Author: Brendan Carius

Through reverse engineering here is my take on how Lync Mobility push notifications function for Apple and Windows Phone devices. This article assumes that push notifications is configured and the user is granted the policy to permit push notification (default). Push notifications is only applicable when the application is running in the background (inactive). When the Lync Mobile application is active, HTTPS communications via the Reverse Proxy is used. As you’ll see below, the reverse proxy continues to be the transport for IM conversations, and the push notification is simply the notification service for the device.… [Keep reading] “Lync 2010 Mobility – Push Notifications”

Lync Server 2010 Mobility supports an internal and an external automatic discovery record. As described in this post, the mobile client signs-in by performing a DNS query for lyncdiscoverinternal.<your sip domain>. If this record is not present (does not resolve), the client attempts lyncdiscover.<your sip domain>. This design approach aligns to the Lync 2010 client software for Windows. First an attempt for the SRV record _sipinternaltls._tcp.<your sip domain>, followed by _sipinternal.tcp, followed by _sip._tls, then the A record fallbacks.… [Keep reading] “Lync 2010 Mobility – Do I need lyncdiscoverinternal?”

The best way to understand the internals of a product or service is to reverse engineer the process using logging and network captures. Capturing the process end-to-end helps paint a clear view as to what is going. Here is what happens when you sign-in on the Lync Mobile client for Windows Phone.

1. Enter sign-in information and credentials into the Lync Mobile client. (hmmm, screen crack)

   

2. Performs a standard DNS query for lyncdiscoverinternal.<sip domain namespace>.

   If the client is external, this DNS resolution will fail and the client will drop to the next discovery record

3. Performs a standard DNS query for lyncdiscover.<sip

Lync mobility requires the installation of cumulative update 4 across your Lync server infrastructure. To install CU4, visit here. Once CU4 is deployed, you’re ready to configure the mobility service. You can download the Mobility deployment guide here. A high level summary is:

1. DNS: Create an External DNS CNAME.

   Create CNAME Lyncdiscover.<your sip domain> that resolves to your external web services.

2. Configure Ports: Configure Ports for the Mobility Service

   Set-CsWebServer –Identity <name of pool> –McxSipPrimaryListeningPort 5086
   

   Set-CsWebServer –Identity <name of pool> –McxSipExternalListeningPort 5087
   

   Enable-CsTopology –verbose
   

3. Install Components: Install the Mobility and Lync Automatic discovery services

   On each front-end and director run McsStandalone.msi