  Trillian is also a Windows only client so this won't be an option for any of the UNIX/Linux users.

Gaim offers a Windows and Open Source solution and I have tried both. I am not by any means someone you should think knows anything on Linux but I use the Ubuntu distro for my testing in a Virtual Machine. Our investigation on this issue appears to show that the way Gaim combines the server and alias information assumes information about the server deployment. What Arun and I have found in our testing shows that the client queries for the server but the server based on the alias won't work with a typical LCS deployment.

For example my alias is toml (at) microsoft (dot) com so there is a DNS SRV query for microsoft.com but our servers for lcs are host.microsoft.com so there will not be a valid connection.

What I said to Arun is that I believe the Gaim client was not likely written for the LCS product but for the other SIP products (open source) available. Thus we are at a stand still and if you have any info or thoughts let me know. Remember I am NOT a developer :)

TomL LCSKid

Yes we listen to your feedback about lacking support for various topologies or technologies and yes we work on it. For everyone who called support and spoke to our team you heard the "not supported" answer. What you have to remember is we feed that information through our Supportability Program Managers directly and also through our support call statistics. In this customers also feed the information through the sales team and that gets communicated via a few other internal channels and there is also the customers who say it is mandatory or else and they file Design Change Requests.

Nothing moves as fast as anyone wants but today we have reached the point of giving what you have asked for -

The RTC Product Group has now completed testing of Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 with SQL Server 2005 SP1, and is pleased to announce that LCS 2005 SP1 Enterprise Edition can now be deployed using either SQL 2000 SP3a and above or SQL 2005 SP1.

We’re also able at this time to communicate support for LCS 2005 SP1 (both Standard and Enterprise Editions) on Windows Server 2003 R2.

This means that customers who have standardized on SQL 2005, or beginning to deploy Windows Server 2003 R2, can now more readily deploy Live Communications Server.  

• LCS 2005 system requirements and supported environments http://www.microsoft.com/office/livecomm/prodinfo/sysreq.mspx
• Knowledge Base article #911996 details the pre-requisite steps required prior to deploying SQL 2005 SP1.

Supported Scenarios: LCS 2005 Enterprise Edition and LCS 2005 SP1 Enterprise Edition

• Database requirements: Installation of Live Communications Server 2005 Enterprise Edition requires a separate server running SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition, SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition with service pack 3a, SQL Server 2005 SP1 Standard Edition, or SQL Server 2005 SP1 Enterprise Edition.
• Archiving service requires: SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition, SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, SQL Server 2005 SP1 Standard Edition, or SQL Server 2005 SP1 Enterprise Edition.

No changes have been made to the supported scenarios for LCS Standard Edition with respect to SQL 2005. This is of course due to the fact setup for Standard Edition installs MSDE and does not support a SQL back-end.

The product group released an update to Communicator Mobile on June 23. I believe this was a situation of taking advantage of our product cycle along with the localized versions but thought you might want to know. Typically if you have an issue the first words from us support folks will be "Did you test the latest version"? The reason for this is that any fix will be against the latest version.

Description of the update for Communicator Mobile: June 23, 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=919950

Issues that the update fixes

This update for Communicator Mobile fixes the following issues:

•	919873 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919873/) You are not notified that a "File Transfer" or a "Remote Assistance" request from Communicator 2005 to Communicator Mobile could not be delivered
•	919874 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919874/) The home screen layout on a Moto Q device changes when Communicator Mobile is installed
•	919875 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919875/) A "Call Computer" request in Communicator 2005 is not established when the recipient is a Communicator Mobile user
•	919877 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919877/) Nothing occurs when you single-tap the "My Status" screen in Communicator Mobile on a Pocket PC
•	919878 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919878/) ActiveSync may try to install the incorrect version of Communicator Mobile on a device
•	919879 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919879/) Updated phone forward settings may not be displayed on a Windows Mobile-based Smartphone that uses Communicator Mobile
•	921460 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921460/) The bottom of the text in the second row of a contact note is truncated in Communicator Mobile

I would have bet that at one time I received all comments in email so I have just thought folks were viewing and consuming the blog posts. Thanks to Steve he mentioned having a problem. Turns out my comment settings were not correct.

I have attempted to resolve this and will monitor closer. At any time you have a question about a post you can always email my alias at microsoft, just strip off the lcskid piece!

