3.5 Add Servers to the Pool

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will reach end of support on January 9, 2018. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

Note

Installing any Office Communications Server role on the computer running the Back-end Database Server is not supported. Ensure that you do not run any Add Server deployment tasks on the Back-end Database Server.

After you configure a pool, you will add servers to the pool. Before you add a server to the pool, ensure that you have met the requirements described in Infrastructure Requirements and Prerequisites in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition earlier in this document. Some requirements apply to specific server roles.

When you deploy Office Communications Server in an expanded configuration, servers are added individually. However, when you deploy Office Communications Server in a consolidated configuration, all server components are installed and activated together on a single computer. Follow the instructions for adding servers that are appropriate to the type of configuration that you want to deploy:

  • If you are deploying in an expanded configuration begin at 3.5.1 Add a Front End Server (Expanded Configuration).

  • If you are deploying in the consolidated configuration, proceed to 3.5.5 Add a Server (Consolidated Configuration), later in this topic.

3.5.1 Add a Front End Server (Expanded Configuration)

If you decide to add servers to an Enterprise pool in an expanded configuration, you will deploy server components on separate computers.

Adding a Front End Server consists of two basic steps:

  1. Installing the Front End Server, which copies the installation software onto the local computer.

  2. Activating the Front End Server, which runs the installation and configures the Front End Server.

Install Office Communications Server Front End Server

The installation procedure copies the files to the local computer, but it does not run activation. After the installation process is complete, activation performs additional configuration settings to allow the service to start.

To install an Office Communications Server Front End Server

  1. Log on to the server that you want to designate as the Front End Server as a member of the Administrators group. If you want to activate immediately after installation, log on also as a member of the DomainAdmins group and of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group.

  2. Insert the Microsoft Office Communications Server CD. The deployment tool will start automatically. If you are installing from a network share, go to the \Setup\I386 folder, and then double-click Setup.exe.

  3. In the deployment tool, click Deploy Pools in an Expanded Topology, and then click Add Front End Server.

  4. At Install Files for Pool Front-End Server, click Install.

  5. On the Welcome to the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Enterprise Edition Server Setup Wizard page, click Next.

  6. Review the license agreement, and then click I accept the terms in the license agreement if you agree to the terms of installation (required to continue installation). Click Next to continue.

  7. On the Customer information page, enter your User name, Organization, and Product key.

  8. Click Next to install files to the default location.

  9. Click Next again to begin installation.

  10. When the files have been installed and the wizard has completed, click Close to exit.

Activate the Front End Server

After you install your Front End Server, you need to activate the server before you can use it.

Before you activate, ensure that you have created a share to store the Address Book Service files, as described in Storage Requirements in Infrastructure Requirements and Prerequisites in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition, earlier in this document.

To activate the Office Communications Server Front End Server

  1. Log on to the server where you installed the Front End Server as a member of the DomainAdmins group and of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group. If you activate the server from within the forest root domain, membership in the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group is not required.

  2. Insert the Microsoft Office Communications Server CD. The deployment tool will start automatically. If you are installing from a network share, go to the \Setup\I386 folder, and then double-click Setup.exe.

  3. In the deployment tool, click Deploy Pools in an Expanded Topology, and then click Add Front End Server.

  4. At Activate Pool Front-End Server, click Run.

  5. On the Welcome to the Activate Enterprise Edition Server Wizard page, click Next.

  6. Click Select an existing pool in which to activate the server, click the pool that you have just created, and then click Next.

  7. On the Select Service Account page, enter the name of a new or existing service account to use for this server, and then enter the password for the account. The default account is RTCService. For a new account, ensure that you use a strong password that meets your organization’s Active Directory password requirements. When you are finished, click Next to continue.

    Note

    When you create a new account, there is some chance that activation will fail, and you have to wait for the account to be replicated in Active Directory before you can reattempt activation.

  8. On the Enable IM Archiving and Usage Details page, if you did not enable archiving or call detail recording when you created your pool, these options will be unavailable. Click Next to proceed. If you enabled archiving or call detail recording when you created your pool, optionally do the following:

    • Select the Enable Archiving Agent check box to enable archiving on this server.

    • Select the Enable CDR check box to enable call detail recording on this server.

    • Click Select message queue path, and then enter the name of the server running the Archiving and CDR Server back-end database.

      Note

      If Message Queuing is not installed, you cannot enable archiving or call data recording on this server.

      Important

      If you have not yet installed the Archiving and CDR Server, clear these check boxes. Activation of the Front End Server will fail if you select these check boxes but the Archiving and CDR Server has not yet been installed.

