Topic Last Modified: 2010-11-09

Before you deploy common area phones, you can configure call control behavior. For example, you might want to allow call transfers from a common area phone in a conference room but not from a common area phone in a lobby. You can also set up common area phones to block external use and compromised accounts and as hot-desk phones, that is, phones on which users can log on to their own user account and, after they are logged on, use Microsoft Lync Server 2010 features and their own user profile settings.

To do configure call control behavior, complete the following steps:

  1. Create a new contact object for each common area phone. If an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) object already exists, ensure that this object is not SIP enabled. If the object is SIP enabled, then use the Lync Server Management Shell cmdlet Disable-csUser to remove Lync Server 2010 attributes, before using the cmdlet New-csCommonAreaPhone. For details about New-csCommonAreaPhone, see Step 1 later in this topic.

  2. Create required policies for all common area phone usage scenarios. For information about creating three most relevant policies on common area phones, see Step 2 later in this topic. (Note that other policies may be relevant to your organization.)

Important:
Before you complete these steps, make sure that all of the required components are in place and that you meet the system and infrastructure requirements. For details, see Required Lync Server 2010 Components for Devices and System and Infrastructure Requirements for Devices in the Planning documentation.

Step 1: Create and Configure a New Contact Object

To create a new instance of a common area phone, use the New-CsCommonAreaPhone cmdlet. For example, run:

Copy Code 
New-CsCommonAreaPhone -LineUri "tel:+14255551212" -RegistrarPool "ocs-w14-se.ocspm-topo.net" -OU "OU=PM Users,DC=ocspm-topo,DC=net" -Description "Room number 30-1000" -DisplayName "Building 30 Lobby" -DisplayNumber "1 (425) 555-0112"
Note:
The format of the phone number provided for the parameter DisplayNumber will be used on the common area phone’s screen if it is not a normalized number. If the provided number format cannot be normalized, for example, it does not have a normalization rule, then the common area phone’s screen will display the number with the lineURI format instead.

This cmdlet creates a new contact object in AD DS for the specified phone. Like user accounts, these contact objects can be assigned policies and voice plans. As a result, you will be able to maintain control over common area phones even though those phones are not associated with an individual user.

For details about creating contact objects for common area phones, from the Lync Server Management Shell, run:

Copy Code 
Get-Help New-CsCommonAreaPhone -Full | more

If you are deploying many common area phones, you may want to write a Windows PowerShell command-line interface script to create multiple new objects at the same time by using a table as an input for batch processing. Include entries for phone number, location, voice policy, client policy, and any other policy and object settings that you want applied.

Note:
For details about the Lync Server Management Shell and individual cmdlets, see Lync Server Management Shell in the Operations documentation.

For information about monitoring and troubleshooting common area phones, see Managing and Troubleshooting Devices in the Operations documentation.

Step 2: (Optional) Create Required Policies

Creating specific policies for common area phones is optional. If you do not create a new policy for a common area phone, the phone will automatically use the policy defined for the site that the phone contact object is homed on. If no site policy exists, the global policy will be used. But, if your organization has specific requirements for common area phones, use the Lync Server Management Shell cmdlets described in this section to create the client, voice, and conferencing policies (the three policies most relevant to common area phones) that will apply to the common area phone account being created. Create a policy for each usage scenario. For example, all lobby phones can have lobby-specific policies, or phones in executive meeting rooms can have a less restrictive set of policies than phones in regular meeting room phones.

If you create a new policy or want to use an existing per-user policy, you must grant that policy to any contact objects (phones) that you want that policy applied to. To do this, use the Grant cmdlet of the policy. For example, to grant the client policy that we created earlier in this topic to the phone created in Step 1, run the following command:

Copy Code 
Grant-CsClientPolicy -Identity "Building 30 Lobby" -PolicyName ADClientPolicy
Note:
For details about granting client policies, run Get-Help Grant-CsClientPolicy -Full | more from the Lync Server Management Shell.

For details about additional polices, see Lync Server Management Shell in the Operations documentation.

