• – New look and feel
• – Call from Skype for Business using your desk phone for audio
• – Integration with the Skype directory
• – Call Monitor
• – Rate My Call
• – Quick access to call controls
• – Emoticons

The new UI is much similar to Skype and probably intended to keep the same user experience between the two different versions of the Skype. This includes the format of the IM, presence indicators, buttons, icons and other UI elements including emotions in Skype. Calling features include dialling to your desk phone if you have Skype for Business Server 2015 and it is just seamless call experience aside having rich integration of Skype directory to locate contacts. Call monitor is another good and handy feature introduced in Skype for Business which can expand to full screen and to the smaller miniature window for active Skype calls with complete call controls and quick access. Similar to the commercial version of the Skype, you can rate call quality which will help Skype for Business Server administrators to identify problems and improvements based on feedback data collected via rate my call features. However, this feature of Rate My Call works only for the on-premise deployments.

In short, Skype for Business has finally taken over to Microsoft Lync for better messaging, audio and video calls, online meetings and precisely the unified communications.

MachPanel module for Skype for Business helps complete automation for provisioning, management and billing of Skype for Business users. We can even help you to deploy Microsoft Skype for Business and migrate or upgrade from Lync legacy version to Skype for Business.

The post Lync is now Skype for Business — What’s New! appeared first on MachSol Blog.

MachSol® (http://www.machsol.com) a Microsoft Exchange Validated solution Vendor is to maintain the tradition of supporting latest Microsoft products and technologies as MachSol proudly announces to roll out MachPanel support for Microsoft Exchange 2013, Lync 2013 and SharePoint 2013.

The post Complete Support for Exchange 2013 – SharePoint 2013 – Lync 2013 appeared first on MachSol Blog.

So, to help out those who are planning to offer Lync as a hosting service or those who already are, I suggest planning DNS and certificates as following:

Meet URL configuration:

For every hosted domain you will need meet URLs. These URLs are used to schedule online meetings. I would recommend first reading this article: Planning for Simple URL. For a hosting company, Option 3 mentioned in this article is best choice. Format for meet URL as per Option is:

https://lync.contoso.com/contosoSIPdomain/Meet

https://lync.contoso.com/fabrikamSIPdomain/Meet

Where lync.contoso.com is Provider’s domain and contosoSIPdomain and fabrikamSIPdomain are hosted domains. Following this format will minimize DNS and certificate requirements.

DNS for Hosted Domain:

If you have followed Option 3 for meet URL, you now only need three DNS records for every hosted organization. Frist one for client auto configuration; an SRV record _sip._tls.<hosteddomain> pointing to sip.<providerdomain>. Second, for federation; an SRV record _sipfederationtls._tcp.<hosteddomain> pointing to sip.<providerdomain>. Third one is for Lync Mobile Clients: ‘A’ record lyncdiscover.<hosteddomain> pointing to MCX Server.

Using such planning, there will be no need to update and reapply certificates. However, clients will display a pop up window while logging in, informing that you are being redirected to another server:

At this point user should check the box ‘Always trust this server’ (after seeing the certificate details and making sure that this is indeed service provider’s server).

Apart from being cost effective and easy, another advantage is that, if you expand the Certificate Details, your hosted organizations will not be exposed!

The post External DNS and Certificates Planning for Lync 2010 as Hosting Service appeared first on MachSol Blog.

MachSol Inc. is proud to rollout comprehensive support for Microsoft Lync 2010 Hosting Pack allowing you to extend your service level by offering Unified Communication Solutions to your customers. Lync is predicted to be Microsoft’s next killer platform having potential to become $1 billion business application and motivation to be adopted by millions of users. MachSol envisages technological advances and is actively engaged in developing next generation business automation solutions and is a Microsoft Validated Solution Vendor.

• – Fully automated hosted organization creation
• – Automated hosted user creation
• – Customizable meeting URLs
• – Load balancing in case of multiple front end servers
• – Phone number assignment
• – Assigned phone numbers list for every hosted organization
• – Multi-tenancy and segregation on Microsoft’s guidelines
• – Organization management interface for providers and customers
• – SIP domain creation
• – Service Plan creation
• – Add-on Management
• – Integration with Exchange 2010 SP2
• – Integration with UM Role
• – Integration with other services like CRM, SharePoint, MachPanel billing module
• – Offline and online order forms

MachSol being a Microsoft validated solution vendor delivers MachPanel – the most advanced, fast and secure web host automation solution, fully supporting Lync 2010 Hosting Pack and turnkey deployment servicces, Exchange 2010 SP2, CRM 2011, SharePoint 2010, BlackBerry Enterprise/Express and classic mail and web hosting. Our pricing is based on a very competitive Pay-as-you-go model with top-notch 24×7 customer support. Our Microsoft Certified Engineers can help you migrate, upgrade, design and deploy your infrastructure.

