After upgrading our internal Lync 2013 Standard server to Skype for Business, I was keen to try out the Skype federation.  Performing some research I discovered that the edge server must also be upgraded to Skype for Business for the integration to work correctly.  Below is a guide to upgrading your Lync 2013 edge server to Skype for business.

Ensure your Lync 2013 Edge server meets to following requirements

  • Windows updates fully up to date
  • You must have KB2987510 installed
  • .Net 3.5 framework is installed
  • SQL server 2012 must be at least SP1
  • At least 32GB of free HDD space

If your server does not meet the requirements the upgrade readiness check will fail.

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Now to begin the actual upgrade process.

First we must ensure that our Edge server has the upgraded topology.  Perform the following

  1. Connect to your front end server
  2. Open the Topology Builder
  3. Locate your Edge server in the menu to the left and right click and select “Upgrade to Skype for Business 2015…”Upgrade Lync 2013 Edge Server to Skype for Business (就地升级)_第2张图片
  4. Publish the topology
  5. Open the Skype for Business Management Shell and run the following command “Export-CsConfiguration ExportPath”

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  1. Copy the export file across to you Edge server
  2. Connect to your Edge server
  3. Open the Lync Management Shell and run the following command “Import-CsConfiguration -localstore Importpath“

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Now to perform the upgrade

  1. Mount the Skype for Business iso on your edge server
  2. Run setup.exe located in setup\amd64
  3. It will now go through and automatically uninstall Lync 2013, uninstall SQL 2012, install SQL 2014 and install Skype for Business
  4. Once completed and if everything is successful you should have a green tick next to each item

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5.Open the Skype for Business Management Shell and run the following command “Start-CsWindowsService”

You will now have a functioning Skype for Business 2015 edge server.

 

Upgrade Lync 2013 to Skype for Business:

 

Microsoft offer two versions of the in place upgrade.

  • The move method. No downtime for users
  • The offline method. Requires downtime

I am performing the offline method as this is the option Microsoft recommends.  I will also mention that only Lync 2013 can be upgraded to Skype for Business.  If you have Lync 2010 you must upgrade to Lync 2013 first.

To begin with we must upgrade the topology to Skype for Business 2015.  To perform this do the following:

  1. Connect to a server that does not have any Lync components installed.  You will not be able to perform these steps if the server already has Lync components installed.
  2. Mount the Skype for Business iso
  3. Run setup.exe located in setup\amd64
  4. Install the core components
  5. Once the core components are installed. Open the Deployment Wizard (should open automatically) and install the Administrative tools

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6.Once complete open the Topology Builder from the Start Menu. You will need to download the topology from existing deployment

7. Locate your front end server in the menu, right click and select “Upgrade to Skype for Business 2015…”

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8.

  1. Now publish your topology

Now that the topology has been upgraded you are ready to upgrade your Lync server.

Please ensure that your Lync server meets the following requirements:

  • You must have KB2987510 & KB2982006 installed
  • SQL 2012 must have at least SP1
  • You have 34GB free HDD space

Failure to perform the above will result in the upgrade readiness check to fail.

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To upgrade your Lync server perform the following

  1. RDP to your Lync Front End server
  2. Mount the Skype for Business 2015 iso
  3. Run the setup.exe located in setup\amd64
  4. If you have followed all the previous steps correctly it will automatically install the required pre-requisites, uninstall Lync 2013, uninstall SQL 2012, install SQL 2014 and install Skype for Business 2015.  This took approximately 45 minutes to complete.
  5. If all goes well everything will have a green tick next to it

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6. To complete the process open the Skype for Business Server Managment Shell and run the command “start-cspool” or  Start-CsWindowsServices and specify the FQDN of your front end server

It is that easy.  You should now be able to connect with your Lync client.

A massive improvement over the previous upgrade process.