Configuring Lync and SharePoint as Partner Applications

Before Lync and SharePoint are configured as partner applications, certificates must be installed for each application. For Lync, server authentication certificates are installed as part of the Lync deployment process. For SharePoint, certificates are not installed by default as part of the deployment process; therefore, at least one server certificate must be installed and mapped to a SharePoint site before server-to-server authentication with Lync is configured.

After the certificates are installed on both sides, Lync and SharePoint can be configured as partner applications by exchanging the certificates using the authentication metadata documents exposed on each side. On the SharePoint 2013 side, the New-SPTrustedSecurityTokenIssuer cmdlet is used to connect to the URL of the Lync 2013 metadata document and retrieve the required information from it. The default URL for the Lync authentication metadata document is https://<LyncFqdn>/metadata/json/1, where <LyncFqdn> is the fully qualified domain name of a Lync Front End Server. For example, the following procedure would be used to configure Lync as a partner application for the companyabc.com SharePoint 2013 deployment:

1. Log on to a system where the SharePoint 2013 administrative tools are installed using an account with local administrative rights on the system, and that has been assigned the securityadmin fixed server role on the SharePoint SQL instance, as well as the db_owner fixed database role on the SharePoint SQL databases.

2. Open the SharePoint Management Shell, and execute the following command:

Click here to view code image

New-SPTrustedSecurityTokenIssuer -MetadataEndpoint
https://lyncse1.companyabc.com/metadata/json/1 -IsTrustBroker -Name "Lync trust"

3. If the command is successful, the Management Shell displays details regarding the Lync certificate and the new partner relationship.

On the Lync 2013 side, the New-CsPartnerApplication cmdlet is used to configure SharePoint 2013 as a partner application for Lync. The default URL for the SharePoint authentication metadata document is https://<SPfqdn>/_layouts/15/metadata/json/1, where <SPfqdn> is the fully qualified domain name of any SSL-enabled web application on the SharePoint 2013 farm. For example, the following procedure would be used to configure SharePoint as a partner application for the companyabc.com Lync deployment:

1. Log on to a system where the Lync administrative tools are installed using an account that is a member of the CsAdministrator group, and has administrative rights on the local system.

2. Open the Lync Server Management Shell, and execute the following command:

New-CsPartnerApplication -Identity sharepoint -ApplicationTrustLevel full -MetadataUrl https://abcsite.companyabc.com/_layouts/15/metadata/json/1.

3. If the command is successful, the properties of the new partner application are displayed, as shown in Figure 21.3.

Figure 21.3. Configuring SharePoint as a partner application in Lync.