  9. Click Next.

  10. Review the settings, and then click Next to begin activation.

  11. When the wizard has completed, select the View the log file when you click Finish check box, and then click Finish.

  12. In the log, verify that <Success> appears under the Execution Result column. Optionally, look for <Success> Execution Result at the end of each task to verify server activation completed successfully. Close the log window when you finish.

If you are adding other servers to your expanded configuration, you can configure a certificate for the Front End Server after you have added the other servers. If you are not adding any other servers to your expanded configuration, skip to 3.6 Configure Certificates for Front End, Web Conferencing and A/V Server Roles to configure the certificate for the Front End Server now.

3.5.2 Add a Web Components Server (Expanded Configuration)

The Web Components Server enables users to upload presentations and other data for use by the Web Conferencing Server. Add the Web Components Server before you add the Web Conferencing Server to the pool.

Adding the Web Components Server to a pool consists of two basic steps:

  1. Installing the Web Components Server, which copies the installation software onto the local computer.

  2. Activating the Web Components Server, which runs the installation and configures the components.

Install the Web Components Server

The installation procedure copies the files to the local computer, but it does not run activation. After the installation process is complete, activation performs additional configuration settings to allow the service to start.

Ensure that you have installed IIS 6.0, as described earlier in Infrastructure Requirements and Prerequisites in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition, and then use the following procedure to install the Web Components Server.

To install the Web Components Server

  1. Log on to the server that you want to designate to run the Web Components Server as a member of the Administrators group. If you want to activate immediately after installation, log on also as a member of the DomainAdmins group and the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group.

  2. Insert the Microsoft Office Communications Server CD. The deployment tool will start automatically. If you are installing from a network share, go to the \Setup\I386 folder, and then double-click Setup.exe.

  3. In the deployment tool, click Deploy Pool in an Expanded Topology, and then click Add Web Components.

  4. At Install Files for Web Components, click Install.

  5. On the Welcome to the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Web Components Setup Wizard page, click Next.

  6. Review the license agreement, and then click I accept the terms in the license agreement if you agree to the terms of installation (required to continue installation). Click Next to continue.

  7. Click Next to install files to the default location.

  8. Click Next to begin installation.

  9. When the files have been installed and the wizard has completed, click Close to exit.

Activate the Web Components Server

After you install the Web Components Server, you have to activate the server to use it.

To activate the Web Components Server

  1. Log on to the server where you installed the Web Components Server as a member of the DomainAdmins group and of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group. If you activate the server from within the forest root domain, membership in the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group is not required.

  2. In the deployment tool, click Deploy Pool in an Expanded Topology, and then click Add Web Components.

  3. At Activate Web Components, click Run.

  4. On the Welcome to the Activate Web Components Wizard page, click Next.

  5. On the Select a Pool page, select the pool that you created, and then click Next.

  6. On the Select Service Account page, enter the name of a new or existing service account that will run the Web Components Server service, and then enter the password for the account. The default account is RTCComponentService. For a new account, ensure that you use a strong password that meets your organization’s Active Directory password requirements.

  7. When you are finished, click Next to continue.

    Note

    When you create a new account, there is some chance that activation will fail and you have to wait for the account to be replicated in Active Directory before you can reattempt activation.

  8. On the Select Service Account for Web Access page, enter the name of a new or existing account to use with IIS for anonymous and external user access to Web conference content, and then enter the account password. The default account is RTCGuestAccessUser. For a new account, ensure that you use a strong password that meets your organization’s Active Directory password requirements. When you are finished, click Next to continue.

  9. Review the settings, and then click Next.

  10. When the wizard has completed, select the View log files when you click Finish check box, and then click Finish.

  11. In the log file, verify that <Success> appears under the Execution Result column.

If you are adding other servers to your expanded configuration, you can configure a certificate for the Web Components Server after you have added the other servers. If you are not adding any other servers to your expanded configuration, skip to 3.7 Configure the Web Components Server IIS Certificate to configure the certificate for the Web Components Server now.

3.5.3 Add a Web Conferencing Server (Expanded Configuration)

After you have added a Front End Server and the Web Components Server, you can add a Web Conferencing Server to your pool. If your organization plans to support only instant messaging and presence, it is not necessary to add a Web Conferencing Server to your deployment.

Adding a Web Conferencing Server consists of two basic steps:

  1. Installing the Web Conferencing Server, which copies the installation software onto the local computer.

  2. Activating Web Conferencing Server, which runs the installation and configures the server.

Install the Web Conferencing Server

The installation procedure copies the files to the local computer, but it does not run activation. After the installation process is complete, activation performs additional configuration settings to allow the service to start.

