List out EnterpriseVoice enabled users and Lync enabled users from the given users list ?

I got an assignment to find out a number of AD users who are enabled with Lync and Enterprise voice. if it’s a small site I could have exported user list in CSV and played with Excel to filter but its multi FE pool scenario where more than 30K users exist. i have created following script which was helped me to sort out the issue.

I have copied given employee ID in text file and named it as user.txt

----------------------------

$users = Get-Content -Path E:\Raju\user.txt

ForEach ($user in $users)

{

GET-csUser -identity $user -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where { $_.EnterprisevoiceEnabled -eq $true } | Select-Object Samaccountname,DisplayName,sipaddress,LineUri,Registrarpool

}

---------------------------

Just tried to tweak the same script to check if these users are enabled with Lync or not

-----------------------------------

$users = Get-Content -Path E:\Raju\user.txt

ForEach ($user in $users)

{

GET-csUser -identity $user -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where { $_.Enabled -eq $true } | select-object Samaccountname,DisplayName,sipaddress,LineUri

}

-----------------------------------

Regards, Rajukb

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Wow - "Busy On Busy" Now its Possible with July 2016 SFB Server Update!

I have been asked by many customers that does the "busy-on-Busy" feature would be possible with Lync 2010 and Lync 2013 versions? This feature would helpful to handle there incoming calls when they are really busy on calls and conferences.

Customer's used to depend on third party providers or endup writing MSPL scripts to leaverage this feature as this feature was not included in Lync 2010/Lync 2013 server, now the wait is over and it's possible with SFB Servers with July 2016 Update.

Once the Busy option is enabled for the organization, both Enterprise  Voice and Non-Enterprise Voice users can use the following configuration options

• Busy on Busy - In which new incoming calls will be rejected with a busy signal if the user is busy.
• Voicemail on Busy - In which new incoming calls will be forwarded to voice mail if the user is busy.

Regardless of how their busy options are configured, users in a call or conference, or those with a call on hold, are not prevented from initiating new calls or conferences.

For more information about the Busy Options feature, see Plan for Busy Options for Skype for Business Server.

And

Install and configure Busy Options for Skype for Business Server

Hope this helps

Regards, Rajukb

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Microsoft - Top Support Solutions

While I am searching for a solution for a product I got a chance to go through the following URL which has great stuff and one stop shop kind of view for Lync 2013 related content and solutions.
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/topsupportsolutions/2014/09/08/top-support-solutions-for-microsoft-lync-server-2013-3/

Learnt that most relevant content that address the top questions that Microsoft getting in forums and other support channels Microsoft want to introduce the new “Top Solution Content” blog http://blogs.technet.com/b/topsupportsolutions. In this blog you will find up-to-date and valuable information about Microsoft top support solutions for several of Microsoft popular products in the Server and Tools portfolio.


Hope this helps

Regards, Rajukb
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Offcat Troubleshooting Tool

If you have exhausted with troubleshooting any client related issues within your system or end up troubleshooting crashing or any other issues related to MS OFFICE use the offcat tool which would scan and let you know what is missing on the existing office software on your machine.

You can download the tool and guide from the following link https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36852

This Tool works with below software’s and Clients

Supported Operating System

Windows 10 , Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Vista Service Pack 2

This download works with the following Microsoft Office products:

Microsoft Office 2016 (32-bit or 64-bit, Click-to-run or MSI installs)

Microsoft Office 2013 (32-bit or 64-bit, Click-to-run or MSI installs)

Microsoft Office 2010 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Microsoft Office 2007

OffCAT 2.1 provides scanning for the following Office programs:

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft InfoPath

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Publisher

Microsoft Skype for Business

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft Word

The following minimum version of the Microsoft .NET Framework is required:

Microsoft .NET Framework Version 4.5

Short excerpt from the document to show how it works

Scan more than one Office Program

To scan more than one Office program, simply click on each tile for the programs you want scanned. The following figure indicates Excel,

, and Publisher from Office 2016 will be scanned when the Click to scan control is clicked.

The difference between a single program scan and a multiple-program scan is the intermediate prompt that occurs when all the scans are finished. Continuing with the above example where Excel, Outlook and Publisher are scanned in the same scan, the following figure shows the prompt to select which scan you want displayed first in the REPORT page.

Frontend Service in Lync server 2013 - SBS/SBA does not start

Issue:  One of my SBS/SBA server was down unexpectedly and dint start FE service. Rebooted server to bring the services back online but that dint help - All services were back to online but FE service stays on " STARTING" state.  When see events we see following events Lync server event.

