Lync 2010 SimpleURLs

One of the changes that Microsoft made when they were developing Lync Server 2010 was to implement a method of providing URLs to access the system that was much simpler than in OCS 2007. The new method is called SimpleURLs.

There are three URLs that need to be published, namely Meet, Dial-in and Admin.

The Meet URL is used for all conferences and is in the format of https://meet.contoso.com/username/meetingID.

The Dial-in URL allows access to the Dial-in conference webpage which displays dial-in conference numbers, DTMF controls and allows management of PINs and is in the format of https://dialin.contoso.com.

The Admin URL allows access to the Lync Control Panel. This URL is only for access within the organisation and is in the format https://admin.contoso.com.

SimpleURLs can exist at both the Global and Site level. They are configured in Topology Builder or, at the site level, with the Powershell Set-CsSimpleURLConfiguration cmdlet. Overall, the method to use these cmdlets is

$newUrlEntry = New-CsSimpleUrlEntry -Url "https://meet.contoso.com" $newUrl = New-CsSimpleUrl -Component "meet" -Domain "contoso.com" -SimpleUrl $newUrlEntry -ActiveUrl "https://meet.conoso.com" Set-CsSimpleUrlConfiguration Global -SimpleUrl @{Add=$newUrl}

 

A Meet URL is configured for each domain in the organisation, but only a single Dial-in and Admin URL is required.

There are three options on how to configure the SimpleURLs and the choice has implications for DNS records and Certificates.

Simple URL Naming Option 1

Simple URL		Example		DNS	Certificates
Meet		https://meet.contoso.com, https://meet.fabrikam.com, and so on (one for each SIP domain in your organization)		One DNS A Record per domain	Each Meet URL must be a SAN entry
Dial-in		https://dialin.contoso.com		One DNS A Record	SAN Entry required
Admin		https://admin.contoso.com		One DNS A Record	SAN Entry required

 

Simple URL Naming Option 2

Simple URL		Example		DNS	Certificates
Meet	https://lync.contoso.com/Meet, https://lync.fabrikam.com/Meet, and so on (one for each SIP domain in your organization)	One DNS A Record required for Contoso.com SimpleURLs and one per domain	Each Meet URL must be a SAN entry
Dial-in	https://lync.contoso.com/Dialin	N/A	N/A
Admin	https://lync.contoso.com/Admin	N/A	N/A

 

Simple URL Naming Option 3

Simple URL	Example	DNS	Certificates
Meet	https://lync.contoso.com/contosoSIPdomain/Meet https://lync.contoso.com/fabrikamSIPdomain/Meet	One DNS A Record required	Single URL in the SAN entry
Dial-in	https://lync.contoso.com/Dialin	N/A	N/A
Admin	https://lync.contoso.com/Admin	N/A	N/A

 

Changing SimpleURLs may require DNS and Certificate changes. Whenever you change a simple URL name, however, you must run Enable-CsComputer on each Director and Front End Server to register the change.

SimpleURLs are limited to a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and the dot (.)

Some of the information in this post and a lot more besides is from Joe Calev's blog entry on the Complexities of SimpleURLs and the official Technet documentation.