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Enabling Federation and Public IM Connectivity and Configuring Routing of Inbound and Outbound SIP Traffic

Topic Last Modified: 2009-03-04

Enabling federation and public IM connectivity makes it possible for internal users to communicate with federated partners and use public IM providers. To implement federation and public IM connectivity, you must enable this functionality and configure a default route for your internal Office Communications Server 2007 R2 servers to use to send outbound SIP traffic. You may have already configured support for federation and public IM connectivity at the global level when you deployed your servers, but you can also enable or disable support after deployment, as well as change the routing for outbound SIP traffic.

Note

After you enable federation and public IM connectivity at the global level, you enable federation, public IM connectivity, or both for each individual user account. You can use the Configure Office Communications Server Users Wizard or the Communications tab in Properties to configure the individual user accounts. For details about using the wizard, see Configuring Office Communications Server User Accounts By Using the Wizard. For details about using the Communications tab in Properties, see Configuring Federation, Remote User Access, and Public IM Connectivity for Individual Users.

The default route for outbound SIP traffic specifies the next hop server for all communication requests that do not match the SIP domains supported by your organization. The FQDN you specify for the route depends first on whether a Director is deployed:

  • If a Director is deployed, the FQDN for the default route can be the FQDN of the Director that is used to route SIP traffic outside your organization. A Director is recommended for security and scalability. The FQDN you specify depends on your configuration:
    • If you are using a single Standard Edition server as a Director, specify the FQDN of that server.
    • If you are using an Enterprise pool, specify the FQDN of the virtual IP address of the load balancer used by the pool.
  • If a Director is not deployed, the FQDN for the default route can be the internal FQDN of the Access Edge service. The FQDN you specify depends on your configuration:
    • If you are using a single Access Edge service, specify the internal FQDN of the service.
    • If you are using an array of Access Edge services, specify the FQDN of the virtual IP address used by the Access Edge service on the internal load balancer.

Configuration of the default route includes the following:

  • Configure the global default route. You must define the global-level default route for the forest to enable internal users to exchange SIP messages with users outside the organization network, including federated partners, public IM service providers, and remote users, as well as to track the presence of these external users. The default route is specified at the global level, so it is the default for all Standard Edition servers and Enterprise pools in the forest. The default route can be overridden for any single Standard Edition server or Enterprise pool. When you run the Configuration Wizard, the default route is automatically configured at the global level (for the forest).
  • Override the default route for an individual Enterprise pool and Standard Edition server. To use a route other than the global default route to send outbound SIP traffic from specific servers or pools, you can configure the pool-level settings to override the global default route. If you are using a Director, it is typically configured as the next hop server at the global level, but on the Director itself, you override this setting and configure the Access Edge service as the next hop server.

Use the procedures in this section, as appropriate, to enable federation and public IM connectivity and configure the global default route and, if appropriate, to override the global default route for a specific Standard Edition server or Enterprise pool.

Note

After you configure the global policy for federation and public IM connectivity, you need to manage federated partner access by configuring access by federated partners, and then monitor and manage access on an ongoing basis. For details and procedures, see Managing Federated Partner Access.

To enable federation and public IM connectivity and specify the global default route

  1. Log on to an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition server or a server with the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in installed as a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group or a group with equivalent user rights.
  2. Open the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in.
  3. In the console tree, right-click the forest node, click Properties, and then click Global Properties.
  4. Click the Federation tab.
  5. Select the Enable Federation and Public IM connectivity check box, and then do the following:
    • In FQDN, specify the FQDN of the Access Edge service, Director, or load balancer through which outbound SIP traffic is to be routed.
    • In Port, accept the default value of 5061.

To override the global default route for an Enterprise pool or a Standard Edition server

  1. Log on to an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition server or a server with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 installed as a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group or a group with equivalent user rights.
  2. Open the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in.
  3. In the console tree, expand the forest node, and then do one of the following:
    • For an Enterprise pool, expand Enterprise pools, expand the pool, right-click Front Ends, and then click Properties.
    • For a Standard Edition server, expand Standard Edition servers, right-click the pool, click Properties, and then click Front End Properties.
  4. On the Federation tab, in FQDN, specify the name of the next hop server.
  5. In Port, specify the port number. The default port is 5061.