25 March 2014

Lync Architecture Poster

In case you haven't seen it yet, Microsoft has updated the Lync Workload poster for 2013. They have also added a few new posters. These are helpful to any Lync administrator, new or experienced.

Links to all of them can be found on TechNet.

Lync Server 2013 On Premises Architecture
     Architectural guidance
Lync Call Quality Methodolgy
     Help find and eliminate call quality issues
     Metrics for server monitoring
Lync 2013 Platform Options
     Shows various platforms options - Online, Hybrid, Onsite and Hosted
Microsoft Lync 2013 Protocol Workloads
     How Lync workloads are processed

~ brad

"Books may look like nothing more than words on a page, but they are actually an infinitely complex imaginotransference technology that translates odd, inky squiggles into pictures inside your head." ~ Jasper Fforde

21 March 2014

Exchange Server Build Numbers

Here is a list of all the Update Rollups and Service Packs that have been released for Exchange Server 2010/2013.

Exchange 2010


Update Release Date Build Link
RTM November 2009 14.0.639.21
UR1 December 2009 14.0.682.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976573
UR2 March 2010 14.0.694.0 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979611
UR3 April 2010 14.0.694.0 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981401
UR4 June 2010 14.0.702.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982639
UR5 December 2010 14.0.726.0 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2407113
SP1 August 2010 14.1.218.15 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff459257(v=exchg.141).aspx
UR1 October 2010 14.1.255.2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2407028
UR2 December 2010 14.1.270.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2425179
UR3 March 2011 14.1.289.3 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2492690
UR3-v3 April 2011 14.1.289.7 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2529939
UR4 June 2011 14.1.323.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2509910
UR4-v2 July 2011 14.1.323.6 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2579150
UR5 August 2011 14.1.339.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2582113
UR6 October 2011 14.1.355.2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2608646
UR7 August 2012 14.1.421.0 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2743248
UR7-v2 October 2012 14.1.421.2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2756496
UR7-v3 November 2012 14.1.421.3 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2778158
UR8 December 2012 14.1.438.0 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2787763
SP2 December 2011 14.2.247.5 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh529924(v=exchg.141).aspx
UR1 February 2012 14.2.283.3 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2645995
UR2 April 2012 14.2.298.4 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2661854
UR3 May 2012 14.2.309.2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2685289
UR4 August 2012 14.2.318.2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2706690
UR4-v2 October 2012 14.2.318.4 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2756485
UR5 November 2012 14.2.328.5 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2719800
UR5-v2 December 2012 14.2.328.10 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2785908
UR6 February 2013 14.2.342.3 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2746164
UR7 August 2013 14.2.375.0 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2874216
UR8 December 2013 14.2.390.3 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2903903
SP3 February 2013 14.3.123.4 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj965775(v=exchg.141).aspx
UR1 May 2013 14.3.146.0  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2803727
UR2 August 2013 14.3.158.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2866475
UR3 November 2013 14.3.169.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2891587
UR4 December 2013 14.3.174.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2905616
UR5 February 2014 14.3.181.6 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2917508
UR6 May 2014 14.3.195.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2936871


Exchange 2013

Update Release Date Build Link
RTM October 2012 15.0.516.32
CU1 April 2013 15.0.620.29 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2816900
CU2 July 2013 15.0.712.22
CU2-v2 July 2013 15.0.712.24 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2859928
CU3 November 2013 15.0.775.38 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2892464
SP1 February 2014 15.0.847.32 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2926248


Hope this helps!
~ Brad

Fun Fact:
The first webcam watched a coffee pot. It allowed researchers at Cambridge to monitor the coffee situation without leaving their desks.

20 March 2014

Lync Client Version Numbers


Here is a list of all the CUs that have been released for the Lync Client. Lync Server version numbers can be found here.

Last Updated 13 June 2014

Lync Client 2010

CU # Release Date Version Link
CU1 January 2011 4.0.7577.108 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2467763
CU2 April 2011 4.0.7577.253 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2496325
CU3 May 2011 4.0.7577.280 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2551268
CU4 July 2011 4.0.7577.314 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2571543
CU5 November 2011 4.0.7577.4051 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2514982
CU6 February 2012 4.0.7577.4072 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2670326
CU7 June 2012 4.0.7577.4103 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2701664
CU8 October 2012 4.0.7577.4356 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2737155
CU9 March 2013 4.0.7577.4378 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2791382
CU10 April 2013 4.0.7577.4384 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2815347
CU11 July 2013 4.0.7577.4398 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2842627
CU12 October 2013 4.0.7577.4409 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2884632
CU13 January 2014 4.0.7577.4419 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2912208


