Microsoft Ignite 2016

I had a great time at Microsoft Ignite in Atlanta last week. I mainly followed the Skype for business sessions and checked out all related vendors in the expo.

 

Somewhere around 600 swedes were present during Ignite and you could spot them all over the Place.

 

Overall the three main topics of Skype for business at Ignite 2016 were

 

• Skype for Mac (RTM coming October 2016)
• Project Rigel (the next generation Skype Room System)
• Skype Operations Framework (www.skypeoperationsframework.com)

 

Also, a lot of other good news and updates big and small were announced, like how to actually use the new Video based Screen Sharing. That transcription and translation will be available in the Skype Meeting Broadcast feature by the end of 2016. PSTN Calling in Skype for business Online in Office 365 is expanding with France and Spain on the way. Keep an eye on this article for future Changes: Countries and regions that are supported for Skype for Business Online PSTN Services

 

For more info on the coming Skype for Business for Mac client take a look at John A Cook's excellent summary. Also, a new version 7.0.1168.1 of the Snooper tool is coming soon with the release of the Mac client and with this version it is possible to open Mac logs as well. We also saw some cool developer demos like a webpage with chat, audio and video in Edge with Skype for business, and without any plugins required.

 

It was nice to quickly shake hands with

Corporate Vice President, Gurdeep Singh Pall

 

In the expo area some really cool "robots" or video-enabled-vaccumcleaner-devices were constantly roaming around. They are actually named Beams and run by the company EventPresence.

 

My friend Fredrik Nilsson from Tyresö in Sweden who could not physically come to Ignite could still mingle with all the attendees and exhibitors on the expo floor. He could also use the various photo booths and even attend a few sessions by simply steering the Beam remotely. I need to get me one of these and I will never have to fly again, so cool!

 

Fredrik roaming the floors of Ignite 2016.

I also purchased the great book Skype for Business Unleashed and got it signed by many of the authors and contributors like Jamie Stark, Pat Richard, Rui Maximo, Phil Sharp, Ståle Hansen and Tom Arbuthnot.

 

I still like physical heavy books you can hold in your hands...

 

It was fun to catch up with Callahan, all MCTs working the Hands-on-Labs, Adnan Hendricks, Johan Dahlbom, Johan Delimon, Sami Laiho, Knowledge Factory (hey! Thanks for the Svenskfest!), the VM-data crew, Pexip, PointSharp and The Krewe of course!

 

Also, Matt Landis, Josh Blalock and Mark Vale, who all have written great summaries of Ignite:

• Matts MsIgnite 2016 Skype for Business Notes
• Skype for Business at Microsoft Ignite 2016 - All the Right Information  
• Skype for Business @ Microsoft Ignite What You Need To Know

I really hope I can make it to Microsoft Ignite in Orlando on September 25-29, 2017

Last but not least Tom Arbuthnot created a fantastic summary of all Skype for business sessions at Ignite, which I used daily at the Conference. The list is quite long but I will make another try to go through and summarize all of the sessions on my blog, hopefully I'm done before Ignite 2017, here it is:

 

BRK2068 Turn your users into raving fans of Skype

BRK3061 Ready your network for Skype for Business Online

BRK3271 Dive into Project Rigel and the Skype for Business Meeting Device Portfolio

BRK2072 Hear our Skype story: deploying at Accenture

BRK2076 Migrate to the cloud – Skype for Business Online

BRK3300 Get to know Skype for Business Meetings: your complete meeting solution

THR2027 Plan your future with Skype for Business

BRK2077 Get to know the Skype Operations Framework 

BRK2087 Build native cloud apps for Skype for Business: Skype Developer platform overview 

BRK3049 Manage Skype for Business with a single pane of glass – IT Pro Tools

BRK3058 Dig into the Skype Operations Framework 

BRK4004 Troubleshoot new Skype for Business offerings 

BRK3048 Get under the hood of Skype for Business PSTN conferencing 

BRK3050 Troubleshoot operations with Skype Call Quality Management 

THR2026 Get engaged with Skype for Business preview 

BRK2080 Understanding devices certified for Skype for Business: what’s in it for you? 