The post Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Multitenant Pack – Now Supported! appeared first on MachSol Blog.

$urlEntry = New-CsSimpleUrlEntry -Url "https://lync.MyDomain/SipDomain/Meet"
$simpleUrl = New-CsSimpleUrl -Component "Meet" -Domain "SIPDomain" -SimpleUrl $urlEntry -ActiveUrl "https://lync.MyDomain/SipDomain/Meet"
Set-CsSimpleUrlConfiguration -Identity Global -SimpleUrl @{Add=$simpleUrl}
Enable-CSComputer

Above commands once executed will create simple URL but this easy task becomes quite difficult if you had to do it remotely (for any purpose like an automation solution for Lync management). Inside a vb.net code above shell cmdlets were called. But upon execution below error came: Assignment statements are not allowed in restricted language mode or a Data section.

Few solutions to bypass above error were tried like setting execution policy to unrestricted , using admin credentials for remote session etc. , but all in vain.

<

p style=”text-align: justify;”>However, another approach was used to get this task done by saving these cmdlets in a ps1 file and executing the file. Following is the code snippet that does this:

Try
Proc.StartInfo.FileName = "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"
Dim ScriptFile As String = “C:\Script.ps1”
Dim PSCommand As String = "Import-Module Lync" & vbCrLf
PSCommand &= Command
File.AppendAllText(ScriptFile, PSCommand)
Proc.StartInfo.Domain = DomainNETBIOS
Proc.StartInfo.UserName = ADUserName
Proc.StartInfo.LoadUserProfile = True
Dim Pass As New System.Security.SecureString
For Each character As Char In ADPassword
Pass.AppendChar(character)
Next
Proc.StartInfo.Password = Pass
Proc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
Proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = True
Proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
Proc.StartInfo.Arguments = " -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command &'" & ScriptFile & "'"
Proc.Start()
Proc.WaitForExit()
If Not Proc.StandardError Is Nothing Then
Dim ErrorMsg As String = Proc.StandardError.ReadToEnd
If ErrorMsg <> "" Then
Throw New Exception(ErrorMsg)
End If
End If
Proc = Nothing
File.Delete(ScriptFile)
Catch ex As Exception
Throw New Exception("Error processing PS command: " & ex.Message)
End Try

Often you will find that new approach to a problem is better than focusing all efforts in one direction

The post Remotely Creating Lync Simple URL – Lync Automation Solution appeared first on MachSol Blog.

MachSol Inc. is proud to announce complete support for Microsoft Lync 2010 to empower you with Microsoft’s enterprise ready unified communication platform. MachSol being a Microsoft Gold Partner and official validated control panel vendor is actively engaged in supporting latest Microsoft technologies to help you stay competent and ahead of competition.

• Segregated hosted Lync users
• Organization, SIP Domain and user creation and management
• Phone number assignments
• Policy Assignments using Service Plan and Add on
• Customer self-service control panel
• Email templates for Lync operations

MachSol being a Microsoft validated solution vendor delivers MachPanel – the most advanced, fast and secure web host automation solution fully supporting LYNC 2010, Exchange 2010 SP2, CRM 2011, SharePoint 2010, BlackBerry Enterprise/Express and classic mail and web hosting. Our pricing is based on a very competitive Pay-as-you-go model with top-notch 24×7 customer support. Our Microsoft Certified Engineers can help you to migrate, upgrade, and design and deployment of your own infrastructure.

The post Go Unified with MachPanel Lync Module appeared first on MachSol Blog.

Dear Customer,

We at MachSol Inc, are pleased to announce the immediate availability of latest build of MachPanel Provisioning System – Complete SaaS & Traditional Hosting Windows Control Panel. Latest build MachPanel v.4.3 Build 10 includes an array of new features and performance improvements alongside bug fixes, to name a few are:

• Lync 2010 is fully supported by MachPanel.
• Verified and added support for “SmarterStats 7” in HostMatic Module.
• Added Chinese language pack to translate MachPanel into Chinese.
• Export Customer List – First Name, Last Name, Company and Email Address fields.
• Disable Auto Processing from Service Queue.

You may review the complete list by visiting the useful links mentioned as under:

– How to Update to MachPanel v.4.3 Build 10

For more information about MachPanel, visit our website at: http://www.machsol.com or call Toll free number: +1 877 622 4765. Our Sales & Support team is always available to assist you in every respect.

The post MachPanel v.4.3 BUILD 10, Now Available appeared first on MachSol Blog.