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Provision Public IM Connectivity (PIC) with Lync Server 2010 or Office Communications Server

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.

Public IM Connectivity (PIC) allows users to communicate quickly and efficiently. They can share presence and instant messaging (IM) with other users of Microsoft Windows Live Messenger, AOL, and Yahoo! public IM service providers. Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 enables organizations to connect their existing base of Office Communications Server-enabled users to the top public IM service providers. This article shows you how to provision or enable this functionality.

Authors: Tom Laciano, Terry Lyons

Publication date: March 2011

Product versions: Microsoft Lync Server 2010 communications software, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1

Public IM Connectivity (PIC) allows users to communicate quickly and efficiently. They can share presence and instant messaging (IM) with other users of Microsoft Windows Live Messenger, AOL, and Yahoo! public IM service providers. When you (a customer or a partner) want to establish PIC, a form of federation, with public IM service providers, the first questions are often “can my company do this?” and “where do I start?” In this article, we’ll explain how to initiate and complete the PIC provisioning process, highlighting areas that often generate questions.

Initiate the Provisioning Process

The provisioning process begins with a series of questions on the Office Communications Server Public IM Connectivity Provisioning site. You must sign in by using your Windows Live ID.

Tip

If you receive a “404 – File or directory not found” error, ensure that you’ve added the trailing forward slash (/).

To initiate the provisioning process, submit the following information to the provisioning site:

  • Microsoft Agreement Number

  • Access Edge service fully qualified domain name (FQDN)

  • Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) domain name(s)

  • Any additional Access Edge service FQDNs

  • Contact information

Getting Help

We’ve provided a high level overview of the PIC provisioning process. If you need more information, see the following:

Note

For details about PIC licensing for each partner (Microsoft Windows Live Messenger, AOL, and Yahoo!), see the Licensing Requirement section of Public IM Connectivity.

Changing PIC Provisioning Information

After you’ve set up your PIC provisioning, you might need to change some of the information that you submitted; for example, provide new domain names, delete domain names, change the FQDN of the Edge Server, and so on. To make changes, contact the PIC provisioning team.

You can also contact this team to request additional provisioning; for example, you need support for more than five domains. Additional provisioning isn’t available by using the questions on the provisioning site.

PIC Trial

As of January 2011, we have decided to discontinue the Lync Server free 120-day PIC trial because of low demand for PIC trials. In place of the trial, we encourage customers to sign up for the free PIC service. For more information, see Microsoft Lync Server Public IM Connectivity Provisioning. At no cost, customers can still be provisioned for Windows Live and AOL with the free PIC service. However, to obtain PIC with Yahoo!, customers will need to purchase a PIC license.

For details about eligibility, see the Public IM Connectivity Provisioning Guide on the Download Center.

IP Addresses and Public Domains

Each provider is responsible for the IP addresses and domain names used for PIC. This information is in Knowledge Base Article 897567.

Support when PIC isn’t Working

Who you contact for support when PIC isn’t working depends on what phase of the provisioning and deployment you’re in. If the problem occurs during the initial phase of provisioning and is occurring with all the providers that should be enabled, contact the PIC provisioning team to ensure that the provisioning request has been completed and is configured correctly. After you’ve confirmed that the provisioning was properly configured and you’re still having problems, contact Microsoft Support. Microsoft Support handles all PIC issues, including validating the Edge Server configuration, checking that the appropriate DNS SRV records are published, and validating the firewall rules that are required for traffic to each PIC partner. Microsoft Support also gathers logs that are used to determine if the issue is related to the customer’s Office Communications Server configuration or is specific to the PIC provider. For problems with a PIC provider, Microsoft Support opens a support incident with that provider on behalf of the customer.

When you contact Microsoft Support with a PIC issue, try to have the following information ready:

  • Has this worked before?

  • Has anything changed? (Firewall changes are the most common.)

  • Is this occurring with all PIC partners or with only a specific PIC partner?

  • Is federation working that has been established with another customer?

  • Is this occurring with all users or only with certain users?

  • Which client versions are used?

    • Microsoft clients   Microsoft Office Communicator, Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access.

    • PIC partners   Partners have desktop clients as well as Web clients that should both be tested.

    • Third-party clients   There are a few third-party solutions available; although they can work, they aren’t officially supported. Any problems have to be reproduced with a supported client by Microsoft and the PIC partners.

Summary

Establishing communications with a PIC provider by using Lync Server, Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Office Communications Server 2007, or Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1 deployments require that an online provisioning form be completed. In addition, the provisioning process requires configuring connectivity access at the Edge Server through the firewall to the PIC provider. This process takes 30 days or less to complete. Should any problems arise, you can contact the PIC provisioning team to help you resolve related issues.

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