Module2: Designing a Lync Server 2013

Topology
Contents:
Module Overview

Lesson 1: Planning the Infrastructure Requirements for Lync Server 2013

Lesson 2: Using the Lync Server 2013 Planning Tool

Lesson 3: Using Topology Builder

Lesson 4: Planning the Server Infrastructure

Lesson 5: Designing Documentation by Using Microsoft Office

Lab: Preparing the Environment and Deploying a Lync Server 2013 Pool

Module Review and Takeaways

Module Overview
Designing a complex Microsoft® Lync® Server 2013 topology,
including defining the network sites and network regions, and sizing
and placing server roles, can be challenging. The topology must
adhere to organizational compliance requirements, if any. When you
design the topology, you must consider the infrastructure requirements
of the organization. To make your work easier, Lync Server 2013
provides tools such as Planning Tool and Topology Builder to plan,
design, and publish your Lync Server 2013 topology. Using these
tools, you can plan and design an effective site topology. In addition,
you need to create a document of your design and update it throughout
the project, by using tools such as Microsoft® Office 2010 or 2013.

Objectives
• Plan the infrastructure requirements for Lync Server 2013.

• Use the Lync Server 2013 Planning Tool.

• Use Topology Builder.

• Plan for site topology.

• Design the site topology.

• Plan the server infrastructure.

• Design the documentation by using Microsoft Office.

Lesson 1 : Planning the Infrastructure

Requirements for Lync Server 2013
As a Unified Communications architect, when you plan for a Lync
Server 2013 solution, you need to plan for server hardware and
software requirements. You must ensure that all the network and
infrastructure components work well with Lync Server 2013. Based on
your evaluation of the utilization of resources, you may need to
readjust and realign your original plan, for a successful
implementation.

Lesson Objectives
• Plan for server hardware in a physical server-based topology.

• Plan for server hardware in a virtualized server topology.

• Plan for server software for Lync Server 2013.

• Plan the network and infrastructure dependencies for Lync Server 2013.

• Plan for client hardware and software requirements.

• Plan for web browser requirements.

Planning for Server Hardware in a Physical

Server-Based Topology

Physical Server-Based Topology or Virtualized-Server

Based Topology

You should consider two major factors when planning for hardware
requirements.

Whether to run Lync Server 2013 in a physical server-based environment, and if so, determine
•
the server hardware requirements for the environment.

Whether to run Lync Server 2013 in a virtualized environment, and if so, determine the server
•
hardware requirements for the virtualized environment.

Considerations for a Physical Server-Based Topology

When you plan for hardware and software platform requirements for
Lync Server 2013, you need to consider the server hardware and
operating systems that you want to install on the servers. These server
requirements apply to each server in the Lync Server 2013
deployment, including each front-end server, Edge Server, and every
additional Lync Server 2013 server role. Server requirements also
include the hardware and software for the database servers in your
deployment, for example, the back-end server.

The hardware required for each server in the Lync Server 2013
deployment varies, based on the size of the organization, and the
usage. You need to consider the user size and usage of the Lync
Server 2013 functionalities in the organization. For example, if the
recommendation for Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition is a Dual
Quad-Core server with 32 gigabyte (GB) of random access memory
(RAM) for up to 5,000 users, the same configuration will not be
required for a Lync Server 2013 implementation with 400 users, who
use only instant messaging (IM).

Based on these considerations, you need to design your Lync Server

2013 deployment with assumptions related to hardware requirements.
For example, for a design involving 5,000 concurrent users, you might
assume that at a given moment, 250 users are running web
conferencing, 250 users are sharing their desktops, 100 users are
running audio/video conferencing, 750 users are using IM, and the
remaining users are dormant. Consequently, the scaling up or scaling
down of hardware will depend on these organizational needs and
expected usage.

With Lync 2013 and support for Hyper-V 3.0, the hardware
requirements for Lync Server 2013 remain the same as that for a
virtualized or physical deployment. If the Lync Server can be supplied
with the same hardware requirements when running in a virtual
environment as if it is running in a physical environment, the same
amount of users will be supported.

Question: How do hardware requirements affect your current server

procurement strategy?

Planning for Server Hardware in a Virtualized

Server Topology
Lync Server 2013 virtualization topologies support most workloads
such as instant messaging (IM), Presence, conferencing, and
Enterprise Voice. If you want the topologies to support Hyper-V or
other third-party virtualization software, you need to install Windows
Server® 2008 R2 as the host operating system as a minimum, while
Windows Server 2012 is the recommended operating system.

Considerations for a Virtualized Topology

While deciding whether to run Lync Server 2013 in

a virtualized environment, you should consider the impact of your

decision on the design and cost. By examining the following
considerations, you can help the organization determine whether to
virtualize the Lync Server 2013 deployment:

Virtualization adds network latency, which may affect voice and video quality. You need to
• examine your Lync Server 2013 solution to determine whether the added latency due to
virtualization will affect the deployment.

The requirements for each physical server are high, and each physical server can only run
•
about 2-4 servers.

The choice between virtualization and physical hardware depends on

your organization's virtualization strategy, and whether these
considerations will affect your deployment.

Supported Virtualization Topologies

If you choose to virtualize your deployment, you can use the Standard
Edition Server and Enterprise Edition topologies for virtualization. You
can configure the data center topology to either support all server roles
that are completely virtualized, or support a mixture of physical and
virtualized servers. Pool servers cannot be mixed; they either need to
be virtualized, or physical.

The recommended virtualization technology is Windows Server 2012

with Hyper-V 3.0.

Managing Your Virtual Environment

To manage the virtualized Lync Server topology, you can use

Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager, with either Hyper-
V or VMware. You need not use Terminal Services or Remote Desktop
Services to manage the virtual machines. You can view and manage
performance, and view components such as disk space. You can also
save a virtual machine as a template for creating other instances.

