#Skype4BRecap Episode 2 - Azure AD Domain Services, Office 365 E5, The Skype Show, and More!

Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another great roundup of all the latest and greatest info from within the Skype for Business community on #Skype4BRecap! Check out the YouTube video below, and if you are even mildly amused, please Subscribe to the YouTube channel! I'm also providing a couple quick links to things I mentioned in the video, as well as the Twitter profiles of people I called out.

Video Content Links

• The Skype Show: http://www.theskypeshow.com
• PluralSight Skype for Business Course (Thanks Tom Arbuthnot!) https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/skype-business-server-2015-new-install-upgrade
• Azure AD Domain Services Preview: http://blogs.technet.com/b/ad/archive/2015/10/14/azure-ad-domain-services-is-now-in-public-preview-use-azure-ad-as-a-cloud-based-domain-controller.aspx?wt.mc_id=WW_CE_EM_OO_SCL_TW
• Todd Klindt's Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/user/ToddKlindtNetcast

Honorable Mentions 

• Aameer Kaleem (@akaleem)
• Todd Klindt (@ToddKlindt)
• Tom Arbuthnot (@tomarbuthnot)
• Matt Landis (@matthewlandis)
• Mark Vale (@UnifiedVale)
• Corey Goodchild (@Corey_MCSE)
• Anthony Caragol (@CAnthonyCaragol)

Ok, maybe "Honorable Mentions" is silly to say, but you get the point! Enjoy the show, and please leave your thoughts!

 

Stay techy, my friends!

#Skype4BRecap Commercial

Happy Monday, Campers!

I recorded a brief commercial for the Friday morning Podcast. BE WARNED - I tried using some intro music, and I think it is a bit loud, and needs some smoothing out before using it again. Just a heads up in case you were about to blair the video in an open office environment! Have a great week!

Stay techy, my friends!

Official Launch of My Weekly Podcast: #Skype4BRecap

#Skype4BRecap Is Live! (Sort of "Live")

Hey everyone! So, in addition to keeping up with the blog, I am launching a weekly podcast, simply named: #Skype4BRecap! Since #Skype4B is the popular hashtag on Twitter for all-things-Skype-for-Business, I decided to build on that with a single word that nicely summed up the premise of the podcast. 

So what is the premise?

Simply put, I want to have a fairly quick show, about 15 minutes ideally, but no longer than 30, that re-hashes through all the news and announcements in the Skype for Business and Microsoft UC community from the previous week. There is a LOT of information to consume on Twitter and LinkedIn, so I thought condensing it into some of the biggest highlights would be useful for a lot of us busy techs that just want to keep "in the know" while trying to keep our heads above water at work.

At any rate, this is definitely a work in progress, and I want to move toward a "live" format once I get my bandwidth constraints figured out. If you have helpful suggestions about how I could make the show more interesting, engaging, and relevant, I would LOVE your feedback. Be as brutal as you want, too; getting to the point allows for the fastest progress! At any rate, here it is. Looking forward to your feedback!

Stay techy, my friends!

Missing LWA (Skype for Business Web App) Directory After S4B Install

Hello members of the growing Skype for Business community! My team lead is out of the country on an extended sabbatical, so things have been a little busy on this end. Busy is good, of course, as it means business is chugging right along in our case, but it also means less time for putting all my thoughts and deployment adventures into blog posts. Today, however, I have carved out a moment to share a brief troubleshooting tip on an odd problem I ran into on recent Skype for Business Standard Edition deployment.

The Build

I had a very basic Skype for Business build recently. All operating systems were running Windows Server 2012 R2. It was comprised of:

• A single Standard Edition Skype for Business Front End
• A single Edge Server
• A single Reverse Proxy (IIS with ARR)
• No Dialin
• No Enterprise Voice
• No Persistent Chat
• No Office Web Apps

As you can see, this was a VERY straightforward build.

The Problem

Once the build was completed, however, and testing began, we ran into an issue in which a user tried to join a meeting via an email invite, and they clicked on the option to Join Using Skype for Business Web App instead, but ran into an error upon doing so.

The error stated: "Server Error in '/' Application. The resource cannot be found. Description: HTTP 404. The resource you are looking for..." 

Needless to say, I found this odd, especially on a fresh build. Oh well, time to dig in.

The Troubleshooting

Alright, so as with any error, you should start by actually reading the error, and trying to understand what it might be telling you. In our case, we are specifically being told that there is no resource at: '/lwa/WebPages/LwaClient.aspx', which is the client page for those using the Skype for Business Web App as their meeting client. 

It can be very tempting to skip over the obvious implications of an error and jump straight into the complexities, but with how often I have found the "simple" or "obvious" things to be the culprit, I think it is always best to start with them. So, before we get started with verifying DNS, testing our networking config, and pouring through Reverse Proxy configs, we need to go to our Front End, open up the IIS Manager, and verify that the LWA directory is present.