BRK4012 Dive deep on Skype Web SDK & Skype for Business App SDK: Build apps across Web, IOS & Android

BRK2073 Cushman and Wakefield with Skype for Business: A customer’s story 

BRK3051 Manage policy in Skype for Business Online 

BRK3056 Plan for call management with Skype for Business Cloud PBX 

BRK2081 Plan your Cloud PBX deployment 

BRK3053 Understand the mysteries of Dial Plans and Voice Routes in Skype for Business 

BRK2070 Meet Skype for Business for Mac 

BRK2071 Deploy and operate Skype for Business for Windows

BRK2086 Plan for Skype for Business Mobile Clients 

BRK4013 Dive deep on the new Trusted Application API for Skype for Business Online

BRK4005 Configure Skype for Business for Skype Room Systems, Project Rigel and Surface Hub 

BRK2069 Revolutionize adoption for Skype for Business Online 

BRK3055 Plan and deploy Skype for Business Voice Devices 

BRK3054 Plan for Skype for Business cloud connectivity with Microsoft Office 365

BRK3301 Understand the Skype for Business meeting room interop 

BRK2074 Kelly Services & Skype for Business: A customer’s story 

BRK3059 Deploy Cloud Connector Edition with Microsoft Office 365 

BRK3060 Manage Skype for Business Server 2015 

BRK3057 Manage mobility with MDM and Skype for Business 

BRK3270 Plan to deploy Skype Meeting Broadcast 

BRK2088 Drive real-world success with Skype for Business platform solutions 

BRK2089 Deliver compliance with Skype for Business Online 

BRK4011 Deploy ExpressRoute for Skype in Microsoft Office 365 

BRK2075 Meet the communications needs of your users with Skype for Business 

THR2026 Get engaged with Skype for Business preview 

BRK3079 Configure Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition with your SBC 

BRK4007 Troubleshoot media flows in Skype for Business across online, server and hybrid  

 

Tom also posted a script to Download all these Skype for Business Ignite Conference Videos from a YouTube Playlist.

 

If there is something negative to say about Ignite this year it is really the lunches, so on Friday we went out for some real meat!

Hey is that the famous 34 ounce / 964 grams Ribeye steak? You bet!

MS Ignite BRK4129 - Hybrid Configuration Deep-Dive of Skype for Business

As promised in my Microsoft Ignite 2015 - Sessions, Venue, Expo post, here comes another summary / review of one of the Ignite Skype for business sessions.

Presented by Cezar Ungureanasu, Ramesh Narayanan and Vivek Bhatnagar.

A session to understand Skype for Business Hybrid scenarios & features and how Skype for Business On-Prem interacts with Skype for Business Online.

Hybrid = a combination of components on premises and online.

Development in cloud is iterating faser than the on premises versions (and Skype for business have already evolved since this presentation were held. Maybe most notably by the addition of the Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition.This presentaiton ended with som early thinking aronud this new feature and some questions around it.)

Requirements to start up a hybrid

• Skype for business on premises with Edge and federation with Office 365
• Office 365 tenant (Skype for business online licenses) with
  federation and shared SIP address space configured
• Directory Synchronization
• User authentication (ADFS, AD Sync)

Even Lync 2010 and Lync 2013 would work, in Skype for business some administrative GUIs for configuring and moving users have been added.

Also the Allowed /  Blocked domains list in the on-premises deployment must exactly match the Allowed domains list for your online tenant.

The "Hosting Provider" is an important active directory attribute, it tells the system where the user is homed.

For an On-premises user
RegistrarPool : pool01.kressmark.com
HostingProvider : SRV:

SRV: means - use DNS to find this users pool.

For an Online user
RegistrarPool : <empty> (but in the "Office 365 version / side" of the AD, this attribute will hold the name of the online "pool".)
HostingProvider : sipfed.online.lync.com

The "Hosting Provider" attribute will also be used when routing incoming Instant Messages and / or presence.

The presentation also included a demo of a user being moved, and the meeting invite link in his Outlook calender were uppdated.

For more info on Hybrid scenarios:

• Plan your hybrid deployment for Skype for Business Server 2015
• Skype for Business Online DNS configuration in Office 365
• Skype for Business Hybrid Handbook, Version 1.2

Skype for business for Mac

Geeking away another Friday night (9:00 A.M. Pacific = 18:00 in Sweden) this time about the Mac Client - Preview and demo.

Presented by Sean Wilson, Paul Cannon and Kaushal Mehta.