Because Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager uses

Windows® PowerShell™, you can create scripts that integrate with
Lync Server 2013 Management Shell to manage Lync Server 2013.

Question: How critical is it for your organization to deploy

virtualization? Will the restrictions discussed affect the decision?

Planning the Server Software for Lync Server

2013
Lync Server 2013 is designed to run on servers that have a 64-bit
processor. While this is a requirement for servers, if you want to use
administrative tools such as Topology Builder or PowerShell from a
client computer, the client computer must also be 64-bit based. All
server roles and computers running Lync Server 2013 administrative
tools run on 64-bit editions of the operating system.

To ensure efficiency in administration, you must ensure that you use

the same operating system on all servers, and use the latest version of
the operating system. All server roles support the same Windows
Server operating systems. The required operating system support for
server roles, such as database servers, depends on the software that
you install on those servers.

Plan for Operating Systems for Server Roles

Lync Server 2013 supports the 64-bit editions of the following

operating systems:

• Microsoft® Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard operating system

• Microsoft® Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise operating system

• Microsoft® Windows Server 2008 Standard operating system with Service Pack 2 (SP2)

• Microsoft® Windows Server 2008 Enterprise operating system with SP2

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition with GUI

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition with GUI

By default, Lync Server 2013 administrative tools are installed on the

server running Lync Server 2013. However, you need to install
administrative tools separately on computers that run Windows
operating systems.

Lync Server 2013 is not supported on the following operating systems:

• Server Core installation of Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008

Windows Web Server 2008 R2 operating system or the Windows Web Server 2008 operating
•
system

• Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC Edition or Windows Server 2008 HPC Edition
• Windows Server 2012 Core Edition

Plan for Operating Systems for Other Servers

Operating system support for other servers, besides the servers on

which you deploy Lync Server 2013 server roles, will vary based on the
software that you plan to install on those servers.

Plan for Database Software and Clustering Support

To install Lync Server 2013, you need the following database

management systems for the back-end database, the archiving
database, and the monitoring database:

• Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 with SP1 Enterprise database software (64-bit Edition)

Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 Express (64-bit Edition), only for Standard Edition server, which
•
is automatically installed by Lync Server 2013 on each Standard Edition server

• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard or Enterprise Edition

Lync Server 2013 only supports SQL Server database mirroring. To

use the Monitoring Server role, you need to install SQL Server
Reporting Services. You cannot use SQL Server Web Edition, SQL
Server Workgroup Edition, and database clustering with Lync Server
2013.

Question: Which components of your Lync Server 2013 require a plan

for software support?

Planning the Network and Infrastructure

Dependencies for Lync Server 2013
When planning a Lync Server 2013 solution, you need to ensure that
the various network and infrastructure components work well with Lync
Server 2013. For example, evaluate and ensure that the certificate
infrastructure has been planned for. In several deployments, the
certificate infrastructure may be in place, but the individual who should
be responsible for the role may not be assigned. This may result in
expiry of the Root Certificates or Certificate Revocation Lists. If the
certificate is not updated by the person performing the role, it may
affect Lync Server 2013 functionality.

Plan for Active Directory Support

Lync Server 2013 relies on Microsoft Active Directory® to store global

settings and groups that are necessary for the deployment and
management of Lync Server 2013. Active Directory also provides user
authentication. Lync Server 2013 supports the following Active
Directory Domain Services (AD DS) topologies:

• Single forest with single domain

• Single forest with a single tree and multiple domains

• Single forest with multiple trees and disjoint namespaces

• Multiple forests in a central forest topology

• Multiple forests in a resource forest topology

If your organization is running in a resource forest model, you should

deploy Forefront Identity Manager or similar directory synchronization
software, to support your forest model.
Plan for Forest and Domain Functional Level

You must raise all the forests in which you deploy Lync Server 2013 to
a forest functional level of Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server
2008, or Windows Server 2003. You must raise all the domains in
which you deploy Lync Server 2013 to a domain functional level of
Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server
2003.

Plan for Support for Read-Only Domain Controllers

You can deploy AD DS that include read-only domain controllers or

read-only global catalog servers, if there are writable domain
controllers.

Plan for Locked Down AD DS Environments

Lync Server 2013 can be deployed in a locked-down Active Directory

environment. In a locked-down AD DS environment, users and
computer objects are often placed in specific organizational units
(OUs) with permissions inheritance disabled to help secure
administrative delegation. This also enables the use of Group Policy
objects (GPOs) to enforce security policies.

Plan for Certificate Infrastructure Support

Lync Server 2013 requires a public key infrastructure (PKI) to support

Transport Layer Security (TLS) and mutual TLS (MTLS) connections.
By default, Lync Server 2013 is configured to use TLS for client-to-
server connections. You can use MTLS to connect servers. You should
get MTLS certificates issued by trusted certification authorities (CAs)
for Lync Server 2010.

Lync Server 2013 supports certificates that are issued from the
following CAs:

Certificates issued from an internal CA are:

• Windows Server 2008 operating system CA

• Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system CA

• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition operating system with Service Pack 1 (SP1) CA

Windows Server 2003 operating system with SP1 stand-alone CA. Although this certificate is
•
supported by Lync Server 2013, we do not recommend it.

Certificates issued from a public CA:

If there is no internal certificate infrastructure available, you will need to either deploy a
certificate infrastructure or buy certificates. You can speed up the deployment process by
•
buying certificates externally with one year expiration until you have your own certificate
infrastructure ready.

Plan for Domain Name System (DNS) Infrastructure

Support

You can use the Domain Name System (DNS) with Lync Server 2013
to:

• Discover internal servers or pools for server-to-server communications.

Allow clients to discover the front-end pool or Standard Edition server that is used for various
•
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) transactions.

