Cannot Enable or Modify a User in Lync 2010 Control Panel

"Insufficient access rights to perform the operation." WHAT?! SERIOUSLY?!

I was working on enabling/modifying a Lync user today in one client, using Lync Server Control Panel, when I encountered what seems to be like a account permission error. At first, my reaction was a little confused and charged it to being a product bug because the user account I'm using is already of Enterprise and Domains Admins group in AD.

Good thing about the error, it's detailed enough to give me the right idea how to solve it. :)

So, that is exactly what I did. First, I tried to use Lync Server Management Shell to enable the user. Second, I check the AD permission of the user for possible security issues in AD regarding users that are members of a protected group (the user I'm enabling is a member of the Domain Admins group). Here's a simple step-by-step procedure on how to enable users using Lync Server Management Shell and checking AD permission:

1. Start Lync Server Management Shell

• Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Lync Server 2010, and then click Lync Server Management Shell

2. Search or locate the user account in Active Directory

• You can use identifiers such as Display Name (ex. Vince Quinto), UserPrincipalName (ex. vince.quinto@domain.com), SamAccountName (ex. DOMAIN\vince.quinto), or EmailAddress (vince.quinto@domain.com) to represent a user's identity


• To locate the account, type Get-CsAdUser. To return specific users, type Get-CsAdUser -Identity "Vince Quinto", or use wildcard characters, Get-CsAdUser -Identity "* Quinto"

3. Enable the user in Lync Server

• Type Enable-CsUser -Identity "Vince Quinto" -RegistrarPool LSpool01.domain.com -SipAddressType EmailAddress

If the Lync Management Shell did not worked, which in my case it did not, I tried checking the user's Active Directory permission to check if inheritable permissions are enabled. Here is how I did it...

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
2. On the menu at the top of the console, click View > Advanced Features.
3. Locate and right-click the user account in the console, and then click Properties.
4. Click the Security tab.
5. Click Advanced.
6. Make sure that the check box for "Include inheritable permissions from this object's parent" is selected.

If the user is a member of certain protected groups such as Domain Administrators, it is normal for this box to be unchecked. Windows automatically remove security inheritance on those user. Oh! And yeah, it worked! By the way, this procedure is not needed for accounts that are not members of a protected security group in AD.

Microsoft Unified Communications in Government Video

Got this video of Microsoft Unified Communications (I assume it's the latest MS UC video) from a colleague from Microsoft Philippines. I just thought of posting it so you guys can watch it. Enjoy!



If you want to view it in HD, it is posted in YouTube (Thanks to TechTrooperNet for posting it). You can check it here.

Inbound/Outbound PSTN calls stopped working in OCS 2007 R2!

I encountered this problem 2 years ago and I posted it in MS Forums to look for answers. I'd just like to share how it was resolved. The architecture is like this...

Tel/Mobile Phone <----> PSTN (Telco) <--E1R2--> AudioCodes MG1K <----> OCS 2007 R2 Mediation <----> OCS 2007 R2 Front-End <----> OC 2007 R2

How was it solved? Click here... :)

SharePoint 2010 Benefits Overview

SharePoint 2010 is the business collaboration platform that enables you to connect and empower people through formal and informal business communities, within the enterprise and beyond, and to manage content throughout the information lifecycle. Whether deployed on-premises or as hosted services, SharePoint’s integrated capabilities are enhanced by search technologies and enable you to rapidly respond to changing business needs by making data-driven decisions and by deploying customized solutions quickly and securely. The consolidation of collaboration solutions onto SharePoint 2010 makes it possible to cut costs by lowering training and maintenance expenses and increasing IT productivity, all within a governable and compliant platform.

Connect and Empower People

Making people more productive is a direct result of enabling them to access resources and knowledge regardless of where they are and what device they use, through a user experience optimized for usability and adoption. Learn more

Cut costs with a Unified Infrastructure

Driving cost efficiencies and accomplishing more with the same resources is possible through the consolidation of all the key business collaboration solutions into SharePoint 2010 and using this common platform to deploy solutions for your intranet, extranet, or for your Internet web presence. Learn more

Rapidly Respond to Business Needs

When time-to-market is key, SharePoint 2010 enables people to customize the out-of-box platform and deploy solutions that enable them to address specific business requirements quickly and in a secure manner. Learn more

(From http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/product/benefits/overview/pages/default.aspx)

What to Expect in SharePoint 2010

Microsoft’s Business Productivity Infrastructure product suite is truly exciting and should be looked forward to by any IT professionals. Exchange Server 2010 was released very recently. I’m very excited and looking forward to the release of Office Communications Server 2010 and of course, the other of much significance of them, the SharePoint Server 2010. SharePoint 2010 marks a significant upgrade to the SharePoint product. Here are the things that you should look forward to in the SharePoint 2010 release!