The new client is built with a new codebase; it is not an upgrade or refresh of Lync for Mac 2011. Meeting joins and sharing have been problems with the old client. The new client can run side-by-side with the old client and it will use SILK as the default codec.

There will be 3 previews before RTM with preview 1 coming RSN - "Real Soon Now". These previews will be cumulative meaning: Preview 1 will contain meeting functionality, preview 2 will add on contact lists and instant messaging to the functionality in preview 1. Preview 3 will add on calling and voice functionality to the client.

This was nicely demonstrated in the webcast with 3 big Lego Duplo bricks :-)

The first preview will be available RSN at the Skype for Business Preview website.

Sign up as soon as you see the Mac client preview - participation will be granted on a first-come first-served basis.

The Meeting view with a connection to the Exchange calendar and a join button.

Preview 1 will (probably) include the following features

• Full screen video
  (with black edges which apparently makes people think about movies)
• Desktop sharing - two way, even between PCs and Macs.
• People pane and instant massages in meetings.
• Meet now button

Questions answered

Remote control from Mac is a feature that will not be included in the RTM version (but is planned for in a drop after RTM), also the Unified Contact Store will not be there.
Persistent chat is in maintenance mode even in the Windows client this means that enhancements are limited to security and stability fixes only, Persistent chat will not be in the Mac client.

Quality of Service - might be in the RTM version, or will be added in a later update.

ITARC 2016

Post in Swedish about an IT-architect book project I am involved in, much like the previous book about IT-architecture.

Idag var jag med på ITARC 2016, en årlig konferens för it-arkitekter, denna gång på fina Elite Hotel Marina Tower strax utanför stan.

På förmiddagen var jag med på en workshop om

Arkitekturell förmåga – handboken

 

Den leddes av Per-Erik Padron, konsult på Perago och Joakim Jerbrant, chefsarkitekt på Nordea.

Runt 17 personer deltog och presenterade sig med titlar som, Enterprise Arkitekt, Chefsarkitekt, Verksamhetsarkitekt och var mestadels verksamma inom större organisationer. (Det var roligt att se deltagare från 2 större organisationer där jag installerat Lync och kanske bidragit till kommunikationen på ett hörn.)

Kommentarer och diskussioner startade direkt under presentationerna i stil med:

• Vi diskuterar ofta begreppen inom arkitektur och vad ansvaret för arkitekten är.
• Hos oss är det mycket "tyckande", var är vi? vad är vi bra på?
  hur förbättrar vi det vi inte är bra på?
• "I en stor organisation finns både guldklimpar och surdegar."
• Hur kan vi mäta om vi blir bättre inom arkitektur?

Nedan följer mina spridda anteckningar från dagen, som kanske kan användas som stöd för minnet i arbetet med nästa bok.

Swenglish är ett generellt problem inom arkitektur området då mycket av litteraturen och influenserna kommer på engelska.

Vad är arkitekturell förmåga?

Många definitioner finns, och sammantagna kan de kanske kokas ner till:

"De förutsättningar och skickligheter en organisation har att utforma delarna i den sociotekniska strukturen (människor, relationer, IT-stöd, etc) och få dem att samverka för att organisationen ska kunna uppnå sitt mål."

Arkitektur i en organisation är inte en soloaktivitet utan ett lagarbete.

Var ska ansvaret ligga? 

Tidigare var detta ofta personberoende, seniora personer med "guru-status" som kanske inte kommunicerade så bra, kom inte med lösningar utan talade mest om vad som var fel.
Det pendlar ofta mellan centralt / lokalt, och inbegriper ofta internpolitik.

Arkitekten behöver vara insatt i var organisationen är på väg.

Tycker inte personen om mig så lyssnar hon inte.

Att mäta förmågan, hur gör man?

Resultat kanske inte är så viktigt, det är viktigare att få igång diskussionerna kring arkitekturarbetet.

Hur mäter man att ett projekt lyckas? Resultatet av projektet eller att projektet levererade på tid och inom / under budget?

Många ramverk och standardmetoder finns (ITIL, TOGAF, RUP, SAFe, Zachman) som kan användas "som inspiration", d.v.s. de måste alltid anpassas till "vår" organisation. Passar ramverket oss, kan vi plocka bitar av det? Först när man utvärderar så ser man allt som är bra med metoden, sedan när man sätter igång och implementerar ser man problemen med metoden. Med ett ramverk som grund kan det bli lättare att sälja in en förändring mot ledningen, i stil med - om företaget / konkurrenten x använder detta ramverk - då måste det väl vara bra och fungera för oss?

