EWS dependency on Skype for Business Contacts folder in Exchange

FYI: EWS might depend on this folder and we have seen cases where SFB client had 15 minutes delay to recover EWS errors. You need to make sure that this folder exist or to disable it with policy. One of the ways to create this folder is to use Lync 2013 RTM client.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4015948/deprecation-of-skype-for-business-contacts-folder-in-outlook-and-outlo

Audiocodes VE transcoding

http://www.myskypelab.com/2017/02/audiocodes-mediant-virtual-sbc.html

Lync 2013 dialin ms-diagnostics:33038 reason “Cannot transfer the call to another pool”

https://mrlync.com/2016/11/03/ms-diagnostics33038-reason-cannot-transfer-the-call-to-another-pool-and-conference-id-not-found-english/

VVX how to disable phone lock

http://blog.schertz.name/2016/12/polycom-ucs-5-5-for-vvx-phones/ section device lock

CRM Outlook issues after October 2017 updates

Several complains from clients regarding Outlook CRM client (add-in) that stopped working and does not show (render) accounts, contacts, dashboards in Outlook. At the same time Web browser works ok.


The problem is related to recent security updates for Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016. You can fix it by adding registry to current user:


EnableRoamingFolderHomepages

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4049314/microsoft-dynamics-365-for-outlook-is-unable-to-render-webpages-after

SQL to list Users logged to Lync and their device

Select (cast (RE.ClientApp as varchar (100))) as ClientVersion,R.UserAtHost as UserName,HRD.LastNewRegisterTime as LastRegisterTime, EP.ExpiresAt
        FROM rtcdyn.dbo.RegistrarEndpoint RE
       Inner Join rtc.dbo.Resource R on R.ResourceId = RE.OwnerId
       Inner Join rtcdyn.dbo.Endpoint EP on EP.EndpointId = RE.EndpointId
       INNER JOIN rtcdyn.dbo.HomedResourceDynamic HRD on HRD.OwnerId = R.ResourceId
        Order By UserName ,ClientVersion

Polycom VVX debug

I had a case when VVX did not work for hybrid Exchange with Lync onPremises, I spent a lot of time to understand why it is not working until I enabled logging for CURL as DEBIG :)

As always the problem was in SSL Certificates.

Polycom VVX for hybrid Exchange

Polycom FW version 5.5.3 and Exchange hybrid.

From the logs we see that Polycom tries to perform autodiscover, but finally fails and leave EWS not deployed for online users.  I will continue debuging that, but I found a workaround:

login with sip and UPN  as username@domain.com but leaving domain field empty.
Then in settings-applications-exchange server URL you can hardcode:

https://outlook.office365.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx/WSSecurity

and leave autodiscover disabled.

Update: with CURL DEBUG we can see that problem was in SSL certificates of Digicert not being trusted due to limits we left from other tests in Network - TLS - Application profile 6 (select certificates from platform or imported, but we had only one certificte selected). I also imported Digicert root, as for unknown reasons outlook is based on that while rest of MS is Baltimore.

Inside exchutil.ps1

https://flinchbot.com/2013/09/09/exchucutil/

Skype for Business debuging tools crashing

Latest debugging tools for SFB have a bug, dowload previous version:

https://greiginsydney.com/clslogger-exe-crashes-with-unhandled-exception/

ADFS trics for MFA

ADFS access control rules to disable MFA for Office 365 application if usrs are connecting from intranet, Lync clients and enforce MFA for member of AD group:

$rp = Get-AdfsRelyingPartyTrust –Name "Microsoft Office 365 Identity Platform"

$groupMfaClaimTriggerRule = 'NOT EXISTS([Type == "http://schemas.microsoft.com/2012/01/requestcontext/claims/x-ms-client-user-agent", Value =~ "(?i)skype"]) && NOT EXISTS([Type=="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2012/01/requestcontext/claims/x-ms-client-user-agent", Value =~ "(?i)ACOMO"]) && NOT EXISTS([Type=="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2012/01/requestcontext/claims/x-ms-client-user-agent", Value =~ "(?i)lync"]) => add(type = "http://schemas.company.com/not_lync", value = "true" );

c1:[Type == "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/claims/groupsid", Value == "S-1-5-21-796845957-688789844-854245398-6148"]  && c2:[Type =="http://schemas.company.com/not_lync", Value== "true"] && c3:[Type =="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2012/01/insidecorporatenetwork", Value== "false"]=> issue(Type = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/claims/authenticationmethod", Value = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/claims/multipleauthn");'