Hardware and Software Requirement

• SharePoint Server 2010 will be 64-bit only
• SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2
• SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit SQL Server 2005.

New Editions

• Windows SharePoint Server (WSS) is replaced by the new SharePoint Foundation 2010
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) is now SharePoint Server 2010
• You can get SharePoint 2010 in Standard or Enterprise Editions, for Intranet or Internet/Extranet Scenarios (http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/product/editions/Pages/default.aspx)

FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint

• o This includes all the search features and integration capabilities of SharePoint Server 2010 and adds deep platform flexibility and scale and enhanced content processing capabilities.
• o You can deploy FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint across multiple servers to meet demanding requirements for redundancy, performance and capacity. It can be scaled among the following axes: document volume, query volume and processing power for content, query, and results. Deployment, configuration and management take place through user interfaces, Windows PowerShell cmdlets, XML configuration files and command-line operations. (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee781286(office.14).aspx)
• o FAST Search technology was acquired by Microsoft from Fast Search & Transfer company in Norway. (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/jan08/01-08FastSearchPR.mspx)

Usage Reporting and Logging

• SharePoint 2010 includes a new and extensible database designed to support usage reporting, logging and custom reports.

Visio Services

• Visio Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 is a service application that lets users share and view Microsoft Visio Web drawings. The service also enables data-connected Microsoft Visio 2010 Web drawings to be refreshed and updated from various data sources. (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee663485(office.14).aspx)

Enhanced Collaboration Features

• Social tagging, bookmarks, notes, a new group authentication feature (people management and authorization by distribution list), blogs, wikis and merging of calendars from Exchange Server and SharePoint 2010 calendar are the things you should look forward to in SharePoint 2010 collaboration.

Best Practices Analyzer

• BPA is a customizable feature that will run jobs to check your environments health, provide guidance in implementations and troubleshooting, then list the issues it finds along with fixes for those issues to help you solve them

Enhanced SharePoint Designer 2010

• SharePoint Designer 2010 is the tool of choice for the rapid development of SharePoint applications. Using SharePoint Designer, advanced users and developers alike can rapidly create SharePoint solutions in response to business needs. Advanced users can compose no-code solutions that encompass a variety of common scenarios, from collaborative sites and web publishing to Line-Of-Business data integration, business intelligence solutions, and human workflows, leveraging the building blocks available in SharePoint in an easy to use environment. In addition, developers can use SharePoint Designer 2010 to get a quick start on SharePoint development projects. (http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/product/related-technologies/Pages/SharePoint-Designer-2010.aspx)

Browser Support

• Internet Explorer 6.0 is NOT supported!
• Support for XHTML 1.0 compliant browsers
• Internet Explorer 8.0 and 7.0
• Firefox 3.x
• Safari 3.x

Beta version can be downloaded for you to try it. But if I were you, I’ll watch out for the release of SharePoint Server 2010 in a few weeks!

Typical Microsoft Unified Communications Architecture

Below is a typical Microsoft Unified Communications architecture that can be used by any organization.

Figure 1. Typical Microsoft Unified Communications Architecture.

This illustration shows a typical high-level architecture of Microosft Unified Communications. The development and implementation of Microsoft Unified Communications aims at building a secure real-time unified communications infrastructure that leverages on the use of Microsoft technologies. The diagram above show a typical arhcitecture of Microsoft Unified Communications that consists of the implementations of the Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 R2, with a Front-End, Consolidated Edge, and Mediation Server roles, which will serve as the foundation of the Unified Communications infrastructure. In addition to OCS 2007 R2, voice mail will also be enabled via the implementation of Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging server. To fully implement Unified Communications, OCS 2007 R2 will be integrated to the AudioCodes Mediant Gateway 1000 which will serve as the media gateway for inbound/outbound connectivity to PSTN. This architecture will leverage on the capabilities of OCS 2007 R2-enabled applications like Office Communicator 2007 R2, Office Live Meeting 2007, Communicator Mobile 2007 R2, and Office Outlook 2007, which will allow any organization's users the ability to communicate using the Instant Messaging, Telephony, Audio/Video Conferencing, and Web Conferencing features of OCS 2007 R2, and Voice Mail of Exchange Server 2007. Other than OCS 2007 R2 and Exchange 2007, any existing firewall and reverse proxy servers or appliance can serve as the HTTP Reverse Proxy and security gateway for the organization’s communications infrastructure and network, although it is ideal to use Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 (or Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010). This will protect their IT environment against Internet-based threats while providing their users fast and reliable access to data and the Unified Communications system across the Internet--whether the user is inside or outside the corporate's network. Also, Active Directory with a Forest and Domain Functional Levels of at least Windows 2003 are required.

More details on the architecture and procedures on how to install OCS 2007 R2 will be in my next posts... :)