More Lync related downloads available

A few more downloads are now available on Microsoft.com since yesterday.

Microsoft Lync 2010 SDK Release Candidate (RC)
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 (Release Candidate) Planning Documents
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 (Release Candidate) Getting Started
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 (Release Candidate) System Requirements
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 (Release Candidate) Lab Deployment Guide

CS 2010 branded as Lync?

There's been some gossips around a possible branding of CS 2010 as Lync 2010.

There was even a blog, that looks like a hoax, talking about Lync. The blog does not have a lot of information and there's a few old OCS 2007 R2 screens as well so it doesn't look very legit.

But last Wednesday a RC of "Lync Server 2010" showed up on Microsoft Downloads and yesterday the Lync Server 2010 Planning tool (RC) was also released there.

I've tried the Planning tool and... it does look like a Planning tool for the new Communications Server 2010. :-)

Nothing has changed yet on CS "14" homepage but i've found this support page with a mix of Communicator, OCS 2010, Communications Server 2010 and Lync labels.

Now, i need to download and try that Lync RC. :-D

Communications Server 2010 - Documentation

Looks like some documentation is finally hitting TechNet. There's only 5 articles so far, and most of them have been around for a while since TechEd but now we can find them all in one place.

You can find them in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff770144.aspx

Introducing DNS Load Balancing in Communications Server “14”

Keith Hanna published a nice article about DNS Load Balancing in CS 14.

DNS load balancing is introduced in Communications Server “14”. The objective of DNS load balancing is to reduce the need for a Hardware Load Balancer (HLB) for SIP-based load balancing. HLB is both expensive and hard to configure. In addition, HLBs aren’t application-aware; they cannot support “connection draining,” a new feature in Communications Server “14”.

(...)

How Does DNS Load Balancing Work—in Practice?

The client queries DNS to resolve the FQDN of the pool (for example, pool.contoso.com) similar to Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Instead of returning the virtual IP address of the hardware load balancer, the DNS query returns the list of front-end server FQDNs as shown in Table 1. With previous versions of Office Communications Server, this query would return the IP address of the hardware load balancer.
In Communications Server, the DNS query returns the list, {192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3, 192.168.1.4}, to the client. The order in which these are returned to the client is irrelevant. The client chooses an IP address from the list at random, and then attempt to connect to the front-end server. If the connection fails, the client continues down the list in a random fashion until a successful connection to the pool is achieved or the list is empty.

Client Registration

With previous versions of Office Communications Server, the client would be able to successfully connect to a front-end server. It would then register the client’s SIP URI into the single-shared registration database that is stored on the back-end server running Microsoft SQL Server. However, in Communications Server, each front-end server in a pool has a completely independent registration database. Each user is assigned a predefined registration database (that is, registrar) that they should connect to. This registrar assignment is calculated by a hash value of the user’s SIP URI. Therefore, it is highly likely that a randomly selected front-end server is the incorrect server for the client to connect to. In this example, there is a 75 percent chance the client would randomly contact the wrong server. In other words, there is a 25 percent chance that the correct server was reached on the first attempt. No SIP redirect would be required.

Summary

DNS load balancing is only part of the client connectivity matrix. The internal hashing and distribution of the client registration information is the other part. The two mechanisms work together to determine how a client connects to a pool.
DNS load balancing does not remove the dependency on hardware load balancers completely; however, hardware load balancing is still required for load balancing Web traffic (such as address book services) used in Communications Server. By eliminating the need to load balance SIP traffic by using a hardware load balancer, the complexity of configuring a pool or bank of Edge Servers is significantly reduced.
Keep in mind that the hardware load balancer is still required when operating in a mixed Communications Server and legacy environment (Office Communications Server 2007 R2 or Office Communications Server 2007).

 Full article @ Technet


I think this is a great new feature in MCS, it allow us to deploy older or cheaper HLBs, since all we need HLBs for now is for web traffic, no need for two fancy F5 ($$) just for OCS.

Communications Server '14' new website

The new Wave 14 CS website is now online.
Head over to http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/cs14/ and check it out.

Communications Server ‘14’ Full Disclosure

Jeff Schertz posted on his blog some new features from MCS (wave 14)

Right now I’m down at TechEd 2010 in New Orleans, LA where the keynote address is in progress.  Microsoft has now officially lifted the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) on all features and content which will be coming in the next release of Communications Server, which is still dubbed ‘Microsoft Communication Server 14’.  The ‘14’ refers to the internal Wave 14 codename which has been used since the birth of this iteration of code.

 More at his blog here.

TechDays 2010: Microsoft Communications Server "W14"

Two movies of a presentation by François Doremieux in TechDays 2010.

TechDays 2010: Introduction to Microsoft Communications Server "W14" 
Positioning and main features for Microsoft Communications Server “W14”, with emphasis on Voice and Collaboration capabilities.



Original @ Technet.com

TechDays 2010: New Voice capabilities and infrastructure in Microsoft Communications Server "W14"
Detailed description of voice features in Microsoft Communications Server “W14”, with discussion of implications on topology and interoperability.



Original @ Technet.com