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Deploying Unified Communic@tion Around MS Exchange

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

We have covered Unified Communication a number of times in the past. This

time, we are going to focus on two very interesting applications. One is to

create a complete unified communication solution for your enterprise wide

communications channels and the other is to manage and monitor mobile clients

for accessing the UC backend. The similarity here is that both applications

revolve around MS Exchange 2007 and work on Microsoft platform. For the UC

backend we will show you how to deployMicrosoft's latest Office Communication

Server 2007 and for managing the mobile clients and syncing mails on mobile and

fixed clients, we will use the 'Good Mobile Messaging' software from Motorola.

So let's begin with deploying OCS.

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Deploying OCS



Office Communication Server 2007 is a unified messaging solution that allows

you to manage VoIP, instant messaging, presence, audio and video conferencing

all from a single box. It is the next version of MS Live Communications server

that provides Presence and IM capabilities.

Installing OCS is a pretty complex task due to its long list of

pre-requisites. The components that you require before you can install OCS 2007

are as follows:

  1. SIP server
  2. MS SQL SERVER 2005 SP1 or above
  3. Certification Server.
  4. MS Exchange 2007
  5. Active Directory Services
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To begin with, let's first see how you can quickly deploy a SIP server for

your OCS. We used Asterisk/Trixbox, which is a free Linux based solution for

creating the SIP/VoIP server. You can download the ISO file from www.trixbox.org

or from the PCQuest Xtreme DVD, June 2007 (if you can get hold of a copy).

Installation of Trixbox is similar to that of any available Linux distro, which

means all you have to do is hit a couple of enters and provide details such as

the password, domain name, etc. If you plan to deploy the SIP server just for

making and receiving VoIP calls then you can easily install it on a virtual

machine. But if you are planning to add your phone lines to the system then you

have to install it on a physical machine, along with an FXO card.

Once the installation is complete, open the configuration page using a

browser from a machine which is on the same subnet. The IP address required to

open the link will flash on the first screen when trixbox boots up. Click on the

'switch user' link provided on the top right side of the page and give the

username as 'maint' and password as 'password.'

OCS requires an IP-PBX for VoIP

functionality. For this we used the well-known Open Source solution called

Asterix. Here, we're adding SIP extensions for users
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Now the first thing you have to do is to create a couple of extensions by

clicking on the 'Setup' tab and then navigating to the 'Extension' option found

on the left panel. Now select the device as 'Generic SIP Device' and click on

Submit. Provide the user extension and display name, and in the secret text box

which can be found under 'Device Options' section, provide the passcode. Finally

click on the submit button to complete the process. If you are looking for a

detailed installation and configuration process of Trixbox, you can refer to our

previous article on the same at the URL http://pcquest.ciol.com/content/ handson/2007/107040304.asp.

While installing MS SQL SERVER 2005 SP1, we faced issues with its instance

name. We came to the conclusion that while installing it, make sure you choose

the named instance instead of a default instance. You just need to install MS

SQL Server and no further configuration is required. Also make sure that the SQL

Server machine is a member of the domain and also the user that's logged in has

all administrative rights. If you plan to install MS SQL Server on a remote

machine then make sure that the SQL Server is configured to allow connections,

because by default it blocks all remote connections. To allow remote

connections, go to 'SQL Server Configuration Manager' and then expand the

network configuration node. Click on the 'Protocol for ' and

then in the right pane set the 'Named pipe' and TCP/IP as enabled.

For a Certificate server you have the option to go with either a third party

certificate vendor such as Verisign or you can create your own Certificate

Server. For installing Certificate Server on Windows Server 2003, go to

'Add/Remove Programs' and then click on the 'Add/Remove Windows Component.'

Check the 'Certificate Server' component inside the components listbox and click

on Next. Follow onscreen instructions and your certificate will be created. If

you still want to have a detailed look on how to create a certificate, than you

can refer to http:// pcquest.ciol.com/content/ enterprise/2007/107100202.asp.