Client Policy

To create a new client policy, use the New-CSClientPolicy cmdlet. For example, to create a policy for common area phones that are used as hot-desk phones, run a command such as the following:

Copy Code 
New-CsClientPolicy -Identity HotDeskPhonesPolicy -EnableHotdesking $True -HotdeskingTimeout 00:30:00

This example creates a new client policy with the identity HotDeskPhonesPolicy. We’ve set the EnableHotdesking parameter to True ($True), which allows users to log on to the common area phone using their Microsoft Lync Server 2010 account. We’ve also set the HotdeskingTimeout parameter to 00:30:00, which means users will be logged off after of 30 minutes of inactivity.

Note:
The minimum value that may be set for the HotdeskingTimeout is 30 seconds, and the default is 5 minutes.

Other properties of a client policy that may be most relevant to common area phones include ShowRecentContact, DisableFreeBusyInfo, and AddressBookAvailability.

Voice Policy

To create a new voice policy, use the New-CsVoicePolicy cmdlet. For example, run:

Copy Code 
New-CsVoicePolicy -Identity CAPvoicepolicy -PstnUsages @{add="Internal","Local"} -AllowSimulRing $False -AllowCallForwarding $False -Name CAPvoicepolicy  -EnableDelegation	$False  -EnableTeamCall  $FALSE -EnableCallTransfer $False

This example creates a new voice policy with the identity CAPvoicepolicy. This new policy sets several properties that would most likely apply to common area phones. It turns off simultaneous ring (AllowSimulRing $False), so calls to the phone that this policy is applied to cannot simultaneously ring on another phone, such as a mobile phone. It also turns off call forwarding (AllowCallForwarding $False), call delegation (EnableDelegation $False), the ability to transfer calls (EnableCallTransfer $False), and the ability to set up a team of users whose phones will ring when this phone does (EnableTeamCall $False).

Note:
As shown in the preceding example, the following voice policy settings are recommended for common area phones:



AllowCallForwarding : False

EnableDelegation : False

EnableTeamCall : False

EnableCallTransfer : False



To see a list of all available voice policy properties and their descriptions, run Get-Help New-CsVoicePolicy –Full from the Lync Server Management Shell.

Conferencing Policy

To create a new conferencing policy, use the New-CsConferencingPolicy cmdlet. For example, run:

Copy Code 
New-CsConferencingPolicy -Identity CAPconferencingpolicy -AllowIPAudio $false -AllowIPVideo $False -EnableFileTransfer  $False  -EnableP2PFileTransfer   $False -EnableDataCollaboration   $False

This is an example of a conferencing policy with settings that could be applicable to a common area phone. This example creates a conferencing policy with an identity CAPconferencingpolicy. This new policy disables the following:

  • The ability to use audio in a conference (AllowIPAudio $False)

  • The ability to transfer files as part of the conference (EnableFileTransfer $False)

  • Peer-to-peer file transfers during the conference (EnableP2PFileTransfer)

Note:
The following conferencing policy settings are typically set for common area phones, but these and others can be changed depending on your organization’s needs. For example, if the phone is in the lobby, you might want to prevent audio and video conferencing (setting AllowIPAudio and AllowIPVideo to False), but if you have the phone in a conference room, you might want to allow them (setting them to True).



AllowIPAudio : False

AllowIPVideo : False

EnableFileTransfer : False

EnableP2PFileTransfer : False

EnableDataCollaboration : False



To see a list of all available voice policy properties and their descriptions, run Get-Help New-CsConferencingPolicy –Full | more from the Lync Server Management Shell.

PIN Policy

You must enable personal identification number (PIN) authentication on Lync Server 2010, and an appropriate PIN policy must be in place. This allows authentication to be automatic when a user signs in on Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Aastra 6721ip, Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Polycom CX600, Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Polycom CX500, or Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Polycom CX3000.

You set the PIN policy in Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Control Panel, on the PIN Policy page of the Security group. Also in the Security group, on the Web Service page, you can verify that PIN authentication is enabled in the global policy.

Note:
After you configure common area phones, provision them by installing them where they will be used and just sign in. If the phone will be used at a hot-desk phone, the phone must be provisioned according to the process described in Setting Up Authentication on the New IP Phones.