Windows 10 has arrived finally and with it came lot of new features, and one of my favorite new features is that you can finally install applications through powershell just like Linux OS’s terminal window command (apt-get install).
Although the command is still pretty new and lack many repositories where you can find and install applications from.
There’s already some people who are working on adding sources of applications which you can test initially before Microsoft asks product companies to start making their own repositories so Powershell can trust these sites and applications.
One of the sites that are working on providing Windows 10 with repositories is https://chocolatey.org/ which provides hundreds of softwares that can be installed through PS.
To install Chocolately repository simply do the following
Open powershell as an administrator and paste the following cmdlet
As soon as you have installed chocolately, you will get a new huge list of applications that can be installed with a very simple and short cmdlet as in the below screenshots.
The good things about these cmdlets is it can be used to deploy an app for a huge number of clients by simply running the script through GPO or batch file.
I am going to install VLC and Google drive on my computer using these cmdlet …
Find-Package
Find-package -Name VLC
Install-package
Checking if the app is really installed or not?
——————————————
Find and install google drive package
Downloading
Installing
If an application doesn’t install, how to troubleshoot it?
If for instance you were trying to install a package or app and that doesn’t work or get stuck then you can navigate to the Chocolately directory and delete any package that you tried to install but were suspended for any reason.
c:\Chocolately\lib\
You can simply delete the whole directory or the file that ends with extension .nupkg and try again to install…
Few months ago I have got a request from one of my clients regarding migrating DFS from 2012R2 to 2016.
2012R2 was migrated from 2008r2 and was based on 2000 Mode. To do this you’ve got a list of requirements as it can be migrated but certain features won’t be supported if you continue to use the 2000 Mode in DFS on Windows 2016 server.
How to Start
In this tutorial I will explain how to do this migration by doing a demo step by step and guide you through this Migration with screenshots and the required commands.
I have added a tiny comparison also to make it clear why are we going to use this particular method of migrating DFS mode and Server.
To migrate a domain-based namespace to Windows Server 2008 mode
Open a Command Prompt window and type the following command to export the namespace to a file, where \\ domain \ namespace is the name of the appropriate domain and namespace and path\filename is the path and file name of the export file:
Write down the path (\\ server \ share ) for each namespace server. You must manually add namespace servers to the recreated namespace because Dfsutil cannot import namespace servers.
In DFS Management, right-click the namespace and then click Delete , or type the following command at a command prompt, where \\ domain \ namespace is the name of the appropriate domain and namespace:
Copy
Dfsutil root remove \\domain\namespace
Let’s go refresh the console and see if it’s deleted there
Next remove
I will remove the rest of the name spaces
All have been removed, Now lets remove the name spaces from the display and observe what happens to the replication groups
NOTE:
Replication groups didn’t get affected
In DFS Management, recreate the namespace with the same name, but use the Windows Server 2008 mode, or type the following command at a command prompt, where \\ server \ namespace is the name of the appropriate server and share for the namespace root:
Dfsutil root adddom \\server\namespace v2
I will use the UI instead of the command
Although we raised the forest and domain function forest but still the 2008 is still greyed out. Lets try to restart the DFS services on the FSMO server
After restarting
Next, I will copy all the xml files to the new server and import them there
My new server is 2016
To import the namespace from the export file, type the following command at a command prompt, where \\ domain \ namespace is the name of the appropriate domain and namespace and path\filename is the path and file name of the file to import:
Dfsutil root import merge path\filename.xml \\domain\namespace
After the Import
I will continue to import the rest of the namespaces
First we need to create them with their matching namespaces from the GUI
Now I will import and merge the xml file
After adding the NEW folder which has replicating group existing already from the previous mode. First it didn’t show up
but after navigating to the NewFolder and clicking on Replication tab then Navigate to the replication group showed the replication group underneath the Replication
What has changed?
The only noticeable thing which has changed is the NameSpace Servers everything else like ( Folder targets still the same, replication is identical to previous settings)
See this screenshot
Let’s check the access to the new namespace
Finally, Let’s import the latest namespace and its configuration (PublicFolder)
Let’s check the result on GUI
Notice the replication group for the PF didn’t come, so let’s do as we have explained before to show the replication group
Here we go
Right after this process finishes, the command creates some kind of a report with time, importing status and other related settings such as site cost, timeout.. Etc
Note
To minimize the time that is required to import a large namespace, run the Dfsutil root import command locally on a namespace server.
