HPE Reference Architecture for Microsoft Skype for ... · PDF fileThis Reference Architecture ... is the innovative HPE Ethernet fabric solution for enterprise data centers and

HPE Reference Architecture for Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 for 5,000 users using HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application

Technical white paper

Technical white paper

Contents Executive summary .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3 Solution overview ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Solution highlights ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Design principles ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Solution components ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9

Hardware .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10 Software ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Planning for Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 16 Deploying Skype for Business Server 2015 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 Skype for Business Server 2015 installation ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Deploying HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application for Skype for Business ......................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Capacity, sizing and features ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Workload description ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Analysis and recommendations ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22

Summary ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 36 Implementing a proof-of-concept ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 36

Appendix A: Bill of materials ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 36 Appendix B: Component configuration ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 39

Database HA....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Resources and additional links ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 40

Technical white paper Page 3

Executive summary This Reference Architecture (RA) describes a lab-tested architecture for effectively deploying a highly available Microsoft® Skype for Business (SfB) Server 2015 on-premises solution using HPE ProLiant DL380 servers, internal storage and networking products. The results of the testing performed show that the servers and network devices selected for the RA support a Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 workload for 5,000 users during normal operational conditions.

This RA provides a tested solution design, a bill of materials (BOM), and performance characteristics based on best practices from Microsoft, for the tested Skype for Business workload and the HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application. This solution has been tested in HPE labs using the equipment detailed in the BOM, and allows for some level of customization to address a customer’s requirements. When there is customization required, work with your HPE sales account team or partner to verify factors such as capacity, performance requirements, and hardware and software version compatibility.

Microsoft Skype for Business (SfB) Server 2015 provides professional collaboration and meetings that are integrated with Microsoft Office products and use the Skype for Business desktop web client, along with the HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application to provide users with communication features such as instant messaging (IM), audio calls, video calls, telephony integration (Enterprise Voice), online meetings and desktop or application sharing capabilities. This RA is based on the HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application to provide the required Quality of Service (QoS) for media traffic, and addresses the use of HPE’s Intelligent Resilient Fabric to build agile networks. HPE Intelligent Resilient Fabric (IRF) is the innovative HPE Ethernet fabric solution for enterprise data centers and offers enterprise class resiliency, enabling the creation of agile networks that are simpler to manage, ready for cloud deployments, and software defined networking. The HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application enables dynamic provisioning of OpenFlow compliant network devices end-to-end in the network path and applies the Quality of Service (QoS) policy via the HPE Virtual Application Networks (VAN) Controller. This reduces the need for manual, device-by-device configuration via the CLI, which greatly simplifies policy deployment and reduces the likelihood of human errors.

This document also outlines the utilization of Quality of Service. Quality of Service (QoS) is required to provide an optimal end-user experience for audio and video communications in traditional network infrastructure where network bandwidth is a constraint. Network administrators need to enable QoS and assign higher priorities to packets carrying audio or video data. Assigning packets a higher priority enables faster transmission of audio or video data compared to other network traffic such as file transfers, web browsing, or database backups. Skype for Business Server 2015 relies on network QoS implementation to provide optimal media quality in limited bandwidth scenarios.

Target audience: This Reference Architecture (RA) is intended to assist IT decision makers, Skype for Business Server 2015 architects, and Microsoft Windows® engineers engaged in the planning, deployment and management of a physical, highly available, Skype for Business Server 2015 infrastructure using HPE ProLiant servers with HPE networking components and an F5 Load Traffic Manager.

Document purpose and benefits: The purpose of this RA is to document a tested architecture to support a successful implementation of a 5,000 seat Skype for Business Server 2015 solution.

Finally, this RA addresses the steps required to making the application highly available by deploying Skype for Business Server 2015 roles in a pool and load balancing the pool. High Availability (HA) is not only for the Skype for Business Server 2015 application level, but also at the network and physical layer.

Introduction This RA provides details on the selection and configuration of the physical HPE ProLiant servers that host the Skype for Business Server 2015 roles, HPE networking devices and Software Defined Networking (SDN) technology to meet the solution requirements. The HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application is deployed to optimize Skype for Business Server 2015 network traffic over HPE OpenFlow compliant networking components. Optimization of Skype for Business Server 2015 network traffic is based on the particular type of communication in use during a conversation including instant messaging, presence, audio, video and application sharing.

The physical Skype for Business architecture detailed in this document provides a highly available (HA) design for 5,000 users deployed on physical servers with the following server and networking roles:

• Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Front-end pool (with Mediation, Monitoring & Archiving roles collocated)

• Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (the Skype for Business Server 2015 Backend SQL servers are configured using the SQL AlwaysOn Availability Group feature)


• Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Edge pool

• Office Web Apps Server Farm

• Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Director pool

• Microsoft Skype for Business SDN Manager 2.2

• HPE VAN SDN Controller 2.6

• HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application

• HPE Modular Services Router (MSR) /Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Gateway

• F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager 10200v

Note Testing and validation of Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Persistent Chat pool is not included in this Reference Architecture. At the time of writing this document, SfB Persistent Chat databases are not supported using SQL AlwaysOn Availability Groups.

Note Each of the servers that holds application roles is hosted on a physical HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 rack mounted server.

For this RA, a physical deployment model aligns with the Microsoft recommendation for large, highly available, Skype for Business Server 2015 deployments. The RA testing uses HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 servers, with internal drive cages for the required storage. The HPE networking devices align with complementary HPE networking Reference Architectures and include devices such as the latest HPE networking gear (HPE FlexFabric 7904 switches, HPE FlexFabric 5900CP switches, supporting IRF (Intelligent Resilient Fabric)). The use of Software Defined Networking (SDN) components, the features that SDN enables and the firmware and software levels necessary to implement SDN, are discussed in this RA. How the HPE IRF implementation of network for Skype for Business Server 2015 provides a more resilient network infrastructure and easier manageability is also described in this RA.

The hardware products included in this RA are:

• HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 servers

• HPE core and branch networking gear that are IRF compliant

• F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager 10200v (Load Balancer)

The Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool was used for validation of Skype for Business Server 2015 client workloads in a testing range of 8 to 9 hours. The results of the testing performed show that the servers, storage and network devices selected for the RA support a Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 workload for 5,000 users during normal operational conditions, and intra-site failure situations.


Solution overview

Figure 1. High level logical design

Solution highlights Skype for Business Server 2015 is dependent on a number of components to deliver the features selected to serve your organization’s communication needs. This solution was designed to be highly available and to meet Microsoft and HPE best practices for the deployment of Skype for Business Server 2015. Following are the solution highlights:

• High Availability (HA) is available at the Skype for Business Server 2015 application level, the network layer, and the physical layer

• Network policies can be dynamically configured for latency, bandwidth, and traffic prioritization

• High performance and highly available databases


High Availability for the network and physical layer Skype for Business Server 2015 depends heavily on the network it is installed on to deliver required functionality and to meet the desired Service Level Agreement (SLA). Some network dependencies are apparent, such as connectivity and sufficient bandwidth. The other dependencies such as DHCP, DNS requirements, network site definitions, load balancing and configuration of network switches are required for Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment. The focus of this RA is on making the application highly available by deploying Skype for Business Server 2015 roles in a pool and load balancing the pool. High Availability (HA) is not only for the Skype for Business Server 2015 application level, but also at the network and physical layer.

Let’s looks at the following question in regard to general client/server application deployment:

• What happens when the physical layer connecting two servers in a pool fails?

This could be a simple network cable failure or network switch failure. At this point the network administrator likely has to replace the switch or cable. Until that occurs, there might be application or functionality loss. In the solution discussed in this RA, we have the core data center and Top of Rack switches paired using IRF, providing a resilient network for Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment.

HPE networking IRF HPE Intelligent Resilient Fabric (IRF) is the innovative HPE Ethernet fabric solution for enterprise data centers. HPE IRF delivers enterprise resiliency that enables customers to build agile networks that are simpler to manage, ready for cloud deployments, and software defined networking. For information on HPE Intelligent Resilient Fabric (IRF), please visit, http://h20195.www2.hpe.com/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA5-3379ENW.

• What happens if the network card of the server itself fails?

Most likely the network administrator has to shut down the server and replace the network card. Until then there would be application or functionality loss. In the solution discussed in this RA, all the servers are set up with Windows Server® 2012 R2 NIC Teaming.

NIC Teaming is a load balancing and failover feature that allows multiple network adapters on a computer to be placed into a team for the purposes of either bandwidth aggregation or traffic failover to prevent connectivity loss in the event of a network component failure or both.

For information on NIC Teaming in Windows Server 2012 R2, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831648.aspx.

