Microsoft

First update for Office Communicator 2007 R1 since late last year, with a few incremental fixes:

Error events occur when you disconnect a computer that is running Communicator 2007 from a network: "Event ID: 3" or "Event ID: 7"

Enterprise administrators cannot both set and enforce the Outlook integration settings in Personal Information Manager (PIM) to turn off Outlook integration for Office Communicator 2007

Some PBX integrations can be particularly tricky, especially when they are legacy PBX is multiple versions behind the current releases or the hardware is failing. It reminds me a little bit of some of the old Exchange 5.5 and Novell migrations I have done in the past, except in a different kind of environment. On a good note, you eventually become pretty knowledgeable about different PBX systems and their quirks, and how to work through them the best you can.

With that said, I stumbled upon a particularly interesting blog post by a MS employee about using the MSPL scripting language to manipulate SIP packets and fake a 180 ring back. Ultimately, the ideal fix is to get the existing PBX to do the right thing, but sometimes that is not always a viable option.

Read about the ring back workaround here.

In the upcoming months, I'm going to dig more into MSPL and see exactly how creative you can get with this language. It could prove to be very handy for problematic/buggy SIP implementations or as a stop-gap measure to work around something that OCS normally cannot handle. I'm thinking of situations where you need to do something special/different between the mediation server and the PBX gateway to make things work correctly.

Of course, keep in mind any custom made scripts you deploy will be the first things that Microsoft PSS will want to disable in a troubleshooting scenario. It definitely would put you into an 'unsupported' scenario.

I blogged about a post-SP2 Outlook 2007 release that optimized Exchange server connections and now there is a new cumulative update available that adds some performance improvements for certain operations with Windows 7 and for those that have experienced slow performance with Office 2007 Service Pack 2.

The June 30th, 2009 Outlook update (KB 970944) includes many updates that are of interest mostly to developers but I have highlighted a few of the updates that have proven to be noticeable to end users:

This hotfix provides an improvement to Outlook 2007 if performance is slow after you install 2007 Office Service Pack 2 (SP2).

In your mailbox, a folder contains thousands of subfolders, such as the Inbox folder or the Calendar folder. After you install the February cumulative update, when you try to check the size of the folder, you receive an error in the Folder Size dialog box. After that, when you try to open the folder or some subfolder, you receive the following error message: Cannot display the folder. Your server administrator has limited the number of items you can open simultaneously. Try closing messages you have opened or removing attachments and images from unsent messages you are composing

You start Outlook 2007 in Cached Exchange Mode and with the reading pane active. If an e-mail message that contains a custom form that has code is displayed in the reading pane, CPU usage increases or Outlook even crashes. This problem occurs after you install Office SP2.

When you are running Outlook 2007 on a Windows Vista-based computer that uses high DPI (for example, 120 DPI), icons for custom forms will not be displayed.

On a computer that is running Windows 7, the Delete and Sync operations perform slowly in Outlook 2007 after you install SP2.

A hotfix enables you to set the download mode for IMAP accounts in Outlook 2007 and to configure the setting to sync the mailbox when you exit Outlook 2007

When you send an e-mail message from a shared mailbox in Outlook 2007, the sent message is not saved in the Sent Items folder of the shared mailbox

In Outlook 2007, when you view a group schedule in Calendar, the text in the group schedule is blurry. In this case, visually-impaired users cannot read the text in the group schedule.

Currently in beta, but available for basic OCS connectivity/certificate tests is the Microsoft OCS Remote Connectivity Analyzer.

I would only use test user accounts when debugging issues with this website just to err on the side of caution.
This will most likely be my first stop whenever I'm trying to help someone troubleshoot an OCS edge server connectivity issue.
Right now you can manually specify your server settings or have the server attempt to autodiscover your OCS settings.

According to the website, future plans include: "Deeper level of diagnostic information - MSDiagnostics header", and "Additional tests".

An example run through of a diagnostic:

Attempting to Resolve the host name sip.tiensivu.com in DNS.
Host successfully Resolved
Additional Details
IP(s) returned: 224.0.1.59

Testing TCP Port 443 on host sip.tiensivu.com to ensure it is listening/open.
The port was opened successfully.