• Associate simple URLs for conferences with the servers hosting those conferences.

Allow external servers and clients to connect to Edge Servers or the HTTP reverse proxy for
•
IM or conferencing.

Enable unified communications (UC) devices that are not logged on to discover the front-end
• pool or Standard Edition server running the Device Update service, to obtain updates and
send logs.

Enable external servers and clients to connect to Edge Servers or the HTTP reverse proxy for
•
IM or conferencing.

• Set up DNS load balancing.

Lync Server 2013 does not support internationalized domain names

(IDNs).

Plan for Internet Information Services (IIS) Support

Several components of Lync Server 2013 require Internet Information
Services (IIS). When the web server (IIS) role is enabled on Windows
Server 2008, various role services are installed by default. If the
appropriate roles are not installed, Lync Server will generate a prompt
for their installation.

Plan for Network Infrastructure Requirements

The network adapter card of each server in the Lync Server 2013
topology must support at least 1 gigabit per second (Gbps). You
should connect all server roles within the Lync Server 2013 topology
by using a low latency and high bandwidth local area network (LAN).
The LAN size is dependent on the size of the topology.

Plan for Audio/Video Network Requirements

You can configure the external firewall as a Network Address

Translation (NAT), regardless of whether you deploy a single or
multiple Edge Servers for the site. If your organization uses a Quality
of Service (QoS) infrastructure, you can design the media subsystem
to work within this existing infrastructure. If you use IPSec, you need to
disable IPSec over the port ranges used for audio/video traffic.

Plan for IP and Networking Protocol Support

Lync Server 2013 supports the following IP and networking protocols:

Internet Protocols: Lync Server 2013 supports IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6),
•
and dual IP stack implementation.

SIP Transport Protocols: SIP can use at least three transport types and these are User
• Datagram Protocol (UDP), TCP, and Transport Layer Security (TLS). In the default SIP
transport configuration, SIP is enabled to run over TLS.

Plan for Exchange Server Support

You need to consider the various versions of Exchange Server that

Lync 2010 supports. You must install Microsoft® Office Outlook on the
client computer to handle Extended Messaging API calls; some
features also require the use of Exchange Web Services (EWS).

Planning for Client Hardware and Software

Requirements

You need to ensure that the client hardware meets the minimum
requirements. You must evaluate the current utilization of hardware in
the user environment. For example, if a business function is running
several CPU-and-memory intensive applications, you need to ensure
that there is enough available memory and sufficient CPU cycles to run
Lync 2013. You may also need to ensure that there is enough CPU
power to deliver the encoding and decoding necessary for audio/video
conferencing.

Evaluate if there are still Windows XP and Windows

Vista Clients

A lot of companies will still be running Windows XP at the time of Lync

Server 2013 deployment. This operating system is unsupported for
Lync 2013, just as Windows Vista is unsupported. This might prove to
be a deployment blocker and needs to be addressed.

Lync Server 2013 Features Available with Microsoft

Office 2010 and Microsoft Office 2013
There are certain features of Lync Server 2013 that are available only
with Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft Office 2013. The following is
the list of these features:

• New Contact Card with expanded options such as video call and desktop sharing

• Quick search from the Office Outlook Find a Contact box

Reply with an IM or call from the Outlook Home ribbon in the Mail, Calendar, Contacts, and
•
Tasks folders

• Lync Contact List in Office Outlook To-Do Bar

• Office Backstage or file tab Presence, application sharing, and file transfer

Presence menu in Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Workspace 2010 (formerly Microsoft Office
•
Groove 2007)

• Presence menu extensibility

Planning for Web Browser Requirements

Users may need to participate in conferences from their browsers. You

may not be able to determine the operating systems and browsers that
your customers and partners use. However, you should plan for such
scenarios and facilitate users to participate in conferences from their
browsers.

Lync Web App does not require any administrative rights, only a small
activeX plugin that will enable audio and video into the client.

Question: In which scenario would users need to install Lync Web

App?
Lesson 2: Using the Lync Server 2013
Planning Tool
In this lesson, you will learn about the Planning tool, its capabilities,
and benefits. In addition, you will learn about exploring a sample
design by using the Planning tool and exporting the configuration data.

Lesson Objectives
• Describe the capabilities and benefits of the Planning tool.

• Design a topology by using the Planning tool.

• Export the configuration data.

Describe how to use the Planning tool to experiment with various scenarios based on the
•
conceptual design.

Capabilities and Benefits of the Planning Tool

You can use the Planning tool to design your topology, including the
identifying and defining of the components in your topology, fully
qualified domain names (FQDNs), IP addresses, and other
information.

After you specify the information about your topology in the Planning
tool, it creates a Microsoft® Office Visio diagram of your topology and
allows you to export the topology for use with Topology Builder. Based
on the questions, the tool generates a topology that follows Lync
Server 2013 guidelines and best practices. You can also use the tool
to view various deployment options. The tool shows both a global view
of all your sites, including central sites and branch sites, and detailed
views showing the Lync Server 2013 servers and other components at
each site. The tool will provide you with a guideline, but is not always
the solution the customer is looking for. You can use the Tool to help
you design your topology, but make sure the tool does not become
leading in your design.

You can run the Planning tool multiple times, with different options and
compare the different topologies. You can also load the design in the
tool and make changes to it. After you create the topology, you can
use the Export to Topology Builder option in the Planning tool, to
export your topology to an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file.
You can provide this XML file as input to Topology Builder.

You can use the Planning tool only for exporting your initial topology
design. After you export the topology to Topology Builder and begin
working with it, you can no longer use the Planning tool to modify your
topology. However, you can use the tool to test and validate
assumptions about the impact of changes that you make to your
design, and to document your design.

