Planning for Clients and Devices

There are several clients for Lync Server 2010 in which to plan. Administrators have the ability to limit which clients can connect so that users can only use a client that is currently supported. This simplifies troubleshooting because it’s possible to prevent unexpected clients from connecting. The current list of clients includes

• Lync 2010—The primary Windows client

• Lync 2010 Attendee—The web-based plug-in for clients that don’t have a full client

• Lync Web App—The web-based client that provides the primary features

• Lync Server 2010 Attendant—The integrated call management application, typically used by a receptionist for managing multiple lines and for routing calls

• Lync 2010 Mobile—The client for smart phones

• Lync 2010 Phone Edition—The client running on traditional handsets

• Online Meeting Add-in for Lync 2010—The client that provides integration with Outlook for meeting management

Another item to plan for on the topic of clients is the deployment of clients to end users. The two supported methods are to either deploy the .exe version of the client, or to extract the .msi from the executable and deploy this through Group Policy. It’s typically preferred to deploy the executable version through some other application deployment method because the .exe version performs the following tasks that the .msi doesn’t:

• Automatically performs prerequisite checks

• Installs Visual C++ components and Silverlight if missing

• Uninstalls Lync 2010 Attendee

• Notifies the user about Media Player 11 requirements

• Uninstalls legacy OCS clients