Before you begin, you can use a text editor, such as Windows Notepad, to review all the Active Directory schema extensions that will be modified for Office Communications Server. The Schema.ldf file, which contains the Active Directory schema extensions, is located in the \Setup\amd64 folder on the Standard Edition CD or the Enterprise Edition CD.

The Office Communications Server schema extensions are replicated across all domains, which impacts network traffic. Run schema preparation at a time when network usage is low.

Note:
The schema preparation tool (that is, LcsCmd.exe with the SchemaPrep action) must access the Schema Master, which requires that the remote registry service is running and that the remote registry key is enabled. If the remote registry service cannot be enabled on the Schema Master, you can run the tool locally on the Schema Master. For details about registry remote access, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 314837, "How to Manage Remote Access to the Registry," at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125769 .

Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) Edit is an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) administration tool that you can use to verify that schema preparation ran successfully. For Windows Server 2003, ADSI Edit is included with the Support Tools. For Windows Server 2008, this tool is included with the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT).

For Windows Server 2003, Support Tools are available from the Windows Server 2003 CD in the \SUPPORT\TOOLS folder, or you can download them from Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 32-bit Support Tools at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125770 . Instructions for installing the Support Tools from the product CD are available from Install Windows Support Tools at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125771 . Adsiedit.dll is automatically registered when you install the support tools. If, however, you copied the files to your computer, you must run the regsvr32command to register the adsiedit.dll file before you can run the tool.

For Windows Server 2008, the RSAT package is copied to the server by default when you install Windows, but it is not installed by default. You install individual tools by using Server Manager. ADSI Edit is included under Role Administration Tools, Active Directory Domain Services Tools, Active Directory Domain Controller Tools. For details about installing Remote Server Administration Tools, see Installing Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Server 2008.

To prepare the schema of the current forest

  1. Log on to a computer in the forest as a member of the Schema Admins group and with Administrator rights on the schema master.

  2. Open a command prompt and then run:

    Copy Code 
    LcsCmd.exe /forest /action:SchemaPrep [/ldf: <folder where the
.ldf file is located>]

    For example:

    Copy Code 
    LcsCmd.exe /forest /action:SchemaPrep

  3. Use the following command to verify that schema preparation ran to completion.

    Copy Code 
    LcsCmd.exe /forest /action:CheckSchemaPrepState

  4. Wait for Active Directory replication to complete or force replication.

  5. Manually verify that schema preparation ran successfully and that the schema changes replicated to all other domain controllers, as described in the following procedure.

To manually verify schema preparation and replication

  1. Log on to controller member server as a member of the EnterpriseAdmins group.

  2. Open ADSI Edit by clicking Start, clicking All Programs, clicking Administrative Tools, and then clicking ADSI Edit.

    Tip:
    Alternatively, you can run adsiedit.mscfrom the command line.

  3. In the MMC console tree, click ADSI Edit(that is, if it is not already selected).

  4. On the Actionmenu, click Connect to.

  5. In the Connection Settingsdialog box under Select a well known Naming Context, select Schema, and then click OK.

  6. Under the schema container, search for CN=ms-RTC-SIP-SchemaVersion. If this object exists, and the value of the rangeUpperattribute is 1008, then the schema was successfully updated and replicated. If this object does not exist or the value of the rangeUpperattribute is not equal to 1008, then the schema was not modified or has not replicated.