Back-End Database

In Lync Server 2013 each Director stores its information in a local SQL Express 2012 database instance. This change alleviates an issue found in previous releases in which a Director used the same back-end database name as the one for the Front End servers. With the Front Ends and Directors using the same database name, it became impossible to use the same SQL server instance for both functions, which meant that a new SQL server or SQL instance had to be provisioned exclusively for the Director pool. The other downside was that a Director has a relatively low usage of the SQL server, so providing an exclusive server or instance was generally considered a waste of resources. Continuing to use a local database instance in Lync Server 2013 will allow more businesses to include the Director role in their deployments.