Active Directory and Domain Name Service Requirements

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[This is preliminary documentation and is subject to change. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

This topic describes the preparation required in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) and the Domain Name Service (DNS) records that must be created for the 2007 R2 version of Communicator Web Access.

Active Directory Requirements

The 2007 R2 version of Communicator Web Access must be deployed in an Active Directory forest where Office Communications Server 2007 R2 has already been deployed. Communicator Web Access does not require any extensions to the Active Directory schema beyond what was added during deployment of Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

For details about preparing Active Directory for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, see Preparing Active Directory Domain Services for Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

Domain Name Service Requirements

When you create a Communicator Web Access server, Setup creates Active Directory objects and settings for the server, including the virtual server address. For clients to be able to connect to the server, this virtual server address must be registered in DNS.

Required DNS Records

At a minimum, you are required to configure the following DNS records for all Communicator Web Access deployments:

  • An internal DNS Host Address (A) record that resolves the URL of the Communicator Web Access internal virtual server to the IP address of the physical server (or the virtual IP address of the hardware load balancer, if you are using one).
  • If you are using a load balancer with an array of Communicator Web Access servers, an internal DNS A record that resolves the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the physical server running the Communicator Web Access internal virtual server to the virtual IP address of the hardware load balancer.
  • An internal DNS Canonical Name (CNAME) record that maps the domain name as.<URL_of_the_internalvirtualserver> to the IP address that you specified in the A record for the internal virtual server.
  • An internal DNS CNAME record that maps the domain name download.<URL_of_the_internalvirtualserver> to the IP address that you specified in the A record for the internal virtual server.

If you plan to support Communicator Web Access for external users, you must also create the following DNS records:

  • An external DNS A record that resolves the URL of the Communicator Web Access external virtual server to the IP address of the physical server (or the virtual IP address of the hardware load balancer, if you are using one).
  • If you are using a load balancer, an external DNS A record that resolves the FQDN of the physical server running the Communicator Web Access external virtual server to the virtual IP address of the hardware load balancer.
  • An external DNS CNAME record that maps the domain name as.<URL_of_the_externalvirtualserver> to the IP address that you specified in the A record for the external virtual server.
  • An external DNS CNAME record that maps the domain name download.<URL_of_the_externalvirtualserver> to the IP address that you specified in the A record for the external virtual server.
  • If you are using a reverse proxy to publish Communicator Web Access for external users, an external DNS A record that resolves the external virtual server URL to the external IP address of the reverse proxy.
  • If you are using a reverse proxy, an internal DNS A record that resolves the URL of the external virtual server. This is typically the URL of the internal virtual server.
  • If you are using a reverse proxy, an external DNS A record that resolves to the external virtual server URL.