Add any remaining namespace servers to the recreated namespace by right-clicking the namespace in DFS Management and then clicking Add Namespace Server , or by typing the following command at a command prompt, where \\ server \ share is the name of the appropriate server and share for the namespace root:
Copy
Dfsutil target add \\server\share
Note
You can add namespace servers before importing the namespace, but doing so causes the namespace servers to incrementally download the metadata for the namespace instead of immediately downloading the entire namespace after being added as a namespace server.
This article guides you through the steps of doing an in-place upgrade from Lync 2013 to Skype for business. I am copying the article as is from my lab with all the errors that I have been through to give you a real experience feed back of what is this like.
You might get issues that you have never expected, but resolving them is not that hard and if you have any issues please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and I will get back to help you.
Prerequisites
Extensible Chat Communication Over SIP protocol (XCCOS)
Upon running the setup I have got the following error:
Prerequisite not satisfied: Internet Information Services (IIS) must be installed before attempting to install this product.
Prerequisite not satisfied: The following Internet Information Services (IIS) role services must be installed before attempting to install this product: Static Content, Default Document, HTTP Errors, ASP.NET, .NET Extensibility, Internet Server API (ISAPI) Extensions, ISAPI Filters, HTTP Logging, Logging Tools, Tracing, Client Certificate Mapping Authentication, Windows Authentication, Request Filtering, Static Content Compression, Dynamic Content Compression, IIS Management Console, IIS Management Scripts and Tools
Prerequisite not satisfied: Before you install Skype for Business Server 2015, you must install an update for Windows Server 2012 R2. For details about the update, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2982006, “IIS crashes occasionally when a request is sent to a default document in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2” at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=519376
Prerequisite not satisfied: Before you install Skype for Business Server 2015, you must install Microsoft ASP.NET 4.5 by using the Add Roles and Features Wizard in Windows Server 2012 Server Manager. Install the ASP.NET 4.5 role service of the Web Server (IIS) role.
Prerequisite not satisfied: Before you install Skype for Business Server 2015, you must install Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation Activation by using the Add Roles and Features Wizard in Windows Server 2012 Server Manager. Install WCF Services and HTTP Activation, which are included with the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 feature.
After the restart we will apply the update of the databases which in my case is going to be the FQDN of the FE server since it’s standard version and not Backend server.
My SQL Server version is SP1 so I don’t need to upgrade it to SP2
Step 6- In-place Upgrade for Skype For Business
In order to do the in-place upgrade, we’ll need to use a machine that doesn’t have Lync 2013 to install the new Topology builder and do the upgrade process
On a different Machine that’s joined to the same domain, I will run the prerequisites script and restart the machine. then I’ll load the Skype for business ISO and install
D:\Setup\amd64\Setup.exe
We’ll now press on Installing Administrative tools
Now in order to continue we’ll have to open the topology builder in order to upgrade our Lync 2013 topology
I’ll open the topology builder and save the topology file somewhere
Once the topology is open, I’ll navigate to the Standard FE Servers and right click on my main server to upgrade
I’ll click on Upgrade to Skype for Business Server 2015…
As soon as you press Yes, the Frontend server that you selected will be moved under the Skype For Business Server 2015 tab as you can see below.
Since I have two FE servers (FE and SBS) I will be upgrading them both but not in the same time not not fall into any errors, so I will publish the topology and see what happens.
We’ll check what do we need to do now in order to upgrade the servers, here is what we’ll do.
Import existing normalization rules from the previous Skype for Business Server deployment. If you want to keep your existing normalization rules you will need to import them using the Import-CsCompanyPhoneNormalizationRules cmdlet. If you have separate normalization rules for each pool then you will need to run the command for each set.
