Lync / SfB 2013 Client Security Update – May 2015

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As part of “Patch Tuesday” this month (which naturally occurs in Australia on a Wednesday) we have a Security Update for the Lync 2013 (aka Skype for Business) Client:

  • MS15-044 Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Font Drivers Could Allow Remote Code Execution (3057110).
  • Kb3039779 Description of the security update for Lync 2013 (Skype for Business): May 12, 2015.

What’s Fixed?

This security update provides improvements that are described in the following article:

  • Kb3064068 May 12, 2015, security update for Skype for Business (Lync 2013) changes text strings in Outlook add-in

This security update resolves non-security issues that are described in the following articles:

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Lync Phone Edition Update – May 2015

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We have a new update for Lync Phone Edition and it includes some great fixes! This LPE firmware update takes us from 4.0.7577.4445 to 4.0.7577.4463.

Fixes

Quoting from the KB: This cumulative update resolves the following issues:

  • Kb3062287 Moscow time on a telephone plus one hour after you apply an October 2014 update for Lync Phone Edition
  • Kb3061582 Lync Phone Edition for Aries telephones does not connect to Exchange Web Service through an HTTP proxy server
  • Kb3061581 Users cannot sign in to Lync Phone Edition by using Aries or Tanjay telephones after they are migrated to Office 365
  • Kb3050594 Lync Phone Edition crashes and then prompts you for PIN credentials or phone numbers in a Lync conference room
  • Kb3050592 Lync Phone Edition signs out and then signs back in when it is in idle state
  • Kb3027682 Lync Phone Edition restarts when all replica servers are shut down
  • Kb3014922 Date format and ring tone are reset to the default value after you apply an update for Lync Phone Edition
  • Kb3014921 Lync Phone Edition cannot automatically sign in when the primary front-end server that you register is shut down

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Vale Company_Phone_Number_Normalization_Rules

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Since upgrading the Front End to Skype for Business Server last week it’s become apparent (thanks Ken!) that our old friend “Company_Phone_Number_Normalization_Rules.txt” has been retired. It’s been replaced by PowerShell and with some generic rules to hopefully get you started.

Thankfully as before, Event 21034 will tell us if we have numbers in our AD that weren’t able to be normalised:

Event21034-Edit

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Flip your Lync 2013 Edge to SfB

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In my last post (Upgrading to Skype for Business Server 2015) I showed how easy it was to take a Standard Edition Lync 2013 Front-End and upgrade it in-place to Skype for Business Server 2015.

Inspired by how simple it turned out to be I thought I’d flip my Edge as well – only to be hit by a puzzling bug…

The process is essentially the same, and captured here in picture form for you.

Don’t Skimp on the Pre-Req’s

As with the Front-End, the Edge upgrade process was able to download and install missing pre-requisites, so that will cover you if you’re not been all that thorough in your attention to the pre-req’s. Indeed, if you’re running Server 2012 “R1” you can probably get by without actually adding any by hand.

Having said that, a lot of customers don’t give their Edge servers access to the Internet, so for those of you in this category, skimping on the pre-req’s isn’t going to get you far.

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Upgrading to Skype for Business Server 2015

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The long-awaited ISO has hit, and I’ve been looking forward to taking the in-place upgrade process for a spin.

The snag here is that you need to kick this process off from a server already running the SfB Admin Tools – so that meant another machine. Whilst this server could have been only a short-term investment – or my own x64 Windows 8.1 machine for that matter – I’ve decided it will be my new “application” server, for tools like SEFAUTIL, Espera & Cerebro.

That of course just leaves me with the obligatory step-through, with any useful tips and traps highlighted.

References

There are plenty of others referencing this same process, and I’ve been able to benefit from and consolidate some of their contributions here.

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Lync Server 2013 Update – May 2015

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Buried in amongst the excitement of yesterday’s arrival of the Skype for Business Server 2015 ISO on MSDN and the swarm currently descending upon Chicago is quite a worthy update to Lync Server 2013. This one takes Lync Server 2013 from 5.0.8308.871 (or 5.0.8308.872 depending upon where you look) to 5.0.8308.887.