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For installing and configuring ADS on Windows Server 2008, please refer to

our article at http://pcquest.ciol.com/ content/enterprise/2008/108010302.asp.

Installing OCS 2007



Now comes the real task. If you are sure that all pre-requisites have been

installed on machines and all are in the same domain then you can start with the

OCS installation process. Place the OCS 2007 DVD in the drive and initiate the

installation by clicking on the setup file. On the first screen you get three

different scenarios to deploy on:

  1. Consolidated Topology: Deploy a pool and install all components on a

    physical server.
  2. Expanded Topology: Deploy a pool and install each front end server on

    separate machines.
  3. Deploy other server roles such as OCS archiving and CDR server, edge

    server, etc.
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In the first step the schema, forest and domain of your Active Directory is

prepared for OCS 2007. For initiating the process click on 'Prepare Active

Directory' link and you get a new wizard with five different steps. The first

step is to prepare the schema. For this, click on the 'Run' button in the 'Prep

Schema' option. A new schema preparation wizard comes up. Here, click on Next to

proceed. This provides you with two options. First take up a default schema file

which is inside the OCS directory or you can specify your own schema file. To

specify your own schema file click on the browse button and navigate to the

location of your file. Select the file and click on Ok. Click on Next and then

click on Finish to complete the wizard. Next comes preparing Forest. For this,

click on 'Run' in the 'Prep Forest' section. A Forest preparation wizard

appears. Now, click on 'Next' to proceed. You get an option for storing global

setting. First store the global setting in the system container (recommended)

and the second option is configuration partition, which is used for storing at

the root of the domain. Choose the first one and proceed. Next select the domain

of your ADS and the SIP domain and proceed. Finally click on 'Finish' to

complete the wizard. In the next wizard, ie domain preparation, no input is

required; so with a couple of clicks the wizard can be completed.

When installing OCS, you have to identify

the pool of users who'll use it, the domain they belong to, and the SQL

Server that will store all user data for the server

Now you have to create an enterprise pool. Click on 'Run' under the create

enterprise pool section to launch a wizard. Click on Next and specify the pool

name and path where the MS SQL instance is running. Now click on Next twice. If

you have any existing database with the same name then you have the option of

replacing it by checking the 'Replace existing database' check box provided in

this set. Click on Next and provide the path to the shared folder where OCS can

store content (an FQDN path). You need three such folders with full rights

(read, write and modify). Next provide the folder for storing address books, ie

the third folder that you have created. Click on Next and then click on Finish

to complete the wizard.

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Now we'll configure the pools. Click on 'Run' under the 'Configure Pool'

section. Select the existing pool name from the drop down box you just created

and click on Next. Then add the SIP domain to your environment, if it is not

already in your domain, else check if your domain is listed and click on Next.

If your domain name is not present in the list, then add the domain by clicking

on the 'Add' button. Next check how you want your clients to login. You have two

different options, one will use DNS SRV records and the second is to do it

manually. Next select the SIP domain supported by the pool and click on Next.

Again click on 'Next' and then on 'Finish' to complete the wizard.

Next configure the Certificate by clicking on 'Run' under the 'configure

certificate' section. Choose 'create a new certificate' and proceed. Then,

select the first option i.e. 'send request immediately to an online

certification authority' and click on Next. Then you have to specify the

certificate name and bit length, name of the organization and unit, the subject

name and location information like country name, state, etc. Keep clicking Next

as you complete this information. Lastly, select the certificate authority from

the drop down list.

Finally, when everything has been installed and configured, start OCS 2007

services by clicking on 'Run' under the 'Start service' section. You can also

validate the server functionality by clicking on 'validate server functionality'

link in step 8. All you have to do is to enable UC for your ADS users from

'Active Directory Users and Computers' MMC and right click on the user and say

'Enable UC.'

Next month we will go beyond this and talk about deploying some interesting

features in OCS 2007.

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