Set-AdfsRelyingPartyTrust –TargetRelyingParty $rp –AdditionalAuthenticationRules $groupMfaClaimTriggerRule

We use this rule to let Lync on Premises users to use Exchange online

Some ADFS MFA trics

http://www.lieben.nu/liebensraum/2016/05/excluding-skype-for-business-from-adfs-mfa/

Powershell module for DNS of Windows 2008R2

Here is a module that you can use on legacy servers http://dnsshell.codeplex.com/, once instaled you can run as example get-dnsrecord

But if you have Windows 2012 R2 you do not need external module anymore, use build-in Get-DnsServerResourceRecord and enjoy.

How to enable Modern Authentication in Exchange Online

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/32711.exchange-online-how-to-enable-your-tenant-for-modern-authentication.aspx

MultiFactor authentication onCloud or OnPremises switch by powershell

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/bulentozkir/2016/05/01/office-365-customers-who-have-adfs-installed-can-do-simple-filtered-mfa-using-adfs-claim-rules/

PSTN gateway not recognised by Lync 2013 mediation

Getting an error with SIP trunk TLS after deployment of new SBC:

Log Name:      Lync Server
Source:        LS Mediation Server
Date:          8/16/2017 12:36:43 PM
Event ID:      25075
Task Category: (1030)
Level:         Warning
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      xx
Description:
Mediation Server encountered an invalid setting that has been ignored.

Setting: PSTNGatewayService Fqdn: xx;trunk=yy
Reason: [Config] A Gateway Peer's (xx) internal settings are not configured correctly: NextHopPort = 5067, TransportType = TLS, NextHopIpAddress = N/A

Cause: Settings configured incorrectly.
Resolution:
Reconfigure the specified setting.


Double checking certificates, DNS, topology did not reveal any discrepancy, all looks correct. Do I need restart server?

The solution was to re-publish same topology second time, this time Mediation refreshed it's internal tables correctly and let SIP trunk to get up.

Exchange 2016 UM telephone extension dial plan

If you integrate Avaya or Cisco to Exchange 2016 UM, you may be surpised that a Dial plan with Tel. extension can't be associated with a Exchange 2016 server. Error message "The dial plan can’t be associated with the Client Access server. Only SIP URI dial plans can be associated with Exchange 2013 Client Access servers".  Do not worry, server will still respond and use this dial plan:


https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/23416.exchange-2013-unified-messaging-with-cisco-unified-communication-manager.aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb125151(v=exchg.150).aspx

ADFS 3.0 from Windows 2012 R2 does not support TLS 1.2 out of box

Surprise!  Look for details here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3194197/considerations-for-disabling-and-replacing-tls-1-0-in-adfs

The article will explain how to enable TLS 1.2 especially that we know that TLS 1.0 is obsolete and wil be dropped by Microsoft in 2018.

1y free Office 365

FYI: you can get 1y free Office 365 DEV tenant – including software Office 2016 and  up to 25 x Office 365 Enterprise E3 Developer licenses (Exchange, Skype, Sharepoint…) if you join Office devprogram: https://dev.office.com/devprogram 

Goto the very end of the page and click on JOIN DEVELOPER PROGRAM

Audiocodes and Lync, unanswered call dropped after 30 seconds

SBC and Lync SBA configured according  to the documentation, but calls are are getting dropped after 30 seconds.  RTCP setting seems to be Generate Always, but we do not see any RTP UDP streams being sent by SBC to Lync.

I will try to disable RTCPActiveCalls in Lync and see it that helps.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/5e9fe10b-c9f2-44a6-9b8e-debaeb28da79/help-with-audiocodes-mediant-1000-audio-and-call-disconnect-problems?forum=ocsvoice

Update: as expected disabling it from Lync side solved the problem. Audiocodes support strugling to understand what is going on....

