As you all aware that the Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition is now available to download and ready to use (Also license free). Before deciding to go ahead and deploy the CCE it’s important to know if the CCE is the best choice for the requirement. To assist with the planning and decision making, the “Plan Your Cloud PBX Solution”  Technet article can be used.

The ultimate purpose of the CCE is to allow clients that having On-Premises PSTN connectivity, to be used with O365 Skype for Business Online. In a nutshell, CCE only have the components that require to to handle the PSTN related workload. The rest is all O365 Skype for Business Online.

The ideal topology for CCE as shown below. It must have 2 Cloud Connectors deployed within DMZ to support High Availability and 2 PSTN Gateways to support PSTN level High Availability.

The users will be registered in O365 and when they make\receive PSTN calls, then only the CCE comes in to play. The peer to Peer Skype for Business calls and conferences will be handled by O365 Skype for Business Online.  CCE can be an ideal solution for greenfield Skype for Business requirements that must support on-premises PSTN or existing Skype for Business Online deployment that require on-premises PSTN.

Looking at the hardware requirement for CCE, it is based on the number of concurrent PSTN calls. If the requirement is to have 500 calls, then the hardware requirement per CCE would be;

• 64-bit dual processor, six core (12 real cores), 2.50 gigahertz (GHz) or higher
• 64 gigabytes (GB) ECC RAM
• Four 600 GB (or better) 10K RPM 128M Cache SAS 6Gbps disks, configured in a RAID 5 configuration
• Three 1 Gbps RJ45 high throughput network adapters
• Must be on an isolated host (must not have any other VMs running on this host)

If the requirement is smaller, say 50 calls, then the requirement per CCE would be;

• Intel i7 4790 quad core with Intel 4600 Graphics (no high end graphics needed)
• 32 GB DDR3-1600 non ECC
• 2: 1TB 7200RPM SATA III (6 Gbps) in RAID 0
• 2: 1 Gbps Ethernet (RJ45)
• Must be on an isolated host (must not have any other VMs running on this host)

Apart from above, it require;

• Public IPs\DNS
• Certificate
• O365 E5 tenant
• Firewall configuration to allow required ports and protocols

Even though the CCE might seems to be the ideal solution, there are set of unsupported scenarios that need to be aware of.

CCE does not support Hosting Scenarios.

Delivering hosted Skype for Business services using hosting model, leveraging on CCE is not supported. The 70% traffic must generated within the internal interfaces of CCE. Rest of the 30% can be on external interface. To make the  long story short, Skype for Business services cannot be delivered using Edge services, if the CCE is in use.

If a MPLS is in use between the client site and the data center that host CCE, then it is consider as Private Cloud and it is supported as the traffic that generated is considered as an Internal Traffic.

CCE does not support VMWare Hyper-visor 

This one is going to be a mood changer for most of System Administrators. As of now, CCE is not supported to be deployed on top of VMWare based Hyper-Visor. Only Hper-V is considered as the supported Hyper-Visor platform. This statement will probably change in the future or probably not. But, have to play ball, if you plan to deploy the CCE.

Does not support custom Dial Plans

CCE is not designed to support custom Dial Plans or voice routes. Set of default Dial Plans will get crated based on the Country that mentioned within the .ini file, by the time that CCE was deployed.

Does not support integration between on-premises\Hybrid Skype for Business deployments

This one is a huge let down. CCE cannot coexist with any on-premises or hybrid Skype for Business\ Lync deployments. As mentioned above, CCE can only be deployed in a greenfield environment.

Further to above there are several other known limitations mentioned in Technet.

• Consultative transfer is not supported.
• You cannot transfer an active call to your cell phone that is registered in your Active Directory by picking it from a list of suggested phones in the transfer menu. You can transfer to any other number.
• Escalation to conference from a call between a PSTN and Skype for Business user is not possible (you can, however, escalate call to conference between two Skype for Business users).
• Dial plan is not applied on Polycom phones and Skype for Business clients for Android and Windows phone. To dial a number, you must use the full E.164 phone number.