To perform an in-place upgrade of your Skype for Business Server, you’ll need to do the following, in order:
(1) Stop the Skype for Business services on all of the servers that you are upgrading;
(2) Run Skype for Business Server setup (Setup.exe) on all of the servers you are upgrading;
(3) Start the Skype for Business services on all of the servers you upgraded. To start the services in a Front End pool, connect to one of the servers in the pool and run the Start-CsPool cmdlet. All the servers in the pool should be running Skype for Business Server before you use the Start-CsPool cmdlet. To start the services in all other pools (e.g. Edge pool, Mediation pool), run the Start-CsWindowsService cmdlet on every server in the pool;
Server FQDN: lyncfe01.adeo.local, Pool FQDN: lyncfe01.adeo.local
On Lync FE 01 I’ll stop all the services using Stop-cswindowsservice
Now on the same server I’ll load the Skype4B ISO and start the setup
D:\Setup\amd64\Setup.exe
Started at 1:40pm
NOTE:
The required time for the upgrade process is estimated around 75-90 Minutes for each FE Server.
Web Conferencing Server connection failed to Establish on Edge server
In an environment of a domain with a backup DC you might face a problem with Lync Edge deployment.
After the step where you have to add the CA authority certificate to your Trusted CA store in Edge Server you might notice
some errors with Edge server trusting the connection from Front end or vice versa.
The problem will happen if there’s two CA certificates in the Trusted CA store and you only have imported one of them.
Looking at the Front End server Certificate store which is joined to the Domain. We still need to dig more to make sure the certificate chain is fully installed.
Errors might be generated by the same symptom are:
Web Conferencing Server connection failed to establish.
Over the past 1 minutes Lync Server has experienced incoming TLS connection failures 1 time(s). The error code of the last
Failure is 0x80090325 (The certificate chain was issued by an authority that is not trusted. ) and the last connection was from the host “”.
Cause:
This can occur in case the box is not properly configured for TLS communications with remote Web Conferencing Server.
Resolution:
Check your topology configuration to ensure that both this host and remote Web Conferencing Server can validate each other TLS certificates and are otherwise trusted for communications.
—
The XMPP Translating Gateway Proxy has no connections to any XMPP gateways.
Cause: Connectivity issue.
Resolution:
Check that a configured gateway is running.
—
TLS outgoing connection failures.
Over the past 1 minutes, Lync Server has experienced TLS outgoing connection failures 1 time(s). The error code of the last failure is 0x80090325 (The certificate chain was issued by an authority that is not trusted.) while trying to connect to
the server “EGELYNCFE.domain.local” at address [192.168.16.45:5061], and the display name in the peer certificate is “Unavailable”.
Cause: Most often a problem with the peer certificate or perhaps the host name (DNS) record used to reach the peer
server. Target principal name is incorrect means that the peer certificate does not contain the name that the local server used to connect.
The root certificate is not trusted error means the peer certificate was issued by a remote CA that is not trusted by the local machine.
Resolution:
Check that the address and port matches the FQDN used to connect, and that the peer certificate contains this FQDN
somewhere in its subject or SAN fields. If the FQDN refers to a DNS load balanced pool then check that all addresses
returned by DNS refer to a server in the same pool. For un-trusted root errors, ensure that the remote CA certificate chain is installed locally. If you have already installed the remote CA certificate chain, then try rebooting the local machine.
Resolution:
To Resolve this problem, make sure that you export both CA from Front End and import them in to Edge’s Trusted root
To add a certain number of Lync users to certain client list, you can create a distribution group with the following options
The group scope should be universal
The group type will be Distribution.
You must include the e-mail address
Now when this group is created, you can add any number of users to it. I will add couple of users from Lync users
After adding the users that I wanted to add. Now I have to go to Lync server and force the Address book synchronization between GAL and Lync.
Wait about 5 mins to Clients to download latest updates and then you will be able to see the changes on the client list. If not you can force the clients to download the new updates by using GPO to force special registry value
That’s it you should be all set after you ran this command line and you should be able to see the new DHCP options are showing in the DHCP server console.
To test the configuration you can run the same tool with a different parameter which will do the test for you, On a nother computer that’s not the “DHCP” open command prompt and run the following command line.
DHCPutil.exe -EmulateClient
Note: I’m attaching all the required files to this page below for download.
Troubleshooting:
If you run the command and you get the error below, then you might have a missing step
First the setup window will come: there I will choose No RAID on Asterisk 13 since this is a virtual machine.