Benefits of Using the Planning Tool

Although using the Planning Tool is optional, it simplifies the planning

and deployment processes because you can export the information
from the Planning tool to Topology Builder. Besides, the Planning tool
automatically populates much of the information that Topology Builder
requires for the deployment of components.

Using the Planning tool is advantageous as it provides various options

that can be used in a given scenario. You need not prepare a plan
before using the tool. The tool is an informative and useful way to
understand the types of questions that may come up during the
envisioning phase and the planning phase.

Question: When can you start working with the Planning Tool?
Exploring Deployment Scenarios by Using the
Planning Tool

You can provide inputs about your organizational topology in the

Planning tool. For example, in the sample topology, the following are
the inputs provided:

Inputs

Aalborg: 1,500 users

• All features

• 3 x Branch Offices; each having 250 users

• No resilient network connection to branch office

• 2 calls per hour

• Gateway deployment with E1 interface and 4 ports

External User Access from Aalborg

• Using a Director
 Inputs

• High availability for users

All features:

Copenhagen: 800 users No branch offices SIP Trunking that supports DNS
load balancing and Early Media
High availability in all instances Enable All Users for both Enterprise Voice Enable
All Users for Unified Messaging (UM); checking 4 times per day

In the sample topology, the assumptions were:

• No redundancy on all components

• No redundant network connections to the Branch Office sites.

Based on these inputs, you will receive a summary of hardware

requirements. You can change the current topology to provide different
inputs. For example, in the sample topology, if you removed the need
for high availability and added redundant networks to the branch office
sites, the output changes. Based on the inputs, there is a difference in
the two designs, in terms of the required hardware, implementation
time, and project complexity.

Question: Do you see this as a tool you can use for your initial
planning decisions?

Lesson 3: Using Topology Builder

Topology Builder and Central Management Database were significant
enhancements in Lync Server 2010 and have been further improved in
Lync Server 2013. In this lesson you will examine the Lync Server
2013 topology setup process. You can use the Topology Builder to
save and publish a topology to the Central Management Database.
Lesson Objectives
• Describe the Lync Server 2013 topology setup process.

• Describe the purpose of the Topology Builder tool.

• Publish a topology by using Topology Builder.

• Describe the components of Central Management Store in Lync Server 2013.

• Describe the components of the deployment model of Lync Server 2013.

Lync Server 2013 Topology Setup Process

Your deployment process for Lync Server 2013 is determined by the

Lync Server 2013 topology and the components that you plan to install.
The deployment process also depends on whether you plan to deploy
an Enterprise Edition pool or a Standard Edition server. The following
is the Lync Server 2013 topology setup process:

Prepare Active Directory Domain Services for

Lync Server 2013. Before you deploy and operate Lync Server 2013, you must prepare

1. Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) by extending the schema and then creating and
configuring objects. The schema extensions add the Active Directory classes and attributes
that are required by Lync Server 2013. You need to prepare AD DS for deploying Lync
Server, and assign setup and organizational unit (OU) permissions.

Use the Planning tool to design the topology (Optional). You can use the Planning tool to
design your topology. This tool helps you to identify and define the components in your
2. topology, configure fully qualified domain names (FQDNs), define IP addresses, and provide
other information. After you specify the information in the Planning tool, it creates a Microsoft
Office Visio diagram of your topology. The use of the Planning tool is optional. However,
 using it can simplify the planning and deployment processes. This is because the information
you export from it to Topology Builder automatically populates the information that Topology
Builder requires for deploying the components.

Publish the topology. In a Lync Server 2013 Enterprise Edition, the published topology XML
document is stored in the back-end database that supports the first front-end server pool. In
3. the Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition, the topology is stored in the SQL Express Edition
database. Remote access is not enabled by default. However, you can change this during the
setup process.

Set up Lync Server 2013. After you publish the topology document to the database, you need
to run the local setup of the first Lync Server 2013 server again. After you complete this
installation, the setup routine provides a reference of a Service Connection Point (SCP)
4.
object from Active Directory. This object points the setup to the Central Management
Database. You should install the Lync Server 2013 component as defined in the topology
document and perform the activation of services and roles of the component accordingly.

Install the certificates. You can use the certificate wizard to generate the certificate request.
After running the wizard, you can install the received certificate response on the server
5.
specified for this purpose and bind the certificate to specified Lync Server 2013 services and
roles.

Modify the design. As you make some changes to your Lync Server 2013 environment, for
example, change the URL path for web services, or change a port that IIS uses, you need to
reflect those changes in the topology document by using Topology Builder. Then, you must
6. publish the new topology document. After this, you will be prompted to rerun the setup on the

Lync Server 2013 servers to update the configuration changes.

Question: How can you prepare AD DS as part of the topology setup process?

Topology Builder Tool

You use Topology Builder to create, adjust, and publish your topology.
Topology Builder also validates your topology before you begin server
installations. When you install Lync Server 2013 on individual servers,
the servers read the published topology as part of the installation
process, and the installation program deploys the server as directed in
the topology.

The following are the high-level steps to publish your topology by using
Topology Builder:

1. Configure the servers and settings in your topology.

View the topology that Topology Builder displays after retrieving the XML file provided by the
Planning tool.
2.

a. Emphasize that editing the XML file by hand is unsupported.

3. Build the infrastructure visually by creating sites, pools, edge, and conferencing information.
4. Add information such as IP addresses and FQDNs of servers.
5. Validate the topology by using Topology Builder and verify if the topology is approved.
6. Publish the topology.

When you publish the topology, Lync Server 2013 places the topology
in the Central Management Database, which is created at this stage if
it does not already exist. Then, when you install Lync Server on each
server in your deployment, the server reads the topology from the
Central Management database and installs a replica copy of the
Central Management Database into a new local SQL Server Instance.