TomL LCSKid

We recently had 2 customers encounter a very painful and labor intesive process working through issues with failed PIC configurations. Turns out they had an underscore in their pool names, you know something like - lcs_pool.domain.com.

So there shouldn't be a problem right? I mean the OS didn't stop me, the LCS setup didn't stop me, my remote users work and now 2 of 3 (MSN and Yahoo) can't work?

Turns out that the underscore is a character that we don't support. In some brief discussions it was mentioned that it was a non SIP compliant character but in my quick glances and searches through RFC's I don't know if that is true or not. So at this time let me say that it won't work.

Now I have to give credit to the team that always comes through on this for us - JB, CW and JU. For any customer who has ever been to a Microsoft event where the product group presents JB is the one talking about LCS and Certs and CW and JU have presented on our tools and troubleshooting. I say all this because I am fortunate enough to be able to email, im or call any of them for questions and they will always help if they have the time. JB of course had already entered a bug for the next product version to either support the underscore or block it during setup. Please recognize that this is for tracking and due to priority could be "punted" so this is not a post making any promises.

Have a great one,

This post is not about LCS and Communicator specifically but about IM in general. Due to my unique role in supporting our PIC customers (Public Internet Connectivity), I need to have an account on AOL/MSN/Yahoo! in order to test with the customer what they are experiencing. I don't really use any of the three accounts for IM but I given my employment and all 3 being free I of course make use of MSN (Hotmail) for email and IM.

I actually purchased Trillian Pro because of the SIP plug-in it offered. This allows me to start a Virtual PC with Windows XP and then load Trillian to my corporate account and all 3 cloud accounts. By the way to give you a screen shot of the client check out http://tomllcskid.blogspot.com/ I forgot about being able to upload a pic with each post and thought I might revisit the use of that site.

All of these background to point out an interesting article today about Trillian no longer being in the Google Pack. Maybe I am exposing the rock I live under but I had not heard of this pack although this could simply be due to the fact I am very wary of free software. So without knowing more than what this article says, what strikes me is how Google describes the products in their pack - Free, reputation for excellence and evaluated to meet Google Software Principles... it makes me wonder what Trillian failed to do or really what is Google about to offer that they are a competitive threat?

http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,125813,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp

Have a terrific day and tell your wife/husband that you love them!

Toml LCSKid

Skills Assessment Title: AS35: Introduction to Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005

Skills Assessment Number: AS35A-100

Language: English

Instructions for the Assessment -

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/assessment

Click àAssess Yourself

Click àI already know my topic area

Sign in with your Passport account

Click àMicrosoft Office Live Communications Server 2005

Click àTake the Assessment

I  took this exam the other night and it did take me about 30 minutes. I ran into an odd experience in which a survey prompt came up as I was ready to score or assess myself and I chose cancel on the survey and lost my test. I would not suggest hitting cancel on that popup! 

TomL LCSKid  

Product Relationships:

Microsoft Events

·  TechNet Webcast: DNS Setup for Live Communications Server 2005 (Level 300)

·  TechNet Webcast: Managing Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 Certificates (Level 300)

·  TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Office Communicator Technical Overview (Level 200)

·  TechNet Webcast: Public Cloud Federation (Level 200)

Microsoft Partner Learning Center

·  Microsoft Partner Readiness: Microsoft Real-Time Communications Overview (LCS 2005 SP1, Live Meeting 2005, Office Communicator 2005)

Microsoft PressPass

·  Live Communications Server 2005 Document: Active Directory Preparation Guide

·  Live Communications Server 2005 Document: Deploying Access Proxy and Director

·  Live Communications Server 2005 Document: Planning Guide

·  Live Communications Server 2005 Enterprise Edition Document: Lab Quick Start

·  Live Communications Server 2005 Trial Software

·  Live Communications Server Proxy Deployment Guide

·  Office Communicator 2005: Microsoft Office Communicator Getting Started

·  Office Communicator Web Access: Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access Planning and Deployment Guide

The beta version of this exam is 71-262. Please note that when registering.

Read below for details – use this code when registering for the Free Beta Exam -  TS262

<toml lcskid>

I took this test Friday April 28 and with my comments on various questions it took me 1.5 hours to complete.

