Troubleshooting Rapid Growth in Databases and Transaction Log Files in Exchange Server 2010

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/04/18/troubleshooting-rapid-growth-in-databases-and-transaction-log-files-in-exchange-server-2007-and-2010.aspx

BlackBerry 10.2.1 has been released today

http://www.gsmarena.com/blackberry_os_1021_update_goes_official_available_as_of_today-news-7684.php

According to some sources Lync 2013 android client works ok on this platform. Time to verify this in practice...

Gartner 2013 Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications

http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1HYC2VD&ct=130731&st=sb

Lync 2013 WebConf instability, events 41024, 41026, 41025, 42001, 41999

We observe some errors in Lync 2013 Front End not regularly, but sometimes every 20-30 minutes. There are somewhat more errors during the night or weekend, but it is very difficult to find exact time pattern. Later on you will understand why the error appear during a quiet period, rather than during a full load.

Log Name:      Lync Server

Source:        LS Data MCU

Date:          1/22/2014 8:50:06 AM

Event ID:      41024

Task Category: (1018)

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      xx

Description:

No connectivity with one of the Web Conferencing Edge Servers.

Edge Server Machine FQDN: yy, Port:8057

If the problem persists this event will be logged again after 20 minutes

Cause: Service may be unavailable or Network connectivity may have been compromised.

Log Name:      Lync Server

Source:        LS Data MCU

Date:          1/22/2014 8:50:06 AM

Event ID:      41026

Task Category: (1018)

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      xx

Description:

No connectivity with any of Web Conferencing Edge Servers. External Lync clients cannot use Web Conferencing modality.

Cause: Service may be unavailable or Network connectivity may have been compromised.

Resolution:

Verify all Web Conferencing Edge Services in the topology are running, and network connectivity is available.

Log Name:      Lync Server

Source:        LS Data MCU

Date:          1/22/2014 8:50:06 AM

Event ID:      41025

Task Category: (1018)

Level:         Information

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      xx

Description:

Connection to the Web Conferencing Edge Server has succeeded

Edge Server Machine FQDN: yy, Port:8057

At the same time on the Egde server we see the reflection of the same issue:

Log Name:      Lync Server

Source:        LS Web Conferencing Edge Server

Date:          1/22/2014 5:07:45 PM

Event ID:      42001

Task Category: (1023)

Level:         Information

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      yy

Description:

Web Conferencing Server disconnected

Connection from Web Conferencing Server from xx  disconnected.

This event is reported only once in 30 minutes even if other Web Conferencing Servers will disconnect during said period.

Cause: This can happen if the Web Conferencing Server was unavailable or taken down for maintenance

Resolution:

Make sure that the Web Conferencing Server is up and running

Log Name:      Lync Server

Source:        LS Web Conferencing Edge Server

Date:          1/22/2014 4:44:13 PM

Event ID:      41999

Task Category: (1023)

Level:         Information

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      yy

Description:

Web Conferencing Server connected successfully

Web Conferencing Server with FQDN xx connected successfully

Our initial ideas - backup load, Antivirus, TOE, RSS, TCP offload on Virtual Machine and host - did not succeed. Now it is time to check the network: In between there is a firewall PaloAlto. Default session timeout 3600 sec.

SSL application timeout is 1800 sec.

We can check in the Monitor tab the session on Edge WebConf port 8057. The session was detected as ssl and therefore the timeout is set to be 1800 seconds. If you keep refreshing you will see TTL value for the session:

Edge sends session keeping heartbeat packets each 300 seconds (5 minutes)

But Palo Alto does not see that session is alive (TTL is ticking down, despite to the fact that there are packets every 5 minutes). And as a result it will drop a session after 1800 seconds. Lync will try to send a keepalive packet, but because the session has been dropped we see several TCP re-transmissions, then Lync will rise the errors and will try to reestablish new session.  

This PA behavior is due to mechanism of offload to gain performance: https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/docs/DOC-3950

In this keepalive session to obtain 16 packets, the length of the session must be (16x300) = 4800 sec.

