Backing up the settings required to restore Office Communications Server 2007 R2 requires backing up the following:

Backing Up Global and Pool Settings

To back up the settings, you first back up global and pool settings on only one server:

  • For a Standard Edition server environment, on one Standard Edition server.

  • For an Enterprise Edition environment, on one Front End Server.

To export these settings, use the LCSCmd.exe command-line tool and the following procedure.

To export global and pool-level settings

  1. Log on to computer on which the Office Communications Server 2007 administrative tools have been installed. Use an account that has RTCUniversalReadOnlyAdmins or equivalent user rights, as well as write permissions for the folder to which settings are to be backed up.

  2. Open a command prompt. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

  3. At the command prompt, change to the directory that contains the LCSCmd.exe tool (by default, < drive>:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2).

  4. To export both levels of settings (global and pool), do one of the following:

    • To export global-level and pool-level settings in an Enterprise pool to a single configuration file (.xml file), type the following command:

      Copy Code 
      lcscmd /config /action:export /level:global,pool /configfile:
<drive>:\<path>\<filename>.xml /poolname:[name of
pool for which settings are to be exported]
    • To export global-level and pool-level settings for a Standard Edition server to a single configuration file (.xml file), type the following command:

      Copy Code 
      lcscmd /config /action:export /level:global,pool
/configfile:<drive>:\<path>\<filename>.xml
/poolname [name of Standard Edition server, which is used for the
pool name]

    For the drive, specify a separate, removable media or mapped drive to a separate location in a secure location. For example, for an Enterprise pool:

    Copy Code 
    lcscmd /config /action:export /level:global,pool
/configfile:C:\Backup\OCS1Serversettings.xml /poolname:ocspool1

    If you prefer to back up each of the two levels of settings to a separate configuration file (.xml file), run the command two times, with the following modifications:

    • For the / levelattribute, specify only one of the two setting levels (global or pool) each time you run the command.

    • For the / configfileattribute, specify a different, unique file name for each level.

  5. After the command completes, open the configuration file you created and verify that it has both levels of settings (global and pool). If you backed up the two levels of settings to separate files, verify that each of the two files contains the level of settings that it should.

  6. To store a configuration file on a separate computer or other secure location than the location to which you backed it up (that is, a computer or another location that can be accessed if you need to restore the settings), copy it from the backup location to the other computer or location.

  7. Verify that the backed up configuration file is accessible for restoration purposes, including by standby servers if your organization is deploying separate, secondary sites for recovery in the event of site failure.

Backing Up Server Settings

To back up server settings requires backing up computer-level (machine-level) settings for each server in your deployment.

The following table indicates which internal servers require backing up of computer-level settings.

Table 1. Internal Servers Requiring Backup of Computer-Level Settings

Servers Standard Edition server environment Enterprise Pool, consolidated configuration

Standard Edition servers

Yes

No

Front End Servers

No

Yes

Directors

No

Yes

Communicator Web Access Servers

Yes

Yes

Monitoring Servers

Yes

Yes

Archiving Servers

Yes

Yes

Group Chat Servers

Yes

Yes

Group Chat Compliance Servers

Yes

Yes

Mediation Servers

Yes

Yes

Forwarding proxy servers

Yes

Yes

Edge Servers

Yes

Yes

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is not installed on back-end servers, so you do not need to back up settings for back-end servers. In addition to the database backup procedures covered in this guide, implement any other SQL Server backup procedures defined by your organization.

All Edge Servers in the perimeter network require backing up of computer-level settings, if your deployment includes edge servers.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is not installed on reverse proxy servers, so you do not need to back up settings for reverse proxy servers. In addition to the backup procedures covered in this guide, implement any other server backup procedures defined by your organization.

To export computer-level settings for the servers in Table 1, except for the Group Chat Servers, Group Chat Compliance Servers, and Communicator Web Access servers, use the LCSCmd.exe command-line tool and the following procedure. Complete the procedure for each server in your deployment.

To export computer-level settings for a server (except Group Chat or Communicator Web Access servers)

  1. Log on to the server to be backed up, or a separate computer on which the Office Communications Server 2007 administrative tools have been installed. Use an account that has RTCUniversalReadOnlyAdmins or equivalent user rights, as well as write permissions for the folder to which settings are to be backed up.

  2. Open a command prompt. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

  3. At the command prompt, change to the directory containing the LCSCmd.exe tool (by default, < drive>:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2).

  4. To export the computer-level settings for a server, type the following command:

    Copy Code 
    lcscmd /config /action:export /level:machine /configfile:
<drive>:\<path>\<filename>.xml /fqdn:[FQDN of
server from which settings are to be exported]

    For the drive, specify a separate, removable media or mapped drive to a separate location in a secure location. For example:

    Copy Code 
    lcscmd /config /action:export /level:machine
/configfile:C:\Backup\OCS1Serversettings.xml
/fqdn:ocspool1server1.contoso.com

    If you are running this command from the server being backed up (instead of a separate computer serving as a management console), you can omit the / fqdnattribute (for the FQDN of the server).

  5. After the command completes, open the configuration file you created and verify that it contains the computer-level settings.

  6. To store a configuration file on a separate computer or other secure location than the location to which you backed it up (that is, a computer or another location that can be accessed if you need to restore the settings), copy it from the backup location to the other computer or location.

  7. Verify that the backed up configuration file is accessible for restoration purposes, including by standby servers if your organization is deploying separate, secondary sites for recovery in the event of site failure.

  8. Repeat this procedure for each other server in your deployment. Use a unique name for each configuration file.

The following procedure describes the steps required to back up computer-level settings for a Group Chat Server or Group Chat Compliance Server.

To export computer-level settings for a Group Chat Server or Group Chat Compliance Server

  1. Log on to the Group Chat Server or Group Chat Compliance Server to be backed up. Use an account that has RTCUniversalReadOnlyAdmins or equivalent user rights, as well as write permissions for the folder to which settings are to be backed up.

  2. Locate the ChannelService.exe.config file and copy it to the backup location.

Exporting Communicator Web Access Virtual Server Configurations

In the event of a computer failure, the Communicator Web Access virtual servers that are hosted on that computer may need restoration. This is especially true if the virtual servers are hosted on a single computer instead of a pool of servers, in which case the failure of that one computer means that the virtual server will disappear and users will no longer be able to access it.

To back up the Communicator Web Access virtual server configurations, use the Communicator Web Access snap-in to export the configuration of each virtual server to an XML file. The following procedure describes the steps required to back up the configuration of a Communicator Web Access virtual server.

To export the Communicator Web Access virtual server configuration

  1. Log on to the computer on which the Communicator Web Access snap-in is installed. You must log on as a member of the local Administrators group and the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group in order to export a configuration file.

  2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Communicator Web Access.

  3. In the console tree, expand the name of the computer hosting the virtual server to be exported. Right-click the name of the virtual server, and then click Export Configuration File.

  4. In the Office Communicator Web Access Export Wizard, on the Welcomepage, click Next.

  5. On the Choose Destination Locationpage select a path name for the exported file. To select a path name, do one of the following:

    • To use the default path, click Next.

    • To save the file under a different path, click Select. In the Save Asdialog box, type a new file path in the File Namebox and then click Save. On the Choose Destination Locationpage, click Next.

  6. In the The Export Wizard successfully exported the configuration settingspage, click Finish.