Mike Stacy's Blog

Polycom CX7000 Walkthrough and Overview #lync

I’ve been fortunate enough to have a Polycom CX7000 available to me for a while and I thought I’d give a quick run-down of the device now that it’s getting close to release.  Please note that since the product is not yet released some of the capabilities and/or UI elements may change in the release version.  The official CX7000 product page can be found here.

The CX7000 is a dedicated room system that is designed to be used in a very similar manner to a traditional video conferencing system, but instead of being based on the traditional H.323 protocol it is designed to interoperate specifically with Lync.  That means that in addition to regular video calling to other Lync users/rooms (and anything else that you can dial via the Lync infrastructure) you also get a full Lync collaboration experience in the room.  Here’s a walkthrough of all the screens…

 

Below is the home screen that will appear when the system starts up.  As you can see it defaults to that day’s calendar, and the view of the calendar automatically stays in alignment with the current time.  You can use the scroll bar and/or date selector to view other times.  Note the two different icons in the scheduled meetings below.  Those are designed to indicate whether a meeting is a Lync meeting or simply a meeting that is on the room’s calendar.

 

Hovering over the meeting will show you some additional information, such as who scheduled the meeting.

 

The CX7000 can be used with either one or two displays (connectivity is one HDMI and one DVI).  The experience is better with two displays because you can have the collaboration on one side and the video on the other (more on this later).  I’m using a remote tool to connect to the CX7000 so in the screenshot below both displays are right next to each other.  As you can see, I have the camera pointed at a clock.  Since the system is not currently in a call it will just show a video preview of what the camera is showing.  The system can be configured to swap the left and right displays if you prefer the video on the left instead of the right.

 

Using the “Find a Contact” option I can search the Lync address book, select a contact, and choose to start an IM, audio, or video session with that contact.

 

Once I start the call I’ll have the standard Lync call experience on one monitor and full screen video on the other.  If I had only one monitor then the video window would be docked into the Lync call window.

 

Now the Lync user has started sharing an application with me.  Just like Lync I see the sharing session on the stage, and in my two screen setup the video stays on the second monitor.  The CX7000 can receive and interact with any type of Lync content.

 

Did you notice that little icon on the left side of the call window that looks like a monitor with a heartbeat?  That’s a diagnostic menu.  Clicking on it gives you some system statistics and gives you a ping option.

 

Back on the home screen there is an Options menu which shows what you see below.  Most of it is pretty self-explanatory with the possible exception of the “PC Content Preview” option.  If you’ve used traditional video conferencing systems then you may be familiar with the way content is sent, which is generally through a VGA cable.  Your PC treats that VGA connection like it would a projector or external monitor and sends your screen to it.  The video system then displays that on the screen and, if you are in a call at the same time, sends it as a special video stream to the other participants in the call (usually using a protocol called H.239).  Because there would be a lot of security and usability complexity if the system had the ability to share all the different ways that Lync can the CX7000 is only able to initiate a VGA share or a Whiteboard share (as mentioned previously, it can participate in all types of Lync sharing/collaboration).  The PC Content Preview allows you to show the VGA input data to the local room outside of a call.

 

Next, onto the Configuration options.  When you click on Options > Configuration you will get the System Information screen you see below.

 

System Status shows you information about the hardware which is connected to the CX7000 and some of the system statistics.

 

Next is the Display information, which gives screen saver and monitor configuration options.  This is the first configuration screen that I need an administrative password to access.  Every screen after this also needs the same administrative access, which can be either a local password or a domain administrator account.  You only have to enter the credentials once until the next time you enter the configuration.

 

Audio can be connected either using the HDMI cable, the audio output connection, or a USB device that does not require external drivers to operate.  In my case I have connected some generic speakers to the audio output connector.  The CX7000 will ship with a microphone either as a separate pod or built into the camera, depending on which model you purchase.  I have the model with the Eagle Eye III camera, which includes the external mic pod.

 

The system will also ship with a camera, either Polycom’s Eagle Eye View or Eagle Eye III camera.  The Eagle Eye View has pan and tilt capabilities with a digital zoom whereas the Eagle Eye III has an optical zoom.  The EE View is fine for pretty small rooms that sit maybe 4 or 5 people but the EE III will be better for conference rooms with larger tables.  I had “repurposed” my EE III when I took these screenshots so I just have a regular USB camera plugged in, which would normally be a waste since the optics and capabilities of the included cameras are far superior.

 

Some organizations like to auto-answer calls in their video rooms, so this is an option.

 

Now we enter the Admin Settings area, where we have more detailed system settings.  The Location options are pretty self-explanatory, as are the network settings below that.

