Part I of this blog post series covers basic of key designs considerations and typical server configuration in traditional datacenter environment. Now, let’s discuss first thing first.

Create a mind map or sketch a rough design diagram of Skype for Business deployment and collect all the information that you need to size the application.

Create a rough Bill of Material and Bill of Quantity in your mind or note it down somewhere.

Create a list of things that you need to finish the deployment process such as DNS and Certificate requirement.

Look at the end user connectivity as well because at the end of the day end users have to consume these services.

Now, start mapping your rough design diagram component with Azure IaaS components.

Traditional datacenter and Azure IaaS uses the same logic but has different naming conventions. Below table shows you the right set of Azure IaaS services/component mapping with traditional datacenter.

Based on the table above, it really looks simple. But in actual, it is not. There are many limitations which you can find while deploying Lync / Skype for Business on Azure IaaS. As of now, you should get familiar with all the terminologies. Next part of this blog post will cover the limitations and will describe why Microsoft does not recommend Lync / Skype for Business on Azure IaaS.