Simple URL Entry Point

The final major benefit of a Director is to serve as a terminating point for the simple URLs in an environment, as shown in Figure 9.3. Simple URLs are web URLs defined within Topology Builder that handle redirects for meetings, dial-in access numbers, and, optionally, the Lync Server Control Panel admin page. Just as with SRV records for sign-in, these URLs each have a single namespace that can be shared globally throughout the organization. When anonymous users connect to one of these names with a valid request, they are provided a redirect to the correct web services URL for a Front End pool. As with user sign-in, any Front End pool can handle this functionality, but publishing the simple URLs through a Director could be attractive to organizations that don’t allow anonymous remote users to access their Lync infrastructure.

Figure 9.3. Reverse proxy publishing of simple URLs to a Director.

As with the simple URLs in an environment, lyncdiscover.domain.com is a hard-coded DNS name that Lync mobile clients use to discover a connection point. Directors are a perfect target for this record because they also run the Autodiscover service within the internal and external IIS websites. Anonymous mobility requests reach the Director, the user is authenticated, and the user then receives a redirect to the web services URL for the primary registrar pool.