----------------------------------------------------

Log Name:      Lync Server

Source:        LS User Services

Date:          6/12/2016 3:45:41 AM

Event ID:      32174

Task Category: (1006)

Level:         Warning

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      sbstest.contoso.com

Description:

Server startup is being delayed because fabric pool manager has not finished initial placement of users.

Currently waiting for routing group: {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}.

Number of groups potentially not yet placed: 2.

Total number of groups: 2.

Cause: This is normal during cold-start of a Pool and during server startup.

If you continue to see this message many times, it indicates that insufficient number of Front-Ends are available in the Pool.

 ---------------------------------------------------- 

In Application Events I dint find any event related to WinFabric or crashing , so Expanded the " Evenviewer >> Applications and Services Logs >> Microsoft >> Windows >> Windows Fabric >> Admin"

By default logs would be in disable mode, you need to Right click and Enable log to see logs. Restart FE service and see if you can find any logs, in my scenario I found below logs.

 ----------------------------------------------------

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-WindowsFabric/Admin

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-WindowsFabric

Date:          6/12/2016 3:25:48 AM

Event ID:      16385

Task Category: Reliability

Level:         Warning

Keywords:      None

User:          NETWORK SERVICE

Computer:      sbstest.contoso.com

Description:

FM resolving failed with FABRIC_E_SERVICE_OFFLINE

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

     <Execution ProcessID="2120" ThreadID="7424" />

    <Channel>Microsoft-Windows-WindowsFabric/Admin</Channel>

    <Computer>sbstest.contoso.com</Computer>

    <Security UserID="S-1-5-20" />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data Name="id">9524af707cc4d78cc1e0174c6e9009</Data>

    <Data Name="type">FMLocation</Data>

    <Data Name="text">FM resolving failed with FABRIC_E_SERVICE_OFFLINE</Data>

  </EventData>

</Event>

 ----------------------------------------------------

To make sure if win fabric is active or not I selected following counter to check the status of the winfabric. ( below screenshot I have copied from the following TechNet https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/nexthop/2016/03/18/get-cspoolupgradereadinessstate-showing-not-ready-or-busy/  which was written by ANAS Bhai, Thank you Anas bhai for your support)

Found the counter " Usrv - Whether server is connected to fabric pool manager" which shows the value as zero  ( 0.00 ) which means the Fabric is not active. Healthy fabric would show the value as "1.00"  Thought of something wrong with fabric and targeted to fix it fabric first.

Executed following steps

1. I have stopped all Lync Services including Windows Fabric service in SBS Server.

2. Disabled automatic startup for all "Lync Server 2013" services using Windows PowerShell

 Get-Service –DisplayName “Lync Server*” | Set-Service –StartupType Disabled

3. Removed Fabric Component from the following location " Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features >> manually uninstall Windows Fabric " ( Before you uninstall the winfabric make a note of the winfabric version - if you have installed lesser or higher version winfabric may not function as desire and may not start services )

4. Manually deleted fabric files under below locations:

"C:\ProgramFiles\Windows Fabric folder and all subfolders"

"C:\ProgramData\Windows Fabric folder and all subfolders"

5. Rebooted the computer - ( Note: If you don't reboot the server winfabric installation will be failed when you bootstrap for reinstalling winfabric )

6. Executed Step2 from the deployment wizard which would Bootstrap to install Windows Fabric -by default bootstrapper installs RTM Version once it installed I have applied latest CU as well.

7. Ran latest April 2016 CU - LyncServerUpdateIhnstaller and updated the Fabric to Latest CU

8. Enabled automatic startup for all Lync Server 2013 services using Windows PowerShell

Get-Service –DisplayName “Lync Server*” | Set-Service –StartupType Automatic

9. Verified services - by this time services back to online healthy.

10. Verified the winfabric status in performance counters - Value set to  '1.00' - so winfabric back to healthy and my server services also back to healthy :) 

Your valuable feedback on this article is most appreciated

Regards, Rajukb

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

SBCRTCPMODE

Does the current E5 License replace the enterprise customer's PBX ?

I love the way the Microsoft progressing to capture Skype for business / Lync Online customers, One of the great features which Microsoft giving for cloud users is supporting cloud PBX.

Though the current cloud PBX only support's basic PSTN calling features such as call hold and transfer which would really helpful for the small and midsize business customers.