Here I will choose IPv4 static IP (Manual configuration) and click OK
Choose the time zone according to the nearest location to you
Next, we’ll configure the root password
Here it’s formatting the Disk that I have assigned to the VM.
It should start the installation now and should download all the required packages from the internet incase they were not found on the ISO which I’ve loaded.
Now the installation is about to finish and once it does, the machine is supposed to restart on its own allowing you to go to the Web UI.
Upon setup and restart, you might get the following error! The error states that your PBX can’t access the internet so you might wanna double check your NIC configuration and that you’re able to reach to it.
This is usually related to the DNS setup on the Centos machine where “AsteriskNow” is setup.
If you do a test and try to update your system from the CLI window you might get this error which is related to the DNS.
To resolve it, you’ll have to replace the localhost with any public DNS e.g. (google or comodo DNS) or any internal DNS that’s capable of reaching out to the internet to resolve this problem.
To edit the DNS you will have to type in the command “nano /etc/resolv.conf”
The default DNS is the localhost
and you’ll have to manually change it and save the settings
Press Ctrl + X and then Press Y to save and hit Enter
To test that we can access the internet you can nslookup google.com for instance and see if it works
Once you are able to resolve the google.com, that error will go.
Now to continue, let’s setup a FreePBX Admin (Make sure you remember both username and password)
Click on the (FreePBX Administration) and enter the username and password you have just created in the previous step.
This will allow you to the configuration portal
Extensions configuration:
To start, let’s configure an extension (Since I don’t have an IP phone now) so I will use a SIP application for my test (Zoiper or Xlite would do fine)
Select Chan SIP device as this talks directly with Lync Trunk then Click Submit once you choose the device .
Now I will configure the new extension’s number, name and secret and port too.
Under device options, you have to set the secret (Password) which you’ll use to login to your sip phone or sip softphone..
Note:
You need to also make sure that the port configured under the device is what will be used for the device to login with this sip extension
so basically the sip port in this case is 5060 which is the default one unless you’re already using a different port then you’ll have to reconfigure it here.
I’ll leave the rest of the options on default value and click submit. Then apply Config
Applying Configuration
Now I will use a soft phone (SIP Application) on my PC to check out if calls are working properly. And for the second extension a second computer with the same software or even A software like Zoiper or Xlite can be utilized on iPhone or Android for the same purpose.
No other settings are required on the SIP phone after that it should register without an issue. And you’ll be able to make calls between SIP phones
I am going to call my computer (3700) sip phone (Xlite) from my iPhone (Zoiper) soft phone (3800)
So calls are working properly between SIP extensions, now we’ll have to go configure Lync and Asterisk Configuration.
Before starting, we’ll have to enable the TCP protocol on Asterisk for Lync to send calls to Asterisk since Lync talks only TCP.
Enabling Asterisk to listen on TCP
Enable TCP for Lync and SIP Phones for Asterisk
I’ll have to configure the local networks and the RTP port range as well.
Next I’ll click on Submit, and apply configuration then on top right I’ll click on Chan SIP to configure the ports and the right protocol
Under SIP Settings, make sure your settings matches the snapshot below, then navigate to advanced settings
Under Advanced General settings make sure that CHAN_SIP is bind to port 5061 or else calls from Lync will fail with “Unauthorized” error code.
Once you change the port scroll further down to Other SIP settings and add the following variables
Tcpenable = Yes
Transport = tcp
Submit the changes and apply the configuration.
Lync Configuration
Now I will go on Lync server now (Standard edition) and enable the TCP port for the mediation server (Collocated mediation service)
To do so
Right click on your Mediation server and edit properties and Enable TCP port and change it from 5068 to 5060.
I will publish the topology
Published the topology and now it’s time to run the setup as it will install the mediation server role on Front end.
Next I will run the second step (Setup or remove Lync Server Components):
I will go check if the mediation service is enabled now
I will run the command netstat -anb >1.txt
The command will export all the ports status on the server including each of the Lync services.
So Lync mediation service is listening on the default sip port 5060.
Now I will go back to the topology and add the PSTN Gateway (AsteriskNow)
Right click on PSTN Gateways –> Click add PSTN gateways
Next
Next, I will type in the AsteriskNow PBX IP address and the port that “Chan_SIP” driver is listening on since all calls are going to be routed to it.