Sedan följde en lång diskussion i mindre och större grupper angående förutsättningar och skickligheter för den arkitekturella förmågan.


Efter lunch följde en något större workshop med temat

Att kommunicera arkitektur – handboken

och det är alltså den bok vi håller på att skiva nu.

Per-Erik Padron och Stefan Asanin, IT-arkitekt på Vattenfall, ledde denna workshop med 38 deltagare.

Vi fick bra feedback kring de roller vi tänkt behandla och även kring vissa beskrivningar som troligen behöver "moderniseras" något. Vi behandlar förstås ett område som utvecklas mycket snabbt.

Boken kommer handla om kommunikation eftersom:

• Kommunikation är en kritisk framgångsfaktor för arkitekturarbetet.
• Kommunikation mellan arkitekter och mellan arkitekten och personer som inte direkt arbetar med arkitektur skiljer sig åt och måste fungera.
• Arkitekten ska inte bygga eller utföra själva arbetet - därför måste arkitekten kunna kommunicera väl vad resultatet ska bli.

Diskussionen flöt på bra trots att vi vår så många som 40 personer i rummet, och jag tog med mig ett par bra tankar som jag hoppas utveckla i text i boken vi skriver.

Tack IASA Sverige för en bra konferens, ett bra tillfälle att träffa medförfattare och samla feedback.

Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition

This Friday night (9:00 A.M. Pacific = 18:00 in Sweden) I listened in to the live video broadcast about the Skype Cloud Connector Edition.

A nice 45-minute conversation about what Skype CCE is, how to deploy it and feedback from early customer testing.

During development Skype CCE had the nickname "minimal Topology", so the on-prem component can be seen as a very minimal Skype for business system. It consists of a domain controller, edge and mediation server and Central Management Store.

The mediation server is the same "bits" - the same software - as the mediation server in a normal on-prem S4B system. The installation is configured using a "ini file", CloudConnector.ini. The installer will read this file and can restart a stopped installation in case prerequisites are not met or other issues occur. Skype CCE can also be installed in a High Availability configuration.

Both Sonus and Audiocodes have already announced packages with CCE included in a hardware appliance box.

Some questions and answers from the webcast:

Can we use Express Route with CCE and get QoS on the calls?

Yes, Express Route does work with CCE.

On the CCE "no existing S4B" requirement - can the AD be prepped for, but have OCS/Lync/S4B servers decommissioned, or is a green field AD required?

Yes, AD can be prepped for S4B/Lync. You just cannot have S4B/Lync running on-premises.

Are there any plans to support VMware hypervisors for CCE in the future?

No plans currently.

If we would like to move certain group of users to cloud and use telephony on-prem. Can we do that?

Correct. CCE is for folks in the cloud who do not have S4B on-premises.

How would using Skype in the cloud use E911 and meet the mandates of 911?

It really is no different to on-premises configuration. When you give an Office 365 user a PSTN Calling license, you must configure their E911 information before we allow you to complete the configuration and give them a number.

If a customer has existing investment in S4B On-prem but want to move subset of users to S4B online and keep PSTN on-prem, does Cloud Connector fit in this scenario?

Your on-premises deployment currently supports being connected to the cloud. CCE is currently targeted to those who do not have S4B deployed on-prem.

Microsoft hope to enhance CCE over the next few months to support more complex topologies.

If you want to find out more about Skype CCE:

• ConfigureSkype for Business Cloud Connector edition
• Plan forSkype for Business Cloud Connector Edition
• CloudConnector Edition Skype for Business Online Planning and Migration Guide

The next live video broadcast will be about S4B and MACs!

Skype For Business CU1 (September 2015) fails

To make a long story short - make sure you have atleast 32 GB free disk space when running Security Updates for Skype for Business Server: September 2015

 

KB3097645 fails even at the second attempt.

The fix KB3097645 will run an Install-CsDatabase command to patch the database.

