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Planning your deployment of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 requires determining which of its features and functionality can most effectively meet your organization's requirements, determining what you need to deploy those features, and then deciding how to proceed with deployment.

In addition to this planning documentation, the Planning Tool in Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is available to simplify the planning process. Use the documentation to determine and document your requirements. After you enter this information in the Planning Tool, it generates a system topology and lists of components that your deployment requires.

Before you begin planning in earnest, you can familiarize yourself with the Planning Tool by doing a trial run. Planning is an iterative process, so you can rerun the Planning Tool and refine your planning decisions as often as necessary to define the appropriate solution and plan for its deployment. For details about the Planning Tool, see Planning Tool.

Planning for deployment of Office Communications Server 2007 R2, including all optional features and functionality, includes the following:

• Evaluating Your Organization's Solution Requirements.Determine what, precisely, you want Office Communications Server to do for your organization.
  
  
• Designing Your Solution.Determine which supported topology best meets the needs of your organization, what Office Communications Server components you need to deploy, and the sequence in which you should deploy them. This includes starting with a high-level topology design and assessing the components required to implement specific features and functionality, as well as capacity planning. The Planning Tool in Office Communications Server 2007 R2 can facilitate much of the design process.
  
  
• Determining Your Infrastructure Requirements.Determine the network and other infrastructure requirements for deploying Office Communications Server 2007 R2, including requirements for Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), Domain Name System (DNS), certificates, ports, Internet Information Services (IIS), storage, accounts and permissions, and Quality of Service (QoS), as well as how to provide the performance, availability, and fault tolerance required.
  
  
• Planning for Internal Deployment of Office Communications Server 2007 R2.Determine the requirements for deploying Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in your organization, including deployment of all server roles required for instant messaging (IM) and conferencing, as well as additional features and functionality your organization wants to support, such as Group Chat, monitoring, archiving, and administration tools. This includes determining the technical prerequisites, the accounts and permissions required, and the deployment process for internal components. Deployment of internal support is required prior to deployment of external user access, voice, or mobile access.
  
  
• Planning for External User Access.If your organization wants to support external user access, including remote user access, access by federated partners, and public IM connectivity, determine the requirements for deploying external user access, including the external features and functionality your organization wants to support. This includes determining the technical prerequisites, the accounts and permissions required, and the deployment process for external user access. Deployment of support for external user access is required for deployment of voice or mobile access.
  
  
• Planning for Voice.If your organization wants to deploy Enterprise Voice, determine the requirements for deploying it, including the specific voice features and functionality your organization wants to support. This includes determining the technical prerequisites, the accounts and permissions required, and the Enterprise Voice deployment process for voice. Deployment of voice is required for deployment of most mobile access support.
  
  
• Planning for Mobile Access.If your organization wants to support user access from mobile phones, including the use of IM and presence, as well as additional telephony support, determine the requirements for deploying it, including the specific voice features and functionality your organization wants to support. This includes determining the technical prerequisites, the accounts and permissions required, and the deployment process for mobile access.
  
  
• Next Steps: Starting Deployment.Identify the information and processes required to actually start the deployment process.
  
  

See Also