What’s Fixed?

  • kb3051962 Lync Server 2013 URL filter policy does not filter hyperlinks that do not contain the “http://” prefix in a Lync client
  • kb3051963 Lync Mobile Client call is dropped immediately when you dial 0 for an operator
  • kb3062801 Lost data when Lync Server 2013 directories move to Skype for Business
  • kb3053028 Incorrect notification “You’ve left the call” appears in a meeting in Lync Web App in a Lync Server 2013 environment
  • kb3051965 Audio modality icon status is not updated after you join a Lync audio meeting in Lync Server 2013-based Lync Web App
  • kb3051968 Meeting fails when you escalate a peer-to-peer instant message conversation to it in a Lync Server 2013 environment
  • kb3051969 Lync Server 2013 Web Conferencing service cannot input or output data in a Lync file share
  • kb3057445 Event 41027 is logged when the Lync Server 2013 Web Conferencing service creates the “Meeting.Active” file
  • kb3051964 You cannot see some Lync Server 2013 response groups that you are a member of on the agent sign-in page in Lync client

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Mucking with MWI – Part II

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In the process of migrating a customer to Lync recently we inherited an obligation to provide a *BIG* Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) light whenever a voicemail message arrived in a particular high-priority mailbox. That inspired me to embark on a campaign to see how many ways I could bring an external MWI light to reality.

Mucking with MWI – Part I uses a scheduled PowerShell script to query MWI and light a Blynclight.
Mucking with MWI – Part II is this post. Here we use the MWI LED in a CX600 to drive a mains-powered light through an optically-isolated solid-state relay (herein “SSR”).

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Lync 2013 Client Update to Skype for Business – April 2015

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IT’S HERE! Today marks the release of the new Skype for Business Client update to Windows Update. Much has been written in anticipation of this of late and there are plenty of references I’ve captured below.

Until Office 2016 is released, THIS is your client-side update path to Skype for Business: Install Lync 2013 from Office 2013 and then patch it with this (or a later) update & the necessary pre-req’s. You will also use this patch to turn your “Lync Basic” client into a “Skype for Business Basic”. (Read more of the free Basic client here).

If you want to manage the rollout of this internally via SCCM or WSUS, the two KBs you’re interested in are these:

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Mucking with MWI – Part I

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In the process of migrating a customer to Lync recently we inherited an obligation to provide a *BIG* Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) light when-ever a voicemail message arrived in a particular high-priority mailbox.

We figured there were a number of ways we could do this:

  • Optically couple to the MWI LED on an LPE or 3PIP phone. This obvious (albeit a bit clunky) solution was dismissed following our inability to find a commercial sensor and solid state relay or similar combo that could do this. (We didn’t want to be supplying or supporting a home-brew solution)
  • Electrically couple to the MWI LED on an LPE or 3PIP phone. This would obviously void the phone’s warranty and was dismissed due to similar shortcomings as above re home-brew & supportability
  • Perhaps we could get one of the programmable I/O pins in the Snom PA1 to go high on MWI? Alas, nope, not in the current firmware anyway
  • Some custom EWS application? (None were found to exist, and the budget didn’t extend to creating one)
  • Use Exchange’s MWI messages? (Possibly do-able. Tested but ended up somewhere between too messy and too hard).

And thus it was that I embarked on a bit of a campaign to see how many ways I could bring an external MWI light to reality.

Mucking with MWI – Part I is this post. It uses a scheduled PowerShell script to query MWI and light a Blynclight.
Mucking with MWI – Part II opto-couples to the MWI LED in a CX600 to drive a mains-powered light.

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Skype for Business 2015 client technical preview

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IT’S ALIVE!

The excitement’s been building since the announcement last November, and now you can download a technical preview of the new Skype for Business client.

Download it here. (You’ll need a Microsoft login). I’ve captured the process for you below BTW.

Read the announcement on the Office Blog site.

What’s new.

Matt Landis’ evolving post on Skype for Business is also a great read.
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