Dynamically configuring the network policies for latency, bandwidth and traffic prioritization Quality of Service (QoS) is used to provide an optimal end-user experience for audio and video communications where network bandwidth is a constraint. Network administrators enable QoS and assign higher priorities to packets carrying audio or video data. Assigning these packets a higher priority, enables faster transmission of audio or video data with less interruption compared to other network traffic such as file transfers, web browsing, or database backups. The network data packets used for file transfers or database backups are usually assigned a “best effort" priority. Skype for Business Server 2015, in this regards is similar to previous offerings such as Lync Server or Office Communications Server (OCS) and relies on network QoS implementation to provide optimal media quality in limited bandwidth scenarios.

Setting priority is accomplished by marking the Skype for Business Server 2015 client traffic with the appropriate Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) markings and then configuring the switches and network devices between the clients to prioritize client-to-client or, clients-to-SfB servers, media traffic based on the DSCP marking. This process is primarily manual and device-by-device configuration might be required via a command line interface (CLI) such as PuTTY, which is a very complex operation and is prone to the likelihood of human errors. For more information on QoS in Skype for Business Server 2015, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/gg425841.aspx.

To easily and efficiently apply QoS policies, HPE recommends using the HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application for Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015. The application enables automated provisioning of network policy and QoS to provide an optimal user experience. The HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application enables dynamic provisioning of OpenFlow compliant network devices end-to-end in the network path and applies the Quality of Service (QoS) policy via the HPE Virtual Application Networks (VAN) Controller. This reduces the need for manual, device-by-device configuration via the CLI, which greatly simplifies policy deployment and reduces the likelihood of human errors.

http://h20195.www2.hpe.com/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA5-3379ENW

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831648.aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/gg425841.aspx


HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application for Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 The HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application for Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 provides an enhanced user call quality experience by dynamically configuring the right policy for latency and bandwidth. The HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application for Microsoft Skype for Business Server:

• Delivers high level of application visibility and network policy automation

• Automates Quality of Service (QoS) polices across all compliant devices for data, voice, and video traffic

• Delivers a better user experience and reduces operational costs

For more information on the HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application, please visit, http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/network-management/product-detail.html?oid=6818967.

High performance databases Enhancing High Availability in Skype for Business Server 2015 back-end SQL servers can be done in multiple ways:

• Database mirroring

• AlwaysOn Availability Groups

• SQL failover clustering

Using a single database server equates to a single point of failure and might have significant impact on Skype for Business Server 2015 data stored on a single database server. Hence AlwaysOn Availability Groups are recommended, to maintain the business continuity.

Note At the time of writing this document, SfB Persistent Chat databases are not supported using SQL AlwaysOn Availability Groups.

As part of the solution discussed in this document, all of the SQL servers are set up in an AlwaysOn Availability Group, using RAID setup for database and log storage disks. The use of local disks ensures delivery of high performance and efficient storage, allowing for all of the Front-end pool database, Pool Monitoring & Archiving database are collocated on a single instance without experiencing any performance degradation. In the solution discussed in this RA, all of the Front-end servers use a separate data drive for the local SQL install.

Design principles Listed below are the design goals of this RA:

• Deployment of a highly available Skype for Business Server 2015 infrastructure

• Incorporation of Microsoft and HPE best practices

• Use of physical hardware based deployment, as per Microsoft best practices guidance

• Use of High Availability strategies

• Implementation of SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups for better High Availability

• Use of the HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application to enable the Software Defined Networking feature integration with the Skype for Business Server 2015 solution

• Use of HPE resilient network design technology, IRF

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/network-management/product-detail.html?oid=6818967



Figure 2. Sample physical layout


Solution components Table 1. Key components of the solution

QTY COMPONENT DESCRIPTION AVAILABILITY

Three Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Front-end server pool (with Mediation, Monitoring & Archiving roles collocated)

Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Front-end servers in the pool (HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 servers). As per Microsoft recommendations a minimum of three front-end servers are required to provide high availability in the pool.

Included in the BOM

Two Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Enterprise Service Pack 1 Availability group (Skype for Business Server 2015 Backend servers)

Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Enterprise Service Pack 1 (Skype for Business Server 2015 Backend servers) set up as a 2 node Availability group (HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 servers)

Included in the BOM

Two Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Edge pool

Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Edge servers in the pool (HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 servers). As per Microsoft recommendations a minimum of two Edge servers are required to provide high availability in the pool.

Included in the BOM

Two Office Web Apps Farm Office Web Apps Server in the Farm (HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 servers). Office Web Apps Server delivers browser-based versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote for sharing in Skype for Business 2015.

Included in the BOM

Two Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Persistent Chat Front-end pool

Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Persistent Chat Servers in Active Passive set up with Compliance enabled (HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 servers).

Included in the BOM

Two Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Enterprise Service Pack 1 SQL Mirroring (Skype for Business Server 2015 Persistent Chat Backend servers)

Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Enterprise Service Pack (Skype for Business Server 2015 Persistent Chat Backend servers) set up as a 2 node SQL Mirroring (HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Servers)

Additional Hardware required

Two Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Director Pool

Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Director servers in the pool (HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 servers). As per Microsoft recommendations a minimum of two Director servers are required to provide high availability in the pool.

Included in the BOM

One HPE Virtual Application Networks (VAN) SDN Controller

HPE Virtual Application Network (VAN) SDN Controller. A software-defined networking (SDN) controller is an application in that enables intelligent networking traffic flow.


One HPE Networking Optimizer SDN Application for Skype for Business

HPE Networking Optimizer SDN Application for Skype for Business. This is the application that resides on the VAN SDN controller to provide intelligent networking traffic flow for Skype for Business traffic.

Installed on the HPE VAN SDN Controller

Two Microsoft Skype for Business SDN Manager Microsoft Skype for Business SDN Manager 2.2 servers. This interface that collect the information from the front-end server SDN API and forwards the same to Network Optimizer software.


One HPE Modular Services Router (MSR) HPE Modular Services Router (PSTN Gateway) / Voice Gateway, MSR3064. This connects the Skype for Business 2015 Mediation server to the PSTN infrastructure.

Included in the BOM

One Arcatech Emutel Harmony PSTN simulator The Arcatech Emutel Harmony PSTN call simulator simulates end user PSTN, and is very useful in testing incoming and outgoing PSTN calls


Two Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool servers

Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool servers to run the client stress load. Using this application we simulate internal Skype for Business endpoint load to stress test the Skype for Business Servers 2015


One Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool servers

Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool servers to run the client stress load. Using this application we simulate external Skype for Business endpoint load to stress test the Skype for Business Servers 2015


One Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool servers

Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool server to run the PSTN client stress load test.


Two HPE Datacenter core networking switches that are IRF compliant

The HPE FlexFabric 7904 switches IRF paired provide high availability network connection to the other data center components outside the rack.

Included in the BOM

Two HPE Datacenter Top of Rack networking switches that are IRF compliant

The HPE FlexFabric 5900CP switches IRF paired provide high availability network connection to between various Skype for Business server 2015 roles

Included in the BOM


QTY COMPONENT DESCRIPTION AVAILABILITY

One Aruba 5406R zl2 Client networking OpenFlow compliant

Used for end user client connectivity to the Skype for Business server 2015 roles Included in the BOM

One F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager 10200v The F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager 10200v load balancer is used to load balance http/https traffic for Skype for Business internal users. This also serves as reverse proxy for external Skype for Business internal users

Included in the BOM

Hardware The following hardware configuration was used for the setup of this RA. It assumes 20% of users will be enabled for Persistent Chat and at least 30% of users will be enabled for Enterprise Voice. High-level descriptions of each of the HPE products used in this RA are described in the following sections.

Servers – HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 include: • The HPE Smart Array P440ar Controller provides increased I/O throughput performance resulting in a significant performance increase for I/O

bound workloads (a common use case) and the flexibility for the customer to choose the desired amount of resilience in the various RAID configurations.

• Two sockets with 6-core processors, using Intel® Xeon® E5-2620v3 processors, provide the performance required for Skype for Business workloads.

• The HPE iLO Management Engine on the servers contains HPE Integrated Lights-Out 4 (iLO 4) and features a complete set of embedded management features for HPE Power/Cooling, Agentless Management, Active Health System, and Intelligent Provisioning which reduce node and cluster level administration costs.

UID

ProLiantDL380Gen9

UID

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Figure 3. HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9

Server network connectivity HPE ProLiant servers offer a selection of 1 GbE and 10 GbE network interface cards, which provide a variety of capabilities and the ability to change the cards as requirements evolve. Flexible LAN on Motherboard (FlexibleLOM) cards, shown below, are used to change the personality of the built-in networking ports in the server. The HPE FlexFabric 10 GbE 2-port 556FLR-SFP+ Adapter 10 GbE bandwidth helps accelerate IT services and increases data center efficiency.