At this point, no support for Common area phones, Response groups and analogue phone and E.911 support hope MS will add these features soon.


Regards, Rajukb
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Exchange 2010 SP2 Rollup 3

Microsoft has been released Exchange 2010 SP2 Rollup3, since Exchange 2010 SP1 to Exchange 2010 SP2 rollup3, its almost 143 bugs has been resolved, hope with this rollup exchange system will work more efficient than current.

I am planning to update this rollup in test this week some time, and will back with test results.

However you can see and find out the current rollup fixes on following links.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2685289

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/05/29/released-update-rollup-3-for-exchange-2010-service-pack-2.aspx

Regards, Raju

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Active Directory and Logging

I have been asked in many interviews that what is Active directory database is and where the logs would be located? It’s a tricky question and the people who also good in AD administration might be overlooked. Even I am one of the persons of thatJ. I decided to talk about this and wanted to post here something which I learnt today.

Active Directory

Active directory database is a repository for users and computers and it is a centralized database which keeps track of all the user accounts and passwords in organization which allows storing user accounts and passwords in one protected location to improve organization's security.

The Active Directory database consists of objects and attributes. Objects and attribute definitions are stored in the Active Directory schema, Active directory consists of 4 partitions those are Domain, Configuration, and Schema and Application partitions.

Active Directory records events to the Directory Services log of Event Viewer. You can use the information that is collected in the log to help you diagnose and resolve possible problems or monitor the activity of Active Directory-related events on your server.

By default, Active Directory records only critical events and error events in the Directory Service log. To configure Active Directory to record other events, you must increase the logging level by editing the registry.

Active Directory Diagnostic Event Logging

The registry entries that manage diagnostic logging for Active Directory are stored in the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Diagnostics

Go to >> Run >> regedit, click Yes

Expand the Services and Select NTDS settings, then Select Diagnostics, right side of the pane you can view list of the REG_DWORD options.

Logging Levels

Each entry can be assigned a value from 0 through 5, and this value determines the level of detail of the events that are logged. The logging levels are described as:

·  0 (None): Only critical events and error events are logged at this level. This is the default setting for all entries, and it should be modified only if a problem occurs that you want to investigate.

·  1 (Minimal): Very high-level events are recorded in the event log at this setting. Events may include one message for each major task that is performed by the service. Use this setting to start an investigation when you do not know the location of the problem.

·  2 (Basic)

·  3 (Extensive): This level records more detailed information than the lower levels, such as steps that are performed to complete a task. Use this setting when you have narrowed the problem to a service or a group of categories.

·  4 (Verbose)

·  5 (Internal :): This level logs all events, including debug strings and configuration changes. A complete log of the service is recorded. Use this setting when you have traced the problem to a particular category of a small set of categories.

Select any of the REG_DWORD option which you want to see the diagnostic logging. Based on the above options select an option and change the value.

PS: I wanted to remind you here that modifying higher logging levels increases the number of entries recorded in the event log and you may not scrutinize as desire. Similarly high logging levels reduce the server performance.

Source Articles:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc990293(WS.10).aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314980

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa746492(v=vs.85).aspx

Your valuable feedback on this article is most appreciated

Regards, Raju

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

MS OCS 2007 R2 Vs MS Lync 2010 Server

Dear Friends,

I found the excelent comparision between OCS 2007 R2 and Lync 2010 information in follwoing lync.http://blog.whatdouc.net/2010/10/13/lync-vs-ocs-2007/  thanks to  shafaquat ali.

Regards, Raju

MS Lync Server and ADS

Intended to post only those which are rarely available in any other blogs. From now on words, in this blog along with Exchange Server will also include Lync/Skype for business, Activ Directory posts.

Thanks for the cooperation and support.

Regards, Raju

Increasing MAPI Concurency connections per user in Exchange 2010

Customer is using MAPI account for helpdesk to handle support requests purpose. They want to configure same MAPI account in multiple machines. He is able to configure it in 9 machines but when they go to configure 10th machine it does not work. at any point of time  It is supporting only 9 machines, when we deleting one account which I have configured earlier, later if we try to configure in new machine it is configuring.

How it got resolved -

“Client throttling” feature is introduced in Exchange 2010 to ensure that a user should not use exchange server high resource. 

Among other things, client throttling helps you make sure that:

•              Users aren't intentionally taxing the system.

•              Users aren't unintentionally taxing the system.

•              Users of various connectivity methods are sharing resources proportionally.

