https://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Launch-a-Web-application-with-a-Lync-custom-menu

The Microsoft Lync
2013 mobile client for Android was released this past weekend. This article discusses some of the key features and links to the download.

https://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2013/04/02/lync-2013-mobile-client-for-android.aspx

The new sign-in page for Office 365! The redesign provides a simple sign in experience that adapts to work better on whatever device you’re using, from a desktop to tablet to phone, as well as reducing the number of times you’ll need to sign in.

https://community.office365.com/en-us/blogs/office_365_technical_blog/archive/2013/04/01/announcement-new-office-365-sign-in-page.aspx

Office 365 ProPlus Administrator Series: Enabling Verbose Logging for Troubleshooting Office 365 ProPlus Installations

https://community.office365.com/en-us/blogs/office_365_technical_blog/archive/2013/04/04/office-365-proplus-administrator-series-enabling-verbose-logging-for-troubleshooting-office-365-proplus-installations.aspx

Office 365 ProPlus Administrator Series: Using Office 365 as a Deployment Share

https://community.office365.com/en-us/blogs/office_365_technical_blog/archive/2013/04/02/office-365-proplus-administrator-series-using-office-365-as-a-deployment-share.aspx

IdFix DirSync Error Remediation Tool

IdFix is used to perform discovery and remediation of identity objects and their attributes in an on-premises Active Directory environment in preparation for migration to Office 365. IdFix is intended for the Active Directory administrators responsible for DirSync with the Office 365
service.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36832

One possible reason for this could be that you are experiencing a UPN/SIP mismatch. The steps below will perform the UPN swap.

1. Log into Microsoft Online Portal (portal.microsoftonline.com) with admin credentials

2. Go to the Users page under management and click on the user in question.

3. Go to the Details page for this user and change their domain to the .onmicrosoft.com domain and click save.

4. Allow 30 minutes for propagation then have the user log into the Microsoft Online Portal.

5. Return to the Details page for the user and change their domain back to what it needs to be and save it.

6. Allow up to 30 minutes and try to log into Lync.

Although 30mins above, please allow enough time for the changes to take effect which  should reset the primary attributes fix other field issues and get these accounts showing correctly. 

Looking at the reports showed this error

ms-client-diagnostics: 24; reason="Call failed to establish due to a media connectivity failure when both endpoints are remote";CallerMediaDebug="application-sharing:ICEWarn=0x320,LocalSite=xx.xx.xxx.x:xxx,LocalMR=xx.xx.xxx.xx:xx,RemoteSite=192.168.20.203:50045,PortRange=50040:50049,LocalMRTCPPort=57498,LocalLocation=1,RemoteLocation=1,FederationType=0"
This usually is down to port configuration settings on your network as instant messaging traffic (which works for you) uses UDP comms and application/desktop sharing will use TCP connectivity. There is something configured on your network that may be preventing the TCP traffic from being sent.

 
In the above trace, we see the ICEWarn error codes purport to: (information gained from Lync resource kit materials)
0x100  TCP NAT connectivity failed (This flag is expected.  If local-to-local connectivity succeeded, the TCP NAT connectivity check may not have been tried.  Or there is no direct TCP connection possible.  TCP NAT connectivity failing may result in an ICE protocol failure).
0x200   TCP TURN server connectivity failed.  (This flag is expected.  If local-to-local connectivity succeeded, the TCP TURN connectivity check may not have been tried.  Or one sided didn't have TURN server allocation.  If connectivity checks were successful for the rest of the call, ignore this ICE protocol warning.  Otherwise investigate why the TCP path was not possible.)
0x20    Local connectivity failed.  (This flag can occur if the direct connection between clients isn't possible due to NAT/firewalls).

The above makes 0x320 if you didn't know.

We know that firewall software and hardware can attribute to this and its best to review the policies of your companies organization to determine if you might have anything enabled that would prevent traffic from negotiating with the lync servers. Often hardware firewalls have policies enabled to prevent this and might be worth testing them by switching them on/off (as they might be setup to be the default service) they are often used to prevent spam attcks or TCP attacks.

It's worth also review your anti virus software and it's exceptions which can often scan network traffic and thus cause traffic to fail or be blocked and therefore prevent any communications to/fro the lync client to by pass it.

In the above case, tweaking Kaspersky Anti virus to accept and handle this traffic resolved this customers problem.

