Topic Last Modified: 2012-11-01

A network region interconnects various parts of a network across multiple geographic areas. Every network region must be associated with a central site. The central site is the data center site on which the call admission control (CAC) bandwidth policy service is running. You can use Lync Server Control Panel to configure network regions. Network regions include settings that determine whether alternate paths through the Internet are allowed for audio and video connections. From the Lync Server Control Panel, you can create, modify, or delete a network region. Use this topic to create and modify network regions. For details about deleting existing network regions, see Deleting Existing Network Regions.

To create a network region

  1. From a user account that is a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group (or has equivalent user rights), or is assigned to the CsAdministrator role, log on to any computer in your internal deployment.

  2. Open a browser window, and then enter the Admin URL to open the Lync Server Control Panel. For details about the different methods you can use to start Lync Server Control Panel, see Open Lync Server Administrative Tools.

  3. In the left navigation bar, click Network Configuration and then click Region.

  4. On the Region page, click New.

  5. In the New Region page, type a value in the Name field. This value must be unique within your Microsoft Lync Server 2013 deployment.

  6. From the Central site drop-down list, select the central site for this network region.

  7. The Enable audio alternate path check box is checked by default. This field determines whether audio calls will be routed through an alternate path if adequate bandwidth does not exist in the primary path. Clear this check box only if you need to turn off the offload to the Internet. If any of your calls will be Internet calls, this check box must be checked, regardless of bandwidth settings.

  8. The Enable video alternate path check box is checked by default. This field determines whether video calls will be routed through an alternate path if adequate bandwidth does not exist in the primary path. Clear this check box only if you need to turn off the offload to the Internet. If any of your calls will be Internet calls, this check box must be checked, regardless of bandwidth settings.

  9. (Optional) Type a value in the Description field to provide more information about this region that cannot be expressed by the name alone.

  10. Click Commit.

The Associated sites table is not used for creating a network region. You associate a site with a region when you create or modify the site. For details, see Creating or Modifying Network Sites.

To modify a network region

  1. From a user account that is a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group (or has equivalent user rights), or is assigned to the CsAdministrator role, log on to any computer in your internal deployment.

  2. Open a browser window, and then enter the Admin URL to open the Lync Server Control Panel. For details about the different methods you can use to start Lync Server Control Panel, see Open Lync Server Administrative Tools.

  3. In the left navigation bar, click Network Configuration and then click Region.

  4. On the Region page, click the region that you want to modify.

  5. On the Edit menu, click Show details.

  6. On the Edit Region page, you can modify the settings for enabling and disabling audio and video alternate paths, and change the description (for details, see the "To create a network region" section earlier in this topic.

  7. Click Commit.

You cannot modify the Associated sites on this page. The list of associated sites is provided for reference so you are aware of which sites will be affected when you modify the region settings.

See Also