After configuring the first version of the topology, you can use the
Topology Builder tool to publish the configuration to the Central
Management Server. The Central Management Server replicates this
configuration to all Central Management Databases in your
environment. You can also use Topology Builder to change the
configuration of your topology in the later stages of the design and
deployment.

If you are very familiar with Lync Server 2013 and need less
prescriptive guidance, you can skip the Planning tool and use the
wizards in Topology Builder for the initial design of your deployment,
and for the validation and publishing steps. Although you can create
and edit the topology XML manually, you should avoid this because
any error in manual editing might lead to failure of large portions of
your deployment. You might need to perform manual editing in rare
situations. In such situations, follow the recommendations in the Lync
Server 2013 product documentation.

Whether you use the Planning tool or Topology Builder to define the
topology, you are required to publish the topology by using Topology
Builder before you install Lync Server 2013 on servers.

If you import the topology design from the Planning tool, some of the
information is pre-populated in Topology Builder. Therefore, you need
to specify only the configuration information that is not pre-populated. If
you import the topology design from the Planning tool and define a
topology directly by using Topology Builder, you must manually specify
all required configuration information.

Using Topology Builder to plan and publish a topology is a mandatory

step. You cannot bypass Topology Builder and install Lync Server
2013 individually on the servers in your deployment. Each server must
retrieve and use the topology information from a validated, published
topology XML file, in the Central Management Database.

Question: Would you use the Planning tool or Topology Builder to

build you topology? What would be your reasons for doing so?

Demonstration: How to Save and Publish a

Topology by Using Topology Builder
Demonstration Steps

Log on to 20336B-LON-FE01-03 as adatum\administrator, with the

password, Pa$$w0rd.

Open Lync Server Topology Builder.

Save the Topology

Publish the Topology

Question: After you import your Planning tool results into Topology
Builder and start the deployment of Lync Server 2013, can changes
that you make using the Planning Tool be imported into Topology
Builder?

Overview of the Central Management Store

The Central Management Store in Lync Server 2013 includes the

Central Management Database, schema documents, Central
Management Server, and replica.

Central Management Database

Central Management Database is an SQL database containing

configuration data and XML configuration documents. Some XML
documents stored in the Central Management Database are
configuration, policy, and topology documents.

Using the Central Management Database, a database administrator

can change the settings without changing the Active Directory schema.

Schema Documents

You can classify schema documents into three types based on how
they are exposed to the administrator:
 Deployment schemas. Describe how the deployment is configured, for example, the topology
• schema. Most deployment schemas only support the global scope. Many of these schemas
are not directly exposed to the administrator, with the exception of the topology schema.

Policy schemas. Contain information about the user permissions for setting up conferences
• and Presence. After creating a policy document, you can assign it to one or more users. Policy
schemas use the tag scope.

Settings schemas. Contain configuration information pertaining to specific roles within the
•
deployment. You can scope the setting schemas to an individual site or service.

Central Management Server

The Central Management Server runs on the Lync Server 2013 front-
end server that is deployed first in your Lync Server 2013 pool. The
Central Management Server replicates all changes in the Central
Management Database to all Lync Server 2013 servers as required to
be updated through replication. The database administrators can also
expand the replication capability of the Central Management Server by
performing configuration replication on the Edge Server. However,
database administrators need to use certificates because the Edge
Server is normally not domain joined. The HTTP/HTTPS listener on the
Edge Server receives these configuration updates; therefore, there is
no need to use Internet Information Services for this purpose.

Replica

Lync Server 2013 contains a replica, a SQL Server Express database,

which runs on each Lync Server 2013 server role and contains a copy
of the complete topology from the Central Management Database.
Therefore, when a server starts and finds that its configuration replica
is current, it does not require connecting with any root Forest Global
Catalog or Domain Controller server to start its services. Moreover, if
the Central Management Database is offline, each Lync Server 2013
server role will use the data from its local replica, and this will result in
more resiliency. AD DS is used to store basic Lync Server 2013 user
information, such as the user’s SIP Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
and phone number.
To administer servers and services, you use Topology Builder, Lync
Server 2013 Management Shell, or the Lync Server Control Panel,
which then retrieve the settings in the Central Management Store.
Configuration changes are replicated to all the servers in your
deployment by the Central Management Server, which runs on one of
the servers in the front-end pool, if you are using Lync Server 2013
Enterprise Edition server, or the front-end server, if you are using Lync
Server 2013 Standard Edition server, in your deployment.

Question: What is the difference between the Central Management

Store, Central Management Database, and the Central Management
Server?

Lync Server 2013 Deployment Model

The top level of the Lync Server 2013 Deployment model comprises
the global object that represents the entire environment, and it
functions as a policy boundary. The next level contains sites, which
comprise central sites and possibly branch office sites. The central site
is usually a data center with IT staff, while the branch site is a site with
or without IT staff. On the next level are pools, which are associated
with the central site, and they host the users and services. The Lync
Server 2013 deployment model is also used in policy definition for
users. Policies will flow top-down through to the user level. The
following are the policies you can use:

• Global. You can apply this policy globally to the entire environment.

• Site. You can apply this policy to a specific site.

• Service. You can apply this policy to a specific service.

Tag. This policy uses an arbitrary string to specify its uniqueness. Usually, the string is not
truly arbitrary, but it has different meanings depending on the document.
•

Question: At what level in the deployment model can policies be applied?

Central and Branch Office Sites

A site represents a geographical location of your network. A site is a

set of computers that are well-connected by a high-speed, low-latency
network, such as a single LAN or two networks connected through a
high-speed fiber optic network. You need to begin the design process
of Lync Server 2013 deployment by defining the central and branch
office sites for your organization. The design for the Lync Server 2013
deployment is affected by the design of your server infrastructure,
especially the locations of the data centers. For example, if you have
three data centers for resiliency reasons, you need three central sites.

