Supported Migration Paths and Coexistence Scenarios

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2

This topic provides an overview of the supported migration paths from prior versions of Office Communications Server to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and the supported coexistence configurations during phased migration. For details, see Migration.

You can migrate to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 from the following earlier versions:

Office Communications Server 2007
Live Communications Server 2005 with Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Important:
The Back-End Database schema has changed with Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

Migration Methods

Migration of all Office Communications Server topologies and server roles is supported. You can migrate from one topology to a different topology, such as from Standard Edition server to Enterprise Edition server in a consolidated configuration.

The following two migration methods are supported:

Side-by-side migration
This migration method is supported for Office Communications Server 2007 and Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1 deployments.
In side-by-side migration, a new Office Communications Server 2007 R2 configuration is built alongside the Office Communications Server 2007 configuration. After the new configuration is fully validated, users are moved from the original configuration to the new configuration. This method requires additional servers during the migration, and system names and pool names are different in the new configuration. During this type of migration, service outage is brief or nonexistent.
Uninstall/reinstall
This migration method is supported for Office Communications Server 2007 deployments and Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1 deployments, if the hardware meets requirements. For details about hardware requirements, see Internal Office Communications Server Component Requirements.
This type of migration is similar to a disaster recovery. All user and configuration data is exported and stored in a backup location. Office Communications Server 2007 is uninstalled, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is installed, and then all user and configuration data is restored. This migration method allows you to reuse servers (with new or existing hardware) and retain existing system and pool names and IP addresses. During this type of migration, service outage is expected to be longer. This method requires an operating system upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit.

Migrations can be approached in a phased fashion. Migrations from Office Communications Server 2007 start with the internal network and move to the perimeter network. Migrations from Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 start with the perimeter network and move to the internal network.

Before migration begins, Active Directory domains and forests must meet the requirements specified under Environmental Requirements.

During an uninstall/reinstall migration, the operating system must be upgraded to a 64-bit edition. Microsoft SQL Server must be upgraded to at least SQL Server 2005 with SP2 or to SQL Server 2008.

Phased Migrations

The coexistence scenarios described in this section support phased side-by-side migrations. For details about supported phased migration scenarios and migration steps, see the migration documentation in the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 TechNet Library at the Microsoft Web site: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=132106.

Coexistence Scenarios

This section identifies components that can interoperate during a phased migration.

Note:
Any coexistence scenario not included in this section is not supported.

The following coexistence scenarios are supported:

An Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Enterprise pool or Standard Edition server can communicate with the following Office Communications Server 2007 server roles in support of an inside-out migration:

Director
Edge Server

Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access

Important:
Although Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Enterprise pools and Standard Editions servers can communicate with the 2007 version of Communicator Web Access, you cannot deploy a 2007 version of Communicator Web Access once you have run the Active Directory preparation steps for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. For details, see Coexistence Restrictions and the migration documentation in the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 TechNet Library at the Microsoft Web site: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=132106.

Important:

Although Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Enterprise pools and Standard Editions servers can communicate with the 2007 version of Communicator Web Access, you cannot deploy a 2007 version of Communicator Web Access once you have run the Active Directory preparation steps for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. For details, see Coexistence Restrictions and the migration documentation in the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 TechNet Library at the Microsoft Web site: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=132106.

Mediation Server

An Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Edge Server or Director can communicate with a Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1 Enterprise pool or Standard Edition server for IM only.
An Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Enterprise pool or Standard Edition server can support the following clients:
- Office Communicator 2007
- Office Communicator 2005 (for IM and presence only; enhanced presence and voice/video are not supported)
- Office Live Meeting 2007
An Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Mediation Server can communicate with an Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise pool or Standard Edition server.
An Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Monitoring Server can receive Call Detail Record (CDR) data and Quality of Experience (QoE) data from Office Communicator 2007 and Office Communicator 2005 (CDR only) clients that are homed on an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Enterprise pool or Standard Edition server.
Users using Office Communicator 2007 R2 or the 2007 R2 version of Communicator Web Access can communicate with users using the following clients, regardless of where the users are homed:
- Office Communicator 2007 (supports IM, voice/video, Web conferencing)
- 2007 version of Communicator Web Access (supports IM, voice/video, Web conferencing)
- Office Communicator 2005 (supports IM and legacy presence)
- 2005 version of Communicator Web Access (supports IM and legacy presence)