Lync Client 2013

CU # Release Date Version Link
CU1 February 2013 15.0.4454.1509 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2812461
CU2 July 2013 15.0.4517.1004 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2817465
CU3 November 2013 15.0.4551.1005 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2825630
CU4 December 2013 15.0.4551.1007 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2850057
CU5/
SP1
February 2014 15.0.4569.1503
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2817430
CU6 April 2014 15.0.4605.1003 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2880474
CU7 May 2014 15.0.4615.1001
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2880980


Lync for Mac 2011

CU # Release Date Version Link
CU1 October 2011 14.0.1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2634523
CU2 April 2012 14.0.2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2690036‎
CU3 August 2012 14.0.3 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2726395
CU4 February 2013 14.0.4 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2778095
CU5 June 2013 14.0.5 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2844274
CU6 October 2013 14.0.6 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2888920
CU7 December 2013 14.0.7 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2909662
CU8 April 2014 14.0.8 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2952672
CU9 June 2014 14.0.9 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2963369

Hope this helps!

~ brad

"The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents."  ~ Nathaniel Borenstein

Lync Server Version Numbers


Here is a list of CUs released for Lync Server. Lync Client version numbers can be found here.

Last Updated: 20 March 2014

Lync Server 2010

CU # Release Date Version Link
CU1 January 2011 4.0.7577.108 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2467775
CU2 April 2011 4.0.7577.137 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2500442
CU3 July 2011 4.0.7577.166 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2571546
CU4 November 2011 4.0.7577.183 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2514980
CU5 February 2012 4.0.7577.190 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2670352
CU6 June 2012 4.0.7577.199 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2701585
CU7 October 2012 4.0.7577.203 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2737915
CU8 March 2013 4.0.7577.216 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2791381
CU9 July 2013 4.0.7577.217 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2860700
CU10 October 2013 4.0.7577.223 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2889610
CU11 January 2014 4.0.7577.225 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2909888

Lync Server 2013

CU # Release Date Version Link
CU1 February 2013 5.0.8308.291 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2781547
CU2 July 2013 5.0.8308.420 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2819565
CU3 October 2013 5.0.8308.556 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2881684
CU4 January 2014 5.0.8308.577 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2905048

Hope this helps!

~ brad

"A computer will do what you tell it to do, but that may be much different from what you had in mind."  ~ Joseph Weizenbaum

14 March 2014

Persistent Chat Settings Disappear

One of the best new features in Lync 2013 is the built-in Persistent Chat role. This is a new role for me and lately we have been piloting the feature in my environment. Everything is working great, but a couple of my pilot users complained about the notification settings in the client not being retained. After some testing, I found that the 2013 client would hold the settings on a simple log out, log in; but if you did a full restart of the client or rebooted the machine that settings would revert back to default of no notifications.


Doing some research, I didn't find much. These settings don't appear to be stored in the registry as the values don't change when settings are changed.

The Persistent Chat policy in Lync is very basic, basically one setting to turn persistent chat on or off for the user base. By default a Global policy is created when you enable Persistent Chat in the topology. Like most Global Policies that are assigned by default, when you look at a user in PowerShell the field shows up blank.



Global automatic policies are a great idea, but in this case appears to only partway work. It does enable users to use Persistent Chat but doesn't save their settings related to it.

As a workaround, I created a new pool policy for the pool my account is in. A few minutes later I was able to exit the client and relaunch it, and my settings remained.

The Technet article for New-CsPersistentChatPolicy doesn't mention a pool policy, but it is available through the Control Panel.

~brad

“What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and pride which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and strife... Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment...” 
~ Nikola Tesla

10 March 2014

Exchange 2013 SP1 Released

Exchange 2013 Service Pack 1 (Build 15.00.0847.032) was released on 25 February 2014.

You can find the Release Notes here. There is a schema update involved so be sure to read the notes.

There is also a good write-up on the Exchange Team Blog.

~brad

Fun Fact:
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also known as Rodeo Houston or HLSR, is the world's largest world's largest live entertainment and livestock exhibition.

06 March 2014

Exchange Supportability for Server 2012/2012 R2

Microsoft has recently (20 February 2014) updated the Exchange supportability matrices. There is now support for Server 2012/2012 R2 to be used as the OS for an Exchange server, and as the OS for your domain controllers. In addition the new 2012 AD Forest and Domain functionality levels are supported.

See the tables below for release compatibility, and see Technet for full details and the latest information.

Supported OS for Exchange Servers

(Click to embiggen)

Support for Active Directory Server OS
(Click to embiggen)

Support for Active Directory Domain and Functional Level
(Click to embiggen)

~ brad

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." ~ Albert Einstein