Central and Branch Office Sites

Central sites contain one front-end pool or Standard Edition server.

Your deployment must include at least one central site, and can
include zero to many branch sites. Each branch site is affiliated with
one central site. The branch site users gain access to most
functionalities of Lync Server 2013 from the servers at the associated
central site.
Branch sites with less-resilient links should use the Survival Branch
Appliance that provides resiliency in times of wide area network (WAN)
failures. A Survival Branch Appliance combines a public switched
telephone network (PSTN) gateway with some Lync Server 2013
functionality. For example, in a site where you have deployed Survival
Branch Appliance, users can still send and receive Enterprise Voice
calls, even if the WAN connecting the branch site to the central site is
unavailable.

Branch sites with resilient WAN can connect to the central site by using
a PSTN gateway, and optionally, use a Mediation Server.

Question: How do central and branch office sites and site topology
design correlate with Active Directory sites?

Demonstration: How to Design a Site Topology

by Using Topology Builder
Demonstration Steps

Open Lync Server Topology Builder

Download a topology from an existing deployment

Create a new Central Site

Configure a new Front End pool.

Create a Branch Site

Explore the branch site settings.

Lesson 4: Planning the Server

Infrastructure
To plan the server infrastructure, you should consider user
requirements. First, select Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition–
based licensing, and then select the type of pool that is required for the
deployment. Before you select the server, consider capacity and
scaling requirements based on the number of users in the
organization. You should also consider the different server pools and
collocation scenarios, in addition to capacity and scaling.

Lesson Objectives
• Determine the appropriate server editions.

• Describe the different types of pools.

• Describe the capacity and scaling considerations.

Plan for Server Editions

Choosing between Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition and Lync

Server 2013 Enterprise Edition-based server licensing depends on
user requirements in the organization. If the organization needs high
availability, you can plan to deploy Lync Server 2013 Enterprise
Edition.

You should use SQL mirror for the back-end servers, for high
availability. This mirror can be shared with different applications, it
must, however, be a dedicated instance.

Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition

Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition requires that primary server

components and the database for storing user and conference
information are configured on a single computer. Lync Server 2013
Standard Edition is recommended for organizations that do not require
higher availability, rendered by using load balancing. The Standard
Edition does support pool failover, just as the Enterprise Edition does.

Lync Server 2013 Enterprise Edition

Lync Server 2013 Enterprise Edition enables separation of server role

functionality and data storage to achieve higher capacity and
availability. Lync Server 2013 Enterprise Edition is recommended for
organizations that require higher availability, rendered through load
balancing. An Enterprise Edition License is bought on a front-end
basis.

License for Lync Server 2013 Roles

Many Lync Server 2013 roles do not require any additional licensing.
These roles and features require the licensing of only the Lync Server
2013 Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition for the pool. For example,
if Lync Server 2013 is deployed as the Director role, this server does
not require an additional Lync Server 2013 Standard or Enterprise
Edition server license. However, you need to purchase the Windows
Server operating system licenses, SQL Server 2008 licenses, and
other similar licenses.

Question: Which types of servers require licensing other than Lync

Server Standard Edition and Lync Server 2013 Enterprise Edition
pools?

Types of Pools
Lync Server 2013 comprises several types of server pools. These
server pools are Enterprise Edition front-end server pool, Conferencing
server pool, Mediation server pool, and Director server pool.

Enterprise Edition Front-End Server Pool

All pools use DNS-based load balancing, except the front-end server
pool, which can perform hardware load balancing. In a coexistence
environment with a previous version of Lync Server 2013, you need to
remember that DNS-based load balancing is not supported by earlier
versions of clients.

Mediation Server Pool

Depending on how you deploy Enterprise Voice support, you can

collocate the Mediation Server in a front-end pool or deploy a stand-
alone Mediation Server or Mediation Server pool. You can use DNS
load balancing or application load balancing, when appropriate, to
distribute traffic from a gateway peer of a Mediation Server pool. These
gateways can include an IP-PSTN gateway, IP-PBX, or SIP trunk
Session Border Control (SBC).

Persistent Chat Pool

The Persistent Chat pool is a new kind of pool introduced in Lync

Server 2013. It hosts the Persistent Chat Servers and can consist of
eight servers in total, four active and four passive. The Persistent Chat
Pool is the only kind of pool that supports being spread over two data
centers.

Director Pool

Directors can be single-instance servers or can be installed as a load-

balanced pool of multiple Directors for higher availability and capacity.
Both hardware load balancing (HLB) and DNS load balancing are
supported. A Director or Director pool facilitates user authentication
and redirection of Lync Server user requests to the user’s home pool.
The home pool is either a front-end pool or a Standard Edition server.
We recommend that you deploy a Director pool in each central site that
supports external user access. A Director pool is deployed in each
central site with one or more front-end pools. Each Director pool can
contain a maximum of 10 Directors. A Director cannot be collocated
with any other server role.

Question: Which server pool is required as a mandate in a Lync

Server 2013 Enterprise Edition deployment?

Capacity and Scaling Considerations

When designing the server infrastructure, you need to plan for capacity
and scaling in your organization. You can do this based on reference
topologies provided by Lync Server 2013. The important reference
topologies are:

• Front End Reference Topology with Limited High Availability

• Front End Reference Topology with High Availability and a Single Data Center

High Availability for all Server Pools

For an organization with about 15,000 users, you

can assure performance by having just one Director Server, Edge

Server, and A/V Conferencing Server. However, to provide high
availability for each server, you can deploy pools containing two
servers of each type.

Single Consolidated Edge

Suppose your organization requires support for fewer than 5,000
Access Edge service client connections, 1,000 active web
conferencing service client connections, 500 concurrent A/V Edge
sessions, and high availability of the Edge Server is not important.
Using this topology in this scenario, you can get the advantage of
lower hardware cost and simpler deployment. If you need greater
capacity or require high availability, you need to deploy the scaled
consolidated Edge Server topology.

