A college of me Alexander Carlucci has decide to go blogging 
.
His blog is named Exchange Dude and the address is: www.exchangedude.net
He blogs also about Exchange 
& Lync 
. I say go check out his blog
Tag: Lync
Microsoft Office 365 Jump Start
The Microsoft Office 365 Jumpstart series provides an excellent perspective of the overall value Office 365 provides to modern organizations in terms of productivity, access, familiarity, security, control and reliability.
- Office 365 Jump Start (01): Microsoft Office 365 Overview for IT Pros
- Office 365 Jump Start (02): Deploying Clients For Office 365
- Office 365 Jump Start (03): Microsoft Office 365 Administration & Automation Using Windows PowerShell™
- Office 365 Jump Start (04): Microsoft Office 365 Identity and Access Solutions
- Office 365 Jump Start (05): Microsoft Office 365 Directory Synchronization
- Office 365 Jump Start (06): Exchange Online Overview for IT Pros
- Office 365 Jump Start (07): Microsoft Exchange Online Administration
- Office 365 Jump Start (08): Microsoft Staged Exchange Online Migration
- Office 365 Jump Start (09): Hybrid Options with Exchange Server & Exchange Online
- Office 365 Jump Start (10): Exchange Online Archiving & Compliance
- Office 365 Jump Start (11): Lync Online Overview & Configuration for IT Pros
- Office 365 Jump Start (12): SharePoint Online Overview
- Office 365 Jump Start (13): SharePoint Online Administration
- Office 365 Jump Start (14): SharePoint Online Extensibility & Customization
- Office 365 Jump Start (15): Office 365 Deployment Overview
Exchange Video’s from TechEd North America 2011
Some interesting video’s from TechEd North America 2011 about Exchange 2010 
- EXL302 Archiving and Discovery in Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP1 and Exchange Online | Krish Sundaresan
- EXL306 Best Practices for Virtualization of Microsoft Exchange 2010 | Jim Lucey, Jeff Mealiffe
- EXL307 Load Balancing with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 | Andrew Ehrensing
- EXL309 Microsoft Exchange Online in Microsoft Office 365: Migration Case Study | John Logan, Danny Kim, Ann Vu
- EXL310 Microsoft Exchange Online in Microsoft Office 365: Simple Migration Live! | Ram Poornalingam
- EXL311 Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Office 365: How to Set Up a Hybrid Deployment | Jim Lucey
- EXL312 Designing Microsoft Exchange 2010 Mailbox High Availability for Failure Domains | Ross Smith IV
- EXL313 Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Tips and Tricks | Scott Schnoll
- EXL322 Microsoft Exchange Online: Unified Messaging in Microsoft Office 365 | Michael Wilson
- EXL324 Top 10 Insights on Development of Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 against Microsoft Office 365 | Albert Kooiman, Robin Thomas
- EXL326 What’s New in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP2: Featuring GAL Segmentation | Greg Taylor
- EXL327 Real-World Site Resilience Design in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 | Robert Gillies
- EXL401 Exchange Server 2010 High Availability Management and Operations | Scott Schnoll
Microsoft Office 365 Deployment Readiness Tool
The Office 365 Deployment Readiness Tool provides analysis of your on-premises environment in preparation for an Office 365 enterprise deployment. The readiness tool is integrated with the guidance provided in the web edition of the Microsoft Office 365 Beta Deployment Guide.
Download HERE
I run the tool in my test environment. See below the results
Microsoft Office 365 Deployment Readiness Tool
Beta
Office 365 Deployment Resource Kit build 01.00.00.00 
Click here for the Microsoft Office 365 Beta Deployment Guide for Enterprises
Domains
Deployment Guide: Adding Your Domain(s) to Office 365
All email domains discovered in your environment:
Total: 3
All primary email domains discovered:
Total: 2
Primary email domain suffixes with greater than 50 users:
wardvissers.local
Total: 1
User Identity and Account Provisioning
Active Directory
Statistics
Total number of domains discovered in your forest: 1
Estimated total number of users: 59
Estimated total number of contacts: 0
Estimated total number of groups: 54
Estimated total number of mailboxes: 53
Estimated total number of objects for Directory Synchronization: 113 
Note: Filters were applied to obtain the above object counts for an Office 365 deployment.