Exchange 2010 has client throttling polices, which are enabled by default. You are probably exceeding your max connections configured value. For details,

Direct from Microsoft - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298094.aspx

                                          http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd297964.aspx

"The RCAMaxConcurrency parameter indicates how many concurrent connections an RPC Client Access user can have against a server running Exchange 2010 at one time. A connection is held from the moment a request is received until the connection is closed or the connection is otherwise disconnected (for example, if the user goes offline). If users attempt to make more concurrent requests than their policy allows, the new connection attempt fails. However, the existing connections remain valid. The RCAMaxConcurrency parameter has a valid range from 0 through 2147483647 inclusive. The default value is 20. To indicate that the number of concurrent connections should be unthrottled (no limit), this value should be set to $null"

Generally we  try to increase the CPUStartPercentage  when encounter these kind of issues, The CPUStartPercent parameter only applies to CPU usage and not concurrent connection parameters. For example, you set CPUStartPercent to 75% and RCAPercentTimeInCAS to 50%, if the CPU hits 75% utilization, Exchange will limit the amount of time Outlook can spend executing Client Access requests to 30 seconds out of every minute. No matter what the CPUStartPercent is set to, all parameters ralated to max concurrent connections will always be enforced.

Each client can have multiple RCA connections to the server if it is opening additional mailboxes, public folders, or shared folders. It is especially a problem if you are using Outlook 2003 as it doesn't release RCA connections that have been generated by viewing another user's calendar. Where you have so many clients connecting to the same mailbox, I would suggest you increase the RCAConcurrency to a higher value. You will need to monitor the Exchange server to ensure this doesn't cause any performance issues

To higher the value of  RCA connection do follow below steps:

·         Open EMS >>Get-ThrottlingPolicy |fl IsDefault,RCA*

·         Copy the  default throttlingpolicy and use in below command.

·         Open EMS>>Set-ThrottlingPolicy -Identity DefaultThrottlingPolicy_XXXXXXXXXXX -RCAMaxConcurrency 30

·         After run the command  just restart   “ RPC Client access service”.

Sometimes higher  the value in Client access server will not solve your concern since cut of connection limit has been set less in  Mailbox Server.  At those scenarios do follow the below steps.

·         On your mailbox server >> open “Regedit”  >>  go to the following key - \\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem

·         Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value called "Maximum Allowed Sessions Per User". Set this value to 100.

·         You may need to restart the information store for the change to take effect.

Your valuable feedback on this article is most appreciated

Regards, Raju

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Exchange 2010 - IMAP4/POP3 Read receipt Issue !!!

Issue:  Senders receiving read recipient notification report though email not read by a recipient. And few other cases, it is observed MAPI users  are getting their email status read automatically in their outlook though they actually dint,  but these users are also Black berry POP users and  when they disabled their Blackberry POP account it works fine

How it got resolved –

This is the scenario with Microsoft Exchange server 2010.

The “SuppressReadReceipt” parameter specifies whether to stop duplicate read receipts from being sent to IMAP4/POP3 senders that are using the “Send read receipts for messages I send “option in their IMAP4/POP3 e-mail program.

By default, this option is set to $false. By default, IMAP4/POP3 senders that use the” Send read receipts for messages I send” option receive a read receipt in both of the following circumstances:

·         When messages they send are downloaded by the recipient.

·         When the recipient opens the message.

For All users in your organization:

ü  Open  EMS >> run the following command>> Set-PopSettings  -SuppressReadReceipt  $true

ü  Open  EMS >> run the following command>> Set-ImapSettings  -SuppressReadReceipt  $true

For on single user:

ü  Open EMS >> run the following command>>set-CasMailbox – identity  username  - pop SuppressReadReceipt  $true

ü  Open EMS >> run the following command>>set-CasMailbox – identity  username  -Imap SuppressReadReceipt  $true

After run the commands restart the following services on the server.

ü  MSExchange Transport service.

ü  MSExchange System Attendant Service.

ü  MSExchange  POP Service.

ü  MSExchange  IMAP Service.

The valid values and descriptions for this parameter are:

ü  $false   IMAP4 /POP3 users are sent a read receipt each time a recipient downloads a message. IMAP4 users are also sent a read receipt when the user opens the message.

ü  $true   IMAP4 /POP3 users that use the Send read receipts for messages I send option in their e-mail client programs only receive a read receipt when the recipient opens the message.

Your valuable feedback on this article is most appreciated

Regards, Raju

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.