Managing PINs

Throughout the lifetime of the conferencing system, there will be users who find a way to lock themselves out with a PIN or need a PIN reset because it has been forgotten. Lync Server provides several ways for administrators to manage dial-in conferencing PINs, such as viewing the status of a current PIN or assigning a new PIN. This section covers the various operations an administrator can use with PINs.

Viewing PIN Status

Viewing the PIN status enables an administrator to verify whether a PIN has been set or whether the user is locked out. To view the PIN status, perform the following steps:

1. Open the Lync Server 2010 Control Panel.

2. Click Users.

3. Enter a username to enable and click Find.

4. Highlight the user and click the Action button.

5. Click View PIN Status. Figure 19.5 shows how an administrator can view the status of a user’s PIN.

Figure 19.5 Sample PIN Status

Viewing PIN status can also be performed using the Lync Server Management Shell:

Get-CsClientPinInfo –Identity <User Name>

Setting a PIN

Administrators can set a user account to a specific PIN or it can be randomly generated. To set a PIN, perform the following steps:

1. Open the Lync Server 2010 Control Panel.

2. Click Users.

3. Enter a username to enable and click Find.

4. Highlight the user and click the Action button.

5. Click Set PIN.

6. Select Automatically generate a valid PIN or Manually enter a specific PIN.

7. If a PIN was automatically generated, click the Show PIN box and notify the user of the new PIN.

Generating a new PIN can also be performed using the Lync Server Management Shell:

Set-CsClientPin –Identity <User name > -PIN <New PIN. Leave blank to automatically
generate one>

Locking a PIN

Administrators can manually lock a PIN, which prevents a user from authenticating to the system from a PSTN phone. Users cannot use a PIN to authenticate until the PIN is unlocked. PINs might also be locked automatically if a user exceeds the number of authentication attempts allowed.

To lock a PIN, perform the following steps:

1. Open the Lync Server 2010 Control Panel.

2. Click Users.

3. Enter a username to enable and click Find.

4. Highlight the user and click the Action button.

5. Click Lock PIN.

6. A visible lock icon displays next to the user’s account. Figure 19.6 shows a sample user that has had his PIN locked by a Lync Server administrator.

Figure 19.6 User Account with Locked PIN

Locking a user PIN can also be performed using the Lync Server Management Shell:

Lock-CsClientPin –Identity <User Name>

Unlocking a PIN

If a user’s PIN is locked manually or because of too many failed authentication attempts, an administrator can unlock the PIN.

To unlock a PIN, perform the following steps:

1. Open the Lync Server 2010 Control Panel.

2. Click Users.

3. Enter a username to enable and click Find.

4. Highlight the user and click the Action button.

5. Click Unlock PIN.

Unlocking a user PIN can also be performed using the Lync Server Management Shell:

Unlock-CsClientPin –Identity <User Name>