<toml lcskid>

Beta Exam 71-262: TS: Microsoft® Office Live Communications Server 2005 - Implementing, Managing, and Troubleshooting

Audience – IT Pros/Architects

You are invited to Exam 70-262 in its beta version. As a benefit to you for demonstrating your expertise by passing specific Microsoft certification exams or by other means, this beta exam is offered to you free. This beta exam will not be offered to the general public, and is only available to a certain number of candidates. Each seat will be assigned on a first come first serve basis.

By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

**Registration Information**

Note: You will be given four hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.

Testing is held at Prometric and Pearson VUE testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries. You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam. Contact your exam provider for seat availability. (Please note: all testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.)

Please read carefully the following registration information as the schedules vary depending on which testing center you choose:

Registration begins:

April 15, 2006

Beta exam period runs:

April 27 – May 10, 2006

Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: TS262

These beta periods are subject to change; please check the exam preparation guides for the most up-to-date information:

http://www.microsoft.com/Learning/exams/70-262.asp

To register for this exam or for information about testing centers in your area, call:

• Prometric: (800) 755-EXAM (800-755-3926)
• VUE: 800 TEST REGistration (800-837-8734)

Outside the U.S./Canada, please visit the following Web sites for registration information:

• Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp
• VUE: http://www.vue.com/ms/

Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) Information on the World Wide Web

For more information, visit the MCP Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/mcp/, write to MCPHelp@microsoft.com or call 800-636-7544.

Specific pages that answer some frequently asked questions are listed below.

What is a beta exam?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/faq/procedures.asp

Where can I learn more about the registration process?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/register/default.asp

How do I prepare for this exam?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/exams/70-262.asp

When will my beta exam results be available?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/faq/procedures.asp#D

Where can I learn more about the beta exam invitation process?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/status/beta.asp

How can I learn more about the new and improved item types?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/faq/innovations.asp.

Where can I learn more about the MCSE on Windows Server 2003 certification?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcp/mcse/default.asp

If you have further questions regarding this exam or the MCP program, send e-mail to MCPHelp@microsoft.com or call 800-636-7544.

Introduction

Installation

ISSUE: Installation Prerequisites cause problems when not addressed.

In addition to the software and hardware requirements specified in the Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007 Planning and Deployment Guide, the following are installation pre-requisites for the Communicator Mobile client:

§  You must not install Communicator Mobile on a storage card.

§  The folder to which you download the Communicator Mobile Windows Installer package (.msi) must not be encrypted.

§  Communicator Mobile must not already be installed on the mobile device. Remove previous installations of Communicator Mobile before you reinstall or install a new release.

§  Ensure that there is sufficient space on the mobile device to which you are trying to install. The Communicator Mobile installation for devices running Windows Mobile 5.0 requires approximately 7 MB of space. The Communicator Mobile installation for devices running Windows Mobile 2003 SE (Second Edition) requires approximately 3.4 MB of space.

ISSUE: ActiveSync Add/Remove Programs options do not remove Communicator Mobile installer file from the desktop computer.

When you use ActiveSync Add/Remove Programs and click Remove, Communicator Mobile is removed from the device, but the installer file is not removed from the desktop computer that was used to install Communicator Mobile. In order to remove the installer file from the desktop computer, you also have to remove the program using Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel.

If you remove Communicator Mobile from the device, but do not remove the installer file from the desktop computer, the next time you run the installer, you will be prompted to uninstall.

ISSUE: When Communicator Mobile is installed to a storage card on a Pocket PC, there are problems with the Pocket PC Today screen add-in.

We do not support installation of Communicator Mobile to a storage card. However, ActiveSync, when used with a Pocket PC running Windows Mobile 2003 SE, displays the option to install to a storage card. When you install Communicator Mobile to a storage card, the Today screen add-in disappears or displays incorrectly and cannot be used. Install Communicator Mobile to device memory instead.

Sign-in and Sign-out

ISSUE: The sign-in process takes a long time.

If you have 200 or more contacts on your Contacts list, the Communicator Mobile sign-in process can take longer. Having a large number of contacts on your Contacts list can also cause Communicator Mobile to stop responding altogether. If Communicator Mobile has stopped responding, delete contacts by using Office Communicator 2005, and then restart your mobile device before you try to sign in again.

ISSUE: Communicator Mobile is unresponsive after a phone call.