The Lync resource kit is the place to go to review the ICEWarn errors - Chapter 9.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=21165

The most common reason is that your mailbox may have over 1000+ folders, if you might be in this situation and your users are reporting this, then you can check their mailbox by performing this quick powershell cmd to count the folders in their box.

Get-MailboxFolderStatistics “user” | ? {$_.FolderPath -eq "/Inbox"}
(Get-MailboxFolderStatistics “user”).Count

If it's over 1000+ then reduce it to below this number (general house-keeping wouldn't go a miss :)

Powershell command to find the version of Lync Server and OCS 2007 R2 Server Installed Components

https://blogs.technet.com/b/premal/archive/2011/06/07/powershell-command-to-find-the-version-of-lync-server-installed-components.aspx

Delivering Lync Real-Time Communications Over Wi-Fi

The Delivering Lync Real-Time Communications Over Wi-Fi white paper is now available from the Microsoft Download Center. This white paper describes how Lync 2010 communications software, and previous releases, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Office Communications Server 2007, can be successfully implemented over wireless local area networks (Wi-Fi), even though these workloads have not yet been validated with voice and video (real-time media) over wireless networks.

https://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2012/10/26/lync-wi-fi-deployment-guide-for-real-time-communications-workloads.aspx

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 RTM Documentation Now Available

https://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2012/10/24/microsoft-lync-server-2013-preview-rtm-documentation-now-available.aspx

Introducing the Lync Pilot Success Kit

The key to a successful Lync rollout and on-going user-adoption is a well planned and executed pilot. The importance of the pilot phase cannot be overlooked. The Lync Pilot Success Kit is a collection of tools, documentation, and templates that helps project teams plan, deploy, monitor, and evaluate the success of their pilot. The Lync Pilot Success Kit assists with project planning, staffing needs and expectations, user communications, defining success criteria, and proactive monitoring, troubleshooting, and support.

https://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2012/10/24/introducing-the-lync-pilot-success-kit.aspx

Lync 2013: Keeping tabs on your conversations!  -

https://blogs.technet.com/b/lync/archive/2012/10/26/keeping-tabs-on-your-conversations.aspx

Lync 2010 for Windows Phone in Oct 2012 CU is released

https://blogs.technet.com/b/hot/archive/2012/10/17/lync-2010-for-windows-phone-in-cu7-has-been-released.aspx

Deep within Windows 2012 is something called NDF (Network Diagnostics Framework) and ETW (Event Tracing for Windows) which facilitates much of the functionality found traditionally in NetMon, Wireshark, etc.

This command set allows, for example, a network trace to be taken without a protocol analyzer installed

Netsh Trace start capture = yes

<Reproduce
failure condition>

Netsh Trace stop

This produces an “.etl” trace which can be read directly with network monitor or converted to XML.   In addition this capture contains a much richer set of metadata for debug analysis.

More details can be read about this here: Network Diagnostics and Tracing - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624046(v=WS.10).aspx

For end users we provide the Troubleshooting Wizard which is hosted in the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (msdt.exe). The wizard can be launched by the Troubleshooting control panel applet, and it provides a manual entry point to the Network Diagnostics Framework for users.  These wizards are much improved and can fix or identify several issues.

There are also many Power shell commandlets  which expose network diagnostic and configuration parameters.

See: Windows Troubleshooting Platform - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd323778(VS.85).aspx
 

Those of you who don't know about Network Monitor 3.4 - the new version provides several compelling features - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=4865

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/933741
 

https://blogs.technet.com/b/netmon

Windows Server 2012 IPAM

IPAM, as known as IP Address Management is an important part of any IT infrastructure. As organizations grow, IP management becomes more challenging as well.

With introduction of virtualization and IPV6, IP management can be even more challenging. IPAM is more of a model for provisioning, discovering, maintaining and auditing IP address in the customers IT environment. IPAM usually integrates other infrastructure components such as DHCP and DNS.

