Topic Last Modified: 2010-07-19
Communications Server 2010 includes two tools to facilitate planning and deployment of both internal servers and Edge Servers. Microsoft recommends running them on a local workstation first to plan your design. After the topology is completed, upload the resulting topology definition to your production environment (this requires Domain Admin and RTCUniversalServerAdmin credentials).
- Planning Tool. Office Communications Server 2007 R2
included a Planning Tool and an Edge Planning Tool that you could
use to help guide topology design. In Communications Server 2010,
these two tools have been combined into a single Planning Tool that
has additional features and functionality, including the ability to
generate an XML-based topology document.
- Topology Builder. Topology Builder facilitates the
definition of your topology and components and is essential to
deployment of Communications Server 2010 servers. Topology Builder
can use the XML topology file provided by the Planning Tool to
start the initial design of your topology, or you can skip the
Planning Tool and use the wizards in Topology Builder for the
design of your deployment. Communications Server 2010 publishes the
Topology Builder results to a Central Management database that is
used to configure all Communications Server 2010 servers in your
organization. You cannot install Communications Server 2010 servers
without using Topology Builder.
If you completed the building of your edge topology during your planning process, including running Topology Builder to define your edge topology, components, and network configuration, you can use those results to start your edge deployment. If you did not complete the building of your edge topology earlier or want to change the information you previously specified, you must finish running Topology Builder before proceeding with other deployment steps. Topologies for External User Access provides details about how to build your topology.
For details about the Planning Tool and Topology Builder, see Beginning the Planning Process in the Planning documentation.
Communications Server 2010 also provides both command-line and GUI-based interfaces for centralized administration and management the configuration of all servers, users, clients, and devices in your organization. Both interfaces are automatically installed on each Communications Server Enterprise Edition Front End Server and Standard Edition Server. Configuration changes you make using them tools are automatically replicated to all servers, including all deployed Edge Servers, so no local configuration of Communications Server 2010 settings is required. In fact, it is not even possible because all changes must be made to the Central Management database using Topology Builder, which then get passed to the Edge Servers automatically. Any changes to the Edge configuration must be made in topology builder and republished. To administer and manage Communications Server, you can use either of the following tools:
- Communications Server Control Panel, which is a new Web-based
administrative console console that replaces the MMC-based
administrative console used in all earlier versions. Communications
Server Control Panel is hosted by one pool (designated by the
Administrative Access URL in Topology Builder). Communications
Server Control Panel allows administrators to configure global,
site, pool, and user level settings across the entire
Communications Server 2010 system.
- Communications Server Management Shell, which is a management
interface that is built on Microsoft Windows PowerShell command
line interface technology and consists of a rich set of
Communications Server cmdlets that you can use for management and
administration of Communications Server. For details about the
Communications Server 2010 cmdlets and how to use them, see the
Communications
Server Management Shell documentation.
 Note: |
|---|
| You can use Communications Server Control Panel to perform most
but not all Communications Server management and administration
tasks that can be performed using cmdlets in Communications Server
Management Shell. All tasks that can be performed using
Communications Server Control Panel can be performed using
Communications Server Management Shell. The edge deployment
documentation for this Beta version describes primarily the use of
Communications Server Control Panel for deployment. Although Communications Server Management Shell is primarily for management and administration, some cmdlets are also available for use in deployment. For example, Export-CsConfiguration -FileName <ConfigurationFilePath.zip> is used to generate a replica of the CMS database and the resulting file is used during installation of one or more Edge Servers. Note that Windows PowerShell cmdlets related to Edge functionality are normally run against the master Central Management database and are run on an internal server. You do not have to run any Windows PowerShell cmdlets locally on an Edge Server. |