1. Start -> Administrative Tools -> Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
2. Within the IIS Manager, expand the server name node, then expand Sites, and finally expand the site named Skype for Business Server External Web Site. This is the site we should be hitting when joining a meeting from outside the environment.
3. Verify the 'lwa' directory is present, and if is, verify that the 'WebPages' directory is present beneath it, and finally that the LwaClient.aspx page is listed in the 'WebPages' directory while using "Content View" in the middle pane.

In my case, the 'lwa' directory was completely absent; simply not there! This was a fresh install, mind you, without errors. So, now I know why we are seeing that error - the directory that is being attempted does not exist. 

What next? Now we need to go to the installed Programs and Features and verify that the Skype for Business Server 2015, Skype for Business Web Application shows as installed.

1. Start -> Control Panel -> Programs -> Uninstall a program.
2. Scroll down and verify the Skype for Business Server 2015, Skype for Business Web Application is installed.

Ok, so, in my case, it is installed. That is odd. It shows as installed, BUT, in my case, the actual directory is not present in the IIS web site. This sounds to be a bit like something went wrong during the install, and this particular component did not fully install. SO, what do we do?

The Solution

Ok, in order to reinstall this component all over again, without messing with the rest of our config, we will perform the below steps and hope that it works:

1. Navigate to your Skype for Business Server 2015 installation media, and then to this directory within it: Setup -> amd64 -> Setup.
2. Run the EnterpriseWebApp.msi.
3. On the Welcome screen, click Next: 
   
4. As you can see, our only option now is to Remove the Web App, since it detects that it is already installed. 
   
5. Once the removal is finished, we can close this wizard. Next we will navigate to C:\Program Files\Skype for Business Server 2015\Deployment\, and run the Bootstrapper.exe. This will go through and detect that we should have the Web App, but that it is not installed, and it will re-install it from scratch. In my case, it completed without errors. 

Now, let's go back and look in IIS Manager for the 'lwa' directory to see if it is present:

BOOM!!! There it was! As you can see, I drilled down into the WebPages directory and verified the presence of the LwaClient.aspx file. The last thing left to do was to try browsing: https://skypeweb.domain.com/lwa/WebPages/LwaClient.aspx. Lo and behold, no more error! Of course, your experience at this point could be different, if there are any other configuration problems at the previously mentioned DNS, networking , or Reverse Proxy levels. And, this experience should not be the standard; that directory is not normally missing. Something was just a bit funky this time.

Well, in case any of you run into the same thing in the future, I hope these steps help you get to the bottom of it!

Stay techy, my friends!

Persistent Chat: Challenges vs. Benefits

No, we are not discussing that office worker that tends to yack your ear off like Kelly Kapoor on The Office. That would be Incessant Chat. We are talking about Persistent Chat!

This post is a very brief one. We are simply going over some pros and cons, or rather challenges and benefits, to implementing Persistent Chat in your Lync Server 2013 or Skype for Business Server 2015 environment. For those of that need a brief jogging of the memory, Persistent Chat is what was previously known as Group Chat in Lync 2010. It enables chat "rooms" where the conversation persists independent of the participants. For instance, User A can come and go from the chat room, but the conversation will  go on without that user, and the previous conversation involving User A will remain in the room regardless of their involvement. Yes, it is very cool indeed.

Challenges

So, what are the challenges associated with implementing Persistent Chat? Well, there are some things that are simply good things to keep in mind, and others that are indeed challenges. For this sake of this list, though, I am going to list them all together into one bullet-ed list.

• In an Enterprise environment, Persistent Chat cannot be collocated on the Front End Server. This means that if you are planning for Persistent Chat, you will need to plan in additional servers. Persistent Chat (PC) also requires a backend database. This database can live on the same SQL instance as your other roles, so you don't necessarily need another server for this role, but you should make sure your SQL server has enough computing power. The only case where you can collocate the PC role with the Front End is in a single-server Standard Edition build, in which case the PC SQL backend is simply another database in the existing SQL Express instance on the Standard Edition server. Of course Microsoft recommends that such an environment only be used for Demo and POC purposes, but anyone in the industry is well aware that these environments are used in production for MANY smaller businesses. If you are one of those smaller businesses, make sure you have enough RAM and CPU power on that server!
• The ability to partake in PC as an end user depends upon group and room membership. This membership is managed on the Room  level by the Managers of the room. In order to create a room, as user has to be added to the Creators group for a "Category", which is setup in the Skype for Business Control Panel. To manage these Control Panel settings, and  to create Categories and assign Creators, a user needs to be a member of the RBAC role Persistent Chat Administrator. Once a room is created, managers must be assigned per room, and those managers can then add Members. As you can see, there is quite a hierarchy that must be accounted for when deciding how use of Persistent Chat will be managed and administered within your organization.Will your chat rooms just be "open"? Will users need to submit tickets to a central Help Desk team to gain access to any rooms? Will more granular controls be required?
• A separate web interface is required to manage individual rooms, Managers, and Members. While this interface is fairly simple and  straightforward web portal that is managed through the Skype for Business client, it is yet another interface to be aware of, and to learn. This is not overly burdensome, but may require a bit of end-user training for those who will be "Managers".