So that was Skype for Business Cloud Connector edition in brief. In detailed information can be found in “Plan for Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition” Technet article.

As you all know, in a PSTN call forwarding scenario, Skype for Business\Lync server always forward the original caller ID to PSTN. In an ISDN, this will be fine as PSTN provider will mask the calling number with the pilot number of the ISDN.

But, in a PSTN SIP Trunk scenario, this will be problematic as SIP Trunk provider will refuse to send any numbers that are unknown to the trunk. Basically, the calling number presentation must have a number that belongs to the SIP trunk.

This issue an be overcome by employing IP-to-IP Outbound number manipulation to manipulate the calling number and replace it with any number that belongs to the SIP Trunk. The downside of this method is that, when ever a call forward configured on Skype for Business\Lync client, the call will get forwarded to the configured destination with the number presentation of pre-configured number and not the original DID of the user. Some organizations accept this as it is but in my experience, most prefer to have the user DID be sent as the calling ID.

With Audiocodes, a SIP header manipulation rule can be configured to cater this requirement. Before doing that, there is a small configuration change need to be done on Skype for Business\Lync server voice routing. In the Skype for Business\Lync control panel, “Trunk Configuration”, enable “Enable forward call history” and save. Let it to replicate the changes. 

Once enabled, run a logging on SBC and see if the “Diversion” header appears. The Diversion header will contain the DID of the user that forwarding the call.
Contact: <sip:862712345;ext=12345@172.22.10.10:5060;ms-opaque=a30ebed1bacc5eac>
Supported: 100rel
ALLOW: ACK
Allow: CANCEL,BYE,INVITE,PRACK,UPDATE
Diversion: <sip:862712345;ext=12345@test.wa.gov.au;user=phone>;reason=unconditional;counter=1
User-Agent: Mediant 800B/v.7.00A.035.012
Privacy: none
P-Asserted-Identity: <sip:862712345@test.wa.gov.au;user=phone>
Content-Type: application/sdp
Content-Length: 382
v=0
o=- 1673518669 1456751675 IN IP4 172.22.10.10
s=session
c=IN IP4 172.22.10.10
b=CT:1000
t=0 0
m=audio 7760 RTP/AVP 8 0 97 18 13 101
c=IN IP4 172.22.10.10
a=label:Audio
a=sendrecv

Now the user DID number is appearing in Diversion SIP header, a message manipulation rule can be configured and assigned to SIP trunks IP Group against “Outbound Message Manipulation Set”

Go in to SBC Configuration and in “Msg policy & Manipulations”, create a Message Manipulation rule as below;

Once the header manipulation has been configured, the “FROM” header will get modified from the content that present in “Diversion” header.

13:37:42.094 : 172.22.10.10 : NOTICE : [S=304817] [SID=8a25e1:12:26893] INVITE sip:0430912345@test.wa.gov.au;user=phone SIP/2.0
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP 172.22.10.10:5060;branch=z9hG4bKac819203857
Max-Forwards: 10
From: <sip:862712345;ext=12345@test.wa.gov.au;user=phone>;tag=1c427358178;epid=DBF2EBCAFA
To: <sip:0430912345@test.wa.gov.au;user=phone>
Call-ID: 6326964502212016133741@172.22.10.10
CSeq: 2 INVITE
Contact: <sip:862793101;ext=3101@172.22.10.10:5060;ms-opaque=a30ebed1bacc5eac>
Supported: 100rel
ALLOW: ACK
Allow: CANCEL,BYE,INVITE,PRACK,UPDATE
Diversion: <sip:862712345;ext=12345@test.wa.gov.au;user=phone>;reason=unconditional;counter=1
Authorization: Digest username=”N9744″,realm=”test.wa.gov.au”,nc=00000001,nonce=”BroadWorksXijp9b5qgTla8pieBW”,Cnonce=”Default_Cnonce”,uri=”sip:0430912345@test.wa.gov.au”,qop=auth,algorithm=MD5,response=”0fa04b1d8cf108f8f48545baa53362cb”
User-Agent: Mediant 800B/v.7.00A.035.012
Privacy: none
P-Asserted-Identity: <sip:862712345@test.wa.gov.au;user=phone>
Content-Type: application/sdp
Content-Length: 382

At this point, the call must be ringing on the forwarded destination and it should be presenting with the forwarded user’s DID number instead of any fixed generic number.

