Before you can prepare your enterprise pool you need to install some prerequisites. It is recommended that these steps take place on the SQL Server Back End server. These steps assume that SQL Server has already been installed on the Back End server.

Note:
The /qroption is used when running MSI files throughout this deployment section so the command will run in quiet mode, requiring minimal or no user interaction. Dialog boxes showing installation progress will display on screen, but you will not be prompted for input.
Note:
The following steps show only the required switches. For a full list of options for each command, see Preparing Enterprise Pools for Office Communications Server (Command Line).

To prepare an enterprise pool

  1. Install SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 Backwards Compatibility Pack. This must be installed regardless of which version of SQL Server is being used.

    SQLServer2005_BC_x64.msi /qr

  2. Configure DNS.

    This step must be done using the DNS Manager in Windows on the domain controller. See Create and Verify DNS Records for Your Server or Poolfor instructions on configuring DNS. If you do not perform this step prior to creating a pool, the pool will still be created but warning messages will be generated. In the DNS Manager, create a New Host, specifying the name of the pool you will be creating as the name. The IP address should be the address of the hardware load balancer. If you are not using a hardware load balancer, use the IP address of the Front-End Server.

  3. Create a pool.

    LCSCmd /Forest /Action:CreatePool /PoolName:<poolname> /PoolBE:<pool back end server name\SQL Server instance name> /RefDomain:<domain FQDN> /MeetingContentPath:<UNC path to NTFS shared folder for meeting content> /MeetingMetaPath:<UNC path to NTFS shared folder for meeting metadata> /AppDataLocation:<Application data UNC path> /ClientUpdateLocation:<UNC path to NTFS folder>

    Here is an example showing sample values:

    LCSCmd /Forest /Action:CreatePool /PoolName:Pool01 /PoolBE:Pool01-BE\Live /RefDomain:contoso.com /MeetingContentPath:\\OCSShares\MeetingContent /MeetingMetaPath:\\OCSShares\MeetingMetaData /AppDataLocation:\\OCSShares\AppData /ClientUpdateLocation:\\OCSShares\ClientUpdate

    The preceding commands will create the pool but do not allow the administrator to choose the physical drives that they wish to install the four database and four transaction log files to. To specifically set locations for these files, use a command with the following syntax:

    LCSCmd.exe /Forest /Action:CreatePool /PoolName:<poolname> /PoolBE:<Host name of SQL Server>,<non default TCP port> /PoolFQDN:<pool FQDN> /InternalWebFQDN:<pool FQDN> /RefDomain:<domain FQDN> /ABOutputlocation:<UNC path to NTFS shared folder for ABS files> /MeetingContentPath:<UNC path to NTFS shared folder for meeting content> /MeetingMetaPath:<UNC path to NTFS shared folder for meeting metadata> /AppDataLocation:<UNC path to NTFS shared folder for application data>/ClientUpdateLocation:<UNC path to NTFS shared folder for device update data> /DBDataPath:<full path to database file> /DBLogPath:<full path to log file> /DynDataPath:<full path to database file> /DynLogPath:<full path to log file> /ABSDataPath: <full path to database file> /ABSLogPath: <full path to log file> /ACDDataPath: <full path to database file> /ACDLogPath: <full path to log file> /Force:TRUE

    Here is an example showing sample values:

    LCSCmd /Forest /Action:CreatePool /PoolName:Pool01 /PoolBE:Pool01-BE\Live /RefDomain:contoso.com /MeetingContentPath:\\OCSShares\MeetingContent /MeetingMetaPath:\\OCSShares\MeetingMetaData /AppDataLocation:\\OCSShares\AppData /ClientUpdateLocation:\\OCSShares\ClientUpdate /DBDataPath:"x:\DataFolder" /DBLogPath:"x:\LogFolder" /DynDataPath:"x:\DataFolder" /DynLogPath:"x:\LogFolder" /ABSDataPath: "x:\DataFolder" /ABSLogPath:"x:\LogFolder" /ACDDataPath:"x:\DataFolder" /ACDLogPath:"x:\LogFolder"

  4. Verify that the pool was created successfully.

    LCSCmd /Forest /Action:CheckPoolState /PoolName:Pool01