Designing Lync 2010 Infrastructure
This article will go over the basic architecture designs of Lync 2010, including how to deploy Lync 2010 according to your business needs. Let’s start with the features of Lync 2010, which can influence the server roles you choose to deploy according to your organization’s needs.
Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence
IM enables your users to communicate with real-time text messages, and presence enables them to see the status of other users on the network. A user’s presence status provides information to help colleagues choose if they should try to contact the user, and by what type of communication. This is a basic feature of Lync 2010 and enabled by default.
Conferencing
Conferencing is another main feature of Lync 2010. There are different types of conferencing modes and you can choose to deploy all supported types of conferencing, or just some of them. Web conferencing allows users to share and see each other’s file such as a PowerPoint presentation, similar to WebEx. Application sharing allows users to share all or part of their desktop for remote troubleshooting. With AV conferencing, users can add audio and video to their conferences and peer-to-peer communications. Dial-in conferencing allows guest users to use standard PSTN phones to join the audio portion of conferences hosted at your organization.
Enterprise Voice
Enterprise Voice is the Lync version of VoIP. It provides a smart substitute to traditional PBX-based telephony. Enterprise Voice allows users to place calls using softphone from their computers or VoIP phones provided by third-party solutions such as Polycom. Users can place calls over the IP network from computer to computer, computer to telephone, or telephone to computer. Users benefit from having all of their communications options including voice, email, IM, and conferencing, available and integrated on their computers.
Starting with the physical topology, Lync 2010 only differentiate two types. Central site consists of one or more Front End Pool and branch site is a spoke of a central site. Lync 2010 design must contain at least one central site and zero or more branch sites. Branch site consists of survivable branch server, PSTN gateway, Mediation server and survivable branch appliance.
Survivable Branch Appliance
Survivable Branch Appliance is a standard 1U server with Lync Registrar and Mediation server. This contains a PSTN gateway and is designed for small branch servers.
Survivable Branch Server
Working with Lync 2010, Survivable Branch Server runs Server 2008 R2 and is installed with Lync 2010 registrar and mediation server. It is usually connected via an SIP trunk to a phone service provider. It is ideal for large sites of 2000 or more users.
Mediation Server/PSTN Gateway
Mediation Server/PSTN Gateway can be used in branch sites where there is a reliable WAN link between the central site and branch site. With this design, users will be unable to make calls when WAN link is down.
As with other Microsoft products, there are various roles that make up the Lync 2010 infrastructure. Understanding these roles will help you better design your environment. While not all roles are required, each role provides a unique functionality. In HA designs where “pools” exist, all members of the pool must be identical with similar roles, though most roles can be installed on a single server in small environments. Lync does require a database server. Lync 2010 database can run on a server running MS SQL. For HA deployments, single copy SQL cluster or SQL mirroring is recommended.