Microsoft have announced bunch of new services to their Skype for Business Preview services that are based on O365. One of the services that was announced, was the preview availability of the cloud PBX with on-premises PSTN Connectivity.  With the cloud PBX service, organizations will now have the ability to leverage their existing on-premises PSTN lines such as ISDN or SIP Trunks to terminate calls to users that are enabled for O365.

What you need to have.

Before jumping on to preview Cloud PBX services, there’s a very important prerequisite that need to be fulfilled. That is having a Lync\Skype for Business Server hybrid setup already in place that configured with Enterprise Voice. Also, you would need to have Office 365 E4 licenses for the number of users that are enabled within Office 365.

This option is available for organizations that are having Lync 2010 servers that are running with CU no earlier than October 2012. But, the catch is that, they need to have Lync server 2013 or Skype for Business Server 2015 Edge servers to support the hybrid integration. So if you’re having Lync Server 2010 and considering Cloud PBX, it’s high time to move to Skype for Business Server 2015.

Features and Drawbacks.

With the Cloud PBX service, you now get to configure Enterprise Voice for O365 enabled users with desired Voice Policies and PSTN Usages. But, not all the features that available for on-premises users be available for Cloud PBX enabled users. Cloud enabled users will miss out on using call park, private line and several other features. Below are the list of Enterprise Voice features that are available for Cloud enabled users;

Even though cloud enable users are losing some of features, most of important and critical features are still available for them which is really good.

How to Make it Better.

Microsoft have announced the availability of Azure Express Route to Office 365 several months ago. Organizations can leverage on this to enhance the connectivity to O365 with assuring a better bandwidth availability and control rather than using the standard internet services. This would also benefit in configuring Quality of Service (QoS) for media traffic that is essential to improve the media quality and overall cloud user experience. On side note, this would improve the user sign in time as well. Below is a sample diagram that illustrate the connectivity between corporate network and O365 over express route. 

Moving users to Cloud PBX and enabling for Enterprise Voice.

Once the Hybrid setup in place, you can move users to O365 and enabled Enterprise Voice for them. Before that, since the service are still in preview, you need to get a promotion code from Microsoft. The promo code can be retried by registering for service using https://www.skypepreview.com/Register URL. If you have the promo code already, follow the steps to enable uses;

• Enable users for Enterprise Voice (performed while the users are homed on-premises).
• Assign a voice routing policy (performed while the users are homed on-premises).
• Obtain and activate a promo code, so that you can preview this feature.
• Synchronize users to the cloud and assign licenses (performed using Office 365).
• Move users to Skype for Business Online (performed using Windows PowerShell on-premises, but using your Office 365 administrator credentials).
• Enable the users for Enterprise Voice and Cloud PBX Voicemail (performed using Remote PowerShell).

Migration of user accounts should be none intrusive and users will not lose any configuration that they made on their client.

As mentioned above, the service is still on it’s preview stage and it will become GA pretty soon and this would be a one step forward for the organizations that are looking forward to move in to Office 365.

Since the Skype for Business server 2015 public release, one of the concerns that came up when upgrading existing Lync Server platforms to Skype for Business, is the support for SBAs. Microsoft issued a statement mentioning that the existing SBAs that are running with Lync server 2013 image, will be supported for Skype for Business till the hardware vendors come up with the Skype for Business image on their appliances.

Now, Sonus has announced that their newer software version V 5.0 for SBC 1000\2000 that supports Skype for Business Server, will be released on 28th of July 2015.

Audiocodes however, stated that their E-SBC (Enterprise SBC) appliance will fully support Skype for Business server 2015 since 07th of July 2015.