Windows Server 2012 now provides full IPAM solution that integrates with its DNS and DHCP services. This feature that’s part of Windows Server 2012 does not require additional license except for the operation system itself. IPAM feature Windows Server 2012 includes majority of the features compared to 3rd party vendors. Here is the list:

 •         Support for IPv4 and IPv6

•         Automatic environment discovery

•         Trend monitoring and IP allocation statistics

•         Support for reporting

 •         Allow importing from csv file

•         Full integration with Microsoft DNS and DHCP

•         APIs support for 3rd party DHCP servers and SCVMM ( Microsoft version of VMware vCenter)

•         Auditing for configuration changes

•         Logon event tracking of IP Addresses

•         Agentless deployment via GPO

•         Logical visualization of IP ranges

•         Support for Custom Field attributes

IPAM allows IT administrators to single value and multivalued custom attributes addition to the built-in ones. This allows for custom attribute tagging for defining logical groups which display IP address subnets in logical perspective. IPAM supports for CSV file import of IP address
and IP ranges. This requires that column fields in the csv must match the IPAM field columns. When import, the order of the columns in CSV doesn’t matter but field names must match. Use the “Import-NamsRange” to import IP addresses from CSV file. IMO, IP address tracking feature in Windows Server 2012 IPAM is a game changer. It is essential to have trail of IP devices during a specific time used by the end user. Current DHCP technology only keeps track of current DHCP leases. Theses leases change expires and change which makes it hard to track down who had the particular address at certain time.

Windows Server 2012 IPAM Requirements: 

•         Healthy Active Directory ( IPAM Server must be part of the domain )

•         Access to domain controller for automatic discovery

•         “Account logon” event logging must be on for Address Tracking feature

•         IPAM should not collocate with other roles

•         IPAM cannot collocate with Active Directory role

To install IPAM features, use the “Add Roles and Features Wizard”. After installing IPAM feature on your Windows Server 2012, you are ready to configure and deploy. You can choose to manual provisioning method or deploy via Group Policy for managed DHCP and DNS servers. As always Microsoft recommends using GPO to provision IPAM configuration. A mentioned in last a few artices, IPAM automatically discover DNS and DHCP servers by utilizing Active Directory. “Involke-IpamGpoProvisioning” PowerShell command to crete IPAM GPOs. This powershell command will create a GPO for DHCP, DNS and NPS.

Top Level Site for PowerShell: https://www.microsoft.com/powershell

 Windows PowerShell Training

 Windows PowerShell Getting Started Guide

• Scripting with Windows PowerShell
• PowerShell Essentials for the Busy Admin (5 part video series)
• Why You Should Learn PowerShell
• How to Compound Windows PowerShell Commands for Fun and Profit
• A Look at Windows PowerShell Providers
• Windows PowerShell Does Event Logs
• Using Windows PowerShell to Manage the Remote Desktop
• Windows PowerShell – Learn it Now Before It’s an Emergency (5 part video series)
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Windows PowerShell Owner’s Manual
• Getting Started with Windows PowerShell
• Customizing the Windows PowerShell Console
• Windows PowerShell Shortcut Keys
• Piping and the Pipeline
• Running Windows PowerShell Scripts
• The Windows PowerShell Profile
• Windows PowerShell Aliases
• Windows PowerShell User’s Guide
• Windows PowerShell Basics
• Object Pipeline
• Windows PowerShell Navigation
• Working with Objects
• Using Windows PowerShell for Administration
• Introducing the Windows PowerShell ISE
• Appendix 1 – Compatibility Aliases
• Appendix 2 – Creating a Custom Windows PowerShell Shortcut
• Windows PowerShell Webcasts/Podcasts (a list of 76 different PowerShell presentations in multiple formats – to see the entire list select “MORE” on right-hand side opposite the heading that reads “IT Professionals (76)”)
• Introduction to Windows PowerShell
• Using Windows PowerShell 2.0
• Windows PowerShell Basics for IT Professionals (2-part series)
• TechEd 2011 Birds-of-a-Feather (Sessions 04): PowerShell: Best Practices From The Field
• Managing Web Infrastructure Systems with Windows PowerShell 2.0
• How Do I:
• PowerShell – The Basics
• PowerShell Variables
• PowerShell Scripts and the Command Line
• PowerShell and WMI
• Creating Output with PowerShell
• PowerShell – Object Manipulation
• Pipelining
• TheVBScript-to-Windows PowerShell Conversion Guide

PowerShell Podcasts

These audios offer Windows PowerShell tips, news and interviews that you can listen to at your convenience.