To install the Web Conferencing Server

  1. Log on to the server that you want to designate as the Web Conferencing Server as a member of the Administrators group. If you want to activate immediately after installation, log on also as a member of the DomainAdmins group and the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group.

  2. Insert the Microsoft Office Communications Server CD. The deployment tool will start automatically. If you are installing from a network share, go to the \Setup\I386 folder, and then double-click Setup.exe.

  3. In the deployment tool, click Deploy Pool in an Expanded Topology, and then click Add Web Conferencing Server.

  4. At Install Files for Web Conferencing Server, click Install.

  5. On the Welcome to the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Web Conferencing Setup Wizard page, click Next.

  6. Review the license agreement, and then click I accept the terms in the license agreement if you agree to the terms of installation (required to continue installation). Click Next to continue.

  7. Click Next to accept the default path.

  8. Click Next to begin installation.

  9. Click Close to exit the wizard.

Activate the Web Conferencing Server

After you install the Web Conferencing Server, you must activate it to use it.

To activate the Web Conferencing Server

  1. Log on to the server as a member of the DomainAdmins group and of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group. If you activate the server from within the forest root domain, membership in the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group is not required.

  2. In the deployment tool, click Deploy Pool in an Expanded Topology, and then click Add Web Conferencing Server.

  3. At Activate Web Conferencing Server, click Run.

  4. On the Welcome to the Activate Office Communications Server 2007, Web Conferencing Server Wizard page, click Next.

  5. On the Select a Pool page, select the pool that you created, and then click Next.

  6. On the Select Service Account page, enter the name of a new or existing service account that will run the Web Conferencing Server service on this computer, and then enter the account password. The default account is RTCComponentService. For a new account, ensure that you use a strong password that meets your organization’s Active Directory password requirements. Click Next to continue.

    Note

    By default, the RTCComponentService account is used by both the Web Conferencing Server and the Audio/Video Conferencing Server.

  7. Review the settings, and then click Next.

  8. When the wizard has completed, select the View log file when you click Finish check box, and then click Finish.

  9. In the log, verify that <Success> appears under the Execution Result column. Optionally, look for <Success> Execution Result at the end of each task to verify activation completed successfully. Close the log window when you finish.

If you are adding other servers to your expanded configuration, you can configure a certificate for the Web Conferencing Server after you have added the other servers. If you are not adding any other servers to your expanded configuration, skip to 3.6 Configure Certificates for Front End, Web Conferencing and A/V Server Roles to configure the certificate for the Web Conferencing Server now.

3.5.4 Add an Audio/Video Conferencing Server (Expanded Configuration)

If your organization plans to support only instant messaging and presence, it is not necessary to add an Audio/Video Conferencing Server to your deployment.

Adding an Audio/Video Conferencing Server consists of two basic steps:

  1. Installing the Audio/Video Conferencing Server, which copies the installation software onto the local computer.

  2. Activating the Audio/Video Conferencing Server, which runs the installation and configures the Audio/Video Conferencing Server.

Install the Audio/Video Conferencing Server

The installation procedure copies the files to the local computer, but it does not run activation. After the installation process is complete, activation performs additional configuration settings to allow the service to start.

To install the Audio/Video Conferencing Server

  1. Log on to the server that you want to designate as the Audio/Video Conferencing Server as a member of the Administrators group. If you want to activate immediately after installation, log on also as a member of the DomainAdmins group and the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group.

  2. Insert the Microsoft Office Communications Server CD. The deployment tool will start automatically. If you are installing from a network share, go to the \Setup\I386 folder, and then double-click Setup.exe.

  3. In the deployment tool, click Deploy Pool in an Expanded Topology, and then click Add Audio/Video Conferencing Server.

  4. At Install Files for Audio/Video Conferencing Server, click Install.

  5. On the Welcome to the Office Communications Server 2007, Audio/Video Conferencing Server Setup Wizard page, click Next.

  6. Review the license agreement, and then click I accept the terms in the license agreement if you agree to the terms of installation (required to continue installation). Click Next to continue.

  7. Click Next to accept the default path.

  8. On the Confirm Installation page, click Next to begin installation.

  9. Click Close to exit the wizard.

Activate the Audio/Video Conferencing Server

When you are done installing the Audio/Video Conferencing Server, use these instructions for activation.

To activate the Audio/Video Conferencing Server

  1. Log on to the server where you installed the Audio/Video Conferencing Server as a member of the DomainAdmins group and the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group. If you activate the server from within the forest root domain, membership in the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group is not required.