What’s new with Sonus Version 5.0 

Key Features in Release 5.0 in support of Skype for Business deployments include:

• Presence: The new presence feature provides Skype for Business users with presence reporting when engaged in calls from non-Skype for Business endpoints.
• Provisioning templates: The updated provisioning templates significantly reduce the complexity of configuring Skype for Business interworking. This feature is designed to enable an enterprise to deploy its Skype for Business application with greater speed-to-market, saving time and money.
• Survivable Branch Appliance Support: Delivering continued market leading support for Survivable Branch Appliance (SBA) functions, this feature ensures that real-time communications are delivered even if the wide area network (WAN) goes down.

For more information about this software release, please visit;

http://www.sonus.net/en/resources/press-releases/sonus-sbc-1000-and-sbc-2000-update-generally-available.

Audiocodes Enterprise Session Border Controller (E-SBC)

Based on the statement that released on 07th of July, their E-SBC appliance is supported for the Skype for business Server. However, it’s not clear that the SBA image that been used within the SBA, is for Skype for Business Server or just the Lync Server 2013.

For more information about the Audiocodes E-SBC product range, Please visit;

http://www.audiocodes.com/filehandler.ashx?fileid=2211670.

So, if you have plans to upgrade existing Lync server platforms to Skype for Business Server, now you have the SBA component addressed by above product range. Plan the upgrade schedule with keep the software release days in mind.

It has been a while that the Skype for Business server 2015 released for public. I reckon it would be the time to upgrade the existing Lync server 2013 platform to Skype for Business Server 2015.

Before moving forward, there are concerns that need to be addressed upfront. The major one would be the overall downtime that occur because of the upgrade. If the existing deployment have multiple pools, then users can be moved to one of the pools and get the other one upgraded and have services running as usual. But, if there’s only one pool available, then the upgrade could be a potential risk and a lengthy downtime.

Also, it’s important to have an idea of what CU version that the existing Lync server 2013 platform is running. Make sure to upgrade the Lync server pool before moving forward with the Skype for Business upgrade and also plan adequate downtime that incorporate the existing pool CU upgrade as well as the in-place upgrade.

Moving forward with the Skype for Business 2015 upgrade, install the Skype for Business server Admin Tools on a domain joined machine (admin tools would not install on any Lync server 2013 front end servers). Download the topology from existing deployment, upon installing of the admin tools.

Once downloaded, drill down to the existing Lync server 2013 pool. Right click on the pool and select to “Upgrade to Skype for Business Server 2015”

Select “Yes” on the confirmation window.

As soon as selecting “Yes”, the Lync server 2013 pool will be moved to “Skype for Business Server 2015” section. This is as expected and should not be worried. 

Now, publish the topology by selecting “Publish Topology” in “Action” menu.

The publishing process is as same as Lync Server 2013.  Do not change anything related to the Databases. Leave everything as it is.

Select “Next” and proceed with the topology publishing process.

Open up the “to-do list” to check that need to be done next. 

Log in to Lync Server 2013 Front End server and run the Skype for Business Server 2014 set up from media. 

Select to connect to the internet and check for updates. It will download the required windows patches and install. 

Upon completing the download process, select next to proceed with the deployment. As for the first step, it will check the status of the existing pool. It will error out if the pool services are still running.

Open up the Lync server 2013 management shell and run Stop-CsWindowsServices to stop the Lync server services. This process need to be done on all front end servers. 

Once all the services are down, retry the deployment process. It should continue through the process. It would take up to 45 – 60 minutes to complete the update. The upgrade process can be run on all Lync server 2013 front end servers simultaneously. No need to do it one by one.

select “Ok” to complete the upgrade process. 

Now, the upgrade process is successfully completed. Wait till the process completed on all front end servers. Upon completion, run the command Start-CsPool -PoolFqdn <pool fqdn> . This is a new command that introduced in Skype for Business Server 2015. This command can be used to stop and start the pool without being worried about messing with the fabric and the quorum.

Confirm that all the windows services relate to Skype for Business server are up and running.

The Lync Server 2013 clients should get a prompt that the back end server is changed to Skype for Business and it require to restart the client.

Upon restarting the Lync 2013 client, the client will change the skin to Skype for Business 2015.