Scaled Consolidated Edge: DNS or Hardware Load-

Balanced

In the Edge Server pool topology, two or more Edge Servers are
deployed as a load-balanced pool on the perimeter network of the data
center. You can use DNS load balancing for generating traffic to both
the external and internal Edge interfaces.

Hardware Load Balancing on Edge Servers

In this topology, hardware load balancing is supported for load

balancing the Edge Servers of Lync Server 2013 when you are using
publicly routable IP addresses for the Edge external interfaces, or for
previous versions of Lync Server 2013 or Unified Messaging.

Virtualization

You can run a virtualized topology of Lync Server 2013 in both small
and enterprise topologies.

Collocation

Collocation in a Unified Communications project helps reduce cost and

time. Therefore, when you design a topology, you should start with
collocation until technical reasons or capacity reasons require you to
split roles to multiple servers.

Question: What are the deployment options for an organization with

6,000 users?
Lesson 5: Designing Documentation by
Using Microsoft Office
A good design document should be well-structured and have all the
information that a person might need to understand the deployment of
Lync Server 2013. You should also know the benefits of having a good
design document and the various options available for documenting
the design.

Lesson Objectives
• Describe the benefits of good design documentation.

• Describe the various options for documenting the design.

• Describe the server infrastructure design in Microsoft Office Visio.

Benefits of Documenting the Design

A good design document should ideally present the conceptual and

logical-level-design in a well-structured and organized manner. To
create several levels of design, from conceptual to logical to physical,
you can refer to the Microsoft Solutions Framework process. In your
design document, describe the conceptual design. It should be easy to
read and understand by a technical or non-technical person who wants
an overview of the solution. However, for those who want to delve into
details of the solution, retain the logical and perhaps the physical
design, in your documentation.
Maintain the design document so that the conceptual and logical levels
are described early in the project. This enables each person or working
group to maintain a lower-level physical design for each of their
responsibility areas.

Options for Design Documentation

Usually, Microsoft Office Word along with embedded drawings and

tables is the preferred choice as a tool for creating the design
document.

Microsoft Office Visio is also a good tool for documenting the design.
Office Visio is useful in documenting the following:

• Server and Network Architecture, including IP addresses and Servers

• Edge Design

• Certificates design

Based on your expertise with Microsoft Office

Visio, you can also include the server architecture drawing.

You may use one or more Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets for
detailed documentation.

Question: Which software should you use to update documentations?

Server Infrastructure Design in Microsoft Office

Visio
You can show several layers of a Lync Server 2013 solution in a single
Office Visio diagram. You can display the following:

• Servers and services-naming documentation

• IP address documentation

• VLAN documentation

• Perimeter network design

• Network components and server roles

• WAN and LAN design

• Internet access

The Planning tool for Lync Server 2013 helps you create the initial
Office Visio diagrams. You can later expand them as required by the
organization.

Question: What does good server infrastructure design documentation

provide you?

Lab: Preparing the Environment and

Deploying a Lync Server 2013 Pool
Scenario

You are the Network Administrator for A Datum Corporation, and you
have been tasked with deploying Lync Server 2013. You will prepare
your Microsoft® Active Directory® for Microsoft Lync™ Server 2013,
configure a topology by using the Topology Builder, publish it, and then
deploy two Enterprise Edition front-end servers. After deployment, you
will enable the sales users and send a test message between them.

Estimated Time: 180 minutes

Exercise 1: Preparing for Lync Server 2013

Scenario

In this lab First you will prepare the VM’s that you will be working on.
Once the VM’s are up and running, on the following VM’s, 20336B-
LON-FE1-02 & 20336B-RED-FE1-02 attach the Lync ISO. Prepare
your Active directory, and create a file share “Lyncshare” for your Lync
deployment.

*Remember to add administrator to CSAdminstrator group (to access

LSCP)

Note On all virtual machines, verify that all of the services set to start
automatically have started. Most notably, check the Exchange, SQL
Server, and Lync Server 2013 services. If any are not started, right-
click each and then click Start.

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

1. Prepare Active Directory for Lync Server 2013.

2. Add an administrator to the CSAdministrator group.

3. Prepare the File Shares for Lync Server 2013.

Task 1: Prepare Active Directory for Lync Server 2013.

Start the Virtual Machines Install Software

Task 2: Add an administrator to the CSAdministrator group.

Add an administrator to the CSAdministrator group.

Task 3: Prepare the File Shares for Lync Server 2013.

Prepare the File Shares for Lync Server 2013.

Results: After completing this exercise, you should have prepared

Active Directory for an installation of Lync Server 2013.

Exercise 2: Configuring a Lync Server 2013 Topology

Scenario

In this exercise you will be building your Lync topology with following
options:

• Topology name : Lab2.tbxml

• Primary SIP Domain : Adatum.com

• First site : London (Site 0) : City name London, Country/Region Code +44

Front End pool FQDN :lon-pool.ADatum.com. and it should be Enterprise Edition Front End
•
Pool

• Computer FQDN : lon-fe01.adatum.com

In Features Conferencing (includes audio, video and application sharing), Dial in (PSTN)
•
conferencing, Enterprise Voice and Call Admission Control

• Mediation server should be collocated

• Nothing is associated with this front end pool

• SQL Server FQDN : Lon-SQL01.ADatum.com

• Named Instance : LYNC.

• No SQL mirroring

• File Server FQDN : Lon-SQL01.adatum.com

• File Share : LyncShare,

Make sure Override Internal Web Services Pool FQDN is selected : use lon-poolweb-
•
int.adatum.com

• External Base URL : lon-poolweb-ext.adatum.com

• No Office Web Apps Server

• Once the topology is created add a new Central site with these options

• Name : Redmond (Site 1), City Redmond, Country/Region Code +1

Front End pool FQDN : red-pool.ADatum.com, it should be Enterprise Edition Front End
•
Pool
• Computer FQDN : red-fe01.adatum.com.