Testing SSLCertificate for validity.
The certificate passed all validation requirements.validation checks.
Additional Details
Subject: CN=sip.tiensivu.com, OU=IT, O=Tiensivu, L=Rockford, S=Michigan, C=US, Issuer OU=Win611ForHomeGroups, O=HomeLab, C=US

Testing OCS remote sign in through Access Edge Server: Port Number (sip.tiensivu.com:443), for SignInAddress (honeypot@tiensivu.com).
The specified user successfully signed in remotely through the Access Edge Server.
Additional Details
Registration is successfully completed.

4 new updates of interest to OCS server admins and users came out yesterday.

Cumulative fixes for Office Communicator (bolded items I have seen firsthand)

Enterprise administrators cannot both set and enforce the Personal Information Manager settings for Outlook Integration to be able to turn off Outlook Integration for Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2

Error message when you start Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2: "Either there is no default mail client or the current mail client cannot fulfill the message request. Please run Microsoft Office Outlook and set it as the default mail client."

In Communicator 2007 R2 when you use Tanjay to call a user, you hear both the ringing and the audio from the user side

Your voice is discontinuous when you use Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 to make a call on a Windows 7 or a Windows Server 2008 R2-based remote desktop

Error message in Communicator 2007 R2 when you try to join a conference call from Outlook: "Can't open the program because Office Communicator or Office Communications Server Attendant is already running on your windows user account"

The delegate permissions feature in Office Communicator 2007 R2 is unavailable to non-unified communications users

Video frames are not displayed in Office Communicator 2007 R2 on a Windows XP-based computer

Error message when you try to adjust the volume during a call in a Communicator 2007 R2 conversation window on a computer that is running Windows XP: "Cannot adjust the speaker volume"

Error message when distribution group expansion fails in Office Communicator 2007 R2: "Cannot save a local copy of your distribution groups."

A "Meet Now - Invite by Email" HTML e-mail message that is generated by Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 has unreadable text in the message body

Communicator 2007 R2 users may experience network performance issues that are caused by Global address list (GAL) full file download or GAL delta file download

This cumulative update, together with update 969696 and update 969821, fixes the following issue:
When a delegate on behalf of a manager tries to use the Conferencing Add-in for Outlook to schedule a live meeting or to schedule a conference, the delegate's information instead of manager's information displays in the conferencing request unexpectedly. To resolve this issue, you have to apply update 969695, update 969696, and update 969821.

Cumulative fixes for Office Communications Server 2007 R2

A computer that is running Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Audio/Video Conferencing Edge Server crashes when it tries to process a Relay NAT message

Two users unexpectedly join the same conference when they try to join separate conferences in Office Communications Server 2007 R2

Error message when a SIP message request is sent from a federated partner in Communications Server 2007 R2: “500: Server Internal Error”

When Office Communications Server 2007 R2 routes a voice mail call to an Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging server, the corresponding invitation message does not indicate that the request originates from Office Communications Server

The delegate permissions feature in Office Communicator 2007 R2 is unavailable to non-unified communications users

Cumulative fixes for Conferencing Add-in for Outlook

A duplicate item for a recurring meeting that is created in the Live Meeting 2007 Conferencing Add-in for Outlook (build 8.0.6362.0114 or earlier) is created in the Outlook calendars of the meeting attendees

Error message when you connect to a Live Meeting 2007 session: "The server settings have been changed"

Error message when you use the Live Meeting Conferencing Add-in for Outlook to schedule a meeting in Outlook 2007: "An error occurred while executing this command. If this error persists, please contact your Live Meeting Administrator"

When a delegate tries to use the Conferencing Add-in for Outlook to schedule a live meeting or to schedule a conference on behalf of a manager, the delegate's information instead of the manager's information displays in the conferencing request

An additional "/" character appears at the end of a meeting lobby URL when you use the Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook to create a meeting request

Error message when you schedule a Live Meeting 2007 session by using the Conferencing Add-in for Outlook: "An error occurred trying to retrieve recipient properties"

Error message when you try to invite a person in a Live Meeting session: "An error occurred while executing this command"

You cannot use the Office Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook to send a Live Meeting invitation or to send an update for an existing Live Meeting

Outlook consumes 100 percent of CPU resources unexpectedly when you use build 8.0.6362.128 of the Office Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook

Cumulative fixes for Communicator 2007 R2 Attendant Console - July 2009 update
Office Communicator 2007 R2 runs concurrently with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant

Download link for Communicator 2007 R2 - July 2009 update here.