Server hardware used for Skype for Business Server 2015 roles Table 2. Server hardware used for each Front-end server with collocated Archiving Services, Monitoring Services and Mediation server role

Hardware Component Description

CPU x64 Two Intel Xeon E5-2620v3 (2.4 GHz/6-core/15MB/85 W)

Chipset Intel C610 Series Chipset Memory 32 gigabytes (GB) HPE SmartMemory Disk Internal drives in DL380 Gen 9 configured as the following volumes:

1. System (OS) Volume: RAID1 - 2 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 279 GB 2. Database Volume: RAID10 - 4 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 558 GB 3. Log Volume: RAID1 - 2 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 279 GB

Network One HPE FlexFabric 10GbE 2-port 556FLR-SFP+ Adapter with two ports teamed using Windows Teaming.

Table 3. Server hardware used for each Persistent Chat Front-end, Office Web App, Director, and Edge server roles Hardware Component Description

CPU x64 Two Intel Xeon E5-2620v3 (2.4 GHz/6-core/15MB/85 W) - hyper-threading enabled


• System (OS) Volume: RAID1 - 2 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 279 GB Network One HPE FlexFabric 10GbE 2-port 556FLR-SFP+ Adapter with two ports teamed using Windows Teaming.

The Edge servers require two network interfaces that are dual-port network adapters, 1) Internal- One HPE FlexFabric 10GbE 2-port 556FLR-SFP+ Adapter with two ports teamed using Windows Teaming 2) External- One HPE Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 560SFP+ Adapter with two ports teamed using Windows Teaming

Table 4. Server hardware used for each Backend SQL database server using AlwaysOn Availability Group Hardware Component Description



• System (OS) Volume: RAID1 - 2 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 279 GB • Database (Backend) Volume: RAID10 - 4 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 558 GB • Log (Backend) Volume: RAID1 - 2 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 279 GB • Database (Archiving/Monitoring) Volume: RAID10 - 4 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 558

GB • Log (Archiving/Monitoring) Volume: RAID1 - 2 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 279 GB

Network One HPE FlexFabric 10GbE 2-port 556FLR-SFP+ Adapter with two ports teamed using Windows Teaming


Table 5. Server hardware used for each Persistent Chat Backend Database server using SQL Mirroring Hardware Component Description



– System (OS) Volume: RAID1 - 2 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 279 GB – Database (Persistent Chat /Compliance) Volume: RAID10 - 4 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable

capacity 558 GB – Log (Persistent Chat /Compliance) Volume: RAID1 - 2 x 300GB SAS 10K SFF HDD - usable capacity 279

GB Network One HPE FlexFabric 10GbE 2-port 556FLR-SFP+ Adapter with two ports teamed using Windows Teaming.

HPE FlexFabric 10GbE 2-port 556FLR-SFP+ provides full-featured, high-performance, converged 10 Gb Ethernet that accelerates IT services and increases data center efficiency.

Figure 4. HPE FlexFabric 10GbE 2-port 556FLR-SFP+

HPE networking switches The lab network contains two HPE FlexFabric 7900 Modular Core Switches with IRF connected to two HPE FlexFabric 5900CP IRF edge switches as the backbone of the network. This configuration provides the infrastructure necessary for testing the HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application with Skype for Business Server 2015.

Aruba 5406R zl2 The Aruba 5400R zl2 Switch Series is an industry-leading mobile campus access solution with Aruba Smart Rate multi-gigabit ports for high-speed connectivity and bandwidth for next wave 802.11ac devices. It brings enterprise-class resiliency and innovative flexibility and scalability to converged campus networks.

Leading switching ASIC technology, hitless failover, QoS, and security with full L3 features and flexible connectivity options including 40 Gigabit Ethernet ports and full PoE+, the 5400R switches require no add-on software licensing and is SDN ready with OpenFlow support.


Figure 5. Aruba 5400R zl2 Switch

HPE FlexFabric 7904 Switch HPE FlexFabric 7904 Modular Core Switch is a compact modular data center core switch supporting virtualized data centers and evolutionary needs of private and public clouds deployments. Delivering unprecedented levels of performance, buffering, scale, and availability with high density 10GbE, 40GbE and 100GbE interfaces, using only a fraction of the footprint used by traditional chassis switches. The switch supports full layer 2 and 3 features, including advanced features such as TRILL and HPE IRF, which enable scale-out, two-tier leaf-spine architecture.

HPE FlexFabric 5900CP Switch The HPE FlexFabric 5900CP Switch provides a converged, top-of-rack, data center switch architecture that offers wire once for Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) converged environments. With 48 converged ports that support 1/10GbE and 4/8 FC, the FlexFabric 5900CP delivers versatile convergence for connecting FC, iSCSI and FC SANs. Resilience and ease of management come hand–in-hand with the FlexFabric 5900CP Switch. While IRF reduces management complexities by up to 88%, it also delivers <50 msec convergence time.

Figure 6. HPE FlexFabric 5900CP Switch

Management network switches The HPE 5830AF Switch Series is a family of high-density 1 GbE top-of-rack data center and campus switches that are a part of the HPE FlexFabric solution module of the HPE FlexNetwork architecture. In addition this model comes with support for Software Defined Networking (SDN).


Figure 7. HPE 5830AF-48G Switch

HPE MSR Series router offerings The HPE MSR3000 series is a family of high-performance medium to large branch routers that deliver integrated routing, switching, security, and SIP in a single box. With its integrated infrastructure and modular design, the MSR3064 reduces complexity and simplifies your network while enabling faster time to service and enhanced performance. The MSR3064 increases flexibility and agility by delivering support for a wide range of virtualized applications on the Open Application Platform module. It offers lasting investment protection, and helps reduce capital and operating expenses.

Figure 8. HPE MSR3064 Router

Rack enclosure The rack contains thirteen HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 servers, one Aruba 5406R zl2 Switch, one HPE MSR3064 Router, two HPE FlexFabric 7904 Switches, two HPE FlexFabric 5900CP Switches, and one HPE 5830AF-48G Switch within a 42U rack.

Software Table 6. Software required

PRODUCT UPDATE VENDOR LICENSES REQUIRED

Skype for Business Server 2015 (Enterprise) Latest Microsoft Yes

HPE Network Optimizer SDN for Skype for Business Server 2015

Latest Hewlett Packard Enterprise Yes

Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Enterprise Sp1 or later Microsoft Yes

Office Web Apps Server 2013 Latest Microsoft Yes (only for editing)


PRODUCT UPDATE VENDOR LICENSES REQUIRED

Microsoft Office 2013 Professional or Enterprise / Microsoft Office 2016 Professional

Latest Microsoft Yes

Skype for Business, SDN Manager Interface 2.2 NA Microsoft No

Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition Latest Microsoft Yes

For more information on Microsoft Product Licensing, please refer to the Microsoft License Advisor by visiting: http://mla.microsoft.com/.

The flow diagram displays the high level steps involved in a Skype for Business Server 2015 on-premise deployment.

Figure 9. Skype for Business Server 2015 Deployment process flow

http://mla.microsoft.com/


Planning for Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment Skype for Business Server 2015 offers a variety of workloads such as instant messaging (IM), presence, conferencing, video, and telephony solutions that support enterprise-level collaboration requirements. Deploying each of these workloads and features require detailed planning, and understanding of the environmental requirements, and server requirements before beginning. For more detailed information on planning a Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951427.aspx.

Infrastructure requirements for Skype for Business Server 2015 There are a variety of infrastructure components you’ll need configured before beginning your Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment. Examples include configuring your non-Skype for Business requirements, including: Active Directory, DNS, certificates and file shares. For additional information, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933910.aspx.

Data center component requirements for Skype for Business Server 2015 Skype for Business Server 2015 requires server, storage and networking hardware, operating systems, database software, communications software, all of which need to meet Microsoft requirements and recommendations which need to be followed to help ensure a successful installation of each Skype for Business 2015 pool. For detailed information on hardware, operating system, database and other requirements, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951388.aspx.

Deploying Skype for Business Server 2015 There are two Skype for Business Server 2015 editions, Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition. The key difference between Enterprise and Standard Edition is that the Standard Edition supports limited High Availability. Based on the features, environment, and planning requirements, the installation process tends to differ for every Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment. This RA provides high level steps for a predefined Skype for Business Server 2015 topology, which are described in the Solution Overview section of this RA. The RA does not cover all the different steps involved in setting up Skype for Business Server 2015 Enterprise Edition.

This section provides a quick overview of the steps to install Skype for Business Server 2015.

Prerequisite installation Before deploying Skype for Business Server 2015 server, you need to install the prerequisites, such as software, updates and Windows Server roles and features as recommended by Microsoft. For additional detail, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933900.aspx.

Note The prerequisites are not the same for all roles.

File share creation After installing prerequisites, you need to create a file share that will be used by Skype for Business Server 2015 servers. For additional detail, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933889.aspx.

Administrative tools installation After creating the file share, the administrative tools must be installed on at least one server/workstation for defining the topology. For additional detail, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933921.aspx.

Active Directory preparation Skype for Business Server 2015 is integrated with Active Directory. Your Active Directory schema including the forest and domains must be prepared to work with Skype for Business Server 2015. For additional detail, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951386.aspx.

