Lesson 2: Reviewing the Design Process

Tuesday, October 01, 2013 12:25 AM

The design process for a Lync Server 2010 communications system has been greatly aided by the introduction of the Lync Server Planning Tool, which is used by systems architects to design the communications system topology. The Planning Tool creates an .xml file, which you then use in the Topology Builder to configure and publish your topology. In this lesson, you will learn about the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Planning Tool, and how the topology design and the components have been chosen for installation. After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Describe the purpose of the Planning Tool. List the requirements of the Planning Tool. Purpose of the Planning Tool

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The Planning Tool is an optional component in Lync Server 2010 that helps you design your topology. The tool prompts you to identify much of the information required for the components in your topology, such as FQDNs and IP addresses. The Planning Tool then provides several views of a deployment, based on your answers. It shows both a global view of all your sites (both central sites and branch sites), and detailed views showing the servers and other components at each site. Running the Planning Tool Running the Planning Tool does not obligate you to any specific deployment or initiate any processes. In fact, running the Planning Tool even before you have a firm plan in mind can help you understand the kinds of questions you need to think about in your planning process. You can run the Planning Tool multiple times, answering questions differently, and then compare the outcomes. If you have a design with which you are mostly satisfied, but that you need to change, you can return to the Planning Tool, load the design, and make the changes. It takes about 15 minutes to complete the Planning Tool once. Exporting the Topology After you are completely satisfied, you can use the Export to Topology Builder option to export your planned topology to an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file that you can then input to Topology Builder. You use the Planning Tool only for your initial topology design. After you export the topology to Topology Builder and begin working with it there, you can no longer use the Planning Tool to modify your topology. The Topology Builder is covered in Lesson 3 of this module.

Requirements of the Planning Tool

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The Planning Tool is an x86 application that can run on x86-based or x64-based computers. To install the Planning Tool, your computer must be running the following: Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 (SP2), or Microsoft Windows Vista with SP2 (64-bit or 32-bit) Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 with SP1(or later) Note: After you import your Planning Tool results into Topology Builder and start the deployment, any changes that you make by using the Planning Tool cannot be imported into Topology Builder. Therefore, any server roles that you add later must be configured manually in Topology Builder.

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