Forest and Domains
The following domains were discovered in your Active Directory forest:
wardvissers.local
Total: 1
Trusts
No forest trusts found 
You may deploy AD FS 2.0 and Directory Synchronization without multi-forest constraints
Schema and Forest/Domain Functionality Levels
Active Directory forest schema level: Windows Server 2008 R2
Exchange schema level: Exchange Server 2010 SP1
Domain Functionality:Windows Server 2008 R2
Forest Functionality:Windows Server 2008 R2
Domain Controller Functionality:Windows Server 2008 R2 
It appears that your Active Directory schema is prepared for Exchange Rich Coexistence 
Deployment Guide: Exchange Rich Coexistence Requirements
Deployment Guide: Active Directory Cleanup
samaccountname (user name) Attribute
Character length test passed 
Unsupported character test passed
givenname (first name) Attribute
Character length test passed 
Unsupported character test passed
Character length test passed 
Unsupported character test passed
Character length test passed 
Unsupported character test passed
mail (email address) Attribute
Character length test passed 
Unsupported character test passed 
No duplicates found
Character length test passed 
Unsupported character test passed
proxyaddresses (email addresses) Attribute
No duplicates found 
Unsupported character test passed
Directory Synchronization
Object count assessment:
Estimated number of objects for Directory Synchronization (entire forest): 113 
Deployment Guide: Object Count Considerations
Enterprise Admin rights: 
It appears that you are an enterprise admin
Directory Synchronization admin requirement met! 
Deployment Guide: Directory Synchronization Required Permissions
Active Directory recycle bin: 
Active Directory recycle bin is enabled in your forest this may impact your total object count quota for Directory Synchronization.
Office 365 Single Sign On and Identity
AD FS 2.0 Directory Cleanup Check:
UserPrincipalName (logon ID for Office 365) Attribute
Update values once you have verified your organization does not have any other application dependencies on the UserPrincipalName attribute. 
Deployment Guide: Active Directory Cleanup 
Unsupported characters test passed 
Spaces in logon value test passed 
Unicode character test passed 
Note: All Unicode characters will be converted to underscores (_) in the UserPrincipalName field. 
No UserPrincipalName duplicates found 
Discovered users without a user logon name (blank value) for UserPrincipalName
You will need to provide each user a UserPrincipalName in order for these users to sign into Office 365. 
Below is a list of your UserPrincipalName domain suffixes in use:
wardvissers.local
Total: 1 
Note: During the Office 365 Beta only one namespace (root and child domains) per AD FS 2.0 farm
Example contoso.com and root.contoso.com would require 1 AD FS 2.0 farm and fabrikam.com would require an additional AD FS 2.0 farm
Password length per domain:
Exchange Online
Discovered Exchange Server(s) on-premises:
Estimated total number of Exchange Servers: 1
Statistics:
Estimated total number of users with default mailbox size (True): 53
Estimated total number of users with larger than default mailbox size (False): 0
Estimated total number of objects with Exchange organization level quota: 6
Lync user assessment:
Estimated total number of users leveraging Office Communications/Lync on-premises: 2
Sip domains: 
The following sip domains were discovered:
wardvissers.local
Total: 1
User object count assessment: 
The number of user objects in your forest is supported. 
Deployment Guide: Object Count Considerations
Client and End User Experience
Deployment Guide: Rich Experience Client Requirements
Summary of client computer readiness (Office 365 single sign-on and rich client checks):
Below is an estimate of computer operating systems NOT ready for Office 365 rich client experience:
Total: 0 
Below is an estimate of computer operating systems ready for Office 365 rich client experience:
Windows XP Service Pack 3: 3
Windows 7 Service Pack 1: 3
Total: 6
IP Configuration:
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.150.60
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.150.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.150.254
Trace route to your default gateway:
Tracing route to 192.168.150.254 over a maximum of 30 hops
1 1 ms 2 ms 2 ms 192.168.150.254
Trace Route test to Exchange Online:
Tracing route to outlook.com [65.55.94.40]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 3 ms 2 ms 1 ms 192.168.150.254
2 * 24 ms 25 ms 82.169.11.254
3 25 ms 26 ms 26 ms 195.69.145.20
4 145 ms 146 ms 144 ms 10.14.234.234
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 10.14.234.234 reports: Destination net unreachable.
Trace complete. 
