Thomas.Poett@TEAMS (MVP Teams and Cross-Tenant Migration Specialist)

Once you try installing the Skype for Business prerequisite Windows 2012 R2 Update you receive the error: The update is not applicable to your computer. This issue is actually not an issue, it only indicates, you haven't install the windows server Roles and Features yet. The Update address an issue in IIS. Therefore install the windows prerequisites first.    As you can see, the hotfix is now applied proper.   Author: Thomas Poett MVP, Principal Consultant Microsoft Unified Communication  

How to turn off Skype for Business Mute Beep I was asked how to turn off the stress tune while you headset microphone is muted. First you need to know, this is NOT a Skype for Business Client feature. This is only happend when you use a JABRA headset. There is only one possible solution. Jabra offers the PC SUITE. Download PC Suite  and start the installation 1. Go to the Jabra Control Center 2. Make sure your device is highlighted 3. On the "Headset" tab, make sure you are in Advanced View 4. Uncheck "Enable mute reminder tone" 5. Click Apply. Bad news are: Not every Jabra headset supports this or even the comfort noise setting. So please test your headset before you buy them. Author: Thomas Poett MVP, Principal Consultant Microsoft Unified Communication  

Very often we as MVP are asked about the Busy-On-Busy feature missing Skype for Business. The native feature for every single device, user or other client is not yet available. And I can't make any announcement until today if this is planned or not. But what I can introduce is the Share Line Appearance , yes here Busy-On-Busy is available. Making S4B more look like an old fashion PBX :) What it the Share Line Appearance. This is a new feature introduced with the actual firmware from Polycom VVX and last Skype for Business Update November 2015. MSFT: Shared Line Appearance (SLA) enables you to configure a group of multiple devices that can each answer calls to a shared phone number (extension). ( SLA it is not supported for Skype for Business clients on computers, mobile phones, or other devices ): What does this mean to us. Well we can use busy on busy only within the VVX configured groups. But not yet between devices and client, or between soft clients. The supporte...

Once more first. Really make always sure your environment is patched and up to date. Mainly if you have a slow Join Conference user experience. Validate your DFS or File Server. Just what we experienced during certain Skype for Business Updated, as well as support cases is: - Migration is slow - Join Conferencing experience is slow - Address Book generation is slow and more This is, if the Fileshare is not fast enough. What does this mean: You should ensure the IOPS as well as the network throughput is sufficient and not the bottleneck in your environment. Do a measurement on the file servers, see what is happen if DFS replication is kicked in, check if this is share file server, whats happen if other app's access the shares and monitor the IOPS/ bandwidth. Just this is not all, also just perfmon for CPU load, and Memory especially paging. If you experience slow conference joins, it will be the issues, mostly. (Sure the local SQL server also consumes performance ...

(v 1.0, 4th Nov 2015) Today I'm digging deeper into Skype for Business Broadcast Meeting. As its not all about video, the presentation side is important. how to make PowerPoint visible to the audience. Also it is easy to handle? How is the user experience when a user joins via a webbrowser? Simply said it is excellent. If you need to understand how setting up a meeting, please follow my last blog article: http://lyncuc.blogspot.com/2015/11/broadcast-meetings-in-skype-for-business.html   Have a look and I explain what to do and how to use it. If you join as an authenticated user and being part of the Presenter Team, the browser checks the Desktop App and will ask you for access permission.   As usual, if you click the "Monitor" button, it give you the option uploading a PowerPoint file and als manage the content. Once it is uploaded it is show in the preview windows, where you can also use the PowerPoint Tools e.g. the marker or others. ...

(Version 1.0: 3rd Nov. 2015) First I start with, broadcast meetings are in an very early stage and introduce only a handful of planned and great feature still coming. Therefore I ask you to read this article frequently seeing the updates will I can blog about. Microsoft introduced Skype broadcast meeting as an individual service aside with Office 365. It requires a dedicated login under: https://broadcast.skype.com/ You can use Skype Broadcast Meetings in both scenarios: - Office 365 only (Skype for Business is 100% in the cloud) - Hybrid Setup Required is: - Azure Password sync or ADFS The Broadcast meeting relays on the Azure Media Services and must be delivered online. From here we are entering the main managing page for broadcast meeting: As you see, the scheduled meetings are visible at this level. They will appear in the three column design. Simply if you need to schedule a new meeting, click the "New Meeting" option and start configuring i...

With Skype for Business Server 2015, the usability for SQL Server has advanced once more. We have now a couple of possibilities. Today I'm going to discuss all of them and will advice the actual licensing strategy based on SQL Server 2104 in regards to Skype for Business Server 2015 recommendations. The general licensing guides are available here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/sql-server-2014.aspx One generic topic I have to discuss first. In many cases we are using Hyper Visor technologies, meaning the SQL servers are virtualized. Here one important consideration you should keep in mind. If the SQL Server is virtual AND you use CPU CORE licensing, you can run as many virtual SQL on a single PHYSICAL host as you want. You only need to license the physical CPU of that host. This applies to all physical hosts uses. Say you have 3 VMWare/ Hyper-V physical servers, and you run three SQL server. You will position 1 and 2 on 2 physica...

Coming back to the most common question about certificates in Skype for Business and Lync Server. Can we use Wildcard Certificates in Skype for Business or Lync Server? Simple answer is: YESNO First lets have a look into a certificate: A Certificate has a Common Name (CN) and Subject Alternative Names (SAN) A classic wildcard certificate is a certificate where the CN look like: CN=*.domain.com In Skype for Business the main reason for certificate use is TLS/MTLS data encryption and the other point it the server authentication/ validation. Skype for Business is using the Common Name CN for authentication/ validation trusts. Only if a server with in the Topology or for Federation purposes presents a valid certificate with its matching Common Name (CN) the entire traffic can be used with TLS/MTLS. Therefor we understand a CN identifier as FQDN of the Server or the Pool is RECOMMENDED! A valid SAN Wildcard certificate could look like this: CN   = POOL01.DO...

While your are installing and publishing a Skype for Business Server 2015 Topology, you have to create a File Share for all important services. In this example the File Share is located on the same server which will later host the Skype for Business Standard Server. But in larger or other setup, where the File Share is located on SAN, DFS or File Cluster, you might experience the same issue. File Share and Folder Prerequisites: The share name can either a normal share as well as a administrative share$ Share Permission: EVERYONE: READ ADMINISTRATORS: FULL CONTROL, CHANGE, READ Folder (Security Settings): SYSTEM and CREATOR: must be Windows Server default Installing user: FULL CONTROL local Server Administrators: FULL CONTROL Skype for Business Topology Builder: Must be started with: "Run as administrator" Example and problem description: This example applies to a Windows Server 2012 R2, where we are installing in Single Domain Forest with a...