Features include : Conferencing(includes audio, video and application sharing), Dial in (PSTN)
•
conferencing, Enterprise Voice and Call Admission Control

• Mediation server should be collocated

• Nothing is associated with this front end pool

• SQL Server FQDN : Red-SQL01.ADatum.com

• Named Instance : LYNC.

• No SQL mirroring

• File Server FQDN : RED-SQL02.adatum.com

• File Share : LyncShare,

Make sure Override Internal Web Services Pool FQDN is selected : use red-poolweb-
•
int.adatum.com

• External Base URL : red-poolweb-ext.adatum.com

• No Office Web Apps Server

• Administrative URL: https://lyncadmin.adatum.com .

• Central Management Server should be on lon-pool.adatum.com London (Site 0)

(To configure DNS and certificates for your deployment please follow
the steps mentioned in the tasks)

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

1. Deploy and run the Topology Builder.

2. Configure the Administrative Access URL.

Task 1: Deploy and run the Topology Builder.

Deploy and run the Topology Builder

Task 2: Configure the Administrative Access URL.

Configure the Administrative Access URL.

Results: After completing this exercise, you should have created and
edited a publishable topology.
Exercise 3: Publishing the Topology

Scenario

In this exercise, you will publish the topology and understand the
changes made during this process, such as creating the CMS
database, setting the configuration store location, and creating the
necessary databases.

The main task for this exercise is to publish the topology.

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

1. Publish the topology.

Task 1: Publish the topology.

Publish the topology.

Results: After completing this exercise, you should have a published

topology.

Exercise 4: Configuring Domain Name Server (DNS)

Scenario

In this exercise, you will use the DNS Microsoft Management Console
(MMC) to create appropriate “A” and “SRV” records on LON-DC1 that
are required for automatic client logon.

The main task for this exercise is to create the necessary DNS records
for Lync Server 2013.

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

1. Create the necessary DNS Records for Lync Server 2013.

Task 1: Create the necessary DNS Records for Lync Server 2013.
Create the necessary DNS Records for Lync Server 2013.

Exercise 5: Deploying the Front-End Server Role

Scenario

In this exercise, you will walk through the four steps in the deployment
wizard to complete the setup of a Lync Server 2013 front-end server.
You will install a Local Configuration Store, set up components,
request and configure certificates, and then start the Lync Services.

Note The steps for Lon-FE01 and Red-FE01 can be completed in

parallel.

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

1. Install the local configuration store.

2. Set up components.

3. Request and assign certificates.

4. Start Lync Server Services.

5. Install the Local Configuration Store.

6. Set up components.

7. Request and assign certificates.

8. Start Lync Server Services.

Task 1: Install the local configuration store.

Install the Local Configuration Store.

Task 2: Set up components.

Set up components.

Task 3: Request and assign certificates.

Request and assign certificates.

Task 4: Start Lync Server Services.

Start Lync Server Services.

Task 5: Install the Local Configuration Store.

Install the Local Configuration Store.

Task 6: Set up components.

Set up components.

Task 7: Request and assign certificates.

Request and assign certificates.

Task 8: Start Lync Server Services.

Start Lync Server Services.

Results: After completing this exercise, you should have a configured

Lync Server 2013 deployment.

Exercise 6: Configuring Exchange UM and Enabling

Users (optional lab exercise)

Scenario

In this exercise, you will configure Exchange Unified Messaging (UM)

in conjunction with Lync Server 2013. You will also enable the users
for Lync Serve 2013 and Exchange Unified Messaging.

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

1. Configure Exchange UM.

2. Configure Lync for Exchange UM.

3. Enable users for Lync Enterprise Voice and Exchange UM.

Task 1: Configure Exchange UM.

Configure Exchange UM

Task 2: Configure Lync for Exchange UM.

Configure Lync for Exchange UM

Task 3: Enable users for Lync Enterprise Voice and Exchange

UM.

Enable users for Lync Enterprise Voice and Exchange UM

Module Review and Takeaways

Best Practice:

Ensure that you identify and involve the other stakeholders required for
a successful Lync Server implementation as early as possible and get
approval on the deployment plans before starting any work. This helps
minimize deployment delays and roadblocks in implementing changes
to firewalls or other network configurations, acquiring certificates,
preparing Active Directory Domain Services, and configuring DNS,
PBXs, or gateways. The likelihood that these items are owned or
managed by one entity decrease with the size of the organization. Not
involving the appropriate departments early during the planning phase
to cause roadblocks and delays in the subsequent deployment.
Remember to schedule the appropriate time for change management
approvals and scheduling, in a large organization.

Common Issues and Troubleshooting Tips

Common Issue Troubleshooting

Tip

Topology publishing wizard: Creating database completed with

warnings
 Common Issue Troubleshooting
Tip

Topology publishing wizard: Database creation fails on the back-

end SQL Server for Lync Server Enterprise Edition

Review Question(s)

Question: For a Greenfield Deployment of Lync Server 2013 or

migration from Office Communications Server 2007 R2, which two
actions must be completed before you can publish a topology by using
Topology Builder?

Question: After publishing the topology, but before clicking the Finish
button in the publishing wizard, what should you do?

Real-world Issues and Scenarios

Contoso plans to deploy both Lync Standard Edition Server and

Enterprise Edition. Which should they deploy first?

Answer: They should deploy Enterprise Edition first to host the Central
Management Store. If they plan to start a pilot with Standard Edition,
they would need to first prepare the Standard Edition server to host the
CMS, and then later move the CMS.