The upgrade process is now completed. Carry out the test plan to verify the features and functionality of the platform.

As you all might know by now, Microsoft have started rolling out the Skype for Business client over windows update as well as a standalone update. The patch is called KB2889923 and once installed, the client UI can be switched from Lync 2013 in to Skype for business, There are couple of ways to get this update. One is to run windows update on the client PC which will pick the update up from Microsoft. Add the other method is to download the standalone update package and install it on the client. The update can be downloaded from here I took the long path and ran windows update on my PC that picked up the update as expected and updated the client.

Once the client got updated, it will immediately complained that the System Administrator only allowed to use Lync UI and not the Skype for Business UI. Upon restarting the client, it reverted back to the Lync 2013 client,

So, to allow the Lync client to work instead of Skype for Business client, it needs to be enabled within the client policy which the user is assigned with. To have the “EnableSkypeUI” policy entry, the Lync Server 2013 platform should be running on no earlier than November 2014 CU update. Since Microsoft override the current CU with the new one in official download page, the latest Lync Server 2013 update can be downloaded from here. Once the server is up to date, create a new client policy as “Enable Skype UI” by running the command “New-CsClientPolicy -Identity “Skype UI Enabled“. The reason behind not enabling the feature for the Default client policy is that, if it enabled for default, it will get rolled out for the entire client fleet and it will end up in massive confusion. It’s always better to create a new User based client policy and assigned to users who suppose to have the feature turned on. Once the new client policy has been configured, run the command “Set-CsClientPolicy -EnableSkypeUI $True -Identity “Skype UI Enabled“

Now we have the client policy configured to enable Skype for Business UI, the policy need to be assigned for the users who required to have the feature turned on. This can be done either from the Lync Server Management Console,

Or can be done from Lync Server Management Shell by running “Grant-CsClientPolicy -Identity “User Name” -PolicyName “Skype UI Enabled”

The user account is now enabled to have Skype for Business UI instead of the Lync 2013 client. It will take some time for client to pick up. Once it’s done. It will come up with an alert mentioning that the organization is rolling out Skype for Business and restart the client to enjoy the new features of the Skype for Business client.

Upon restarting the client. It will start as the Skype for business client and full features and functionality which designed to be delivered from client end will be available to use despite the fact that the back end server is still Lync Server 2013.

That’s all is there to know about rolling out the Skype for Business client within the organization that running with Lync Server 2013 back end servers. It’s all about planning the roll out properly and managing the client policies properly so that it will not end up in a confusion. The same setup is available for O365 Skype for Business (Lync) online. Please use the official Office Blog here which explains how to do the switch over from Lync 2013 to Skype for Business.

Microsoft released the preview version of Skype for Business client last week and by the look of it, it seems to have a make over session from Skype department. Even though it now comes with a flashy new skin, from under neath it hasn’t changed much from it’s predecessor.

At a glace, it has the same tabs that’s Lync client had except for more “Skype” like icons. In fact, the “Recent Calls”, “Dial Pad” and “Calendar” features are exactly as it is compared to the Lync client. The tabs are how how it should be and nothing much to improve in that front. There hasn’t much changed in “Options” apart from changing all the reference from “Lync” to “Skype for Business”.

Having said that, Microsoft have made some significant changes to the way that client reacts while on a call. They moved away from much confusing “Hover” concept on to more back to basic “Click” option which made life much easier for everyone. Now, transferring a call is just a matter of few clicks.

Another excellent feature that came from Skype, is the call control menu on desktop while the conversation window is minimised. The small window comes up with Mute and Hang up button when the main window is minimised and it change the picture based on the active speaker. It would have been excellent if Microsoft went an extra mile and add Call Transfer and Hold buttons in to it so that it looks more complete and would be ideal for a reception user.

Further more to the improvements, the Skype for Business client now have animated emotions just like Skype does and introduced new set of tones including a new ringing tone. The back end server i was testing the client with was, Lync Server 2013 server platform and there are no complaints about the functionality.

