Overview

Much like Microsoft Exchange, there’s only one way to do an upgrade or migration to Lync Server 2010. The upgrade process is a migration in that Lync must be built on separate servers in parallel to the existing deployment. Also similar to Microsoft Exchange, the upgrade should be done from the outside in. The process is straightforward, with only a few challenging areas. The lack of options can be a blessing in that there is less to go wrong when there is only one right way to do something.

If your organization is still using Live Communications Server (LCS) 2003 or 2005, you need to crawl out from under that rock and upgrade to Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 R2 as an interim step before moving on to Lync Server 2010. A high-level discussion of the LCS-to-OCS process is included in the “Office Communications Server 2007 R2” section that follows.

Assuming OCS 2007 R2 is already in place, the Lync Architect will plan the architecture outside in, starting with the Edge Server. The Lync 2010 Edge Server can proxy connections for users in both Lync Server 2010 pools and OCS 2007 R2 pools. This means there is no need to maintain separate Edge Servers during the coexistence period.

→ Edge Servers are covered in more detail in the “Edge Server Migration to Lync Server 2010” section of this chapter.

This chapter highlights the full lifecycle of the migration process starting with importing the configuration, moving to the Edge Server, and then the internal servers. Finally, the chapter concludes with troubleshooting and best practices.