• Windows PowerShell Podcasts
• TechNet Radio
• Creating and Configuring Your Profile in Windows PowerShell (Part 1)
• Creating and Configuring Your Profile in Windows PowerShell (Part 2)
• Windows PowerShell Best Practices – Episode 1
• Windows PowerShell Best Practices – Episode 2
• Windows PowerShell Best Practices – Episode 3
• Windows PowerShell Best Practices – Episode 4

Useful PowerShell Blogs

 This is a sampling of some of the blogs that are being written on the subject of Windows PowerShell.  Some of these are independent blogs and their contents are not reviewed or controlled by Microsoft. 

• Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog
• Windows PowerShell Team Blog
• Get-PowerShellBlog
• Keith Hill’s Blog
• Richard Siddaway’s Blog

 PowerShell Scripts

This section represents links to actual PowerShell scripts that have been developed for review and reuse.  These scripts are intended to keep administrators from having to “start from scratch” when developing scripts.  While they will almost certainly require some modification, the intent is to give admins a starting point to learn how to do various tasks related to PowerShell in their own environments.

• Windows PowerShell Script Repository
• Microsoft Script Center

 WARNING:  YOU SHOULD NEVER RUN A SCRIPT IN PRODUCTION IF YOU AREN’T 100% CERTAIN OF WHAT IT WILL DO.  ALL SCRIPTS SHOULD BE THOROUGHLY UNDERSTOOD AND TESTED IN A NON-PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT PRIOR TO BEING USED IN PRODUCTION.  THIS HELPS ENSURE THAT PRODUCTION PROBLEMS DO NOT OCCUR AS A RESULT OF RUNNING SCRIPTS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN TESTED AND VALIDATED BEFOREHAND.

PowerShell Forum

This forum is a place where administrators can ask question, read discussions among technical professionals, and engage with the online PowerShell community.

• Windows PowerShell Forum

 PowerShell Tools 

• Windows PowerShell (download)
• The Windows PowerShell Toolbox

 PowerShell Books 

The following is a partial list of books that have proven useful as PowerShell resources, both to the new admin and the experienced developer.  This is not intended as a complete list of PowerShell books, but is intended only as a sample for the admin looking to start building his or her library. 

• Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices
• Microsoft Windows PowerShell 3.0 Step by Step
• Windows PowerShell Scripting Guide
• Windows PowerShell 2.0 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant

Additional PowerShell Resources 

A variety of external resources offered to the PowerShell community in the form of blogs, sample scripts, wikis, forums, etc. 

• PowerShellCommunity.org
• Windows PowerShell Wiki
• CodePlex
• Precision Computing
• Under the Stairs

PowerShell v3 (beta) 

These resources are specifically designed to help prepare for the newest version of PowerShell to be released in the near future. 

• PowerShell v3 Guide (TechNet)
• Introduction
• Getting PowerShell v3
• Installing PowerShell v3
• PowerShell v3 FAQ
• Featured Articles
• New Features
• Tips and Tricks
• What’s New in PowerShell v3
• PowerShell v3 Sneak Peek (Microsoft TechDays video)

When Lync 2010 connects to a specific front-end server, it caches that endpoint to make the sign-in process faster in the future. However, sometimes the endpoint can be changed which can cause your user sign-in to fail. To delete the endpoint cache, follow these steps:

Locate the local application data folder:

Windows Vista and Windows 7: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Communicator\<sip_address@contoso.com>\

Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Communicator\<sip_address@contoso.com>\

Delete the file that is named EndpointConfiguration.CACHE.

Restart Lync 2010, and then try to sign in to Lync Online.

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit Tools

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit Tools are provided to help make some routine tasks easier for IT administrators who deploy and manage Lync Server 2010.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Mobility Service and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Autodiscover Service

These new services for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 support Lync 2010 functionality, such as instant messaging (IM), presence, management of contacts and groups, Call via Work, Single Number Reach, and Single-click Conference Join on mobile and slate devices.

Lync Server 2010 Hotfix KB 2493736

This download includes all available updates for Lync Server 2010.

VHD Test Drive - Lync Server 2010 VHD

This download comes as a pre-configured set of VHD's. This download enables you to fully evaluate Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

PerfView

PerfView is a performance-analysis tool that helps isolate CPU- and memory-related performance issues.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Client and Device Deployment Guide

This download guides you through the process of deploying client software and devices for Lync 2010.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Edge Server Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 edge servers and Directors.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Mobility Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Mobility Service and the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Autodiscover Service.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Supportability Guide

This guide provides a central, high-level reference for supported server topologies and configurations and supported client configurations. It is also intended to answer frequently asked questions. This document identifies supported topologies...

