Lync 2010 - API

Any developper who interest in the developping advanced softwares they are looking for API's of words leading products. Now with lync it has a SDK. you can download and work with it. Follow the following link to download Lync SDK.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=d98f0bf7-c82c-47f5-9f73-be3edbf30438#Overview

Location Based Emergancy Call Routing Known as E911

With Microsoft Lync 2010 your emergency calling service can be enhanced with location based routing. Lync Can Identify your area , then routes your emergency call to perticluar location. It is new and powerful features that we can experienced.

How it do this things :-

Lync 2010 includes a service called Location Information Service (LIS) database which, we can Identifiy the locations of users when they register based on. it using following techniques to do this.
IP Subnet

• • The IP address of the user’s PC or phone is cross-referenced to a customer-built database of where each subnet is (address, floor, etc.)
• WiFi SSID
  • The WLAN Access Point that the user is attached to is sent to Lync, which looks cross-references the location within customer-built database of where each SSID is (address, usually)
• MAC Address/Switch port (for hardphones only, not softphones/USB phones)
  • If a state (i.e. Florida) or organization mandates that they must pinpoint callers “to the station level” or cube-level, then subnet mapping is not adequate
  • Microsoft-certified phones use Link Layer Discovery Protocol to send the MAC address of the switch port that they’re connected to up to Lync when they register. They obtain their switch ID and port name directly from the LLDP frames on the Ethernet network
  • If an organization has taken the steps to map their LAN switch port locations (i.e. LAN switch MAC addresses (Lync phones report their switch ID to the LIS, which then returns the location associated to the switch id and port.
    

Export-CsArchivingData ??? For what.

It is good command tool that we can found on lync archiving server. By Using windows power shell (Export-CsArchivingData ) you can export data in your Lync Archiving Server. It has larger range of retrieving power with more and more options. There are many ways that we can export archived messages.

In Lync powershell : -

To export Data for all users you can use following command..

Export-CsArchivingData -DBInstance SQLSVR\Archinst -StartDate 12/2/2011 -OutputFolder "C:\ArchiveExports"

To export Data for user named dulipravindra@lync.com you can use following command..

Export-CsArchivingData -DBInstance SQLSVR\Archinst -StartDate 12/2/2011 -OutputFolder "C:\ArchiveExports" -UserUri "sip:dulipravindra@lync.com"

Linux_Lync Mania

TIP on TOP L(inux)&L(ync) Love..

Unfortunately currently lync doesn't have a Lync Client for Linux computers. Some organizations Use linux workstations also to perform their day to day tasks. That kind of users can use XMPP Gateway to integrate Linux clients with Lync Server. To Do this you can use Pidgin linux based IM software as a client end.

Lync Archiving Server

It Archives Everything....

With in your organization you may need record your instant messaging and web conferencing information. you can use Lync Archiving server to record all of your chat data in SQL database. To archive this gall you can implement a Lync Archiving Server in your Lync Environment.

Firstly you need to select an operating system to deploy archive server on your lync deployment. Microsoft Recommends to install Lync Archiving Server on following operating system.

• The Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard operating system
• The Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise operating system
• The Windows Server 2008 Standard operating system with Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• The Windows Server 2008 Enterprise operating system with SP2
  

The following are the hardware requirements for the Lync Archiving server Deployment.

Hardware Component	Minimum Requirement
CPU	64-bit dual processor, quad-core, 2.0 GHz or higher
	64-bit 4-way processor, dual-core, 2.0 GHz or higher
Memory	16 GB recommended
Disk	Local storage with at least 72 GB free disk space on a 10,000 RPM disk drive
Network	2 network adapters, each 1 Gbps

Hardware Recommendations for Back-End Servers and Other Database Servers

Hardware Component	Minimum Requirement
CPU	64-bit dual processor, quad-core, 2.0 GHz or higher
	64-bit 4-way processor, dual-core, 2.0 GHz or higher
Memory	32 GB recommended for back-end server (with or without collocated Archiving and Monitoring databases), 16 GB recommended for Archiving and Monitoring database (not collocated with the back-end server)
Disk	Local storage with at least 72 GB free disk space on a 10,000 RPM disk drive
Network	2 network adapters, each 1 Gbps

You must install following software to selected computer by you.

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 with SP1.

The Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 redistributable.

Windows PowerShell version 2.0.

Windows Media Format Runtime.

================================

Basic things first...!

• Please change your computer name for appropriate format that follows correct naming conventions.
  EX :- lyncarch/ archieve/ arch_india
• Update your windows server properly. (Up-to date windows computers will not gives errors .)
• Install required additional softwares(Mentioned on top)
• Add your server to domain.
  
• Restart Computer
  
• Log In to the domain.

Now you are prepared for install lync archiving server installation on your organization.

Make sure you have installed MSMQ in your Organization.

Message Queuing, with Active Directory Integration enabled, on the server running Archiving Server and on each Front End Server and Standard Edition server that hosts users who will have IM archived. Following roles should have the MSMQ enabled.

• Front End Server
• Mediation Server
• Archiving Server
• Monitoring Server
• A/V Conferencing Server

SQL Server.

To Archieve messages the in environment you should have a SQL Server in your deployment.

File storage:

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 communications software supports file shares on either direct attached storage (DAS) or a storage area network (SAN), including Distributed File System (DFS), as well as redundant array of independent disks (RAID).

Now We are going to install archiving server in your deployment.

• Start Lync Topology Builder.
  
• Move your mouse pointer to Archiving Servers and the Right Click on Arctiving Servers.
  