After a phone call, Communicator Mobile may not immediately respond. This is due to the automatic sign-in behavior of Communicator Mobile, where it tries to sign in immediately after the phone call ends (attempting to reconnect synchronously with the GPRS data reconnection). While Communicator Mobile reconnects, it seems unresponsive or is slow to respond.

ISSUE: On some Cingular 2125 smartphone devices, pressing END (call) button disconnects the GPRS data connection.

When you make or receive a call on a Windows Mobile powered device, the GPRS connection is put on hold. However, on some Cingular 2125 smartphone devices, when you press the END (call) button, the GPRS connection is disconnected. Communicator Mobile relies on the GPRS connection and is, therefore, signed out when GPRS is disconnected. If Communicator Mobile is configured to automatically sign in, Communicator Mobile will retry signin five times, beginning 15 seconds after it is initially disconnected.

If you do not want to disconnect GPRS with the END (call) button, you can set the value of the following registry key to 1:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\ConnMgr\Providers\{7C4B7A38-5FF7-4bc1-80F6-5DA7870BB1AA}\Connections\(GPRS connection name)\AlwaysOn

Conversations

ISSUE: Communicator Mobile supports a limited number of emoticons.

Communicator Mobile does not support the full spectrum of emoticons. Only the following emoticons are supported by Communicator Mobile:

:)     Smiley

:(     Sad smiley

:o    Surprised smiley

:d    Open-mouthed smiley

:p    Smile with tongue out

;)     Winking smile

Emoticons that are not supported appear as text.

ISSUE: “Failed to establish session” error message displays

A message delivery error “Failed to establish session” sometimes displays when you reply to an incoming instant message (IM). The error message displays when the user tries to send a message before Communicator Mobile has successfully established a session with the server.

This behavior is occasionally observed on high latency networks such as GPRS. When the session has been established, a “talking bubble” icon is displayed next to the participant name or list in the conversation window.

ISSUE: Messages cannot be sent or received while ActiveSync is actively synching mail.

When you try to send a message while ActiveSync is actively synching mail, you  receive a non-delivery error message. If another user tries to send you a message while your device is synching mail, the other user will receive a non-delivery error message. The reason is because ActiveSync takes up too much bandwidth. The synch process normally lasts for only a few seconds. After ActiveSync is done synching, you can resend messages.

ISSUE: Message toasts are not displayed

Communicator Mobile toasts are not displayed when they are received at the same time that a toast for another program (for example, e-mail or SMS) is actively displayed. This is to ensure that active notifications from other applications are not overwritten by Communicator Mobile’s toasts.

If there is an active toast from another application currently being displayed, the Communicator Mobile toast is added to the Notifications tray at the top of the Today screen. For example:

In order to view a toast that has been sent to the Notifications tray, you have to tap the Notifications tray on the Today screen. Any toasts that are queued in the Notifications tray when you sign out of or exit Communicator Mobile are discarded.

ISSUE: IMs fail when both users send messages to each other at the same time

When two Communicator Mobile users send messages to each other at the same time, both receive a toast for the session. If the users both accept the incoming message and try to use the conversation window to send more messages, a message delivery error: “Unable to Establish Session” displays.

At the SIP protocol level, each Communicator Mobile client receives a 487 Request Terminated message and the INVITE is cancelled.

In order to send messages to each other, the users must end the conversation and then start a new conversation, as described in the Communicator Mobile Help topics or Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile Getting Started Guide.

ISSUE:  Problems removing Communicator Mobile using ActiveSync Add/Remove Programs on a Windows Server 2003 computer

When you use ActiveSync on a Windows Server 2003 computer to install Communicator Mobile on a smartphone running Windows Mobile 5.0, future attempts to remove Communicator Mobile using ActiveSync’s Add/Remove programs will not succeed on the first attempt. It will, however, succeed if you re-run ActiveSync Add/Remove Programs. You can also remove Communicator Mobile by using the device’s Remove Programs feature as well as by using the Windows Installer file (.msi).

ISSUE:  Toast for incoming conversation stops displaying when you press the HOME key on a smartphone

If you press the HOME key when you receive a toast for an incoming conversation, the toast stops displaying and can no longer be accessed. You can check the Current Conversations list in your Contacts list to see if the conversation was automatically accepted by Communicator Mobile. If the toast was for an incoming IM conversation, the message is automatically accepted on the most active Communicator endpoint at the time.

