Logging/Tracing in Lync Server 2013

In Lync Server 2013 the way to enable tracing has changed there is no longer GUI to enable the tracing, its done via command line.

The command is “ClsController.exe” and is located in “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Lync Server 2013\ClsAgent\” on the Lync 2013 Server, in Lync 2010 you ran the “Lync logging Tool” and selected components that you wished to trace, started the trace and re-created the problem, stopped the trace and then “Analysed” the trace with the snooper tool.

Lync 2013 doesn’t allow you to select the components that you wish to trace, you now select a scenario that you wish to trace/

The flow is now:

• ClsController.exe -start –scenario –pools
• Reproduce the Issue
• ClsController.exe -stop –scenario –pools
• ClsController.exe -flush –pools
• ClsController.exe -search –pools –components –loglevel

 Today I came across this post by Richard Brynteson at MasteringLync.com

http://masteringlync.com/2012/08/02/centralized-logging-in-lync-2013/

The output file is created on the desktop of the user logged in running the bat file, then you can use snooper from the Lync Debug Tools to open the file

All Lync Server 2013 have the ClsAgent running on them, so you only need to run the ClsController.exe once and it will collect from all servers in the pool identified.

Exchange Versions

So was looking for exchange versions today to see what version of UM Language Pack we needed to run with and came across this TechNet article.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/240.exchange-server-and-update-rollups-build-numbers.aspx

Lync Documentation

So by now everyone has noticed that the default MS documentation for Lync is for Server 2013.  To get the Lync Server 2010 documentation you can update the URL to include (v=ocs.14) in the URL as shown below.

New-CsRgsAgentGroup for Lync 2010

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg413065(v=ocs.14).aspx

New-CsRgsAgentGroup for Lync 2013

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg413065.aspx

Lync Client Authenticaition

Here is a great article on how Lync Client authentication works, from both an internal and external perspective.

Amazed at some of the posts on the Lync NextHop website...

http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2012/11/28/lync-2010-client-authentication.aspx

Lync 2013 Client Address Book Update

The Lync client by default will download the address book from the Lync FE server after a random amout of time once the address book is more that 24 hours old.

There is a Registry Key that can be updated to set the initial delay to 0 mins, in other words as soon as your local file is either: 

1. Not on the PC (has been deleted)
2. Or is more that 24 hours old

The following reg add is the key, its slightly different to from the 2010 client as Lync 2013 policies now reside under the office 15.0 side of things.

reg add HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync /v GalDownloadInitialDelay /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

The address book files on the client are now also stored at a different location.

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync\sip_<lync_signin_address>

Lync Client Comparison Tables

I attended the Lync 2013 Ignite training the other week in Sydney and was keen to get some more information around Lync client capabilities.

Well Microsoft have published a nice little article on what each client functionality is:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg425836%28v=ocs.15%29

Lync Server Install Fails on SQL Express Install

Have run across this issue a few times now and it always take me a while to find to find the registry key that needs to be updated so thought I would port about it.

The issue is that the SQLExpress install fails as the systems thinks there are pending file deletes to happen during a reboot, but even after the reboot you get the same error.

The below is the error that is seen.

The registry key that needs to be updated is under:

HKLM > SYSTEM > ControlSet001 > Control > Session Manager > PendingFileRenameOperations

Just open the entry and delete the contents, close the Lync Deployment Wizard and re-run the Lync Bootstrapper.  All should be good.