The Untold Story!
A few weeks ago the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Administration Guide suddenly appeared in the Microsoft Download Center . So what's wrong with the Administration Guide ? Well, to tell you the truth, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Administration Guide ; as it turns out, the Guide is chock-full of really good, very practical information used for managing Microsoft Lync Server 2010. Need to know how to configure a file transfer filter? It's in the Guide . Need to know how to configure a voice route for outbound calls? It's in the Guide . Need to know how to delete a Call Park Orbit? It's – well, yes: it's in the Guide . The truth is, we think the Administration Guide is so useful that everyone should stop whatever they're doing and download a copy right now.
And yes, we do mean everyone. Go ahead; we'll wait.
Um, we're still waiting on that one guy in Iowa. You know who you are.
OK, that's better. Like we said, the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Administration Guide is chock-full of useful information about Lync Server management. However (and you knew there had to be a “however” sooner or later, didn't you?) there is one thing that's missing from the Administration Guide : Lync Server PowerShell commands. Granted, there are a handful of commands scattered throughout the Guide , but those are primarily commands used for tasks (such as configuring an Address Book server) that can't be done using the Lync Server Control Panel. For most management activities (creating an archiving policy, removing a dial-in conferencing access number, putting a domain on the list of blocked domains) the Guide provides step-by-step instructions for performing the task using the Control Panel, but doesn't let you know how (or even if) you can do the same thing using Lync Server PowerShell.
Which, now that you mention it, is exactly why we've put together this supplement to the Administration Guide . What we've done is gone through the Administration Guide (all 287 pages!), identified all the tasks that don't include a PowerShell option, and, well, provided a PowerShell option. For example, the Administration Guide offers these steps for locking a Lync Phone Edition phone:
1. Open a browser window, and then enter the Admin URL to open the Lync Server Control Panel. For details about the different methods you can use to start Lync Server Control Panel, see Open Lync Server Administration Tools .
2. Click Clients , and then click Device Configuration .
3. On the Device Configuration tab, in the list of device configurations, double-click the configuration for which you want to change the phone lock settings.
4. In the Edit Device Configuration dialog box, verify that the Enforce device locking check box is selected.
5. In Minimum PIN length , accept the default value or specify a new value.
6. In Phone lock time-out , accept the default value or specify a new value.
7. Click Commit .
To supplement those instructions, we've offered the a Lync Server PowerShell equivalent:
Set-CsUCPhoneConfiguration -Identity global –EnforcePhoneLock $True –PhoneLockTimeout 00:30:00
Thanks; we thought that was kind of useful, too.
Like we said, we consider this to be a supplement to the Administration Guide ; it's definitely not a replacement for the Guide . The Administration Guide includes a lot of useful information that explains what phone locking is and why you might want to use it. We don't offer any of that kind of information; we just provide you with a one-sentence introduction and then a PowerShell command that shows you how to do something along the lines of enabling phone locking.
To tell you the truth, the ideal way to do things here would be to download the Administration Guide , then copy our PowerShell commands and paste them into the appropriate sections in that Guide . That way you'd have the best of both worlds: all the explanatory information and Control Panel steps found in the Guide , and all the PowerShell commands found here. What could be better than that?
Well, OK, sure: having us combine the two probably would be better, wouldn't it? For better or worse, however, that's not a decision that we’re authorized to make. Which means that, for now, you're kind of on your own.
Note. What's that? Can we give you an example of a decision that we are authorized to make? No. But if ever do get authorized to make one, we'll let you know.
In the meantime, here's a very long list of the management tasks discussed in the Administration Guide , along with links to their PowerShell equivalents:
Search for Lync Server 2010 Users
Add a New User to Lync Server 2010
Enable or Disable Users for Lync Server 2010
Set, View, and Send a User's Dial-in Conferencing PIN
Move Users to Another Pool
Assign Policies to Users
Assign a Conferencing Policy to Modify a User's Default Meeting Experience
Specify Client Versions Supported for Sign-in by a User
Assign Specific Dial-in Conferencing PIN Security Settings to a User
Apply External User Access Policies to Users
Configure Archiving of a User's Communications
Assign a Location Policy to a User
Presence Policy Settings
Enable Users for Enterprise Voice
Configure Telephony for Users
Managing Computers in Your Topology
View a List of Computers Running Lync Server 2010
View the Status of Services Running on a Computer
View Details About a Service
Start or Stop Lync Server 2010 Services
Prevent Sessions for Services
View Microsoft SIP Processing Language (MSPL) Server Applications
Enable or Disable a Microsoft SIP Processing Language (MSPL) Server Application
Mark a Microsoft SIP Processing Language (MSPL) Application as Critical or Not Critical
View a List of Trusted Applications
View the Simple URL Details
Filtering Instant Messages and Client Versions
Configuring Filtering for Instant Messaging (IM)
Modify the Default File Transfer Filter
Create a New File Transfer Filter for a Specific Site
Modify the Default URL Filter
Create a New URL Filter to Handle Hyperlinks in IM Conversations
Specify Client Versions Supported for Sign-in by a User
Configuring Dial Plans and Normalization Rules
Create a Dial Plan
Modify a Dial Plan
Defining Normalization Rules
Create or Modify a Normalization Rule by Using Build a Normalization Rule
Create or Modify a Normalization Rule Manually
Configuring Voice Policies, PSTN Usage Records, and Voice Routes
Configuring Voice Policies and PSTN Usage Records to Authorize Calling Features and Privileges
Create a Voice Policy and Configure PSTN Usage Records
Modify a Voice Policy and Configure PSTN Usage Records
View PSTN Usage Records
Configuring Voice Routes for Outbound Calls
Create a Voice Route
Modify a Voice Route
Configuring Trunks and Translation Rules
Configure Media Bypass on a Trunk
Configure a Trunk Without Media Bypass
Defining Translation Rules
Create or Modify a Translation Rule by Using the Build a Translation Rule Tool
Create or Modify a Translation Rule Manually
Exporting and Importing Voice Routing Configuration
Export a Voice Route Configuration File
Import a Voice Route Configuration File
Test Voice Routing
Create a Voice Routing Test Case
Export Voice Routing Test Cases
Import Voice Routing Test Cases
Running Voice Routing Tests 105
Run Informal Voice Routing Tests
Run Voice Routing Test Cases
Publish Pending Changes to the Voice Routing Configuration