Coexistence Restrictions

The Back-End Database schema has changed with Office Communications Server 2007 R2, so a new SQL Server instance is required for an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Enterprise pool. An existing Back-End Database with the required level of SQL Server 2005 can host an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Back-End Database, but there might be performance limitations for a collocated back end.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Administrative Tools cannot be used to manage Office Communications Server 2007 servers. Install Office Communications Server 2007 Administrative Tools to manage Office Communications Server 2007 components during migration.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Archiving Server cannot interoperate with Office Communications Server 2007 components, and Office Communications Server 2007 Archiving Server cannot interoperate with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 components. The Archiving Server version must match the version of the pool.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Mediation Servers and clients homed on Office Communications Server 2007 R2 cannot interoperate with the Office Communications Server 2007 QoE Monitoring Server. Office Communications Server 2007 pools also cannot interoperate with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Monitoring Server. However, if both an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 pool and an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Monitoring Server are installed, Office Communications Server 2007 Mediation Server can interoperate with them (that is, it can successfully send QoE reports that are captured by the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Monitoring Server).

Outside Voice Control requires Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Mediation Server. In side-by-side phased migrations, do not enable Outside Voice Control until all Mediation Servers are upgraded to Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Edge Servers cannot communicate with Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise pools or Standard Edition servers because migration from Office Communications Server 2007 must be inside-out. However, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Edge Servers and Directors can communicate with Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1 Enterprise pools or Standard Edition servers, thus supporting an outside-in migration path from Live Communications Server 2005 SP1.

Applications that use the Live Communications Server 2005 application programming interface (API) are not supported.

If you have built, or plan to build, applications that use the UC AJAX API for Office Communications Server 2007 but also plan to deploy Office Communications Server 2007 R2, you must have Communicator Web Access (2007 release) deployed successfully before you run the Active Directory preparation steps for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. You can either keep an existing version of Communicator Web Access (2007 release), or you can deploy a new version of Communicator Web Access (2007 release) before you run the Active Directory preparation steps for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. For details, see the migration documentation in the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 TechNet Library at the Microsoft Web site: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=132106.

Users using Office Communicator 2007 R2 cannot be homed on a Communications Server 2007 or a Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1 Enterprise pool or Standard Edition server.

Updates Required for Coexistence Scenarios

Some product updates are required to support coexistence between certain earlier components and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 during migration. The following updates are required:

For Office Communicator 2007 to coexist with Office Communications Server 2007 R2, you need to apply the latest update rollup package for Office Communicator 2007. The rollup package is provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 957465. For details, see Knowledge Base article 957465, "Description of the Communicator 2007 hotfix rollup package: December 19, 2008," at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139874.
For Mediation Server 2007 to coexist with Office Communications Server 2007 R2, you need to apply the update provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 956829. For details, see Knowledge Base article 956829, "Description of the update package for Communications Server 2007 Mediation Server October, 2008," at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139876. In addition, you need a script to associate Mediation Server 2007 with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to send QoE reports. For details, see “Associate Office Communications Server 2007 or Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Mediation Server with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Pool” at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=144354.
For Office Communications Server 2007 to coexist with Office Communications Server 2007 R2, you need to apply the update provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 956389. For details, see Knowledge Base article 956389, "Description of the update package for Communications Server 2007: November 2008," at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=137299.

For Office Communicator 2005 to coexist with Office Communications Server 2007 R2, you need to apply the latest update rollup package for Office Communicator 2005. The rollup package is provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 949280. For details, see Knowledge Base article 949280, "Description of the Communicator 2005 hotfix rollup package: December 19, 2008," at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139875.

Important:
If you apply this update, be sure to first apply the update provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 950614 to ensure that Office Communicator 2005 users can continue to log in to Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 servers. This prerequisite update is provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 950614. For details, see Knowledge Base article 950614, "Description of the update for Live Communications Server 2005 Service Pack 1: September 2008," at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140105.

Important:

If you apply this update, be sure to first apply the update provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 950614 to ensure that Office Communicator 2005 users can continue to log in to Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 servers. This prerequisite update is provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 950614. For details, see Knowledge Base article 950614, "Description of the update for Live Communications Server 2005 Service Pack 1: September 2008," at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140105.

For Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1, if you plan to migrate global settings from the System container to the Configuration container, you must apply the update provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 911996. For details, see Knowledge Base article 911996, "Description of the update for Live Communications Server 2005: February 10, 2006, rereleased July 11, 2006," at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=132177.
For audio/video (A/V) conferencing, it is recommended that you apply the update provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 956831. For details, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 956831, "Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 Audio Video Conferencing Server: October, 2008," at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139896.