 

 

The System settings are configured during the initial system setup, and not all of them can be changed after that.  The Domain Name and Domain Account are the credentials which the CX7000 will use for Lync and Exchange.  The Meeting Room Name is what will show on the home screen by the presence indicator in the bottom left and is also used as the computer account name in Active Directory.  The Admin Password below that is the local password that can be used when entering the Configuration options to which regular users do not have access.

 

There are a few system update options, as you can see below.  In addition to the folder and FTP options you can also update using a USB stick, but obviously the easiest method is to configure the systems to automatically update from a location you specify.

 

The CX7000 is a full Lync client and therefore its call information will be stored in the Monitoring server, but there is also an option to see some call information on the local system.

 

Lastly, you can clear out the settings or reset the entire system to an “out of box” state.

 

All-in-all the CX7000 a great option for room-based video conferencing with Lync.  It’s nice to see the video ecosystem continue to mature around Lync – 2012 will certainly be an interesting year in the video space.

Feel free to post any detailed questions you have.

Lync Server/Client Cummulative Update 3 #lync

Microsoft has released CU3 for Lync.  I’ve been waiting for this one primarily because of the calendar presence bug in CU2 that forced me to stay on CU1 until it was fixed.  Another common issue was fixed regarding functions missing in Lync Phone Edition when the phone lock timeout was disabled.  Here are the links:

Client KB

Server KB

Lync Phone Edition – Polycom

Lync Phone Edition – Aastra

Lync Group Chat Client

Communicator for Mac 2011

Polycom DMA/RMX Lync Static Routing Tool

I created a Powershell script that automates the configuration of Lync for integrating Polycom DMA/RMX.  First, a couple disclaimers:

Use this tool at your own risk.  While I’ve tested it to the best of my ability I do not take responsibility for any issues that may arise from its use.

This tool was not developed by Polycom and is not supported, sanctioned, or otherwise approved by Polycom.

A screenshot of the tool is below.  The process that it’s using is largely documented in my previous post on creating static routes in Lync Server 2010, but I’ll give a brief description of each field here as well.

SIP Domain:  This is the domain you would like to use for routing video calls.  Polycom’s current documentation recommends using your Primary SIP domain, primary for ease of use and Edge server integration.  However, you can use whatever you wish.

DMA/RMX FQDN:  This is the FQDN you created for your DMA or RMX.  It should match the A record you created for the signaling interface and the subject of the certificate you loaded on DMA/RMX.

Routing Container:  You can create routes at the global level or the registrar level.  Select the one you wish to use.  Known limitation:  By default only the Global routing container exists.  If you want to associate a route with the registrar make sure you run new-csstaticroutingconfiguration –identity service:registrar:<registrarfqdn> before using this tool.

Application Pool FQDN:  Lync needs an Application Pool for any static routes.  You can enter any FQDN you wish – it does not need to match anything in DNS but it must be unique to the Lync Server topology.

Associated Registrar:  All application pools must be associated with a registrar.  Select any registrar you wish.

Site:  All application pools must also be associated with a site.  Select any site you wish.

Execute cmdlets:  By default this tool will only output the cmdlets that it would have run.  Check this box to actually run the cmdlets.

Updated version released 5/27/2011 (1.1):

VMR Presence/Registration:  RMX 7.2 supports virtual meeting room and entry queue registration.  If you want to use this and do not need SIP URI dialing (<vmr>@domain.com) then check this box.

Other changes:  The “RequiresReplication” option is set to false on the TrustedApplicationPool since DMA/RMX do not participate in Lync replication.  The output is now color coded to make it easier to differentiate between cmdlets.

 

Download Rmx-lync

Denver Area Microsoft UC User’s Group Kick-Off May 19 (#lync #ucoms #coucug)

Come join us on Thursday, May 19 for the kick-off of the Colorado Microsoft Unified Communications User Group (COUCUG).   COUCUG is run by an independent group of technologists who focus on Microsoft Unified Communications products and solutions.  Each month, COUCUG will host a meeting in the Denver area which is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and related unified communications topics.  The topics for each meeting will be technical and architectural in nature designed for IT administrators, consultants, and management that want to learn more about Microsoft Unified Communications and do some networking at the same time.

Here is the agenda for our first meeting:

6:00-6:15 – Meet & Greet, Introductions

6:15-7:00 – Movin’ on Up!  Architectural and Administrative Changes from OCS to Lync Server 2010

                Adam Ball, Senior Infrastructure Engineer

7:00-8:00 – Can You Hear Me Now?  Lync Server 2010 as a Voice Platform, Capabilities and Architecture

                Mike Stacy, Microsoft Solutions Architect and Lync Server MVP

The meeting will take place at the Microsoft Denver office, which is located at:

7595 Technology Way, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80237

Pizza and sodas will be provided.  Please RSVP here so that we have an accurate count for food and drinks.