If you look at the log found in the same directory as your SkypeServerUpdateInstaller.exe
e.g. C:\temp\Skype_patchinstallerlog-FE01-[2015-12-08][14-00-01].txt

You will find the following error messages:

[12/8/2015 2:00:01 PM] Executing command: msiexec.exe  /update "C:\temp\Server.msp" /passive /norestart /l*vx "C:\temp\Server.msp-FE01-[2015-12-08][14-00-01]_log.txt"
[12/8/2015 2:00:23 PM] ERROR 1603: Server.msp had errors installing.
[12/8/2015 2:00:41 PM] ERROR: SkypeServerUpdateInstaller failed to successfully install all patches

If you look in the file LCSSetup_Commands.txt found in the user profile
e.g. C:\Users\kressmark\AppData\Local\Temp\LCSSetup_Commands.txt

You will find a more understandable error message:

Install-CsDatabase : Command execution failed: Install-CsDatabase was unable to find suitable drives for storing the database files. This is often due to insufficient disk space; typically you should have at least 32 GB of free space before attempting to create databases. However, there are other possible reasons why this command could have failed. For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=511023

The solution is of course to simply free up some disk space or expand the disk.

Happy patching!

Unassigned numbers over SIP Trunk

As explained in the article
Create or modify an unassigned number range in Skype for Business Server 2015
"Skype for Business Server enables you to say what happens to incoming calls to phone numbers that are valid for your organization, but are not assigned to a user or a phone. To handle such calls, you set up an unassigned number table. You can use the table to route the calls to an Announcement application."

That is nice as a service to people dialing a wrong number, but the unassigned numbers feature can also be used to prevent loops as described in the article
How to prevent call looping between Lync Server and a VoIP gateway

Since loops in telecom systems never are a good thing, let's look at how to configure the unassigned numbers feature. The first step is to record the announcement you would like to play when an unassigned number is called. I used the free Audacity software for this, and then I exported the audio as a WMA version 2 FFmpeg file.

My message were something like:
"Welcome to <our org name>, you have called a number that is not in use.
Please check the number and call again."

Next get on your Skype4B standard or enterprise front-end server and start the Skype4B management shell to import and configure the announcement.

Get-Content "C:\temp\UnassignedAnnouncement.wma" -ReadCount 0 -Encoding Byte | Import-CsAnnouncementFile -Parent ApplicationServer:skype4b.kressmark.com -FileName "UnassignedAnnouncement.wma" 

New-CsAnnouncement -Identity ApplicationServer:skype4b.kressmark.com -Name “Unassigned Announcement” -AudioFilePrompt “UnassignedAnnouncement.wma”

The last command will give you an output like this:

Identity           :Service:ApplicationServer:
                    skype4b.kressmark.com
                    /d5b4b757-df0a-494a-af52-0531f6f12b2d
Name               : Unassigned Announcement
AudioFilePrompt    : UnassignedAnnouncement.wma
TextToSpeechPrompt :
Language           :
TargetUri          :
AnnouncementId     : d5b4b757-df0a-494a-af52-0531f6f12b2d

Now open the Skype4B Control Panel (or restart it if you had it open already.)
Go to Voice Features / Unassigned numbers to configure the range of numbers that should be homed (accessed over the SIP Trunk) on the Skype4B system.

Please note that you could enter the number with a + sign but without a leading tel: so it is a bit different from other places in the Skype4B Control Panel. The help file says "This means the number may begin with the string tel: (if you don’t specify that string, it will be automatically added for you), a plus sign (+), and a digit 1 through 9." (But why is not tel: added automatically when assigning a number to a user?)

The unassigned number table can include both assigned and unassigned numbers, but it is invoked only when a caller dials a number that is not currently assigned. This means it is fine to add one of the numbers in the range to a user and a call to that number will go to the user, or the other way around, if you remove a number in the range from a user a call to that number will get the announcement.

After committing these changes you do not need to restart anything, simply grab an internal client with a user with enterprise voice and dial one of the numbers in the range. You should now hear the message you recorded, and on the server you should also find event 46041 from LS Outbound Routing which says "Vacant Number Settings Loaded Successfully".

Next up would be to test an unassigned number from an external telephone.

If this call does not reach the announcement service chances are that you have configured a PSTN usage for the trunk under Voice Routing / Trunk Configuration in the Control Panel. This PSTN usage will somehow take precedence over the internal announcement service and will not let calls through. Remove the PSTN usage from the Trunk Configuration and your external call should be hearing the announcement now, and you will not risk getting loops in your system.

For more info:
Redirecting inbound PSTN calls in Lync
PSTN to Lync 2013 Unassigned Number failure