The other and most anticipated change would be the SILK codec activation. SILK is the codec that Skype use which enables it to sustain an audio call with a better call quality even the internet connection is not that good. Even in Lync 2013 client, SILK was there in the SDP list but, it didn’t participate in an active audio conversation. Even in a call between Skype and Lync 2013, it used G.722. In Skype for Business client, it’s all SILK. So to test this, I made a call between 2 Skype for Business preview clients and it does seems to be settling for SILK instead of G722 or RTA, unlike the typical Lync 2013 client would do.

So where is the full and final client coming from?. Unlike Lync 2013 client which came along side with Office 2013, Skype for Business client delivered as an update to the existing Lync 2013 client. This update scheduled to roll out in 14th April. The default UI for those who use Lync today will still be Lync 2013 even after running the update. If you want to change the UI to Skype for Business, then there is a switch available in Client policy that can enable the Skype for Business UI. It is already been published for Skype for Business online and still waiting for Skype for Business on premises.

For more information about the UI switch in Skype for Business online, visit Office Portal “Switching between the Skype for Business and the Lync client user interfaces”

In brief, it does look good that the Lync client and well presented. But underneath, old “Lync” spirit is pretty much alive and kicking with addition the of SILK. The Skype for Business server is rumoured to be out in early May and we all can look forward to an exiting time ahead. The Skype for Business Preview client can be downloaded from Microsoft Evaluation Centre.

As all of you might know by now, “Lync Server” or the brand name “Lync” is going away and it’s successor is called “Skype for Business”. Despite the change of well known and adored product name, Skype for Business is set to achieve higher goals in UC world while keeping Microsoft’s “Mobile first, Cloud first” strategy alive. As the name suggests, it’s a mixture of great features and functionalists between Skype and Lync put together to become the ultimate collaboration platform in unified communications space.

Unlike upgrading from Lync Server 2010 to Lync Server 2013, Microsoft has made it easier by employing In-Place upgrade method rather than Side-By Side upgrade process. Also this would help to save the investment that made from coming out of Lync server 2010 to Lync server 2013 including the license cost. Since the Skype for Business server requires the same hardware specification as the Lync server 2013, it saves money on hardware front as well. The whole upgrade process does not require any user downtime if you’re running on top of Lync server 2013 platform. Have a look at below table for the in-place upgrade supportability;

In Lync Server 2013 paired pool scenario, It recommended that to move the users in to the other pool and upgrade the base pool to Skype for Business Server. Once done, move the users back to the base pool and then upgrade the paired pool to Skype for Business Server. In a pool paired situation, both the pools must be upgraded one after another assuring the time both pools spend in different versions to the minimum.

If the current platform runs on Lync server 2010, there are two options available to upgrade to Skype for Business Server. Number one and most practical would be straight forward Side-By Side upgrade process to Skype for Business Server. In this scenario, In-Place upgrade is not supported. The upgrade process need to be carefully planned and downtime notice has to be sent for users before the migration process

The other option is to upgrade the existing Lync server 2010 platform to Lync server 2013 employing Side-By side upgrade methodology and then, In-Place upgrade the Lync server 2013 pool to Skype for Business server. I cannot work out such reason to follow this path other than upgrading the Lync server 2010 platform to Skype For Business server. This process require a significant downtime and time consuming.

Moving in to the roles and services that supports In-Place Upgrade process within Lync server 2013 platform includes the Front end pools, Director pools and Edge pools. The Survivable Branch Appliances (SBA) appliances are not supported for In-Place Upgrade. This is something that the appliance providers should include in to the device (S4B Image) so that it can be configured with the Skype for Business Front end server pool. Survivable Branch Server (SBS) is supported for In-Place Upgrade.

For the SQL back end supportability for enterprise pools, the existing back end pools will get updated by running the Update-CsDatabase command in the process of publishing the topology. In the process of running the deployment wizard in Front end servers, the local SQL express copy of SQL 2012 will upgraded in to SQL 2014. Below is the table that highlights overall SQL version compatibility within the migration process.

This wraps up the upgrade consideration and recommendations when moving Lync Lync server platform to Skype for Business platform. The contents of this post are in courtesy of O365 Summit.