Deleting Static Routes in Lync Server 2010

I suppose it was inevitable that once I wrote an article about creating static routes in Lync Server 2010 that people would one day also have the need to delete them.  The process to do so is fairly simple but it seems that folks are having issues extracting it from the documentation, so here are some examples of common ways you may want to delete routes.

Deleting all routes

It’s quite simple to delete all your routes from either the global container or a specific registrar by clearing the static routing configuration:

Global:  Set-csstaticroutingconfiguration -identity global -route $null

Registrar:  Set-csstaticroutingconfiguration –identity service:registrar:lyncpool1.domain.com -route $null

Deleting specific routes

This is the one that’s a bit trickier.  To remove a route you use the same set-csstaticroutingconfiguration cmdlet but you have to define the route and then remove it, very similar to how you added it in the first place.  So, let’s say I have a route to video.domain.com that I want to delete from the global routing configuration.  Generally I want to retrieve the route first to make sure I find the correct one.

Get-CsStaticRoutingConfiguration -identity global | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Route | Where-Object {$_.MatchUri -eq "video.domain.com"}

Once I confirm that I run the same statement but I assign it to a variable ($delroute in this case) so I can use it in a set-csstaticroutingconfiguration cmdlet.

$delroute = Get-CsStaticRoutingConfiguration -identity global | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Route | Where-Object {$_.MatchUri -eq "video.domain.com"}

Then I run set-csstaticroutingconfiguration and remove the matching route:

Set-CsStaticRoutingConfiguration -identity global -Route @{Remove=$delroute}

That’s it.  Of course I could have specified the registrar routing container instead of global, and I can also use other filters in the Where-Object statement if I need to be more specific on the route I’m looking for.  There’s a good example of this in the Lync Server 2010 documentation for the Set-csstaticroutingconfiguration cmdlet (look at example 2).

Another common and related request is to see more information about a route or routes that I’ve already created, such as the route destination.  To see this just run Get-CsStaticRoutingConfiguration -identity global | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Route and you’ll see the global routes with their destinations and other information.

Exchange wildcard certificates with Lync Phone Edition

There’s certainly no lack of information out there regarding issues with wildcard certificates in various situations with Exchange and, increasingly, Lync.  Jeff Schertz recently posted a good article on the topic as it relates to Lync.  It’s worth adding another tidbit to his information, which is that a wildcard certificate on Exchange Web Services will cause Lync Phone Edition not to connect to Exchange.  If you look at the log files from the phone you’ll see something like this (irrelevant parts of the log have been removed):

INFO  :: NAutoDiscover::DnsAutodiscoverTask::PopulateAutodiscoverUrlsFromDnsSrv: SRV record found for record, _autodiscover._tcp.domain.com, value, mail.domain.com.

INFO  :: NAutoDiscover::DnsAutodiscoverTask::TryAutodiscoverUrls: Trying url, https://mail.domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml

INFO  :: WebServices::CSoapTransport::OpenNewInternetHandle: Connecting using INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_PRECONFIG flag

WARN  :: WebServices::CSoapTransport::OpenAndSendDummyRequest: HttpSendRequest failed. Server=mail.domain.com, Path=/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml

ERROR :: WebServices::CSoapTransport::GetHttpHeaders: Failed to send a dummy request: hr=0x80072f06, url=https://mail.domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml

INFO  :: NAutoDiscover::DnsAutodiscoverTask::TryAutodiscoverUrls: GetHttpHeaders failed with 0x80072f06

WARN  :: NAutoDiscover::DnsAutodiscoverTask::TryAutodiscoverUrls: Exception with this url. hr=0x80072f06

The error code I highlighted is ERROR_INTERNET_SEC_CERT_CN_INVALID, meaning that the CN (subject) of the certificate is not valid.

Be aware that this doesn’t cause any problems with the regular Lync client, only Lync Phone Edition.  As you probably guessed, the solution is to replace that wildcard certificate with a regular certificate that contains the EWS FQDN in either the subject or subject alternative name field.

Lync/OCS Coexistence and Static Routes

Having worked heavily with static routing since the pre-release versions of Lync Server 2010 I’ve discovered that while the cmdlet documentation is pretty good on how to create and manage static routes, there is no information on managing static routes in a mixed environment containing both OCS and Lync Server.  Recently I had a discussion on this topic with some folks at Microsoft and was able to get some helpful information on the topic.

If you’ve created routes in both OCS and Lync Server you’ve no doubt realized that the process is pretty different.  As I referenced in my original post on creating static routes in Lync, Lync enables administrators to create routes with different scopes.  Specifically, you can create routes that apply either at the global or registrar level.

Something else apparent as you work in a mixed environment is that Lync is able to use the static routes that have previously been created in OCS but the reverse is not true.  Further, a new route added in OCS cannot be leveraged by Lync, and creating the same route in both places leads to routing errors on the OCS side.

