Microsoft Lync 2010 RC preparation, pre-req's and installation

With the release of Microsoft's newest version of OCS, named Lync 2010, I decided it was time to do a basic walkthrough of the install process. This process is detailed very well in this deployment guide. This posting is more of a consolidated version of this document (minus the edge deployment for now) Another really good reference is the Getting Started guide which reviews new terminology, features and concepts.

Top Exciting Changes to the deployment
#1 – Powershell installation. You can now deploy roles from script once you understand the install needs.
#2 – Much improved certificate planning wizards.
#3 – Centralized Configuration that allows for more planning, testing and allows for rolling back changes as well.


Reviewing the DNS, certificate, and Edge configuration in that document after reading this walk through will help with some of those particular steps that I didn't think I could consolidate clearly in this entry.

Install pre-requisite Windows features using Powershell and reboot.
import-module servermanager

add-windowsfeature NET-Framework,web-server,web-http-redirect,web-asp,Web-Scripting-Tools,Web-Net-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-Http-Logging,Web-Http-Tracing,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Cert-Auth,Web-Filtering,web-asp-net,Web-Log-Libraries,Web-Client-Auth,RSAT-ADDS,telnet-client

Re-run Windows Update for the new roles.

Install the Visual C++ redistributable (Lync 2010 will install for you if do not)

Install Silverlight (yep, now you HAVE to - unless you don't want to admin from the server)

Start the \setup\amd64\setup.exe from the installation media


Choose Prepare AD - before doing ANY of this, I recommend reading my article on how to properly back up your AD schema. This is pre-release code, and this shouldn't be done in a production active directory!

Create DNS entries as needed (check document in the introduction above!)

Prepare Schema (this looks different now!)


Prepare the forest and the domain next. After this, you will see some new users in your Users Canonical folder in AD:


Done with AD steps, time to deploy the Central Management Service


This checks prereq's and installs things like SQL Express, and UC components:


Install Topology Builder and the Administrative Tools


At this point, we have some new tools in our start menu:


We will need to run the Topology Builder here and choose a New Topology.

Define a new topology

• Specify your primary and any additional SIP domains
• Define the first site. (More on sites later, but these are different from AD sites!)
• Enter Location information

New Front End Wizard

• Specify FQDN and Enterprise/Standard PoolSelect features
  

• Choose collocated server roles for AV Conferencing and Mediation servers.
• Associate server roles with the front end pool
  

• Specify a SQL store - if you chose Standard edition, everything here is greyed out.
• Define a file share - this will need to be manually created with Domain Admins Full Control and Everyone Read.
• Specify a web services URL, by default this is internal FQDN of the pool, but if you want it later to be an external FQDN it is changeable.

You can now review your topology and once complete, choose to publish it.

Once you have successfully published your topology, you can begin to install the Lync 2010 Server, choosing to retrieve directly from the Central Management Store (CMS)

This pulls your topology from what you published and beings installing the local configuration store, which in a single server configuration, is likely the same server. In a larger environment, you might want your topology and planning on a VM somewhere, separated from other roles.

Setup Lync Server components - based on machine name, it will pull from your published topology.

Request and assign an SSL certificate for the new server. Those who know OCS 2007 planning will appreciate the UI changes here.

Start services and confirm they are running

Launch the Lync Server Control Panel. If prompted for a URL, it's https://<server.or.pool.FQDN>/cscp and can be viewed from other machines as well.

Part Two will be coming soon, and I will delve into user enabling, and review DNS entries and client configurations more. Part 3 will likely review deploying a Lynx Edge server.