  2. In the deployment tool, click Deploy Pool in an Expanded Topology, and then click Add Audio/Video Conferencing Server.

  3. At Activate Audio/Video Conferencing Server, click Run.

  4. On the Welcome to the Activate Audio/Video Conferencing Server Wizard page, click Next.

  5. On the Select a Pool page, select the pool that you created, and then click Next.

  6. On the Select Service Account page, enter the name of a new or existing service account to use to run the Audio/Video Conferencing Server service on this computer, and then enter the account password. The default account is RTCComponentService. For a new account, ensure that you use a strong password that meets your organization’s Active Directory password requirements.

  7. Click Next to continue.

  8. Review the settings, and then click Next.

  9. When the wizard has completed, verify that the View the log when you click Finish check box is selected, and then click Finish.

  10. In the log, verify that <Success> appears under the Execution Result column. Optionally, look for <Success> Execution Result at the end of each task to verify activation completed successfully. Close the log window when you finish.

  11. Click Close to return to the main page of the deployment tool.

If you are adding other servers to your expanded configuration, you can configure a certificate for the Audio/Video Conferencing Server after you have added the other servers. If you are not adding any other servers to your expanded configuration, skip to 3.6 Configure Certificates for Front End, Web Conferencing and A/V Server Roles to configure the certificate for the Audio/Video Conferencing Server now.

3.5.5 Add a Server (Consolidated Configuration)

When you add an Office Communications Server to a consolidated topology, all the server roles are installed and activated on the server.

To install and activate an Enterprise Edition Server to a consolidated configuration

  1. Log on to the Office Communications Server where you will install all the server roles as a member of the Administrators group, the DomainAdmins group, and the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group.

  2. Insert the Microsoft Office Communications Server CD. The deployment tool will start automatically. If you are installing from a network share, go to the \Setup\I386 folder, and then double-click Setup.exe.

  3. In the deployment tool, click Deploy Pools in a Consolidated Topology.

  4. At Add Server to Pool, click Run.

  5. On the Welcome to the Add Server To Pool Wizard page, click Next.

  6. Review the license agreement, and then click I accept the terms in the license agreement if you agree to the terms of installation (required to continue installation). Click Next to continue.

  7. On the Location for Server Files page, do one of the following:

    • To accept the default location where the files will be installed, click Next.

    • To install the files to another location, click Browse, browse to the location where you want the files to be installed, and then click Next.

  8. On the Ready to Install Components page, review the installation location and then click Next to begin installation. The Front End Server, Web Components Server, Web Conferencing Server, and Audio/Video Conferencing Server are installed.

  9. On the Select a Pool page, select the pool that you created, and then click Next.

  10. On the Select Main Service Account page, enter the name of a new or existing service account to use to run the core Office Communications Server service on this server, and enter the account password. The default account is RTCService. For a new account, ensure that you use a strong password that meets your organization’s Active Directory password requirements. When you are finished, click Next to continue.

  11. On the Select Component Service Account page, enter the name of a new or existing service account that will run the Audio/Video Conferencing Server and Web Conferencing Server components on this server, and then enter the account password. The default account is RTCComponentService. For a new account, ensure that you use a strong password that meets your organization’s Active Directory password requirements. When you are finished, click Next to continue.

  12. On the Select Guest Account page, enter the name of a new or existing account that you will use with IIS for anonymous and external user access to Web conference content, and then enter the account password. The default account is RTCGuestAccessUser. For a new account, ensure that you use a strong password that meets your organization’s Active Directory password requirements. When you are finished, click Next to continue.

  13. On the Enable IM Archiving and Usage Details page, if you did not enable archiving or call detail recording when you created your pool, these options will be unavailable. Click Next to proceed. If you enabled archiving or call detail recording when you created your pool, optionally, do the following:

    • Select the Enable Archiving Agent check box to enable archiving on this server.

    • Select the Enable CDR check box to enable call detail recording on this server.

    • Click Select message queue path, and then enter the name of the server running the Archiving and CDR Server back-end database.

      Note

      If Message Queuing is not installed, you cannot enable archiving or call data recording on this server.

  14. When you are finished, click Next.

  15. Review the settings that you have configured, and then click Next to begin activation.

  16. When the wizard has completed, verify that the View the log file when you click ‘Finish’ check box is selected, and then click Finish.

  17. In the log, verify that <Success> appears under the Execution Result column. Optionally, look for <Success> Execution Result at the end of each task to verify server installation and activation completed successfully. Close the log window when you finish.

When you are finished, you are ready to configure certificates.