So the solution is to override application setting in PaloAlto to set the session timeout to be 4800 seconds, refer to https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/docs/DOC-1071 

 

Cisco SP112 ATA dialplan for Switzerland

Here is an example of dialplan string for Switzerland:

([3-6]xx|1xx|1xxx|0xxxxxxxxx|00xxxxxxxxxxx|00xxxxxxxxxxx.|08xxxxxxxx|09xxxxxxxx|0901xxxxxx!|0906xxxxxx!)

3xx, 4xx, 5xx, 6xx - internal Extensions,

1xx and 1xxx - emergency numbers of 3 digits or 4 digits,

Then city or mobile numbers,

International numbers

08xx.. and 09xx.. numbers - all above allowed.

All non-business related numbers are denied, ie 0901 and 0906 - refer to http://www.bakom.admin.ch/themen/telekom/00479/00604/index.html?lang=en&download=NHzLpZeg7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1ad1IZn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCDdIN5f2ym162epYbg2c_JjKbNoKSn6A--

Force Lync to call a number via PSTN

You can force Lync to call a number via PSTN, even if this number belongs to a Lync user.  You need to add a keyword ms-skip-rnl in the LineURI of a user. This can be used for testing of PSTN as example.

tel:+41xxxxxx;ms-skip-rnl

See Sonus example of application here: https://support.sonus.net/display/UXDOC30/Using+SBC+to+Process+Lync+to+Lync+Calls+(Replicating+an+upstream+forked+call+flow+in+a+downstream+installation)

Palo Alto firewall session timeout

Palo Alto apparently requires 16 packets to be able to keep firewall flow session alive:
https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/docs/DOC-3950
http://sitweak.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/palo-alto-session-time-outs/

Sonus SBC1000 Release 3.1 EuroISDN improvements

ISDN Facility Message Analysis Support

In Release 3.0 the SBC 1000/2000 gateway supported sending and retrieving the redirecting number carried in the facility element when connecting to PBX using QSIG switch variant. Beginning with Release 3.1, the SBC 1000/2000 gateway applies these functions to the EuroISDN variant based on ETS 300 207-1 and ETS 300 196-1 standards. This feature capability allows making routing decisions based on the redirecting number provided by PSTN through a Facility element.

Management console for MS SQL express

You can connect to SQL express instance with SQL Management console from a full SQL server. But also you can install a management console for Express SQL from here
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7593

Lync 2013 RGS Holidays Editor GUI (powershell)

http://vatland.no/post/2014/01/15/lync-2013-holiday-set-editor-v11.aspx

Enjoy!

Hyper-V VM activation with AVMA key

Automatic Virtual Machine Activation http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn303421.aspx

Yahoo users! Check your PC.

http://m.cnet.com/news/yahoo-malware-turned-pcs-into-bitcoin-miners/57616958

Lync CU January 2014 update description

Microsoft has released CU January 2014 for Lync Server 2010/2013 & Lync Edition Phones | BCUC - BriComp Unified Communications http://www.bricomp.com/blogs/post.cfm/microsoft-has-released-cu-january-2014-for-lync-server-2010-2013-lync-edition-phones

one more in your Lync admin tools collection

Script: Get-CsConnections.ps1 - See User Connections, Client Versions, Load Balancing in Lync Server

http://www.ehloworld.com/269

Linux Integration Services 3.5

Linux Integration Services 3.5 Announcement http://blogs.technet.com/b/virtualization/archive/2014/01/02/linux-integration-services-3-5-announcement.aspx

Lync 2013 mediation server with Primary and PSTN IP - NIC binding order is important

When you use a separate IP on your mediation server for SIP PSTN gateway, make sure that clients communicate with primary IP and not with PSTN IP. Verify NIC binding order to see which interface is binded first (primary must be first) - binding can change when you do V2V as example. Change binding order:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894564

Remove default gateway from PSTN IP, use static routing to your SIP gateway

Swisscom ISDN implementation

http://www.swisscom-fixnet.ch/fxres/kmu/isdn_informations_en.pdf

http://www.swisscom.ch/content/dam/swisscom/en/biz/sme/Festnetz/pdf/pricelist-businessline-options_en.pdf

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-1344