Edge servers enable your internal and external users to communicate using Microsoft Office Communicator or the Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 client. Depending on your needs, you install edge servers in one or more of the following roles:
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Access Edge Server
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Web Conferencing Edge Server
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A/V Edge Server
In addition to these Office Communications Server 2007 roles, you might need to install a Reverse Proxy.
The following table provides an overview of how these servers are used.
Table 1 Edge server requirements overview
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Server
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Required to Support
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Corresponding Internal Server Required
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Protocol
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Access Edge Server
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Any external user scenario, including public IM connectivity, remote user access, federation, external access to conferences, and external access to voice functionality
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Office Communications Server 2007 server or pool and, optionally, a Director
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Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
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Web Conferencing Edge Server
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External Web conferencing
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Web Conferencing Server
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Persistent Shared Object Model (PSOM)
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A/V Edge Server
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A/V conferences with external users
Point-to-point A/V calls with external users
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A/V Conferencing Server
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RTP/RTCP, Simple Traversal of UDP through NAT (STUN)/
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Reverse Proxy
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Group expansion, address book file download, and access to meeting content (such as slides) for Web conferencing by external users
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Web Components Server (IIS)
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HTTP(s)
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Before you deploy be aware that, for web and IM conferences involving federated participants, Office Communications Servers edge servers verify that the connecting server has the appropriate certificates and is configured for federation. However, the Office Communications Servers edge servers in your organization rely on the federated peer server to send the legitimate SIP URI of the participant and hence cannot guarantee the identity of the external conference participants in a federated Web or IM conference. To distinguish external users, Office Communicator 2007 provides a visual indication for users from a federated domain in the conference roster. Additionally, the title bar of the conversation window contains a globe icon to indicate that external participants are included.
When clients connect to a Web conference or an A/V conference hosted by a federated domain, the clients treat the roster and all conferencing information coming from the federated domain as trusted information.
Additional details about when you need each edge server is provided in the following sections.
When You Need an Access Edge Server
If you want to enable external or remote users to collaborate with any Office Communications Server users in your organization, you must deploy an Access Edge Server, in addition to any other edge servers and internal servers you might deploy.
The Access Edge Server provides the core functionality for collaboration between your internal users and users outside your internal network who are using Communicator or the Live Meeting 2007 client. The Access Edge Server provides a single, trusted connection point for both outbound and inbound Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) traffic.
Like the Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 Access Proxy, the Office Communications Server 2007 Access Edge Server enables the following capabilities:
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Federation. Internal users can communicate with external users of a federated organization by using IM or conferencing. You can also configure federation with an audio conferencing provider (ACP) to provide telephony integration.
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Remote user access. Remote or roaming users of your organization can access servers running Office Communication Server from outside your intranet.
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Public IM connectivity. Employees can use IM to communicate with users of instant messaging services that are provided by the MSN® network of Internet services, Yahoo!®, and AOL®. Public IM connectivity requires a separate license.
When You Need a Web Conferencing Edge Server
If you want external users to participate in your internal conference meetings, you can deploy a Web Conferencing Edge Server.
The Web Conferencing Edge Server permits external users to join on-premise meetings by using the Live Meeting 2007 client. When your organization deploys a Web Conferencing Edge Server, internal users can invite remote users to meetings, including users from a federated domain (federated users) or other external users (anonymous users, who do not have an identity in the Active Directory® Domain Services either in your organization or in a domain that is federated with your organization).
Enterprise users and federated users are authenticated using their Active Directory credentials. Anonymous users are authenticated by using a per-meeting conference key provided to them inside the invitation conference organizers send. For more information about anonymous users, see the Office Communications Server 2007 Technical Overview.
When You Need an Audio/Video Edge Server
Add an A/V Edge Server if you want to make it possible to share audio and video with external users, such as vendors or employees who are working from home. With an A/V Edge Server, users can:
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Add audio and video data to meetings with external participants.
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Share audio and video directly with an external user (point-to-point).
An A/V Edge Server provides a single, trusted connection point through which media traffic enters and exits your network.