Presence and Contacts

ISSUE: Presence status is not displayed for some or all contacts

Presence status for contacts can be unavailable if you have a very large contact list or if your device is low on memory. Exit programs that you are not currently using, or delete some contacts in order to optimize your Contacts list. Communicator Mobile does not explicitly define any limit to the number of contacts on your Contacts list; however, on some devices, Communicator Mobile is unable to display presence status because of memory limitations.

Device Interaction

ISSUE: Battery life is impacted by Communicator Mobile usage.

While it is not possible to accurately predict battery life and consumption because these vary across devices, there have been observations of battery life reduction of between 25% to 39% when Communicator Mobile is constantly signed in over the GPRS data connection. Enabling Communicator Mobile’s "Automatically log in" option may lead to reduced battery life and higher data usage.

Office Communicator Mobile just released to web and is now available for download from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=BC89EC5E-5F3B-47D2-955B-B0C1DEAC94D8.

I will be adding an issues posting that was not included in the release notes or documentation for the product. They will be public KB articles shortly.

Toml LCS Kid

So I was contacted in IM today by a past colleague (Hey Steve) now doing some consulting and he brought up this issue and trying to find the value as well as some background.

The issue came up with a customer who wanted to have what is referred to as persistent chat. We don't position ourselves as being a Chat solution but we do have the ability to keep a conversation window open which satisfies that request. The reason you would not want to make this change just because it looks good in general is that you could negatively impact our MPOP (Multiple Points of Presence) functionality. We support up to 8 endpoints by default, on the Forest properties and User tab - Maximum devices per user - 8. This would mean that if I signed in to Communicator on my desktop and opened an IM window with my entire team and then went downstairs to a training room and signed in again, I would not get any of the IM conversation from the team because it was not not timing out.

If you were to call and speak to me on this subject I would have you consider the impact of changing MPOP to 1 so that if you signed in on another endpoint you would sign yourself out on the other system. Now this is not necessarily the greatest solution overall but does help avoid those helpdesk calls when people claim to not be getting IMs from peers.

Please note very carefully that this is an issue for clients that can sign-in to the MSN and AOL services. This could possibly impact those customers running Windows Messenger 5.1 or Mac Messenger which both support multiple "stacks" or services.

http://www.techweb.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=181501620

This is one reason we inform customers of the PIC capabilities of LCS Server with Office Communicator.

TomL LCS Kid

Last week (Feb 20-24) we ran into a few problems with 2 of the three partners - MSN and Yahoo!, I will give the details I can of them as well as request some input from you about improvements.

Background - all PIC issues, that is communication to and from a corporate domain to any of the 3 clouds always come to Microsoft support first. The reason is to be sure that it is not something with the customer LCS deployment or configuration and to also buffer the 3 partners from getting questions they are not able to provide support for.

Last week we had MSN be impacted by a change of names by the Root Certificate Authority. So for anyone who had a certificate from Equifax they had to get a new Certificate and Certificate Chain. For anyone that communicates to a site with that authority you would need the new certificate chain also. Any workstation or server with the ability to get to Windows update is ok, but that Access Proxy is in a DMZ usually and only requires 5061 for connections and thus would not get the updated certificate. One of the other partners had this same problem but at the moment of typing I can't remember who.

There was also an upgrade to the MSN Address Book environment which created the problem I mentioned in the Provisioning post - unable to add user to address book. So anyone who tried to add user@domain.com from an MSN client would get that error, however they could still have an IM conversation. This was researched and resolved Thursday night, Friday morning. While I have not been provided root cause I am aware that there was an upgrade to the Address Book environment so we knew what the "last change" was we always customers!

On the Yahoo! side we had lots of reports from customers that were not seeing presence changes or incorrect presence. While there is report that on Friday this was resolved we are still investigating the issue for a few customers still reporting problems. Again I do not have root cause but what I do know is that some additional servers were added to the environment but not added to the list of servers (see even the best of us can forget all the steps necessary) and there was also a value for the subscription time out that was configured for a very high setting.

So, during this time we were sort of scrambling to realize this was happening (more customers calling and reporting) and to try and report them correctly. We obviously don't have the best process for alerting everyone to a situation like this and we are discussing this now. Your ideas would be welcomed.

Tom LCS Kid