Sharepoint show total items in list paging

http://www.sharepointblogs.be/blogs/timmy/archive/2011/10/25/javascript-show-the-total-items-in-a-library-or-list.aspx

SharePoint ASCX file manual deployment gives "Could not load file or assembly '$SharePoint.Project.AssemblyFullName$' or one of its dependencies" error

If ypou deploy ASCX file manually (by coping file and it's dll to CAG then SharePoint will give an error. When you deply with VS it should change this tag to a rela assemply name. Workaround for manual deployment is to change the tag by hand.

https://babasharepoint.blogspot.ch/2015/05/could-not-load-file-or-assembly.html

Skype for Business forest prep error

if you have errors in GUI, try powershell enable-csadforest

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lync/en-US/827804c1-690b-45c3-93d8-426c66a9a82c/forest-preparation-failed-lync-2013-std-object-reference-not-set-to-an-instance-of-an-object?forum=lyncdeploy 

looking for IDD of different countries?

https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/list-of-country-calling-codes.html

DPM 2012R2 - An unexpected error occurred while the job was running. (ID 104 Details: Internal error code: 0x809909FF)

If you see this error, try to allign all DPM agents versions in your HyperV cluster and reboot each node.

Azure MFA - the architectural options

https://dirteam.com/sander/2017/02/07/supported-azure-mfa-server-deployment-scenarios-and-their-pros-and-cons/ 

Audiocodes Mediant SBA Lyss error

Bumped into an error:

Log Name:      Lync Server

Source:        LS Storage Service

Date:          5/16/2017 5:54:02 PM

Event ID:      32071

Task Category: (4006)

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:     xxx

Description:

Storage Service had a failure while refreshing its calculation of DB space used.

DB Space Used Refresh Error. Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Cause: The Timer task to refresh the DB space used value ran into an exception. This action will be retried and should auto recover.

Resolution:

Check event details. If problem persists, notify your organization's support team with the event details.

For the moment, not clear what causing it.

Option I consider for the moment are:

install latest Lync CU

install windows patches inside SBA (esp. .NET)

reset fabric

repair fabric

redeploy CS databases

repair SBA image and re-deploy from scratch

some relevant links I collected so far:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj945604(v=ocs.15).aspx

https://d1it.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/lync-2013-sba-front-end-service-fails-to-start/

http://ucready.com/lync-front-end-service-rtcsrv-wont-start/

https://www.softwareab.net/wordpress/lync-server-2013-front-end-event-32174/

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/ada3e098-5e17-4568-9349-81b6c20d1963/lync-2013-problem-with-lyss-database-operation-getlyssdbusage?forum=lyncdeploy

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lync/en-US/6d68e1d1-43b3-4917-aa52-1b7f78ab356e/lyss-database-error-in-lync-log-on-the-front-end-server-enterprise-edition?forum=lyncdeploy

update: nothing really helped, we did completely redeploy from usb key. 

Azure MFA and TMG 2010

http://techgenix.com/configure-windows-azure-multi-factor-authentication-forefront-threat-management-gateway-tmg-2010/ 

Sharepoint 2010 Extranet prompts for usernane

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/office_integration__sharepoint/2014/02/24/prompted-for-username-and-password-when-opening-an-office-file-from-a-web-server/

Add extranet URL to trusted sites in IE.

Login as private computer.

If you use form based auhtnetication enable persistent cookies.

How to open CRM demo at Microsoft

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/uspartner_ts2team/2016/05/03/microsoft-demo-tools-and-hands-on-experiences-for-partners/

Skype for Business/ Lync meeting expiration

Non-recurring meetings will expire in 2 weeks, if someone will opens it on 15th days  after meeting end date the URL will not work with error as below. I think 14 days is hardcoded, I’m not sure we can change it – refer to http://www.justin-morris.net/lync-conference-expiration-and-deactivation-explained/

To avoid the issue, create a recurring meeting, they will expire after farthest occurrence in the future.