DNS configuration Once the Active Directory is set up, DNS records must be configured for Skype for Business Server 2015 as recommended by Microsoft. DNS is used frequently within the Skype for Business Server 2015 environment. For additional detail, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951375.aspx.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951427.aspx









Topology definition Using the Topology Builder administrative tool, define a new topology for Skype for Business. For additional detail, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933913.aspx.

Skype for Business Server 2015 installation After the topology is defined and published, this information is saved in the Central Management Store and Active Directory. Then the Skype for Business administrator can start installing the Skype for Business Server 2015 system on each of the servers in the topology. For additional detail, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951417.aspx.

Configure Quality of Service (QoS) manually or use HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application Deploying trusted and granular QoS can be extremely complex and requires implementing tedious and time-intensive manual configurations on a device-by-device basis. In fact, it is nearly impossible to implement consistent end-to-end traffic policies using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) for soft clients with legacy networks. The HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application automates policy deployment dynamically on a per-session basis for voice, video, and application sharing to deliver a better user experience, and reduce operational costs. For additional detail, please visit, http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/network-management/product-detail.html?oid=6818967.

Setup Integration in Skype for Business Server 2015 Integration between Skype for Business Server 2015 on-premise deployment and other Microsoft Products helps Skype for Business Server 2015 Administrators to provide additional features and functionality to enhance Skype for Business user productivity. Some of the most frequent setup integrations in Skype for Business Server 2015 on-premise deployments are as follows:

• Configure Exchange Server Unified Messaging for Skype for Business Server 2015 voice mail

• Configure the use of high-resolution photos in Skype for Business Server 2015

• Integrate Skype for Business Server 2015 and Microsoft Outlook Web App

• Integrate Skype for Business Server 2015 and SharePoint for skill-based search

For additional information, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj688098.aspx.

Test the Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment After preparing the infrastructure for the deployment of Skype for Business, installing the Skype for Business Server 2015 software on each of the servers in the topology, running Topology Builder to configure the roles that each server will hold in your deployment, it is recommended to verify that all required features are working as per your design. For additional detail, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951393.aspx.







Deploying HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application for Skype for Business The HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application for Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 enables automated provisioning of network policy and Quality of Service to provide an enhanced user experience. The HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application dynamically provisions the end-to-end network path and Quality of Service policy via the HPE Virtual Application Networks (VAN) SDN Controller, reducing the need for manual, device-by-device configuration via the CLI, which greatly simplifies policy deployment and reduces the likelihood of human errors.

Figure 10. Sample SDN deployment architecture

SDN deployment overview At a high level, the Skype for Business Server 2015 SDN Interface infrastructure consists of the Microsoft SDN Manager, the Dialog Listener installed on the Skype for Business 2015 Front-end Server and a network controller. It also includes Skype for Business Server 2015 clients and one or more networks in an infrastructure cloud.

This Skype for Business Server 2015 SDN setup consists of the following components:

• A Dialog Listener that captures signaling and quality observations about media traffic between Skype for Business Server 2015 endpoints. This is installed on all the Skype for Business Server 2015 Front-end Servers in the Skype for Business Server 2015 pool.

• An SDN Manager pool that collects the data from one or more Dialog Listener and distributes to third-party network management systems. This is installed on two workstations in a pool configuration using DNS load balancing as shown in figure 10 above is an example.

• A data store that maintains the shared state among all SDN Managers in a single pool.

• One or more subscribers, generally network management systems, also known as network controllers, or ITPro tools that support a RESTful web service to receive and analyze the call- and media-quality data posted from the SDN Manager. Skype for Business Server 2015 SDN Interface infrastructure consist of the two SDN Managers in the SDN pool.

• An HPE VAN SDN Controller with the HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application installed on an Ubuntu Server Virtual Machine.

For more information on the HPE SDN offering, please visit, hpe.com/networking/sdn. For more information on HPE Network Optimizer Software, please visit, http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/network-management/product-detail.html?oid=6818967.

http://www.hpe.com/networking/sdn



SDN control and packet processing overview The network configuration to support SDN uses OpenFlow compliant switches with an appropriate level of firmware to support, accept and act upon SDN control commands that allow Quality of Service (QoS) information to be tagged to specific communication streams between a set of IP addresses and network port numbers.

SDN is separated into two areas: control and optimized packet processing. Control is deployed in a centralized manner while optimized packet processing is distributed across all switches. These areas are also referred to as the control plane and the forwarding plane.

The following components support the ability to enable SDN traffic prioritization for Skype for Business Server 2015 traffic:

• HPE Network Optimizer/VAN SDN Controller software is the central point for control and automation of your SDN-enabled network. The HPE Network Optimizer/VAN SDN Controller can be scaled out by using controller teaming and High Availability is available through the use of teaming to provide for failover in the event that one controller fails.

• The Microsoft Skype for Business SDN Manager communicates with the Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 RESTful API that is installed on each Skype for Business Server 2015 Front-end server. The Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 API provides the SDN Manager with information on the type of communication traffic that is being sent during a conversation by transmitting the IP address and network port being used on each Skype for Business Server 2015 client. The type of traffic could be voice, video or any other Skype for Business Server 2015 communication. The Microsoft Skype for Business SDN Manager then communicates the session type information to the HPE Network Optimizer/VAN SDN Controller.

The HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application is deployed on the HPE VAN SDN Controller. This application controls the SDN information and the HPE Network Optimizer/VAN SDN Controller performs traffic prioritization by modifying the flow table on the network switches using OpenFlow.

The Skype for Business Server 2015 Dialog Listener (DL) is the SDN API that is installed on each Skype for Business Server 2015 Front-end server. The DL listens to the encrypted Skype for Business Server 2015 session information such as session details and media quality details and sends it to SDN Manager.


Viewing Net Optimizer – Skype for Business/Lync dashboard Net Optimizer – Skype for Business Server 2015 dashboard provides an intuitive way to understand the Skype for Business Server 2015 call statistics in your network, including Skype for Business Server 2015 sessions, servers, QoS configuration status, and related metrics. In addition, the dashboard provides a basis for troubleshooting Skype for Business Server 2015 QoS problems and further optimizing the Skype for Business Server 2015 service. The dashboard contains charts that illustrate various metrics related to Skype for Business Server 2015 calls along with a corresponding link below each chart that provides additional details.

• Active Sessions/Users in Time

• Skype for Business SDN Manager status

• QoE Metrics

• Best effort reasons

Figure 11. Sample HPE Network Optimizer SDN Dashboard


Capacity, sizing and features Workload description This section describes the workloads available as part of this Skype for Business Server 2015 RA for 5,000 users.

IM and presence IM and presence is a default feature enabled when Skype for Business Server 2015 is deployed. Instant messaging (IM) enables real time text-based communication for users from their computers or mobile devices. For additional details, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951370.aspx.

A/V and Web Conferencing The conferencing feature in Skype for Business Server 2015 enables meetings and conferences using instant messaging, desktop sharing, application sharing and interactive white boards with or without a full audio and video experience. The conferencing features also allow participants to dial in to a conference from a phone. For additional details, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn705229.aspx.

Monitoring The monitoring feature enables the Skype for Business Server 2015 administrators to collect QoS data, usage data, and trends for the communication sessions within their Skype for Business Server 2015 environment. The monitoring service is not enabled by default in Skype for Business Server 2015. For additional details, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj204937.aspx.

Archiving To meet the compliance and regulatory needs, the administrator can use archiving in Skype for Business Server 2015 to archive instant messaging (IM) and conferencing communications. For additional details, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn951419.aspx.

Enterprise Voice Enterprise Voice offers a software/hardware based Voice over IP (VoIP) solution, this includes rich integration with Outlook and Exchange, and features such as Response Groups, Call Park, Team Calling, Group Call Pickup, and Enhanced Emergency E9-1-1 support. Enterprise Voice users can use an audio device such as a headset connected to their computer, or a VoIP-enabled phone. For additional details, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/gg413081.aspx.

Persistent Chat and Compliance Persistent Chat Server is an optional role, it allows chat data persistency over a period of time for chat rooms with multiple users. The user can thus view and search all content of the chat room of which they are a member. In order to comply with regulations for the Persistent Chat role, an organization can deploy the Persistent Chat Compliance service. For additional details, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn951390.aspx.



https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn705229.aspx


https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj204937.aspx



https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/gg413081.aspx




External user access Skype for Business Server 2015 enables external user access in the form of Remote Users, Federated Users, Mobile Users and Anonymous Users who can attend your organization’s hosted meetings or gain regular client connection from outside of the corporate network. For additional details, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/mt346417.aspx.

Table 7 shows the capacity parameters of the RA discussed in this document.

