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Top Things You Need to Know Before You Deploy Communications Server 2007 R2

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.

Before you implement Communication Server 2007 R2, there are some things you must consider. This article gives you a list of considerations as well as valuable links to additional information in important areas, such as infrastructure, voice, and conferencing. Think of it as a checklist that you can use to follow up on areas where you need more information.

Author: Chris Dragich

Publication date: January 2010

Product version: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2

Before you begin implementing your chosen topology, there are some important things you must know about the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 requirements and specific topologies. Some of the things that you need to consider before you finalize your design are highlighted in this article. For complete details, see Things You Must Know Before Completing Your Topology Design at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=156065.

Infrastructure Considerations

Your Active Directory environment must conform to the supported domains and configurations discussed in Supported Active Directory Topologies at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=177433.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 does not support single-labeled domains. For example, a forest with a root domain named local is not supported. For details, see Knowledge Base article 300684, "Information about configuring Windows for domains with single-label DNS names" at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143752.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 supports only 64-bit hardware and operating systems for all server roles. For details about the supported hardware and software, see Internal Office Communications Server Component Requirements at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=177434.

Voice Considerations

Voice communications via Office Communications Server 2007 R2 depend on the availability of the server software and the proper functioning of the voice clients or the hardware phone devices that connect to the server software.

For those locations where you install a voice client (for example, a PC running Office Communicator 2007 R2 or an Office Communicator Phone Edition device), we recommend that you maintain a backup option for users to call emergency services (for example, 911, 112, and 999, depending on the location) in case of a power failure, network connectivity degradation, telephone service outage, or other problem that may inhibit operation of Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Office Communicator 2007 R2, or the Office Communicator Phone Edition devices. Such alternative options could include a telephone connected to a standard PSTN line or a mobile phone.

Conferencing Considerations

Running real-time antivirus scanning on the shares that store meeting content, meeting content metadata, and meeting compliance data is not recommended. Doing so can adversely affect performance for Web Conferencing. We recommend the following:

  • Scanning for viruses only when the server has little or no load

  • Enabling and running antivirus protection on client computers at all times

You can deploy dial-in conferencing with Enterprise Voice, or without deploying Enterprise Voice. For details, see Things You Must Know Before Completing Your Topology Design at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=156065.

Server and User Considerations

An external DNS SRV record must exist for your Edge Server or array of Edge Servers to support discovery of your domain by federated partners. For details, see Certificate Requirements for External User Access at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=177506.

A reverse HTTP proxy is required to allow remote users to download address book information and expand distribution lists, and download device updates, as well as to allow external users access to meeting content for Web conferences.

If you are using an array of load balanced Edge Servers, the network interfaces of the A/V Edge service must be directly addressable at the IP layer and not behind a network address translator (NAT). If you have a single Edge Server, you can deploy the network interface of the A/V Edge service behind a NAT.

Installing any Office Communications Server 2007 R2 role on a global catalog controller or any other domain controller is not supported.

Multihomed network adapters or multiple network adapters configured with more than one default gateway are not supported on individual Office Communications Servers with the exception of Edge Servers.

Office Communications Server and Office Communicator do not support escaped characters in URIs. You should make sure that all SIP URIs conform to standard SIP grammar and contain no escaped characters.

Office Communications Server Resources