Download link for OCS 2007 R2 Server - July 2009 update here.

Download link for Communicator 2007 R2 Attendant Console - July 2009 update here.

Update (08-06-09): The complete list of July 2009 updates is now available here.

I've been known to be a bit of a 'chronic tinkerer', which if you think of in health terms, sounds rather disturbing.
I'm referring to my habit of finding new ways to use tools or devices in ways they weren't originally designed for.
Our home's wireless network infrastructure and internet connectivity are shining examples of these mad scientist experiments.

This trend continues with the box that is sitting in front of me: The eBox-3300-JSK, as part of the Microsoft Sparks will Fly contest.

My daughters like working on projects with Dad whenever possible, especially if it involves computers or animals. It doesn't surprise me too much based on our household. My youngest daughter (now 5 years old) completely "owned" her computer in 2008, much to my chagrin. My oldest daughter (almost 8 years old) was showing me map exploit tricks to use in a popular XBox 360/PC zombie game this past weekend.

In an effort to put that kind of knowledge/curiosity to good use, we're going to build an embedded solution for our chickens. It will involve webcams, internet connectivity, motion detection and servos. I am mostly going to use items that are around the house, due to budget and time constraints. My free time to work on this in the short term will be limited, but I have some good ideas to run with. I like to dabble in programming when it isn't part of my regular job, so this will be fun.

In a somewhat related topic, I have some articles/postings coming up in the near future once work and life settles down a bit.

In the past, NVidia had the upper hand when it came to driver quality in Windows 2K/XP era, but these days, ATI/AMD seems to have the more stable drivers for Vista and Windows 7.

With that said, check out the new release mentioned here and download them from here.

As always, for the mobility chipsets, I recommend using the Driver Heaven ModTool.

Some long overdue guidance from Microsoft about site resiliency. I suspect quite a bit will change as future versions roll out.

This white paper describes a site resiliency solution for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The solution includes an Enterprise pool that spans two geographically separate sites. The solution provides a failover mechanism between the two sites to ensure that Office Communications Server functionality such as instant messaging, presence, and conferencing remains available even if one of the sites becomes unavailable.

This white paper is divided into three main sections:

1. The Solution section provides an overview of the tested and supported site resiliency solution described in this paper.
2. The Test Methodology section describes the testing topology, expected behavior, and test results.
3. The Findings and Recommendations section provides practical guidance for deploying your own failover solution.

To successfully follow this paper, you should have a thorough understanding of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering.

Download it from here.

Preferably one that can work with Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

Unfortunately, as of the most recent Communicator client for Mac, there isn't true SIP phone/PBX support. I know someone out there has had to tackle this problem before, so I am curious if anyone has some recommendations?

Issues fixed:

Homescreen support for new homescreens in Windows Mobile 6.5+ phones.

Integration within the phone dialer for Windows Mobile 6.5+ phones.

Communicator Mobile 2007 R2 now recognizes when the phone is roaming, and by default does not sign in to roaming networks.

Additional support for joining conference calls from a Windows Mobile appointment. To do this, press Menu, and then press Join Conference.

Enables users to log on with a username of the format user@example.com, in addition to domain\user.

When placing Call via Work calls, callbacks are now automatically accepted.

Microsoft Installer (MSI) installation on Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) fails.

AT&T FUZE devices set for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) connection cannot handle voice and data at the same time. This causes Call via Work calls to fail unless the device is reverted to 3rd Generation (3G) by disabling HSDPA.

Read more about it here.

Download the Smartphone (keyboard based phone / "Windows Mobile Standard") version here.

Download the Pocket PC (stylus based phone / "Windows Mobile Pro") version here.