Tag Archives: Skype for Business In-Place upgrade

Step by step Skype for Business Server 2015 In-Place upgrade from Lync Server 2013: Standard Edition

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Skype for Business Server 2015 provide In-Place upgrade option which can be relevant for Lync Server 2013 customers. Microsoft didn’t make any changes in hardware profile for Skype for Business Server 2015, therefore customer can adopt SfB easily to get the latest enhancements. In this post, I will cover step by step in-place upgrade for SfB standard edition. In my setup, I have one Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition with Mediation server collocated and one SQL server for Archiving and Monitoring databases.

In-place upgrade is available in two mode:

1. Migrate user mode (No user downtime)

2. Offline-mode (User downtime)

To know more about in-place upgrade paths, read Planning for In-Place upgrade with Skype for Business

In this post, I am using offline-mode as I have one Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition pool.

I will start first thing first:

1. Must update your operating system with latest updates.

2. Download and Install Hotfix

Windows Server 2012 R2: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2982006

Windows Server 2012: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2858668

Windows Server 2008 R2: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2533623

3. Update Lync Server 2013 with minimum CU5 (Feb 2015)

Follow below KB article to download and install updates step by step. (Make sure update process completes successfully without any error and all given steps are covered)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2809243

4. Stop Lync Services on Standard Edition Server

5. Update SQL Server Express Edition on Lync Standard Edition Server. (Download and install SQL Server 2012 SP1)

6. Update SQL Server 2012 archiving & monitoring database server. (Download and install SQL Server 2012 SP1)

Reboot the servers after SP1 installation.

7. Check the Standard Edition pool status for upgrade readiness state.

Make sure: IsReadyForUpgrade: True

8. Go to any one of the domain joined Windows server in your environemnt and run Skype for Business Server 2015 intial setup to install Skype for Business Server 2015, Topology Builder and Management Shell.

9. Open topology builder and download topology from existing deployment.

10. Go to the Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition and right click to select “Upgrade to Skype for Business Server 2015…”

11. Click on Yes.

12. Now, you can observe Lync Server 2013 SE has been moved under Skype for Business Server 2015.

13. Now publish the topology.

14. Check readiness state one more time.

15. Stop Lync Server services gracefully.

16. Go to the services.msc and make sure all services are stopped, any Lync service should not be in paused or running state.

17. Run Setup.exe on Standard Edition server from Skype for Business Server 2015 media and follow the steps.

 

 

Note: If you are getting below prompt to restart the server, don’t worry just reboot the server and run the setup wizard once server comes up.

 

 

 

Once upgrade process has completed successfully you can review the logs.

 

18. Open Skype for Business Server 2015 Management Shell and run Start-Cspool… (you can also use –Force switch)

Once SE pool started successfully, go to the Skype for Business Server Control Panel.

 

19. If you open monitoring reports on upgraded server, you will still find Lync Server 2013.

20. To upgrade the monitoring reports, go to the deployment wizard and run “Deploy Monitoring Reports”

Once deployment process is completed successfully, open monitoring reports for Skype for Business Server.

 

Hope, you enjoyed upgrade process J

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Planning for In-Place upgrade with Skype for Business

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Many organizations might have plan to upgrade their existing Lync infrastructure and waiting for Skype for Business general availability. Skype for Business green field deployment is almost same as it was in Lync Server 2013. If you are planning for in-place upgrade of Lync Server 2013 infrastructure, you will have to consider many best practices. There are a few key recommendations which you should consider while planning for In-Place upgrade.

Before going to talk about the recommendation for in-place upgrade, would like to clear “Skype for Business In-place upgrade only supports vanilla Lync Server 2013 infrastructure”. For more details and options please go through my preceding blog post Skype for Business: In-Place Upgrade and Migration Path.

There are two options for In-Place upgrade:

  1. Migrate-users mode (No user downtime): Basically, this option is only available if organization has more than one Lync Server 2013 pool (Don’t consider paired/secondary/backup pool). With this option administrator has to move all the users from the primary registrar pool to any other Lync Server 2013 pool and upgrade the primary pool. Once FE pool and associated server roles have been upgraded then move the users back to the primary pool. Follow the same process for multiple pools.

  2. Offline mode (Downtime require): You can consider this option if the organization has only single pool or two pools in backup/paired pool configuration. This method requires downtime or you can upgrade Lync Server 2013 infrastructure in non-business hours or weekends. Please make sure entire upgrade process should be occur in one shot and till that time Lync Services will not be available to end users.

For both the options Lync Server 2013 infrastructure should be updated with Lync Server 2013 CU5 before starting the in-place upgrade process.

Below are the key recommendation while planning for in-place upgrade.

  • No in-place upgrade with pool failover option

    Don’t use failover cmdlet to failover the primary pool to backup pool and start in-place upgrade in primary pool. This method is not supported.

  • Don’t start services in mixed mode while upgrading.
  • Don’t unpair the pools before completing upgrade process in paired pool environment.
  • Ensure minimal downtime when the pools are paired with different versions.

Upgrade Order: Inside – Outside

  1. Users pools first
  2. Shared components like Mediation Server, Director etc.
  3. Edge
  4. CMS pool

Skype for Business: In-Place Upgrade and Migration Path

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Skype for Business is a first release of Microsoft UC platform which supports In-place upgrade. Now, there is no need to create a new setup if you are planning to update/upgrade your Lync Server 2013 infrastructure. If you are planning to migrate/upgrade your Lync Server 2010 infrastructure to Skype for Business Server, follow the same process as we used to have for Lync Server 2013. If you are getting confuse please have a look to the below visuals for better understanding.

Coexistent:


You can coexist between Lync Server 2013 and Skype for Business Server.

 


You can coexist between Lync Server 2010 and Skype for Business Server.

 

Tri-existence:

Tri existence is not supported.

 

In-Place Upgrade:


You can do in-place upgrade from Lync Server 2013 to Skype for Business Server.

 


You cannot perform in-place upgrade directly from Lync Server 2010 to Skype for Business Server. Follow the standard migration path.

 


If you want to perform in-place upgrade from Lync Server 2010 to Skype for Business Server. First migrate Lync Server 2010 to Lync Server 2013 and then you can do in-place upgrade from Lync Server 2013 to Skype for Business Server.

 

Direct Migration:


You can select the direct migration path from Lync Server 2013 to Skype for Business Server.

Direct migration from Lync Server 2010 to Skype for Business is available but if the customer have coexist environment between OCS 2007 R2 & Lync Server 2010 then they must have to migrate everything to Lync Server 2010 and after that only migration to Skype for Business will be available.