About timestamp – note it is hardcoded to UTC time zone. 

Error:

We're having trouble getting you into the meeting.

This meeting may have expired, or it's possible you're using a bad URL. If the latter, try calling into the meeting using the phone number on the invite, or ask the organizer to drag you into the meeting from the Contacts list.

Machine:xxJoin attempted at(UTC):05/05/2017 07:52:54CorrelationId:94320997User Agent:Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.96 Safari/537.36Accept Header:text/htmlapplication/xhtml+xmlapplication/xml;q=0.9image/webp*/*;q=0.8Incoming URL:https://yyyTelemetryId:ffcc417b-9794-4445-8110-a530a3016ebdError:Invalid Conference organizer or Conference ID

Call to Exchange UM subscriber fails

We have an SBA xxx  then gives an error 500 when we call to Exchange UM subscriber in hybrid Office 365/OnPrem deployment.

15000; reason="Unable to read the user properties publication for the user or contact object."; source="xxx"; appName="ExumRouting"

The solutuon/workaround is to re-create or move contact:

move-CsExUmContact -Identity sip:voicemailxxx@xxx -Target zzz

where ZZZ is hub frontend pool.

Wireshark filter an IP out

To filter out undesirable IP do not use !=

but rather

! ( ip.addr == 10.43.54.65 )

Poylcom VVX UC software 5.5.1.15937 and lyncdiscoverinternal

Hello, small note for those who is trying to adapt lyncdiscoverinternal to point to external Reverse Proxy in order to find a good ballance for SFB mobile users.  Mobile phones do not have corporate CA root certificates installed by default.

Apparently Polycom VVX UC software 5.5.1.15937  require that lyncdiscoverinternal point to internal IP, if not it will product a very "descriptive" error:

SSL_get_error Error code=5,rc(0)

The workaround is to disable lync autodiscover and point directly to an internal host:

reg.1.server.1.address="sipinternal.domain.com"

reg.1.serverAutoDiscovery="0"

or in the phone advanced menu in sign-in dialog.

or change lyncdiscoverinternal to point back home.

It looks like this is a new situation, as it seems older versions worked ok.

Install CMS database in SQL cluster for Skype for Business or Lync - use

when you want to install SFB CMs database skeleton on SQL failover cluster add the parameter UseDefaultSQLpaths .  If not the cmdlet may wrigly guess the default location and will fail.

Install-CsDatabase -CentralManagementDatabase -SQLServerFQDN chglsqlvssfb15.IUCN.sys  -SQLInstanceName  SFB2015 -UseDefaultSQLpaths -Verbose

CRM 2011 does not work after March updates on the client

https://community.dynamics.com/crm/f/117/t/230126?pi51685=5#responses

Lync and Skype powershell scripts

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/canberrapfe/2015/09/22/your-skype-powershell-cheat-sheet-useful-powershell-commands-you-can-run-in-skype-for-business-2015-and-lync-server-2013/ 

Sonus CCE admin guide

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/Cloud-Connector-Configurati-521b533f

-->

http://www.uclabs.blog/2017/01/cloud-connector-edition-set-automatic.html 

http://www.uclabs.blog/2017/02/tenant-update-time-window-for-cloud.html 

Quickly check user phone assignment in Lync or Skype for Business

Get-CsUser | where {$_.LineURI -eq "tel:+59625431255" -or $_.PrivateLine -eq "tel:+59625431255"} | format-table -property displayname,LineURI,privateline

DPM system state backup error

Type: Consistency check
Status: Failed
Description: DPM cannot create a backup because Windows Server Backup (WSB) on the protected computer encountered an error (WSB Event ID: 517, WSB Error Code:  0x98ED90). (ID 30229 Details: Internal error code: 0x80990ED0)
More information
End time: 06.02.2017 10:24:38
Start time: 06.02.2017 09:18:17
Time elapsed: 01:06:21
Data transferred: -
Cluster node -
Source details: Computer\System Protection
Protection group members: 1
Details
Protection group: Protection Group
Items scanned: 0
Items fixed: 0

in the WBS inside the server we can see it actually corresponds to low space error. indeed we have 12GB free on the drive E: and backup size is 14GB.

