Multiple Line URIs for one Response Group Workflow

In my last post "Outbound PSTN Calling from a Lync Response Group" the same client has 28 inbound numbers that they wanted to hit 1 response group. Well I first thought I was tasked with creating 28 identical response groups. What a waist of time and a pain for administration.

The easiest way to accomplish this would be to create an Announcement that forwards to the SIP URI of your Response Group Workflow. Then configure an Unassigned Number for each additional number that you want to route to your Response Group.

You have to create an Announcement via Powershell:

New-CSAnnouncement -Parent ApplicationServer:<Front End FQDN> -Name "Forward to RGS" -TargetUri sip:rgsworkflow@sipdomain.com

Then create an Unassigned Number for each additional Number:

New-CsUnassignedNumber -AnnouncementName "Forward to RGS" -AnnouncementService ApplicationServer:<Front End FQDN> -NumberRangeStart "+18005551234" -NumberRangeEnd "+18005551234"

where +18005551234 is the additional number you want to send to the RGS. If you already have an Unassigned Number range configured, make sure you reconfigure your existing Unassigned Number ranges to exclude these additional numbers so that there are no Unassigned Number ranges with overlapping phone numbers.

Outbound PSTN Calling from a Lync Response Group

A few weeks ago I had a client wanting response group overflow to dial out to another call center so their clients wouldn't wait on hold for longer then 30 seconds before talking with a live agent.

I added the call center 1800 number to the Response Group Queue under "Enable queue time-out". But once the timer hit the call would disconnect. In the Lync Logger I found an error "user does not exist 18008886655@domain.com". Well of course the user doesn't exist as its an outside tel.

The resolution to this is to assign the response group to a voice policy.

Note: If you have only assigned Global/Site Voice Policies, you will need to create a User Voice Policy in order to apply the policy to the Response Group. You CANNOT apply a Global/Site Policy to a Response Group.

To Create a new User Voice Policy,
Open the Lync Control Panel -> Voice Routing -> Voice Policy
Click New -> User Policy

Name your policy, Enable your calling features.
Click New, This will create a new PSTN Usage Policy.
Name your Policy ie (Response Group). Then click New for Associated Routes.
In the new Route screen name your route ie (Response Group Route)

Build a Pattern to Match

add the patten of the number you are wanting the Response Group to dial ie (+18008886655) your patten should look like this (^\+18008886655)

Suppress your caller ID if required, and assign your gateway, and click OK 3 times, which will bring you back to your list of Voice Policies.

Next, Open Lync Server Management Shell

and type in the following. Please make corrections in the below command where necessary

Response Group Name = The response group that will be dialing outbound via PSTN
Response Group Voice Policy = The Voice Policy you just created above.

PS> Get-CsApplicationEndpoint -Identity "Response Group Name" | Grant-CsVoicePolicy -PolicyName "Response Group Voice Policy"

Allow 5-10 minutes for replication to the RGS

Office 365 Voicemail and Lync On-Prem Intergration

I have just completed an intergratrion for a client where they have Exchange Online (Office365) and Lync Server 2010 On-Prem and wanted voicemail. Microsoft makes this process very simple but some things always get missed when reading the Microsoft Papers on this stuff.

When configuring federation to Office365, you must have an Edge server/pool that is currently configured to federate.

On your edge server open Lync PowerShell and type:

Set-CsAccessEdgeConfiguration -UseDnsSrvRouting -AllowFederatedUsers 1 -EnablePartnerDiscovery 0

Then create a new hosting provider

New-CsHostingProvider -Identity Domain.com -Enabled $True -EnabledSharedAddressSpace $True -HostsOCSUsers $False -ProxyFQDN "edge.domain.com" -IsLocal $False -VerficationLevel UseSourceVerification

Next enable your Lync users

Set-CsUser -HostedVoiceMail $True -Identity "domain.local\username"

Next in your Office365 Admin Page open OWA:

1. Select Manage My Organization > Phone & Voice > UM Dial Plans.
2. Under UM Dial Plans, click New.
3. Under Name, enter a name that is unique in your organization. It can be up to 49 characters long.
4. Enter the following information for the dial plan:
• Extension length   Enter the number of digits in the telephone extensions assigned to your users in Lync.
• Dial plan URI type   Use  SIP URI type: name@domain.com
• Audio language   Select the language to use for automated greetings, phone navigation prompts, Voice Mail Preview, and Outlook Voice Access.
  Note   Voice Mail Preview isn't available in all languages.
• Country/Region code   Enter the numeric code for the country or region of this dial plan so that UM can dial domestic and international numbers correctly. For example, if your UM dial plan is in the United States, the code is 1. This field accepts 1 to 4 digits.
5. Click Save to create the UM dial plan.
6. Select the UM dial plan and click Details to configure dial codes, Outlook Voice Access, voice mail settings, and dialing rules.

Next back to Lync Powershell

Set-CsHostedVoiceMailPolicy -Destination exap.um.outlook.com -Organization domain.com

Next Create a Lync contact to represent the Exchange Online UM dial plan by using the Lync Server cmdlet New-CsExUMContact.

New-CsExUMContact -DisplayNumber +14255551234 -SipAddress sip:exumsa@domain.com -RegistrarPool edgepool.contoso.com -OU "OU=ExUmContacts,DC=domain,DC=local"

Next set the default voicemail policy to your newly created EX UM Contact

Grant-CsHostedVoiceMailPolicy -Identity exumsa@domain.com

Now test it, give Lync a few minutes to populate the voicemail to the user.

Let me know if you have any issues or questions, ill be glad to assist.

Lync Server 15 starting to make its way on the internet

Thought I would post a cool finding on the Internet, not sure how I stumbled on it. but found this MSDN Protocol Document

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd944894(v=office.12).aspx

Which gives the new version of Lync the name "15"

Not much is known about the new version of Lync. But I will be posting every bit of information I find. Once I get my hands on it (Partner) and if there is no NDR, i will be posting all my configuration and features on it. I do not have any information regarding release dates, but will keep you posted!

Let me know in the comments what you would like to see in the new version of Lync 15!

Lync Server CU5 (February 2012) Released with Mobility Fix

Lync 2010 server Cumulative Update 5 (CU5) has been released.

This includes fixes for most major Lync server 2010 roles including the administrative tools, the core components, and the mobility service which contains an engineering solution to the IIM Filtering and Push Notification as described here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2664650

• Download: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=11551
• Knowledge Base Article KB 2493736: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2493736

As usual the cumulative installer is available in the LyncServerUpdateInstaller.exe download.

The associated CU5 Lync Client updates are also available:

• 64-bit: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=14490
• 32-bit: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=25055

A list of all the server role and client updates for Lync CU5 is listed here: Cumulative update for Lync 2010: February 2012.