The reason for all of this is because of the new mechanisms in Lync for storing and managing static routes.  When the Merge Topology process is executed in Topology Builder, the existing OCS routes are copied into the Lync configuration and are therefore able to be used by Lync.  New routes created in Lync are only stored in the configuration in such a way as to be accessed by Lync, and since there is effectively no synchronization of configuration from Lync to OCS these routes are not able to be leveraged by OCS.

Therefore, during the period of coexistence the proper way to create routes that you wish to be accessed by both OCS and Lync is to create them in OCS and re-run the Merge Topology process.

Great Tool - ‘Find Lync Versions’

I’d love to give credit by name but I only have the name “stumper” to thank for a great OCS/Lync tool.  Those of you who spent much time managing OCS environments are probably familiar with the Client Version Summary that was easily accessible in the OCS admin tool.  Unfortunately the only way to gather equivalent information in Lync was to write the appropriate SQL queries to do so.  However, our friend stumper has written a nice, simple app to get this information.  You can even get the source code if you want to make changes.  Here’s a link:  http://www.stumper66.com/software/lync.html

Here’s an image of it from stumper’s site:

 

The summary tab is very handy to get a quick look at your client usage.  In my case it was great to see how many users were still using MOC instead of Lync.

Polycom RMX Layouts in Lync

I thought I’d share some of the layout views we get with our RMX integrated into Lync Server.  I really enjoy attending meetings like this.  It combines the best of both worlds – anywhere, anytime video conferencing from my laptop plus the more immersive experience of a dedicated video conferencing infrastructure.  Once you get used to the multi-person views (Polycom calls this ‘Continuous Presence’) where you can see the non-verbal reactions of the other participants of a call it’s hard to go back.  It also helps a lot with the issue of people trying to speak at the same time since you can see when people are about to speak.  This dramatically reduces or eliminates the all-too-common “Sorry, you go ahead.”  “No, you go ahead.” that you get on voice calls and active-speaker video switched calls.

This is a view of a recent conference when everyone was on and we had been going for a while.  The center pane shows the active speaker and the 12 boxes on the outside are the most recent speakers (or earliest to join if no one else has been speaking).  By default this is the most you’d ever see in one window, though the RMX can be configured to show up to 16 in equal-sized panes.

 

This was at the end of the call when people were starting to drop off and we were down to 10 participants.  The layout automatically changes based on the number of participants (there are also administrative options to define particular layouts for a given conference room or conference profile).  The yellow text I blurred were the names of the participants, which show up for a few seconds when the layout or active speaker changes.

 

This was a different call with content sharing.  Since Lync doesn’t support the SIP standard for content + video (BFCP) as separate streams it’s treated as a “legacy endpoint” so when content appears the RMX mixes together smaller video plus content into one stream.

 

It’s worth mentioning that I took these calls from outside the network with no VPN.  Since the RMX supports ICE/STUN/TURN it integrates natively with the Lync Edge server without requiring any additional hardware or software.  Overall it’s a great experience that will get even better with the addition of RTV in a few months.

Powershell script to populate the thumbnailphoto attribute

In my role I work with a lot of demo environments, and so it’s not uncommon for me to find quick workarounds for tasks that I have to do repeatedly or train others to do.  Recently one of those has been populating the thumbnailphoto attribute for Lync Server.  For a while I was using a modified version of a script written by George Durzi, and the script below still uses most of what he wrote in his blog entry on the topic.  I also borrowed the file dialog function from Hugo Peeters from his PeetersOnline entry and the AD bits from various places.  That’s really how I “code” these days anyway – thank goodness for the internet. 

I wrote this so that it works well in multi-domain environments like the one I work in, so it searches the global catalog to find the user wherever they may be and then does an LDAP bind to write to the domain where they are actually located since thumbnailphoto isn’t a global catalog attribute.

“Release Notes”

- To run, save the attached script and simply run the script from Powershell.  If you are running it from a server you may need to install the Desktop Experience feature (servermanagercmd -i desktop-experience).

- To change it to work in your environment just modify line 2 to match your Active Directory domain.  In case you’re not familiar with the syntax, domain.com would be dc=domain,dc=com and europe.domain.com would be dc=europe,dc=domain,dc=com.

- When you run the script you’ll be prompted for a username.  This should be the logon name (samaccountname) of the user, i.e. mstacy rather than mstacy@domain.com.

- The photos can’t be larger than about 70kb (In my brief testing 67kb worked, 76kb didn’t).  If the photo is too large you’ll receive this:  "Exception calling "CommitChanges" with "0" argument(s): "A constraint violation occurred.

- Like all things on the internet, use at your own risk.

Download photo.ps1 (1.4K)

Other useful links related to photos in Lync and Exchange:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2010/11/22/microsoft-lync-2010-photo-experience.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee721049.aspx

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2010/03/10/454223.aspx