Table 7. Solution parameters

DESCRIPTION VALUE

SfB enabled Users 5,000

Active Users1 100%

Central Sites One

Remote Sites None

Instant Messaging and Presence Yes

Audio/Video, Dial-in and Web Conferencing Yes

Application Sharing and Data Collaboration Yes

Persistent Chat and Compliance 20%

Reverse Proxy Yes

Office Web Apps Yes

Monitoring Yes

Archiving Yes

PSTN Gateway Yes

Enterprise Voice-enabled Users 30%

PSTN Calls per Hour / Trunk Type 4-12 Calls Per Hour

Phone calls using media bypass 0%

Remote User Connectivity / External Users Yes / 30%

Physical Infrastructure Yes

Skype for Business Server 2015 version Enterprise Edition

High Availability Yes

Storage Server Internal HDD

Analysis and recommendations The Skype for Business Server 2015 solution discussed in this RA has incorporated the Skype for Business Server 2015 roles described in the Solution Components section of this document. The PSTN environment was set up using HPE MSR3064 Media Gateways and PSTN environment simulators. The HPE SDN environment was configured and integrated into the Skype for Business Server 2015 lab configuration. The Skype for Business Server 2015 users were simulated using the Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool. The tool generated load on the Skype for Business Server 2015 environment that consisted of all Skype for Business Server 2015 workloads that the tool supported. The performance parameters were recorded on each of the Skype for Business 2015 servers and the SQL servers for overall system performance.

https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/mt346417.aspx


General settings for test scenario Using the Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool we simulated load on the server with each test scenario running for a span of 8 hours. The solution discussed in this RA is for 5,000 Active Users; we ran the Skype for Business Server 2015 Stress and Performance Tool with 100% of the users enabled for Enterprise Voice with 40% MPOP (multiple point of presence). The other workloads that were tested are as follows:

Table 8. User workload

WORK LOAD USER LOAD

Address Book Server 100

Audio Conferencing – Large 1

Audio Conferencing – AdHoc 75

Audio Conferencing 37

Audio Conferencing – External 75

Conferencing Attendant 50

VoIP (UC To UC) 600

VoIP (PSTN To UC and vice versa) 900

Application Sharing – Large 1

Application Sharing Ad-Hoc 9

Application Sharing – External 9

Application Sharing Sharer 5

Application Sharing Viewer 69

Data Collaboration – Large 1

Data Collaboration – Ad Hoc 15

Data Collaboration Conferencing 7

Data Collaboration – External 15

Web App – Instant Messaging 117

Web App – Data Collaboration 117

Web App – Application Sharing 117

Instant Messaging – Large Conference 1

Instant Messaging - Conferencing 117

Instant Messaging – External 717

instant Messaging Peer-to-Peer 1845


There are two workloads utilized for the testing, one is for low usage and the other for high usage. Table 9 shows the settings for the stress tool to generate the loads.

Table 9. Stress tool settings for low and high usage

SFB WORKLOAD STRESS TOOL SETTING SETTING DESCRIPTION LOW LOAD HIGH LOAD

Instant messaging Conversations Per Hour The number of conversations each user will create during each hour.

1 10

Audio Conferencing Conversations Per Hour The number of conversations each user will create during each hour.

1 10

Application Sharing Conversations Per Hour The number of conversations each user will create during each hour.

1 10

Data Collaboration Conversations Per Hour The number of conversations each user will create during each hour.

1 10

Address Book Web Query ABSQueries Per Hour Number of Address Book web-queries per user per hour 11 44

VOIP

UC Conversations Per Hour The number of calls placed by each user per hour 4 12

PSTN Conversations Per Hour The total number of PSTN to UC calls made to all users per hour.

60 90

Web App

Audio Conferencing Conversations Per Hour The number of conversations each user will create during each hour using WebApp

1 10

Application Sharing Conversations Per Hour The number of conversations each user will create during each hour using WebApp

1 10

Data Collaboration Conversations Per Hour The number of conversations each user will create during each hour using WebApp

1 10

Scenario 1 – Low load (Skype for Business Server 2015 monitoring data report) User registration report The user registration report displays both internal and external user logons. It also displays the number of users who logged on to Skype for Business Server 2015 pool or all the pools.

Table 10. User registration report

HOURLY TOTAL LOGONS INTERNAL LOGONS EXTERNAL LOGONS UNIQUE LOGON USERS UNIQUE ACTIVE USERS

1 1365 1365 0 1160 2589

2 4241 3444 797 3609 3632

3 0 0 0 0 3672

4 0 0 0 0 3700

5 0 0 0 0 3771

6 0 0 0 0 3666

7 0 0 0 0 3730

8 0 0 0 0 3702

Total 5606 4809 797


Peer-to-peer activity summary report This report provides a summary of peer-to-peer instant messaging (IM), audio, video, file transfer, and application sharing sessions between two users homed on a single pool or two different pools.

Table 11. Peer-to-peer activity summary report

HOURLY TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER SESSIONS

TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER IM SESSIONS

TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER IM MESSAGES

TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER AUDIO SESSIONS

TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER AUDIO SESSION MINUTES

AVG. PEER-TO-PEER AUDIO SESSION MINUTES

1 8020 1826 8117 4685 3269 0.7

2 8108 1725 7927 4742 3348 0.71

3 8297 1880 8350 4732 3288 0.69

4 8301 1851 8406 4743 3200 0.67

5 8313 1804 8018 4742 3169 0.67

6 8328 1787 8324 4730 3307 0.7

7 8306 1807 7938 4732 3679 0.78

8 8370 1878 8443 4732 3239 0.68

Total 66043 14558 65523 37838 26499

Conference summary report Conferencing sessions involves more than two participants on same pool or different pools. This report displays a summary of all conference activities.

Table 12. Conference summary report

HOURLY TOTAL CONFERENCES

TOTAL PARTICIPANTS

AVG. PARTICIPANT NO. PER CONFERENCE

TOTAL A/V CONFERENCES

TOTAL A/V CONFERENCE MINUTES

TOTAL A/V CONFERENCE PARTICIPANT MINUTES

AVG. A/V CONFERENCE MINUTES

TOTAL UNIQUE CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS

TOTAL CONFERENCE MESSAGES

1 383 4169 10.89 168 42321 154589 251.91 383 14068

2 200 1487 7.44 83 3833 17477 46.18 200 11774

3 203 1404 6.92 80 2972 14900 37.15 203 13869

4 261 1505 5.77 87 3246 16282 37.31 260 13153

5 220 1459 6.63 91 3571 17375 39.24 220 13927

6 201 1412 7.02 87 3332 15783 38.3 201 11060

7 254 1492 5.87 80 2942 15168 36.78 254 14254

8 209 1382 6.61 82 2026 11725 24.71 208 7112

Total 1931 14310 758 64243 263299 99217


Call diagnostic summary report This report display a graphics summary of the peer-to-peer sessions and conference sessions.

The Peer-to-Peer Activity Session summary displays a summary view of your peer-to-peer communication sessions as per modality used. A peer-to-peer session typically involves just two users, and does not require the use of the Skype for Business Server conferencing services.

Figure 12. Peer-to-peer sessions summary

The Conference Summary displays an overall view of your online conferencing session’s modality used. A conference typically involves more than two users and requires the use of conferencing services.

Figure 13. Conference summary

Note Web conferencing and telephone conferencing are excluded from the failure rate aggregation.

Media quality summary report The report below displays overall call quality data for different endpoint types. This includes Enterprise Voice, peer-to-peer calls, and dial-in conference calls.


Audio call summary This section in the Media quality summary report displays the percentage of poor audio calls.

Table 13. Audio call summary

CALL TYPE / END POINT TYPE

CALL VOLUME

POOR CALL %

CALL VOLUME (WIRELESS CALL)

CALL VOLUME (VPN CALL)

CALL VOLUME (EXTERNAL CALL)

ROUND TRIP (MS)

DEGRAD-ATION

(MOS)

PACKET LOSS

JITTER (MS)

HEALER CONCEALED RATIO

HEALER STRETCHED RATIO

HEALER COMPRESSED RATIO

UC Conference Sessions

8707 0.00 % 0 0 894 0.00 0.01 0.00 % 0.00 0.00 % 0.01 % 0.00 %

PSTN Calls (Non-Bypass): UC Leg

5942 0.00 % 0 0 0 0.00 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.01 %

PSTN Calls (Non-Bypass): Gateway Leg

6076 0.00 % 0 0 0 0.00 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.00 %

Other Call Types

2297 0.00 % 0 0 0 0.00 0.02 0.00 % 0.00 0.00 % 0.38 % 0.36 %

Application sharing call summary This section in the Media quality summary report displays the percentage of poor call during application sharing.

Table 14. Application sharing call summary

CALL TYPE /END POINT TYPE

CALL VOLUME

POOR CALL %




JITTER (MS) AVG. RELATIVE ONE-WAY

AVG. RDP TILE PROCESSING LATENCY

TOTAL SPOILED TILE %


944 0.00 % 0 0 0 0.00 0.01 93.83 0.06%

Sever performance report The Server Performance Report below displays a list of Skype for Business Server 2015 servers based on the highest-percentage of poor calls. The report displays server-by-server information of the various call quality parameters.

Application sharing call-related servers Table 15. Application sharing call-related servers

SERVER CALL VOLUME POOR CALL PERCENT

JITTER (MS) AVG. RELATIVE ONE WAY


TOTAL TILE SPOILED PERCENT

Edge server

SFB-Edge1-External 691 0.00 % 0.00 0.01 88.47 0.02%


Application Sharing (AS) Conferencing server

SFB-FE2 238 0.00 % 0.00 0.01 108.80 0.05%

SFB-FE3 185 0.00 % 1.00 0.01 130.12 0.13%

SFB-FE1 521 0.00 % 0.00 0.01 77.87 0.04%

http://sfb-sql1/ReportServer_POOLBACKEND?%2FLyncServerReports%2FReports_Content%2FCall%20List%20Report&Filter_PeriodStart=01%2F28%2F2016%2019%3A00%3A30&Filter_PeriodEnd=01%2F29%2F2016%2003%3A00%3A30&QueryMode=2&AccessType=2&NetworkType=2&VPNType=2&CallType=2&QueryDataType=0&rs%3AParameterLanguage=

http://sfb-sql1/ReportServer_POOLBACKEND?%2FLyncServerReports%2FReports_Content%2FMedia%20Quality%20Metrics%20Distribution%20Report&MetricsName=RatioStretchedSamplesAvg&FilterType=0&CallType=2&ValueRangeLeft=0&ValueRangeRight=1&Filter_PeriodStart=01%2F28%2F2016%2019%3A00%3A30&Filter_PeriodEnd=01%2F29%2F2016%2003%3A00%3A30&FullName=UC%20Conference%20Sessions&AccessType=2&NetworkType=2&VPNType=2&rs%3AParameterLanguage=




http://sfb-sql1/ReportServer_POOLBACKEND?%2FLyncServerReports%2FReports_Content%2FCall%20List%20Report&Filter_PeriodStart=01%2F28%2F2016%2019%3A00%3A30&Filter_PeriodEnd=01%2F29%2F2016%2003%3A00%3A30&QueryMode=1&AccessType=2&NetworkType=2&VPNType=2&ServerUAType=16397&ServerName=SFB-FE1&CallQualityType=2&QueryDataType=2&rs%3AParameterLanguage=


Key Health Indicator performance counters for Skype for Business Server 2015 Skype for Business Server 2015 features a rich diagnostic and troubleshooting platform. One component of that platform is Performance Counters – there are many performance counters. However there a few key counters that are good indicators of overall health from the Skype for Business Server 2015. These key counters will give you the ability to perform a quick check on the server health. It is recommended to evaluate the output of these counters on each server in the pool discussed in table below.

Table 16. Skype for Business Server 2015 Front-end and Mediation key performance counters

PERFORMANCE COUNTER THRESHOLD LIMIT FRONT-END SERVER 1 FRONT-END SERVER 2 FRONT-END SERVER 3

ASMCU - MCU Health State Less than 2 0 0 0

AVMCU - MCU Health State Less than 2 0 0 0

DATAMCU - MCU Health State Less than 2 0 0 0

IMMCU - MCU Health State Less than 2 0 0 0

% Processor Time Less than 80% 7.6252 % 7.4762 % 8.4643 %

Available MBytes More than 2560 MB 15137.7 20362.47 14849.09

Avg. Disk sec/Read Less than .025 0.0003 0.0005 0.0006

Avg. Disk sec/Write Less than .025 0 0 0

SIP - Average Incoming Message Processing Time

Less than 1 0.0934 0.1563 0.0827

SIP - Incoming Requests Dropped /Sec Less than 1 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001

SIP - Incoming Messages Timed out Less than 2 0 0 0

SIP - Local 503 Responses /Sec Equal to 0 0 0 0

USrv - Queue Latency (msec) Less than 100ms sustained

0.1738 0.211 0.2298

USrv - Sproc Latency (msec) Less than 100ms sustained

4.1297 4.3779 5.6867

CAA - Incomplete calls per sec Less than 20 0.0017 0.0011 0.0013

Media Connectivity Check Failure Equal to 0 0 0 0

WEB - Failed search requests/sec Equal to 0 0 0 0

\Network Interface(*)\Output Queue Length

Equal to 0 0 0 0

Mediation Server - Load Call Failure Index

Less than 10 0 0 0

Mediation Server - Total failed calls caused by unexpected interaction from a gateway

Less than 10 0 0 0



Table 17. Skype for Business Server 2015 Edge server key performance counters

PERFORMANCE COUNTER THRESHOLD LIMIT EDGE 1 EDGE 2

% Processor Time Less than 80% 0.7548 % 0.8167 %

A/V Edge - Allocate Requests Exceeding Port Limit

Less than 20 0 0

A/V Edge - Authentication Failures/sec Less than 20 0.0001 0.0001

A/V Edge - Packets Dropped/sec Less than 300 0 0

Available MBytes More than 2560 MB 13098.2 13174.9

Avg. Disk sec/Read Less than .025 0 0

Avg. Disk sec/Write Less than .025 0 0

SIP - Average Incoming Message Processing Time Less than 3 0.0921 0.0911

SIP - Flow-controlled Connections Less than 100 0 0

Table 18. Skype for Business Server 2015 SQL Server key performance counters

PERFORMANCE COUNTER THRESHOLD LIMIT SQL1 SQL2


Network Interface(*)\Output Queue Length Equal to 0 0 0

Available MBytes More than 2560 MB 55,023.23 80,177.22

Avg. Disk sec/Read Less than .025 0.0005 0.0003


From Tables 16 through 18 above, it is clear that all of the required performance counters are well within the acceptable threshold limits.

Scenario 1 summary result From the Skype for Business Server 2015 monitoring reports, we verified:

• 5,000 unique users logged in

• the number of peer-to-peer sessions that occurred between the logged-in users

• the number of conferencing session that occurred using different conferencing modality

From the Media Quality report, we can verify the ratio of good calls versus poor calls for both Audio Call and Application Sharing scenarios was acceptable.

From the Server Performance report, we see the performance of each server when handling media traffic; as the Mediation server is collocated on the Front-end server, we only see the Front-end and the Edge server call performance report.

All the reports indicate when testing the Skype for Business Server 2015 environment using Scenario 1 parameters the Media and Server quality performance is up to the expected standards.

From Key Health Indicator Performance Counter for Skype for Business Server 2015 data, it is clear that all the required performance counters are well within the required threshold limits.


Scenario 2 – High load (Skype for Business Server 2015 monitoring data report) User registration report The User registration report on Table 19, displays both internal and external user logons. It also displays the number of users who logged on to the Skype for Business Server 2015 pool or all the pools.

Table 19. User registration report

HOURLY TOTAL LOGONS

INTERNAL LOGONS

EXTERNAL LOGONS

UNIQUE LOGON USERS

UNIQUE ACTIVE USERS

1 5593 4796 797 4598 4400

2 0 0 0 0 4410

3 0 0 0 0 4421

4 0 0 0 0 4446

5 0 0 0 0 4416

6 0 0 0 0 4407

7 0 0 0 0 4439

8 0 0 0 0 4437

Total 5593 4796 797

Peer-to-peer activity report This report provides a summary of peer-to-peer instant messaging (IM), audio, video, file transfer, and application sharing sessions between two users homed on a single pool or two different pools.

Table 20. Peer-to-peer activity summary report

HOURLY TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER SESSIONS

TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER IM SESSIONS

TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER IM MESSAGES

TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER AUDIO SESSIONS

TOTAL PEER-TO-PEER AUDIO SESSION MINUTES

AVG. PEER-TO-PEER AUDIO SESSION MINUTES

1 37669 17635 165110 17376 12041 0.69

2 39935 18774 177571 18123 10975 0.61

3 40279 18843 176721 18164 11139 0.61

4 40259 18820 177626 18165 10984 0.6

5 40371 18852 176341 18166 11019 0.61

6 40198 18674 174978 18157 11044 0.61

7 40358 18869 176051 18151 10896 0.6

8 40403 18862 176879 18175 11193 0.62

TOTAL 319472 149329 1401277 144477 89291


Conference summary report Conferencing sessions involve more than two participants on the same pool or different pools. The report in Table 21 displays a summary of all conference activities.

Table 21. Conference summary report

HOURLY TOTAL CONFERENCES

TOTAL PARTICIPANTS

AVG. PARTICIPANT NO. PER CONFERENCE

TOTAL A/V CONFERENCES

TOTAL A/V CONFERENCE MINUTES

TOTAL A/V CONFERENCE PARTICIPANT MINUTES

AVG. A/V CONFERENCE MINUTES

TOTAL UNIQUE CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS

TOTAL CONFERENCE MESSAGES

1 912 6280 6.89 273 64318 288368 235.6 432 11903

2 761 2326 3.06 182 10934 42577 60.08 265 9271

3 777 2389 3.07 175 8691 35072 49.66 286 12555

4 770 2327 3.02 176 8766 35520 49.81 282 11927

5 769 2312 3.01 177 8829 36101 49.88 282 12202

6 741 2200 2.97 175 8714 35262 49.79 259 9245

7 774 2347 3.03 175 8700 35147 49.71 287 12997

8 768 2303 3.00 178 8883 36704 49.9 275 11598

Total 6272 22484 1511 127835 544751 91698

Call diagnostic summary report This report displays a graphics summary of the peer-to-peer sessions and conference sessions.

The Peer-to-Peer Activity Session summary displays a summary view of your peer-to-peer communication sessions as per modality. A peer-to-peer session typically involves just two users, and does not require the use of the Skype for Business Server conferencing services.

Figure 14. Peer-to-peer sessions summary


The Conference Summary displays an overall view of your online conferencing session’s modality used. A conference typically involves more than two users and requires the use of conferencing services.

Figure 15. Conference summary

Media quality summary report The report below display overall call quality data for different endpoint types. This includes Enterprise Voice, peer-to-peer calls, and dial-in conference calls.

Audio call summary This section in the Media quality summary report displays the percentage of poor audio calls.

Table 22. Audio call summary

CALL TYPE / END POINT TYPE

CALL VOLUME

POOR CALL %

CALL VOLUME (WIRE-LESS CALL)



ROUND TRIP (MS)

DEGRADATION (MOS)

PACKET LOSS

JITTER (MS)



HEALER COMPRESSED RATIO


17488 0.00 % 0 0 871 0.00 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.01 % 0.04 %

PSTN Calls (Non-Bypass): UC Leg

22696 0.00 % 0 0 0 0.00 0.02 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.18 %

PSTN Calls (Non-Bypass): Gateway Leg

23334 0.00 % 0 0 0 0.00 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.02 %

Other Call Types

3630 0.00 % 0 0 0 0.00 0.03 0.00 % 1.00 0.01 % 0.43 % 0.43 %

http://sfb-sql1/ReportServer_POOLBACKEND?%2FLyncServerReports%2FReports_Content%2FMedia%20Quality%20Metrics%20Distribution%20Report&MetricsName=PacketLossRate&FilterType=0&CallType=2&ValueRangeLeft=0&ValueRangeRight=0.1&Filter_PeriodStart=01%2F29%2F2016%2016%3A00%3A00&Filter_PeriodEnd=01%2F30%2F2016%2000%3A00%3A01&FullName=UC%20Conference%20Sessions&AccessType=2&NetworkType=2&VPNType=2&rs%3AParameterLanguage=

http://sfb-sql1/ReportServer_POOLBACKEND?%2FLyncServerReports%2FReports_Content%2FMedia%20Quality%20Metrics%20Distribution%20Report&MetricsName=PacketLossRate&FilterType=0&CallType=5&ValueRangeLeft=0&ValueRangeRight=0.1&Filter_PeriodStart=01%2F29%2F2016%2016%3A00%3A00&Filter_PeriodEnd=01%2F30%2F2016%2000%3A00%3A01&FullName=PSTN%20Calls%20(Non-Bypass)%3A%20UC%20Leg&AccessType=2&NetworkType=2&VPNType=2&rs%3AParameterLanguage=

http://sfb-sql1/ReportServer_POOLBACKEND?%2FLyncServerReports%2FReports_Content%2FMedia%20Quality%20Metrics%20Distribution%20Report&MetricsName=PacketLossRate&FilterType=0&CallType=6&ValueRangeLeft=0&ValueRangeRight=0.1&Filter_PeriodStart=01%2F29%2F2016%2016%3A00%3A00&Filter_PeriodEnd=01%2F30%2F2016%2000%3A00%3A01&FullName=PSTN%20Calls%20(Non-Bypass)%3A%20Gateway%20Leg&AccessType=2&NetworkType=2&VPNType=2&rs%3AParameterLanguage=



Table 23. Application sharing call summary

CALL TYPE/END POINT TYPE

CALL VOLUME

POOR CALL %




JITTER (MS)

AVG. RELATIVE ONE-WAY


TOTAL SPOILED TILE %


3388 0.18 % 0 0 0 0.00 0.02 148.58 0.05%

Server performance report The Server performance report displays a list of Skype for Business Server 2015 servers based on the highest-percentage of poor calls. The report displays server-by-server information of the various call quality parameters.

Audio call-related servers This section of the Server performance report displays the percentage of poor audio call components wise.

Table 24. Audio call-related servers

SERVER CALL VOLUME

POOR CALL %

ROUND TRIP (MS)

DEGRAD-ATION

(MOS)

PACKET LOSS

JITTER (MS)



HEALER COMPRESSED

RATIO

Mediation server

SFB-FE1 6767 0.00 % 0 0.02 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.17 %

SFB-FE2 8297 0.00 % 0 0.02 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.21 %

SFB-FE3 8056 0.00 % 0 0.02 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.16 %

A/V conferencing server

SFB-FE1 6361 0.00 % 0 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.01 % 0.03 %

SFB-FE2 5844 0.00 % 0 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.01 % 0.03 %

SFB-FE3 5282 0.00 % 0 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.01 % 0.04 %

Edge server

SFB-Edge1-Internal

19398 0.00 % 0 0.02 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.03 % 0.16 %

SFB-Edge2-Internal

14400 0.00 % 0 0.02 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.02 % 0.19 %

SFB-Edge1-External

25859 0.00 % 0 0.02 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.02 % 0.12 %

SFB-Edge2-External

14927 0.00 % 0 0.02 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.03 % 0.13 %

Gateway Mediation server

PSTN Gateway Trunk- SFB-FE1

6767 0.00 % 0 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.01 %


8296 0.00 % 0 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.04 %


8270 0.00 % 0 0.01 0.00 % 1.00 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.00 %





Table 25. Application sharing call-related servers

SERVER CALL VOLUME POOR CALL PERCENT

JITTER (MS) AVG. RELATIVE ONE WAY


TOTAL TILE SPOILED PERCENT

Edge server



AS Conferencing server

SFB-FE2 1320 0.47 % 0.00 0.02 176.99 0.06%

SFB-FE3 819 0.00 % 0.00 0.03 127.70 0.06%

SFB-FE1 1248 0.00 % 0.00 0.02 124.28 0.03%

Key Health Indicator performance counter Skype for Business Server 2015 Skype for Business Server 2015 features a rich diagnostic and troubleshooting platform. One component of that platform is the Performance Counters. There are many performance counters, however, there are few key counters that are good indicators of overall health of the Skype for Business Server 2015. These key performance counters will give you the ability to perform a quick check of the server health. It is recommended to evaluate the output of these counters on each of your servers in the pool.

Table 26. Skype for Business Server 2015 Front-end server and Mediation sever key performance counters


ASMCU - MCU Health State Less than 2 0 0 0

AVMCU - MCU Health State Less than 2 0 0 0

DATAMCU - MCU Health State Less than 2 0 0 0

IMMCU - MCU Health State Less than 2 0 0 0

% Processor Time Less than 80% 14.4189 % 15.2767 % 15.4914 %

Available MBytes More than 2560 MB 14154.82 17592.61 13395.92

Avg. Disk sec/Read Less than .025 0.001 0.0013 0.0015

Avg. Disk sec/Write Less than .025 0 0 0

SIP - Average Incoming Message Processing Time

Less than 1 0.1638 0.1573 0.1651

SIP - Incoming Requests Dropped /Sec Less than 1 0.0002 0.001 0.0008

SIP - Incoming Messages Timed out Less than 2 0.0287 0 0.0575

SIP - Local 503 Responses /Sec Equal to 0 0.0373 0.0799 0.0972

USrv - Queue Latency (msec) Less than 100ms sustained 2.9502 3.9098 4.340933333

USrv - Sproc Latency (msec) Less than 100ms sustained 4.1917 4.4281 5.6678


Media Connectivity Check Failure Equal to 0 0 0 0

WEB - Failed search requests/sec Equal to 0 0 0 0

\Network Interface(*)\Output Queue Length

Equal to 0 0 0

Mediation Server - Load Call Failure Index Less than 10 0 0 0



Mediation Server - Total failed calls caused by unexpected interaction from a gateway

Less than 10 0 0 0

Table 27. Skype for Business Server 2015 Edge server key performance counters

PERFORMANCE COUNTER THRESHOLD LIMIT EDGE1 EDGE2


A/V Edge - Allocate Requests Exceeding Port Limit Less than 20 0 0

A/V Edge - Authentication Failures/sec Less than 20 0.0011 0.0008

A/V Edge - Packets Dropped/sec Less than 300 0 0

Available MBytes More than 2,560 MB 13,086.25 13,146.1

Avg. Disk sec/Read Less than .025 0 0


SIP - Average Incoming Message Processing Time Less than 3 0.065 0.0675

SIP - Flow-controlled Connections Less than 100 0 0

Table 28. Skype for Business Server 2015 SQL server key performance counters

PERFORMANCE COUNTER THRESHOLD LIMIT SQL1 SQL2


Network Interface(*)\Output Queue Length Equal to 0 0 0

Available MBytes More than 2560 MB 53,588.6 78,163.14

Avg. Disk sec/Read Less than .025 0.0014 0.0003


From the above tables, Tables 26 through 28, it is clear that all the required performance counters are well within the acceptable threshold limits.

Scenario 2 summary result From the Skype for Business Server 2015 monitoring reports, we verified:

• 5,000 unique users logged in

• the appropriate number of peer-to-peer sessions occurred between the logged in users

• the appropriate number of conferencing session occurred using different conferencing modality

From the Media Quality report, we verified that the ratio of good calls to poor calls for both the audio calls and application sharing scenarios was an acceptable number.

From the Server Performance report, we see the performance of each server when handling media traffic; as the Mediation server is collocated on the Front-end server, we only see the Front-end and the Edge server call performance report.

All reports indicated that when testing the Skype for Business Server 2015 environment, using Scenario 2 parameters, indicate that the Media traffic quality and Server performance is up to the expected standards.


From Key Health Indicator Performance Counters of Skype for Business Server 2015 data, it is clear that all the required performance counters are well within the required threshold limits.

Summary The RA discussed in this document was lab tested and verified in accordance with Microsoft’s recommendation of a physical deployment of a highly available Skype for Business Server 2015 environment. The design incorporates Microsoft and HPE best practices, such as Microsoft SQL availability group for backend database, HPE storage availability and HPE network availability. HPE Network Optimizer/VAN SDN Controller software for Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015, enabled automated provisioning of network policy and quality of service to provide an enhanced user experience as discussed in this RA and seen in the Monitoring report data, and is recommended for inclusion in your deployment. The results of the testing performed showed that the servers and network devices selected for the RA support a Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 workload for 5,000 users during normal operational conditions.

Implementing a proof-of-concept As a matter of best practice for all deployments, HPE recommends implementing a proof-of-concept using a test environment that matches as closely as possible the planned production environment. In this way, appropriate performance and scalability characterizations can be obtained. For help with a proof-of-concept, contact an HPE Services representative by visiting hpe.com/us/en/services/consulting.html, or your HPE partner.

Appendix A: Bill of materials

Note Part numbers are at time of publication are subject to change. The bill of materials does not include complete support options or other rack and power requirements. If you have questions regarding ordering, please consult with your HPE Reseller or HPE Sales Representative or for more details, please visit, hpe.com/us/en/services/consulting.html.

Table A-1. Bill of materials

QTY PART NUMBER DESCRIPTION

42U Rack

1 BW908A HPE 642 1200mm Shock Intelligent Rack

Microsoft SQL 2014 Enterprise Edition servers

(This does not include the SQL servers required to run Persistent Chat Databases Mirroring)

2 767032-B21 HPE DL380 Gen9 24SFF CTO Server

2 719051-L21 Intel Xeon E5-2620v3 (2.4 GHz/6-core/15MB/85 W) Processor Kit

2 719051-B21 Intel Xeon E5-2620v3 (2.4 GHz/6-core/15MB/85 W) Processor Kit

12 726719-B21 HPE 16GB 2Rx4 PC4-2133P-R Kit

28 759208-B21 HPE 300GB 12G SAS 15K 2.5in SC ENT HDD

2 727060-B21 HPE FlexFabric 10GbE 2P 556FLR-SFP+ Adptr

2 749974-B21 HPE Smart Array P440ar/2G Controller


Skype for Business 2015 Front End Servers




http://www.hpe.com/us/en/services/consulting.html

http://www.hpe.com/us/en/services/consulting.html






3 749974-B21 HPE Smart Array P440ar/2G FIO Controller

Office Web Apps servers








Skype for Business 2015 Director servers








Skype for Business 2015 Edge servers






2 727060-B21 HPE FlexFabric 10Gb 2P 556FLR-SFP+ Adptr


2 647594-B21 HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-port 331T Adapter

Skype for Business 2015 Persistent Chat Front-end Pool Servers










Microsoft SQL 2014 Enterprise Edition servers (Persistent Chat Back-end)

(This SQL servers are required to run Persistent Chat Databases Mirroring)









Network components

2 JG682A HPE FlexFabric 7904 Switch

2 JG838A HPE FlexFabric 5900CP (48XG-4QSFP+) Switch

1 J9821A Aruba 5406R zl2 Switch

1 JC691A HPE 5830AF-48G top-of-rack data center Switch

2 JG683B HPE FlexFabric 7900 12-port 40GbE QSFP+ FX Module

2 JG845A HPE FlexFabric 7900 24-port 1/10GbE SFP+ FX Module

1 J9996A HPE Aruba 2-port 40GbE QSFP+ v3 zl2 Module

1 J9993A HPE 8-port 1G/10GbE SFP+ MACsec v3 zl2 Module

1 F5-BIG-LTM-10200v F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager 10200v

Telephony components

1 JG404A HPE MSR3064 Router

6 JG456A HPE MSR 2p T1/CT1/PRI HMIM Mod

6 JG450A HPE MSR 2p E1/CE1/PRI HMIM Mod


Appendix B: Component configuration Database HA SQL Server 2012, introduced AlwaysOn Availability Groups that helps improve the availability of a set of databases for an SQL instance. The AlwaysOn Availability Groups is a high-availability and disaster-recovery feature that provides an alternative to database mirroring. An availability group supports a failover environment for a set of databases, called availability databases that fail over to the next available node. For more information on AlwaysOn Availability Groups in SQL 2014, please visit, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff877884.aspx.

One SQL 2014 availability group In this RA we used a single SQL 2014 AlwaysOn Availability Group setup using two nodes and a file share witness. Databases for the following SfB roles have been collocated:

• SfB Front-end pool Database

• SfB Monitoring/Archiving Database

For more information on how to install SfB Backend Database using AlwaysOn, please visit, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/mt162336.aspx.

Figure B-1. SQL 2014 Availability group

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff877884.aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/mt162336.aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/mt162336.aspx


Sign up for updates

Rate this document

© Copyright 2016 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HPE products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HPE shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Intel and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Server are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

4AA6-4898ENW, June 2016, Rev. 2

Resources and additional links HPE and Microsoft: hpe.com/partners/microsoft

HPE Reference Architectures: hpe.com/info/RA

HPE Intelligent Provisioning: hpe.com/info/intelligentprovisioning

HPE Service Pack for ProLiant: http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_1d06af9e8a0a4e43b8981b4471

HPE ProLiant servers: hpe.com/servers/proliant

HPE ProLiant networking: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/iss-adapters/index.html

HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO): http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/servers/ilo/index.html

HPE networking resources: hpe.com/networking

HPE Software Defined Networking: hpe.com/networking/sdn

Technical diagrams for Skype for Business Server 2015: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn594589.aspx

Plan for your Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951427.aspx

Deploy Skype for Business Server 2015: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933893.aspx

Install Skype for Business Server 2015: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951362.aspx

Upgrade to Skype for Business Server 2015: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951371.aspx

Manage Skype for Business Server 2015: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933922.aspx

To help us improve our documents, please provide feedback at hpe.com/contact/feedback.

http://www.hpe.com/info/getupdated

http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://www.hpe.com/h20195/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA6-4898ENW

http://twitter.com/home/?status=HPE%20Reference%20Architecture%20for%20Microsoft%20Skype%20for%20Business%20Server%202015%20for%205,000%20users%20using%20HPE%20Network%20Optimizer%20SDN%20Application+@+https://www.hpe.com/h20195/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA6-4898ENW

http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&ro=true&url=https://www.hpe.com/h20195/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA6-4898ENW&title=HPE%20Reference%20Architecture%20for%20Microsoft%20Skype%20for%20Business%20Server%202015%20for%205,000%20users%20using%20HPE%20Network%20Optimizer%20SDN%20Application+&armin=armin

https://hpresearch.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6EuQKOr2Ku1CUzH&Pubnumber=4AA6-4898ENW

http://www.hpe.com/partners/microsoft

http://www.hpe.com/info/RA

http://www.hpe.com/info/intelligentprovisioning

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/proliant-servers/index.html#!view=grid&page=1&facet=Gen9%7CProLiant-DL-Rack

http://www.hpe.com/servers/proliant

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/iss-adapters/index.html

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/servers/ilo/index.html

http://www.hpe.com/networking

http://www.hpe.com/networking/sdn






http://www.hpe.com/contact/feedback

Documents

HPE Reference Architecture for Microsoft Skype for ... · PDF fileThis Reference Architecture ... is the innovative HPE Ethernet fabric solution for enterprise data centers and