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Getting Started Guide

Descriptions of new features in Microsoft Lync Server 2010. Both server features and client features are included.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Planning Guide

The planning phase is the time in which you decide what Microsoft Lync Server 2010 communications software features to deploy, and how to deploy them. The Planning Guide chapters describe how to plan for a successful Lync Server 2010 deployment.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Device Management and Troubleshooting Guide

The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Device Management and Troubleshooting Guide is to provide guidance on how to manage and update devices. It is also intended to answer frequently asked questions. This document identifies supported...

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Documentation Help File

This download contains a compiled help file (chm) of all the available Lync Server 2010 IT professional documentation on the Technical Library.

Microsoft Lync 2010 Training Download Package

This zipped folder contains all of the available training and user education resources for Microsoft Lync 2010. The included Lync Training Plans workbook helps you choose the resources that will work best for your users.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Protocol Workloads Poster

This poster shows each workload in Microsoft Lync Server 2010 communications software, describing relationships, dependencies, flow of information, and certificate requirements. Version 5.10 incorporates Mobility Services and corrections in the IM and Presence workload.

IT Showcase On: Microsoft Lync Deployment

Microsoft IT (MSIT) replaced PBX systems in seven sites located in the three major regions. MSIT implemented user adoption strategies that resulted in a very successful deployment with high user satisfaction scores.

Deploying the Survivable Branch Appliance in Lync Server 2010 for Cisco Integrated Services Router/Service Ready Engine

This white paper describes how to use a Cisco 3925 ISR G2 configured with a SRE-900 Service Module (Cisco Service Ready Engine Virtualization (SRE-V) support platform) to be deployed as a Survivable Branch Appliance (SBA) in a Microsoft Lync Server 2010 environment.

Deploying and Managing Lync

...experiences, and lessons learned from our own deployments of Lync within our global enterprise. By leveraging our best practices, you can make decisions about how best to plan for, deploy, and manage Microsoft solutions in your own environment.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Administration Guide & Windows PowerShell Supplement

The Lync Server Administration Guide and the Windows PowerShell Supplement contain procedures and guidance for administering a Lync Server 2010 deployment.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of migrating and deploying Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components that are required to let organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing...

Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010

This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

Enabling Quality of Service with Microsoft Lync Server 2010

If your Windows Server network supports Quality of Service (QoS) management, you can take advantage of this functionality to optimize media traffic in your Microsoft Lync Server 2010 deployment. This guide shows you how.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Voice Deployment Guide

This download contains two documents: Deploying Enterprise Voice at Central sites and Deploying Branch Sites

Uninstalling Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Removing Server Roles

To maintain any system, you need to modify the deployment over time. An important part of maintenance is the retiring or decommissioning of existing components that you replace with different or newer components. “Uninstalling Lync Server...

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Active Directory Guide

This document guides you through the process of preparing Active Directory for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and includes the Active Directory schema reference.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing for Lync Server 2010.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Security Guide

The Security Guide provides guidelines for assessing and managing security risks to your Lync Server 2010 deployment.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Security Guide

The Security Guide provides guidelines for assessing and managing security risks to your Lync Server 2010 deployment.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group Deployment Guide

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Response Group feature for Enterprise Voice.

Microsoft Lync 2010 Release Notes for Mobile Devices

This document describes known issues with the Microsoft Lync 2010 software for mobile devices.

Unified Communications Phones and Peripherals Datasheets

These datasheets list the phones and peripheral devices that are qualified to display the "Optimized for Microsoft Lync" logo.

Live SDK v5.0

The Live SDK provides a set of controls and APIs that enable applications to integrate single sign-on (SSO) using Windows Live ID and to access data in SkyDrive, Hotmail, and Windows Live Messenger.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat SDK

Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Software Development Kit (SDK) includes documentation and sample applications developed with the Lync Server 2010 Group Chat platform.

VHD Test Drive - Lync Server 2010 VHD (Dev)

This download comes as a pre-configured set of VHD's. This download enables you to fully evaluate the Microsoft Lync 2010 and Microsoft Exchange 2010 developer platform including the Microsoft Lync 2010 SDK, the Exchange Web Services Managed...

Enjoy!