For additional tests utilize the Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer
Port Query Tests:
Deployment Guide: Ports and Protocols 
portal.microsoft.com
Made a TCP 443 connection to portal.microsoftonline.com 
Outlook.com
Made a TCP 443 connection to outlook.com 
Outlook.com IMAP
Made a TCP 993 IMAP connection to outlook.com 
Outlook.com POP
Made a TCP 995 POP connection to outlook.com 
Outlook.com SMTP
Made a SMTP TCP 587 connection to outlook.com 
Active Directory Federation Services End Point
Made a TCP 443 connection to nexus.microsoftonline.com 
Directory Synchronization End Point
Made a TCP 443 connection to adminwebservice.microsoftonline.com 
Office 365 PowerShell End Point
Made a TCP 443 connection to ps.microsoftonline.com 
Outlook.com PowerShell End Point
Made a TCP 443 connection to ps.outlook.com 
Office 365 Community End Point
Made a TCP 80 connection to community.office365.com 
Lync Online SIP Connection
Made a TCP 443 connection to sipdir.online.lync.com 
Lync Online Federation
Made a TCP 5061 connection to sipfed.online.lync.com
Domain Name System (DNS) name records checks: 
Found the following MX DNS record(s):
Server: localhost
Address: 127.0.0.1
wardvissers.local
primary name server = ward-dc01.wardvissers.local
responsible mail addr = hostmaster.wardvissers.local
serial = 761
refresh = 900 (15 mins)
retry = 600 (10 mins)
expire = 86400 (1 day)
default TTL = 3600 (1 hour)
Information Gathered On:
WARD-DC01
Date: za 07-05-2011
Start Time: 18:19
End Time: 18:21
GAL Photos in Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2010
With Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2010 & Lync & Sharepoint 2010 you can finally get photos into your global address list (GAL) and see just who’s who on your emails. You can do this on 2 way’s
1. Using Powershell 
-
If you haven’t registered the Schema MMC snap-in on the server you want to make this change on, go ahead and do so using the following command:
Regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll
-
Fire up a MMC console (Start -> Run -> MMC) and add the Schema snap-in
-
In the Active Directory Schema snap-in, expand the Attributes node, and then locate the thumbnailPhoto attribute. (The Schema snap-in lists attributes by its ldapDisplayName).
-
In the Properties page, select Replicate this attribute to the Global Catalog, and click OK.
Figure 1: Modifying the thumbnailPhoto attribute to replicate it to Global Catalog
A minor schema change
First stop, the AD Schema. A minor schema modification is required to flip the thumbnailPhoto attribute to make it replicate to the Global Catalog.
Loading pictures into Active Directory
Now you can start uploading pictures to Active Directory using the Import-RecipientDataProperty cmdlet, as shown in this example:
Import-RecipientDataProperty -Identity "Ward VIssers" -Picture -FileData ([Byte[]]$(Get-Content -Path "C:\pictures\wardvissers.jpg" -Encoding Byte -ReadCount 0))
To perform a bulk operation you can use the Get-Mailbox cmdlet with your choice of filter (or use the Get-DistributionGroupMember cmdlet if you want to do this for members of a distribution group), and pipe the mailboxes to a foreach loop. You can also retrieve the user name and path to the thumbnail picture from a CSV/TXT file.
2. Using a Free tool like Outlook Photos from Exclaimer
Download the Tool HERE
The tool is easy to use .
Prerequisites
User Preferences
Domain user – The logged in user’ account is required to be an Active Directory account.
Domain computer – The computer the user is logged into needs to be joined to an Active
Directory domain.
Active Directory permissions – The logged in user must have permission to upload photos to the required Active Directory accounts. (Alternate credentials can be supplied or control of the thumbnailPhoto field can be delegated to the logged in user.)
Operating System
- Windows Server 2003 x86 (including all service pack levels).
- Windows Server 2003 R2 x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
- Windows Server 2008 x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
- Windows Server 2008 R2 x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
- Windows Small Business Server 2003 (including all service pack levels).
- Windows Small Business Server 2008.
- Windows Small Business Server 2011.
- Windows XP x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
- Windows Vista x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
- Windows 7 x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
Other Software
Microsoft Outlook 2010 x86 and x64
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
Microsoft Exchange 2010 RTM and above
Active Directory
You must be logged into an Active Directory domain to run the application.
Active Directory Forest
Domain and Forest functional level of Windows Server 2008 and above.
For Domain or Forest functional level of Windows Server 2003, the Windows Server 2008 Forest preparation must first be complete.
Screenshots
Add a MSN user to Lync Online & Office 365
Today I have a relax day working from home . I have some time to play with Office 365 & Lync Online 
I wonderd if there was a way to add a msn user to my Lync while using Lync Online.
I added my own msn account on lync. On MSN Messenger I get the qwestion if I want to add a new contact. Yes off course… 
Tada…. You can add all your MSN friends to Office 365 or Lync Online
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Documentation
Migrating from Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010
This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Device Management and Troubleshooting Guide
The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Device Management and Troubleshooting Guide is to provide guidance on how to manage and update devices. It is also intended to answer frequently asked questions. This document identifies supported topologies, configurations, and scenarios described in detail in the Lync Server device deployment and planning documentation.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Reference: Call Data Recording and Quality of Experience Database Schema
This document describes the call detail recording (CDR) and the Quality of Experience (QoE) databases schemas in Microsoft Lync Server 2010.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Administration Guide
This document guides you through the process of administering Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components that are required to let organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing geographically distributed teams to better collaborate with one another while preserving organizational knowledge.
