Restart required after Skype for Business Server 2015 CU5

Hello Readers.  Hope you're well.  

Another quick post just to say that you should definitely restart your Skype for Business servers following the installation of CU5 (May 2017 Cumulative Update).

I installed the CU from the update installer as usual and let it run through the process.  Sometimes a CU asks for a restart to complete the process, and sometimes it doesn't.  Who am I to argue?  I figure that if it needs one, Microsoft would have put in a prompt for a restart.  Turns out Microsoft is not always right.  Who'd have thought!

What I noticed

When I installed the CU on my Front End servers, it asked for a restart on one but not the other in a pool pair.  I restarted the one that asked for a restart, but not the other.  For that matter, it didn't ask for a restart of my Edge server.

The Front End that asked for a restart was the CMS "Active Master".  That makes sense, since the CMS master has a little more going on.

What I eventually noticed, that lead me to the restart, and this post, was some missing parameters in the WebServiceConfiguration.  I was applying the changes to the Web Joining User Experience that came in with CU5.  The process was well documented in an excellent post by Martin Boam here.

The process is simply a matter of running three commands to change some parameters on the Web Services Configuration.  I logged onto one of the Front Ends and before running the command to change the parameter, I thought I would look to see what was already set.

The first command is Set-CsWebServiceConfiguration -MeetingUxUseCdn $True.  So I ran a Get-CsWebServiceConfiguration first.  I couldn't see the parameter for MeetingUXUseCDN in the list.  To make sure I wasn't missing it, I decided to filter the results the results with Get-CsWebServiceConfiguration | FL MeetingUxUseCdn.

I got...

This indicated that the parameter was missing.

I then logged onto my other Front End and ran Get-CsWebServiceConfiguration | FL MeetingUxUseCdn.

I got...

This indicated that the parameter was there, but set to False.  So I proceeded to run the three commands.

Set-CsWebServiceConfiguration -MeetingUxUseCdn $True
Set-CsWebServiceConfiguration -MeetingUxEnableTelemetry $True
Set-CsWebServiceConfiguration -JoinLauncherCdnTimeout (New-TimeSpan -Seconds 10)

Followed by Enable-CsComputer as suggested, to update IIS applications.

Now when I run Get-CsWebServiceConfiguration | FL MeetingUxUseCdn, MeetingUxEnableTelemetry, JoinLauncherCdnTimeout, I get...

I then restarted my other Front End (with the missing parameters).  While I waited, I tested the join and meeting experience.  I have to say that this is a huge improvement on the old UX. I would encourage you to do this following the installation of CU5.

Once the other Front End was back online I ran Get-CsWebServiceConfiguration | FL MeetingUxUseCdn, MeetingUxEnableTelemetry, JoinLauncherCdnTimeout and got...

This indicated that the restart resolved the issue and added the missing parameters to the Web Services Configuration and, I can only imagine, other places.

So I ran the three commands, plus Enable-CSComputer, again.

The moral of the story is that you should always get in the habit of restarting your Skype for Business servers after applying a CU or any update if you can.  Even if it doeesn't ask for one!  You never know what you'll be missing or what might be broken.

That's it for now.

As always, I thank you for reading.

If this or any other post has been useful to you please take a moment to share.  Comments are welcome. 

Microsoft Teams May 17th Update

Hello readers.  I hope you're well.  This is just a quick post on some new features that have landed in Microsoft Teams as of May 17th 2017.  I know I'm a little late to get this out.  And I know there was another update on the 3rd of May with the addition of a Trello tab.  But better late than never.

You can see what's new in Teams in the T-Bot chat in the Release Notes tab.  The below is directly from the release notes.  I have added a few comments here and there in Blue so you know it's me speaking.

New PowerApps tab: Now, you can add Microsoft PowerApps as a tab! PowerApps are "code-free" apps that you can build with a WYSIWYG editor from PowerApps.com. They're great for internal use within your team, since you can build a quick app to perform a specific task or to handle highly specialized data. To get started building your own app, head over to https://web.powerapps.com. Once you've built your app, you'll be able to add it as a new tab in a channel just like you'd add any other tab.

This is a really cool addition, but not a new idea.  Fans of Spark have been going on about this type of thing for a while now, so it's about time it has come to Teams.  From what I saw in Spark, it used an "If this then that" style workflow to create an "app" which can be used in Spark.  PowerApps in Teams, it seems, is much more than that.  PowerApps itself, isn't new.  The ability to add it as a tab in Teams is though.

A quick run through of PowerApps Open PowerApps for the first time and you see a splash screen which tells you quickly what you can do with it.

It seems that anyone can use this tool to create an app and connect it to Teams or other services and applications in the Office 365 suite without knowing how to code.  There is a list of sample apps created by Microsoft and others than have shared them, from to-do lists to asset trackers.  It uses Microsoft Flow to create workflows and connectors to connect to services.  For instance: OneDrive can be used to store the app, Microsoft Translator can be used in the app to translate content, and Dynamics CRM can be used as a data source.  There are free and premium connectors which connect to Microsoft and 3rd party services and applications.  You can also create custom connectors to onnect to any existing or new REST API , as long as that API supports at least one of 10+ authentication methods and use JSON.  You can also connect to on-premises applications and services by installing gateways.  An on-premises gateway can be used to connect to on-premises systems and create apps that work across devices without having to migrate any data.  

I'll write a separate post when I finally get around to making an app with PowerApps.

Fun with Outlook: Teams will now integrate with Outlook in new and interesting ways thanks to the Outlook plug in. When you head to your Outlook calendar, you'll see a button labeled New Teams Meeting. Click on it, and you'll be able to schedule a Teams meeting from Outlook. You'll also have the ability to update, cancel, or forward Teams meetings from Outlook. All your meetings in Teams will show up in your Outlook calendar (and vice versa), and you'll be able to join your meeting from either app. (As of right now, the Outlook plugin is only available for Windows users. But don't worry! Support for Mac is coming soon.)

As the above description states, there will be a new tab in the Outlook meetings page that allows you to schedule and join meetings in Teams.  The tab is similar to the tab for Skype Meetings and Lync Meetings before it.  Just another example of the deep integration between products in the Office and Office 365 suite.

I updated my Outlook on a First Release Current Release installation of Office ProPlus and can't see a tab.  I also looked for the add-in in the add-ins manager and it isn't there.  A quick search and it looks like the add-in was pulled, possiblt because of instability in Outlook. https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/16958275-teams-meeting-in-outlook.  Fret not, there will be an add-in, but they're obliously going to fix whatever is suboptimal and try again for a release in the near future.  I'll update this post when I see the add-in is live.


Improved editing for Wiki: Editing your Wiki pages just got a lot easier! Now, when you want to edit a section, you can just click into the section and start typing. Additionally, your changes will be saved automatically once you click out of the section, so you won't have to worry about selecting 'Edit' and 'Save' while you write. We hope you like it!

If you didn't know, you can create Wiki pages as a tab in Teams.  This update brings some improvements to the editing of the pages and sections with click to edit and automatic saving.  

My only comment about this is perhaps it is now too easy to edit.  Because there is no deliberate edit button, a wrong click could put the cursor somewhere in the content and lead to inadvertant edits.

That's it for now.

As always, I thank you for reading.

If this or any other post has been useful to you please take a moment to share.  Comments are welcome.