Benefits of the Management Shell

For administrators primarily familiar with using graphical user interface (GUI) tools to manage systems, the LSMS might seem a bit intimidating at first, but Lync Server administrators new to PowerShell should spend some time getting acquainted with the new command-line-based toolset for several reasons. One reason for using LSMS is that some tasks and actions simply do not exist within the LSCP, so for these types of features, administrators must resort to using the LSMS. For example, in Live Communications Server and Office Communications Server, changing the port that a Front End Server used for SIP communication involved just a few check boxes within the management console. With Lync Server 2010, the only way to modify the port or add a port is to use the LSMS.

Another major benefit of the LSMS is that bulk tasks are much easier to accomplish. With the older products, a task such as moving users between pools or modifying assigned policies was typically done through the management consoles and involved running through multiple pages of a wizard. Selecting the correct users to modify was also somewhat difficult because there was no breakdown of groups or divisions within the GUI. In the end, it was apparent that performing bulk tasks needed some attention from the product group. With the LSMS, administrators have an incredible degree of flexibility in how to perform certain tasks. It is easy for administrators to select a group of users based on an attribute and modify all policies or move users quickly.

Some organizations familiar with PowerShell use custom scripts to provision new user accounts. Scripting these kinds of operations greatly reduces the chance for a human error to affect the account creation.

Just imagine how many times the wrong dial plan, voice policy, or conferencing policy can be applied to a new account when left as a manual process. For small organizations this isn’t typically an issue, but for larger companies having a standardized, automated method is a necessity.

This kind of PowerShell-based provisioning has been fairly typical for Exchange mailboxes since Exchange 2007. Because OCS did not have any native PowerShell support, organizations were forced to continue using VBScript or some other method to automatically enable new accounts for OCS. With the LSMS, an entire workflow script can be used to create new accounts. When a new user joins the company, a PowerShell script is used to automatically create the new user account, place it in the correct organizational unit, provision a home folder, create an Exchange mailbox on the correct database, enable the user for Lync, and assign the correct voice and conferencing policies. Not only is the chance for error reduced, but consider how much time is saved by not requiring extra work.