As we decide not to touch the drive E: (it is IDE VHD drive on that server, we add new VDHX file attached to SCSI adapter - this way we can alter disk space online. Which is not possible with VHD attached ove IDE interface. You will have to shutdown server and then change.

Now new drive F: can take the load.

go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM\Datasources and in the file PSDataSourceConfig.xml locate E; - drive short in space in section FilesToProtect and replace by F:  new drive.

Rerun consistance check in DPM.

Exchange 2016 onPrem mailbox restore error TooManyMissingItemsPermanentException

Hello, if you get this error

TooManyMissingItemsPermanentException
Error: This mailbox exceeded the maximum number of corrupt or missing items
that were specified for this request.

while running a powershell to restore mailbox from recovery DB:


New-MailboxRestoreRequest -SourceDatabase "RMLB05" -SourceStoreMailbox 86a3500a-53aa-4124-9661-76bab9d2fd15 -TargetMailbox  username@domain.com –TargetRootFolder Recovery -SkipMerging FolderRules 


try to add a switch -BadItemLimit 1000


  

Exchange 2016 VM slow boot and no network after HyperV guest services update or KB3063109

Boot VM in safe mode and set Exchange services start to manual. Then install guest services and once done, restore automatic start.

http://blog.scng.si/exchange-server-vm-becomes-unresponsive-while-updating-hyper-v-integration-services/ 

CentOS 7.3 on HyperV

In order to make CentOS 7.3 work in Hyper-V, please add legacy network adapter first, then mount ISO

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=51612

and run install from CENTOS73 folder.

Aftet that you will have support for standard network adapter and you can remove legacy one.

to activate automatic connection use  nmtui

QLogic BCM57xx and 57xxx drivers:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/ch/fr/chbsdt1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=RD1G0

SharePoint 2010 find an RSS URL of a list

http://eimagine.com/turn-a-sharepoint-list-or-library-into-an-rss-feed/ 

simply open list settings and in the URL of the browser replace listedit.aspx to listfeed.aspx

AD LDS authentication in AD with userProxy

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2008.12.proxy.aspx

LDAP limits for .net queries

When using LDAP queries in .NET or Java, do not forget about limits:

C:\Users\Administrator>ntdsutil
ntdsutil: ldap policies
ldap policy: connections
server connections: connect to server dc
Binding to srvdc ...
Connected to srvdc using credentials of locally logged on user.
server connections: q
ldap policy: show value

Policy                          Current(New)

MaxPoolThreads                  4
MaxDatagramRecv                 4096
MaxReceiveBuffer                        10485760
InitRecvTimeout                 120
MaxConnections                  5000
MaxConnIdleTime                 900
MaxPageSize                     1000
MaxQueryDuration                        120
MaxTempTableSize                        10000
MaxResultSetSize                        262144
MinResultSets                   0
MaxResultSetsPerConn                    0
MaxNotificationPerConn                  5
MaxValRange                     1500
ThreadMemoryLimit                       0
SystemMemoryLimitPercent                        0

ldap policy: set maxpagesize to 5000
ldap policy: commit changes
ldap policy: q
ntdsutil: q

Visual Studio hangs when debugging SharePoint .net code at breakpoint

if the VS hangs on breakpoint when debugging SP with Process attach, try to reset IDE:

devenv.exe /ResetSettings

AADsync - change AD credentials

http://www.msexchange.org/kbase/ExchangeServerTips/MicrosoftOffice365/ExchangeOnline/how-change-aadsync-credentials.html 

SCCM stops SCOM

be aware:

https://scompanion.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/system-center-management-service-paused-on-management-server/

Log Name:      Operations Manager

Source:        HealthService

Date:          29.12.2016 15:30:53

Event ID:      1217

Task Category: None

Level:         Information

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      xxx

Description:

The Microsoft Monitoring Agent running on computer "xxx" is suspended for the following reason:

"ConfigMgr 5.00.8239.1000 - SMS_MaintenanceTaskRequests - {55B3DD10-2110-4EBC-A8EF-E03D66EB3160}"