Benefits

Alright, so, the challenges weren't too bad, were they? Nah. Now for the benefits. I am sure many of you have already started compiling into your own mental list.

• Many teams may have slightly different use cases for PC, but despite these differences, most of these teams share the commonality that having a central chat room for their  team  to work out of in real-time is a key component to enhancing internal communication and increasing efficiency. Having the leadership of a time buy into the added benefit of this tool will not just deliver this enhanced productivity - it will also increase end-user adoption of the Skype for Business product as a whole.
• Many teams run a 24-7 shop, meaning they have at least 3 shifts working around the clock, and such a structure usually include some sort of shift hand-off. Imagine how seamless and more complete this hand-off would be if all teammates were using a Persistent Chat room throughout their shift, recording all the happenings (good and bad) of that particular shift. Suddenly, Johnny ThirdShift won't be caught off-gaurd when an unhappy customer calls in to get the status of a down server when Suzy SecondShift forgot to mention that at turnover time.
• Enhanced productivity means less time spent trying to track down various bits of communication. If less time is spent tracking things down, or looking for an available tech to escalate to ("Hey, anybody in this room that can help me out"), workers can be more productive. This eventually translates to cost savings, which in turn means greater revenue.
• There are also "Auditorium" rooms. These rooms have a Presenter, who can essentially broadcast messages to a room with many members. While the members are not able to participate in conversation, they can closely follow the messages broadcast by the Presenter. This is especially useful in situations where there is a major outage, and several teams are trying to coordinate and work together to track the status and keep up with the latest developments of the issue. 

As you can see, Persistent Chat is not just as simple as flipping a switch on in your Control Panel, but depending on your company's needs, it may be well worth it to invest the extra planning into making Persistent Chat a part of your company's collaboration strategy. I hope this proved helpful for those of you currently weighing this decision. For others that have implemented it, and found additional Challenges or Benefits than what I have listed above, we would love to hear about your experiences! Drop a comment below!

Stay techy, my friends!

Setting Up Cloud PBX (Skype Voice Preview) Voicemail in Skype for Business Online

And another video...

Hey guys! So, I had a lot of fun doing the last video, short and simple as it was, so I wanted to do my next post in the Podcast format as well. This time, however, I used Google Hangouts On Air. I know, I know, I will look into Skype Meeting Broadcast one of these days, but for now, streaming the video on Google+ and then having it automatically uploaded to YouTube and ready to go was just a convenient way to go for a novice like myself. Plus, I really liked their "Showcase" feature for sharing the sites that I was working from!

Following up on Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling

So, following up my post on Configuring Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling, this video is a how-to on how to enable a Skype Voice user for Voicemail using Exchange Online Unified Messaging (UM). While I call these out in the video, there are a couple caveats that I want you to be aware of:

Caveats

• Exchange UM in Office 365 requires at least Exchange Online Plan 2
• All of this functionality is still in PREVIEW, and unless you are in the Preview program (apply at https://www.skypepreview.com), you will not have access to this functionality until it is GA.
• Step 6 of the given Technet article actually includes 2 cmdlets all run together, so watch out for that.
• Step 6 also has a policy named incorrectly, and per their example, should actually read "USTenDigits Default Policy" (you will see what I mean in the video).

At any rate, while this video is 5 minutes longer than my intended 15 minute target, it is still a good watch for seeing how to work through these steps. Please don't hesitate to throw some feedback my way!

Stay techy, my friends!

Deciding Where to Place Users in a Hybrid Skype for Business Environment

Trying something new...

Hello everyone! Things have been a bit crazy, schedule-wise, but I found some time to put something together today. Actually, I am changing things up a bit, and trying something new. Today, I tested out web-casting, a bit, and I have to say, I kind of like it!

It is a bit rough around the edges since it is a first blog video post, but I am hoping to incorporate these more and more, with deeper content and more substance. Since today was the maiden voyage for a video post, though, I went with something simple. Therefore, this is a brief walk-through on the feature comparison of Skype for Business Online Plan 1, Plan 2, and Skype for Business Server 2015 (On-Prem). If you are planning out a Hybrid Skype for Business environment, or just need to brush up on the differences in features/pricing of the different plans, this will be helpful!

Again, this was a very simple and basic recording, with very basic content, but I promise, these will get more in-depth and interesting as I incorporate them into the blog more regularly!

Stay techy, my friends!