And will select my mediation server and the Mediation server’s configured port on Lync.
Click Finish and Right click on your front end server and click properties
Make sure you
Click on Make default and then OK then publish the topology
Asterisk Configuration
Asterisk side of the Integration
In order for the configuration to work, we’ll have to configure a new trunk of the Asterisk IP PBX to identify where is the Lync server ..etc
Let’s go to our Asterisk portal, configure new trunk by going to Connectivity -> Trunks then choose “Add SIP(chan_sip) Trunk”
You will need to fulfill the boxes in red below each with what pertain to it.
The IP 172.16.24.195 is my Mediation server (Front end since Mediation server is collocated)
TCP is the protocol that Lync uses
5060 is the port which Lync listens on
I will clear all the settings below “User Details” and save this trunk
Now field cleared and next will click on Submit Changes.
Inbound Routes
I have applied the configuration and now it’s time to create routes on Asterisk to route calls to Lync.
To configure routes, click on Connectivity and then Inbound routes
Click Submit now and Apply Config for changes to take effect
Outbound Routes
It’s time to configure the outbound routes, Depending on your Lync users URI or telephone number and extension number you will have to configure
Your outbound routes according so it will be able to route it properly to Lync users.
I’m going to show my user’s uri and extension on Lync server and what does it look like now
So the entire number is +2163314210 but my extension is basically 4210
Now again click on Connectivity > Outbound routes and add new “Dial Pattern” as following
The +216331 will be automatically entered by AsteriskNow once you dial the number defined in the “Match Pattern” field
Once finished configuring the required dial patterns you can submit and apply …
Lync Voice Route Configuration
Now it’s time to go configure Lync Routes, Go to Lync Server and open the Control panel, Go to Voice routing there we will go under the dial plan
tab and choose New \ User Dial Plan.
If you don’t want to mess up your Global dial plan or let every new user be able to use this dial plan ,you will have to configure a user dial plan.
I will have to create 2 normalization rules at least in the new dial plan. The first one is going to normalize the inbound numbers
And the second one is going to normalize the outbound.
Since on PBX I choose to create extensions that begins with 3 and are 4 digits long, I will create a normalization rule that’s exactly 4 digits
And it starts with 3. depending on your PBX configuration for the extension and inbound routes Lync needs to either have or not have the + in the dial plan
Now I will create the second dial plan which is from Asterisk to Lync “To match the full URI”
The normalization rule that I am creating here is 10 digits long and it starts with 21633 and it has + digits to add
After creating the Dial plans, it’s time to test them now! I will go to the Test Voice Routing Tab and create a test
So the test for Asterisk Extensions goes well
Now I will test the Lync dial plan
Since Asterisk is going to send the full URI as it will auto complete it even if the user enters the extension only (4210) then our rule is configured properly
Now after configuring rules and testing them it’s time to go to Voice Policy tab and create a new voice policy for Asterisk
Click on New under “Associated PSTN Usages”
Click on New under Associated Routes
You can leave the pattern .* (Which will allow all calls) for the time being until we test everything between both systems.
Scroll down and click on Add next to “Associated Trunks”
Select the available trunk and add it then Click OK 3 times and commit all changes
Now after applying all the configuration, It’s time to apply some tests.
From Asterisk to Lync
Below when I initiated the call I managed to see the SIP invite coming from the IP “172.16.24.195” which is my AsteriskNOW PBX IP going to Lync and then the phone starts ringing.
When I have answered the call the RTP starts flowing.
Here I typed RTP in the Wireshark filter and could see the RTP media flowing between Asterisk and Lync Mediation server on the G.711 codec.
Note:
What I like about Asterisk is that it sends all users information along with the call and doesn’t strip them out, in extension information I have typed the extension name as “NEWPHONE” and put it all in capitals.
From Lync to Asterisk
Since the call is from Lync to Asterisk, then I will have to run wireshark or trace on Asterisk to see the Invite.
You can see Asterisk logs if you click on “Reports> Asterisk LogFiles”
Once the call has ended I was able to see that in detail as well in the logs.
All the media was
Next few days I will install and configure Brekeke to work with both (Asterisk and Lync) in the same environment… and share my deployment update with you all.