Configuring Site Locations

Lync Server 2013 enables clients to detect their locations on a network automatically, but a database of locations in the organization must be defined in advance for this automation to work correctly. Lync can match clients to a street address location based on the following network objects:

• Wireless Access Point—Matches a wireless access point based on the Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) of the wireless access point.

• Subnet—Matches a site based on the subnet network address of the Lync endpoint.

• Switch and Port—Matches a unique port on a switch based on the switch’s MAC address and the port ID. This requires the switch to support LLDP-MED and works only with Lync Phone Edition devices.

• Switch—Matches a switch based on the chassis ID MAC address. The Lync endpoint sends its own IP and MAC address to the Lync Server, which then leverages a third-party service to perform a lookup and determine which switch that device is attached to. The MAC address of the switch in the response is then matched to the MAC defined for a specific switch and location in the LIS.

When defining each of the previous objects, they can be associated with an address. The address parameters configurable are listed here:

• City—The location city, for example, San Francisco.

• CompanyName—The name of the company at this location, for example, Company ABC.

• Country—The two-character location country, for example, US.

• HouseNumber—The location address number, for example, 123.

• HouseNumberSuffix—Additional information after the address number, for example, B.

• Location—A more detailed location after the street number, such as a suite or specific floor, for example, Suite 456.

• PostalCode—The location postal code, for example, 12345.

• PostDirectional—Any directional information after the street address, for example, NE.

• PreDirectional—Any directional information before the street address, for example, SW.

• State—The location state, for example, CA.

• StreetName—The location street name, for example, Market.

• StreetSuffix—The location street suffix, for example, Street or Avenue.

All the location information must be entered through the Lync Server Management Shell. Creating each object is done through the following cmdlets:

• Set-CsLisWirelessAccessPoint

• Set-CsLisSubnet

• Set-CsLisPort

• Set-CsLisSwitch

For example, to create a new subnet and location definition, use this:

Set-CsLisSubnet -Subnet 192.168.22.0 -Description "Client Subnet" -CompanyName "Company ABC" -HouseNumber 123 -Location " Suite 456" -StreetName "Fake" -StreetSuffix "Avenue" -City "San Francisco" -State CA -PostalCode 12345 -Country US

Because importing every single wireless access point, subnet, port, or switch manually would be a tedious effort, defining all the required objects in advance through a CSV file can help speed up the process of building the LIS database. The CSV file can then be used with the Lync Server Management Shell for a bulk-import process.

After all the Location Information Service objects have been created, the configuration must be published before becoming active. To publish the location database, run the following cmdlet from the Lync Server Management Shell:

Publish-CsLisConfiguration