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The Planning Tool for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is a Windows Presentation Foundation standalone client application. The Planning Tool Wizard asks interview questions about features that the system administrator is interested in enabling in the Enterprise, as well as information about the Enterprise.

The Planning Tool uses the information gathered from the administrator to dynamically draw a recommended topology for every site that the administrator identifies. Additionally, the Planning Tool calculates the types and amounts of hardware needed across the entire Enterprise, as well as for each site. The Planning Tool also provides links to documentation of the specific planning and deployment tasks that the administrator will need in order to deploy the topology.

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The Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Resource Kit Tools provide a set of deployment and technical reference information for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The set of tools and documentation in the Resource Kit Tools can be used as a complement to the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 documentation or as stand-alone tools.

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Active Directory OCS Global Settings:

With Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Microsoft has changed their recommendations when it comes to storing the OCS Global Settings. With the OCS 2007 R1 release the default Global Settings AD location was the System Container. This configuration works well in a single domain forest. If your Active Directory forest consists of multiple domains it is better to store the Global Settings in the Configuration Container. The Configuration Container is the default location when doing a OCS 2007 R2 greenfield deployment.

Disadvantages using the System Container in a multi-domain forest:

·                     The global settings are only replicated to the domain controllers within the forest root domain.

·                     Because the Global Settings are not replicated forest wide you must ensure a reliable network connection to the Forest Root domain.

Disadvantages using the Configuration Container in a multi-domain forest:

·                     Because to global settings are replicated forest wide it will cause more replication traffic.

My opinion is to follow-up the Microsoft recommendations by using the Configuration Container.

Upgrading from OCS 2007 R1 to R2:

If you setup your OCS 2007 R1 using the System Container during the Forest Prep, you will receive the following warning message when running the OCS 2007 R2 schema preparation:

I strongly advise to move the Global Settings to the Configuration Container before continuing the upgrade.

Migrating the Global Settings step-by-step guide:

1. Download and install the OCS 2007 Global Settings Mirgation Tool
2. Copy the global settings tree structure to the Configuration container.
   cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action:MigrateGlobalSettingsTree
   Remember you can always use the /Check switch to do a check-mode run of any action.
3. Copy the global settings property values to the Configuration container.
   cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action:MigrateGlobalSettingsProperties
   
4. Go to %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.
   LcsCmd /Forest /Action:ForestPrep
   For Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 single-domain forest deployment, you also need to run DomainPrep in order to create ACEs in every domain that is related to Live Communications Server.
5. Wait for the new global settings tree to replicate to most forest global catalogs. This wait is necessary because in subsequent steps we don’t have control over which global catalog Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) consults when it updates distinguished name references to point to objects under the new global settings tree.
6. Update the Office Communications Server roles to consume the new global settings tree.
   cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action:MigrateServerDnReferences
   Use /SearchBasedDN to specify the migration scope.
7. Update the Office Communications Server-enabled user/contact/inetorgperson to consume the new global settings tree.
   cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action:MigrateUserDnReferences
   Use /SearchBasedDN to specify the migration scope. Assuming stable network connectivity, it takes about an hour to migrate 30,000 users.
8. Delete the original global settings tree.
   cscript MigrateOcsGlobalSettings.vbs /Action:DeleteSystemGlobalSettingsTree
   Don’t delete the original global settings tree until MigrateServerDnReferences and MigrateUserDnReferences have completed successfully.

When you are planning to evaluate OCS 2007 R2 you can download a 180-day trial version from the Microsoft site. If you have a MSDN subscription you can get your copy today.

Please review Office Communications Server 2007 R2 system requirements before you proceed.

Microsoft Forefront Security for Office Communications Server (FSOCS) Beta 3 has been released.
FSOCS provides fast and effective protection against IM-based malware for OCS 2007 and OCS 2007 R2 environments by including multiple scanning engines from industry-leading security partners.

On the Technet Edge website you can view a interview with Mike Chan, the FSOCS product manager.
He tells about the new features that will be available in the next release of FSOCS.

Technet Edge Interview
Download the FSOCS Beta 3
More information about FSOCS

A month ago (in december) Microsoft has released the OCS 2007 R2 RTM version. From that moment only Voice Ready for Microsoft Office Communicator partners where able to use the RTM bits in production. Now almost 6 weeks later the RTM bits are availible for the general public. Yesterday was the official R2 launch, which was a virtual event and is still avaible at www.OCSR2Launch.com. At the lauch site you can find a interesting keynote by Stephen Elop (President Microsoft Business Devision), technical breakout sessions and lots of downloads.

Microsoft has closed there pre-launch registration for there OCS 2007 R2 virtual launch experience. The virtual launch experience will be live on www.ocsr2launch.com at tuesday, feb 3dr, 2009 at 9:30 pacific time. There will be a keynote hosted by Stephan Elop, President Microsoft Business Devision

Microsoft plans to release there next version of Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS 2007 R2) early february 2009. To start planning a new deployment or upgrade, Microsoft published a couple of release notes.

The following documents are ready for download:

• Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Release Notes (Office_Communications_Server_2007_R2_Relnotes.htm)
• Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Release Notes (Office_Communicator_2007_R2_Relnotes.htm)
• Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant Release Notes (Office_Communications_Server_2007_R2_Attendant_Relnotes.htm)
• Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Release Notes (Office_Communications_Server_2007_R2_Group_Chat_Relnotes.htm)
• Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Phone Edition Release Notes (Office_Communicator_2007_R2_Phone_Edition_Relnotes.htm)
• Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile for Windows Mobile Release Notes (Office_Communicator_Mobile_for_Windows_Mobile_Relnotes.htm)

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