Migrating from Communications Server 2007 R2 to Lync Server 2010
This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Deployment Guide
This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Server.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Announcement Deployment Guide
This download guides you through the process of configuring the Announcement call management feature for Enterprise Voice.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Archiving Deployment Guide
The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Archiving Deployment Guide is to guide you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Archiving Server and the related components that are required to support archiving of instant messaging and web conferencing (meeting) content.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Deployment Guide
This document guides you through the process of migrating and deploying Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components that are required to let organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing geographically distributed teams to better collaborate with one another while preserving organizational knowledge.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Client and Device Deployment Guide
This download guides you through the process of deploying client software and devices for Lync 2010.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Call Park Deployment Guide
This download guides you through the process of configuring the Call Park call management feature for Enterprise Voice.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Voice Guide
This download contains two documents: Deploying Enterprise Voice at Central sites and Deploying Branch Sites
Enabling QoS with Microsoft Lync Server 2010
If your Windows Server network supports Quality of Service (QoS) management, you can take advantage of this functionality to optimize media traffic in your Microsoft Lync Server 2010 deployment. This guide shows you how.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group Deployment Guide
This download guides you through the process of configuring the Response Group feature for Enterprise Voice.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Edge Server Deployment Guide
This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 edge servers and Directors.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition Deployment Guide
This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Active Directory Guide
This document guides you through the process of preparing Active Directory for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and includes the Active Directory schema reference.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Deployment Guide
This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing for Lync Server 2010.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Supportability Guide
This guide provides a central, high-level reference for supported server topologies and configurations and supported client configurations. It is also intended to answer frequently asked questions. This document identifies supported topologies, configurations, and scenarios described in detail in the Lync Server deployment and planning documentation.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Planning Guide
This document contains information for planning a deployment of Lync Server 2010 and Lync clients.
Favo links for Microsoft Lync
The Lync Server Open Interoperability Program is now available
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/gg131938.aspx
Other useful Links:
Hardware Requirements. Link
Bandwidth Table. Link
Lync New features – server side. Link
Lync New features – Client Side. Link
Port Requirements. Link
Lync Server 2010 Protocol Workloads Poster. Link
Architecture – Server Roles. Link
Architecture – Topologies. Link
Microsoft Lync Error: Microsoft.Rtc.Common.Data.SqlConnectionException Cannot open database xds requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user Domain\administrator.
Error:
An error occurred: Microsoft.Rtc.Common.Data.SqlConnectionException Cannot open database xds requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user CONTOSO\administrator.
When Installing Lync there is automatically added a firewall rule that opend the port for the SQL Server Service
Solution:
Create a Windows Firewall port exceptions to enable access to the SQL Server Browser service, follow these steps:
- Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
- Open the Windows Firewall program.
- Click Change Settings to open the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.
- Make sure that Windows Firewall is turned on, and then click the Exceptions tab.
- Click Add port to open the Add a port dialog box.
- Enter a name for the port exception, such as SQL Server Browser Service.
- Make sure that UDP is selected, and then enter UDP port number 1434. This is the default port that the SQL Server Browser service listens on.
- Click OK two times to close the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box
Microsoft Lync Error: "Microsoft.Rtc.Management.Deployment.DeploymentException" "Cannot determine where to install database files because Windows Management Instrumentation on the database server is unavailable from your computer or user account. To continue, you can resolve this issue, or you can specify where you want to install the files."
When Installing Lync I get the following error:
Error: An error occurred: "Microsoft.Rtc.Management.Deployment.DeploymentException" "Cannot determine where to install database files because Windows Management Instrumentation on the database server is unavailable from your computer or user account. To continue, you can resolve this issue, or you can specify where you want to install the files."
Solution: Make Sure that Windows Firewall is Enabled on Windows 2008 R2
Step 1:
- Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
- Open the Windows Firewall program.
- Click Change Settings to view the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.
- Verify that Windows Firewall is turned on, and then click the Exceptions tab.
- In the To enable an exception, select its check box window, scroll to locate the Remote Administration Program or Port exception.
- Make sure that the Remote Administration Program or Port exception is selected.
- Click OK to close the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.
Step 2: I had named the pool different than the server name, so I needed to add an A record or CNAME Record to DNS to get past.