Getting Started with Express for Lync 2.0

Overview

This document will provide you with a brief overview of Express for Lync. It will show you the various types of deployments that can be configured with Express for Lync, as well as some theory and best practices.

Express for Lync can be setup with the following deployment types:

• Express for Lync with SIP Trunking

• Express for Lync with PSTN Trunking

• Express for Lync with both SIP Trunking and PSTN Failover

• Express for Lync Mounting The Device

• Mounting Steps (PDF):

1U Appliance Description and Port Assignments

Appliance Front

Description from Left to Right

• Power LED

• HDD LED

• Power Button

• Hot swappable RAID 1 HDD Enclosure

Appliance Back

Description from left to right

• Power button

• Internal AC Power Supply

• Appliance Cooling Fans

• USB Ports

• A Series Telephony Board

  • PSTN Telephony board for PSTN Gateway Functionality

  • Sangoma A Series Digital Board

  • T1/E1 PRI Connectivity

• D Series Transcoding Board

  • Used with the Session Border Controller

  • Used to transcode various different types of codecs

• DVI Display Adapter

• External Ethernet Adapter

  • Used by the Lync Edge Server, Reverse Proxy Server and the Session Border Controller

  • Port will route to the De-Millitarized Zone (DMZ) of the deployed network

  • Lync Server SHOULD NOT route through this adapter for security reasons

  • Completely Firewalled for protection through Windows Server firwall

• Internal Ethernet Adapter

  • Used by all components of Express for Lync

  • Routes to the internal LAN of the deployed network

• USB Ports

Appliance Login Information

Upon first boot of the appliance, use the credentials below to login:
Username: administrator
Password: sangoma1!

It is recommended that you change the administrative password after logging in. Also, for security, once the appliance is added to the corporate domain, it is recommended that the local administrative account be disabled.

Express for Lync 2.0 Roles

The Express for Lync appliance comes equipped with the ability to configure the following roles required for Lync Server operation

• Lync Mediation Server with Front End Pool

• Lync Edge Server

• Active Directory Domain Controller

• Lync Mobility

• Reverse Proxy Server through IIS ARR (Application Request Routing)

• Session Border Controller (SBC)

• VoIP Gateway through Netborder Express Gateway

In some environments, not all roles are required as they may already be deployed. See the examples below:

• if an organization already has an existing Active Directory infrastructure, the Domain Controller role does not need to be activated. Express for Lync can interface with the existing AD infrastructure to configure Lync Server.

• If an organization currently has Microsoft Exchange running with OWA active, they have most probably deployed a reverse proxy server and the domain controller. They would not need to activate these roles on Express for Lync.

Networking

There are two physical network adapters located on the Express for Lync appliance. Each one of the networking ports has been designated a specific task within the appliance.By default, Windows firewall on the host system is configured to block and protect all traffic on the external interface.

It is important to note that when you look at the network adapters, you will see 5 or 6 adapters listed. You should ONLY be configuring the Hyper-V virtual interfaces and not the physical Intel/Broadcom adapters. With Hyper-V, the physical adapters become virtual switches which are used with Hyper-V. The main adapters for the OS become the virtual ones created within the Hyper-V network manager.

See below for the descriptions and their uses:

Internal Network Interface

The internal network face is the interface which connects to the Local Area Network. All components of Express for Lync use this interface to communicate with the LAN. Each role must be configured to use this interface. It is recommended that each role get assigned either a static IP address or a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) reservation.

The following roles rely on the internal interface are:

• Lync Mediation Server

• Lync Edge Server

• Active Directory Domain Controller

• Lync Mobility

• Reverse Proxy Server

• Session Border Controller (SBC)

• VoIP Gateway

External Network Interface

The external network interface is the interface the connects to either a DMZ network or the Wide Area Network (WAN). Some components of Express for Lync require communication to the external internet so that remote users may connect to Lync services that are on premise.

The roles that rely on the external interface are:

• Lync Mobility

• Reverse Proxy Server

• Session Border Controller (SBC)

• Lync Edge Server

NOTE: The host Windows Server 2012 operating system MUST NOT be configured to access the transcoding or external interfaces. This will protect it from any malicious traffic and keep all Lync Server functions internal to the LAN.

Transcoding Network Interface

The transcoding network interface is the interface which connects directly to the hardware based D-Series board. It is required by the Session Border Controller (SBC) in order to transcode various codecs that are used with VoIP calls.

The roles that rely on the transcoding interface are:

• Session Border Controller

IP Address Assignment

The Express for Lync appliance is setup to use static IP addresses in order to ease the task of configuring the network interfaces. Below is the matrix of roles, and what their internal/external interfaces are set to:

Please note that all "not used" interfaces should never be configured as the server role has no use for them. It is best to disable these virtual interfaces from within the host system as they never will be used. Also, the IP addresses assigned have just been assigned for imaging purposes. You are more than welcome to change the assigned IPs to work within your network environment. 

Virtual Machine Information

Virtual Machine Hyper-V Resource Allocation Table

In Express for Lync 2.0, certain amount of resources is assigned to each virtual machine. The resource allocation table is listed below: