TechContrarian

Check out this post on NextHop, our new Communications Server IT Pro web portal.
This article provides some guidance about how to set up a Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 federation clearinghouse deployment. The goal of the clearinghouse is to simplify Public IM Connectivity (PIC) (such as AOL, The Microsoft Network (MSN), and Yahoo) with existing on-premise Office Communications Server 2007 R2 deployments. The clearinghouse model also facilitates relationships between member organizations.

Check out this post on NextHop, our new Communications Server IT Pro web portal.
Companies that allow employees to sign in to Office Communications Server remotely from the Internet can be susceptible to denial-of-service (DoS) and brute-force attacks. These kinds of attacks involve guessing users’ passwords or locking out user accounts when too many incorrect password attempts are made to a valid Active Directory user account when password policy is enforced.

Check out this post on NextHop, our new Communications Server IT Pro web portal.
Windows PowerShell can be used as a management tool for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. PowerShell is one of most versatile scripting environments available on the market today.

Check out this post on NextHop, our new Communications Server IT Pro web portal.
Outlook Web App now supports the use of SIP client integration with Office Communications Server. This provides a great feature set for users, but there are some things you must do when integrating with Communications Server to make it all work.

Our friends on the Forefront Server Protection team are conducting research to understand what applications you would like to protect, and how you would like them protected. One of the applications they are soliciting feedback on is OCS. The survey shouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes, and your feedback directly impacts product decisions.
Please head over to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/forefrontsurvey to take the survey.  We appreciate your valuable input.

The Archiving Report* is meant to provide an easy way to pull information out of the archiving database.  It builds on the functionality provided by the Archiving PowerShell script that was written (http://communicationsserverteam.com/archive/2009/09/28/584.aspx) and adds a GUI interface, the ability to filter by date, and message formatting.  It has been tested against OCS 2007 R2 and SRS 2005.

 
Installation
1.       Open Report Manager – http(s)://<SRS Server>/Reports
2.       Click on New Folder
3.       Give the folder a name – i.e. OCSArchivingReport
4.       Click OK
5.       Click on the folder you just created
6.       Click on Upload File
7.       Browse to the location where you downloaded OCSArchivingReport.rdl and select the file
8.       Click OK to upload the report
9.       Click on New Data Source
10.   Enter LcsLog for the Data Source name
11.   Enter Data Source=<SQL Servername>;Initial Catalog=LcsLog for the Connection String
a.       Replace <SQL Servername> with your SQL server\instance
12.   Select the Windows integrated security radio button
13.   Click OK
14.   Click on OCSArchivingReport
a.       You will see [...]

Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) Program:  Recognizes, Develops, Certifies Technical Excellence
How do senior IT professionals differentiate themselves from the competition?  The MCM program, through intensive training by world class experts, plus extensive written and lab-based testing, certifies only the most qualified.  As an MCM you’ll join an elite community of Microsoft software and technology experts, and you’ll be recognized as one of the top Microsoft technology experts in the world. Learn more about the Microsoft Certified Master Program  

Do you have end users that need Office Communicator training? Are your users maximizing the basic features of OC? Microsoft now offers a free instructor-led session that introduces key Office Communicator usage scenarios through live demonstrations and hands-on activities.
This live course is held in a virtual classroom via Office Live Meeting. It will allow hands-on experience to build knowledge, skills, and confidence to use Office Communicator more effectively.
These features will be covered in this high-level overview:

Instant Messaging
Presence
Contact Management
Audio and Video
Desktop Sharing
Office Application Integration
Add a Live Meeting
Communicator Web Access

Click here to register: https://events.livemeeting.com/967/15027/reg.aspx?pc=05
We hope to see your users at an upcoming session!

This information was originally posted by Terry Lyons on his blog.
Notification
In an effort to provide enhanced capacity and service reliance, Windows Live Messenger will soon be adding an additional IP address used for PIC/Federation traffic.  Some organizations have chosen to restrict this type of traffic to specific IP addresses, as referenced in Microsoft KB 897567 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897567).  With this in mind we want to give you advanced notice of our intended change if you have configured your enterprise network in this manner.
Please ensure your enterprise firewall configuration is updated with the full list of Windows Live Messenger addresses below on or before Friday, February 2, 2010.  Windows Live Messenger will NOT enable the additional IP addresses until on or after February 2, 2010 (Pacific Time) to ensure your services will not be disrupted by this change.
IP address for Windows Live Messenger PIC/Federation:
64.4.9.181 64.4.9.245 [...]

Have you ever installed an Office Communication Server and wanted to verify your remote access was setup and configured properly? Or what if you get a call or an escalation regarding a service or connection not working? How do you verify whether the issue is with an individual user or with everyone throughout the company? And if there is a problem, where do you start troubleshooting? Is it a DNS problem? Is it a certificate problem? Is a port not open on the firewall?
The Office Communications Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer is a great tool for performing testing, troubleshooting, and diagnostics on OCS 2007 & OCS 2007 R2 deployments. The tool will assist you in finding answers to the before mentioned scenarios.  You should use the RCA as your initial stop when attempting to troubleshoot an OCS edge server connectivity issue.  

The Office Communications Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer is a web [...]