• You will be see Define New Archiving Server dialog box. Please enter FQDN of the archiving server. archivingservercomputername.domain.com
  
• Click Next
  
• You can select SQL instance from this step. I recommended to use a previously defined SQL Store. select a SQL Store and Click Next.
  
• Define the file store box appears. You can create a new file store on a server. then click Next.
• This Associate Front End Pools box will appears. you can associate a Lync Front End Server that you needs to archive and then Click Next.
• Then Finish the wizard. Now Publish the new topology you have created from publish topology window
• Then new wizard box appears.
  
• Click Next.
  
• In Create Databases select archiving back-end server and click Next.
• Now in publishing wizard click finish. Now you are almost done.
  

Get the Lync CD and insert it to Lync Archiving Server.

Run Setup\amd64\Setup.exe

• On the License Agreement page, review the license agreement, select the I accept the terms in the license agreement check box to proceed, and then click OK.
• On the Welcome page, click Install or Update Lync Server System.
• In Install Local Configuration Store, click Run
• In this process, deployment Wizard reads the configuration information from the Central Management database, which you defined using Topology Builder, and writes the XML configuration file to the local machine.
• On the Configure Local Replica of Central Management Store page, click Retrieve directly from the Central Management Store (Requires read access to the Central Management Store), and then click Next.
• You may get the following error.

  “Automatic collection of configuration data failed.”

  Ensure followings to get rid off this problem.

• SQL server dynamic port is not blocked on the firewall,
• You have access of the configuration store from the server.
• in Setup or Remove Lync Server Components, click Run.

  Deployment Wizard installs the Lync Server components specified in the XML configuration file stored on the local machine.

• Click Next.
• Click Finish.
• Request, Install or Assign Certificates, because there are no certificate requirements for the deploying Archiving Server.
  
• Start Services, click Run.
• Click Next.
• Click Finish.

Congratulations! You Installed Archiving Server on your Deployment. In Next Tutorial We Can See How to Use Archiving Server in real world. Good Luck !..

Set Inactive time for Lync Client..

You can change follwing values to do this..

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Communicator\AwayThreshold
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Communicator\IdleThreshold

Srilanka Lync Launch..

Microsoft Lync 2010 Launch was held in Galle-Face Hotel in 25th of January 2010..

Tips and Tricks

While you are working with lync client you can use variaty of short cuts to peform tasks easialy instead of moving mouse..

Shortcut key	Description
Windows Key + Q	Brings Lync main window to foreground
Windows Key + A	Accept an incoming toast invitation
Windows Key + X	Declines toast invitation and change your status to ‘Do not disturb’
Windows Key + Esc	Decline toast invitation
Ctrl + Shift + Space	Sets focus on the application sharing toolbar
Ctrl + Alt + Space	Take back control when sharing your screen
Ctrl + Shift + S	Stop sharing your screen

Below are the shortcut keys that can be used on the main window when it is in foreground.

From Main Window You Can Use This Keys..

Shortcut key	Description
Ctrl + 1	Go to the contact list tab
Ctrl + 2	Go to the activity feeds tab
Ctrl + 3	Go to the conversation list tab
Ctrl + 4	Go to the phone tab
Alt + A	View all conversations when in conversation list tab
Alt + D	View missed conversations when in conversation list tab
Alt + C	View missed calls when in conversation list tab

Below are the shortcut keys that can be used on a conversation window when it is in foreground.

Table 3: Conversation Window Shortcuts

Shortcut key	Description
Ctrl + W	Show/Hide IM area
Ctrl + R	Show/Hide participant list
Ctrl + Shift + Y	Show/Hide left region when sharing stage is visible
Alt + I	Invite a contact to an existing conversation
Ctrl + F	Send a file
Alt + P	Open a file received
Alt + C, Alt + D	Accept or decline an invitation to share, audio or video modalities
Ctrl + Shift + Enter	Start or end phone call
Ctrl + Shift + H	Hold/Resume an ongoing audio conversation
Ctrl + M	Pause/Resume video (only if already in progress)
Alt + R	Rejoin audio in a conference
Escape	Exits fullscreen view if present. Else, will close the conversation window only if it has no audio, video or sharing.
Ctrl + Shift + <, Ctrl + Shift + >	Increase/Decrease selected text font size in IM input
Ctrl + ], Ctrl + [	Zoom in/Zoom out the text in IM input and history

BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) Adds Microsoft Lync Support

Now...!

Anyone can use their blackberry phone as their Lync Client.Through Blackberry web site, the customers can download (http://ca.blackberry.com/apps-software/business/server/full/addons.jsp#tab_tab_eim) Latest Black berry software to their Blackberry phones.

How to add lync profile pictures

In microsoft Lync you can see many ways to add profile pictures to your lync client.

- Adding picture to corporate profile (By Poweshell)

in your exchange management shell you can type following command to upload a photo. Please note before you add thease to powershell change it to apporopriate parameters. But the picture you are preparing to add must be least 10 kb.

Import-RecipientDataProperty -Identity "Enter Name as in your active directory" -Picture -FileData ([Byte[]]$(Get-Content -Path "{Image Path -C:\pictures\BharatSuneja.jpg}" -Encoding Byte -ReadCount 0))

-Adding picture through web site (30 kb)

if you want to add customized picture as a Lync user, Simply log in to a Lync Client.

Tools -> Options -> My Picture -> Select option (Select Picture from a web site) and please mention the path you have uploaded your photo.

Good Luck...!

Well.. If you need to add a customized photo as a user you can simply log in to