After a few hours of headscratching and a support ticket with AudioCodes I’ve resolved an issue that VVX phones have with Music on Hold through an AudioCodes gateway. All VVX phones are running UC firmware 5.2.0.8330, and someone else out there is having the exact same issue, but turns out the suggested fix of using voIpProt.SIP.useSendonlyHold=“0” does not actually work in the 5.2 firmware. For a bit of background, what’s happening is the VVX sends a=sendonly in the SDP when a call gets put on hold, but Lync clients send a=inactive. The AudioCodes will play MOH when a=inactive is in the SDP, but not with sendonly, and there is only one behavior that can be configured. ...

Grab it here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36517 Biggest changes are Call/Conversation History, Media Resiliency (automatic reconnection) and OS X Yosemite support. Update enables users to view call history in Lync for Mac 2011 Update for Lync for Mac 2011 enables users to store conversation history on an Exchange server Location is not displayed in Lync for Mac 2011 when users join a wireless network Error “One or more selected contacts cannot receive your calls” when you forward calls in Lync for Mac 2011 Delegation relationship is broken after a delegate signs in to Lync for Mac 2011 Computer shutdown is not processed when Lync for Mac 2011 is running Update implements media resiliency mode in Lync for Mac 2011 Dial pad disappears when a user who is not enabled for EV joins a video conference or a video call in Lync for Mac 2011 Update enables users to interact with a contact from the call history in Lync for Mac 2011

Since version 8.2, when Sophos UTM was called Astaro Security Gateway, the firewall distribution has the ability to filter by application instead of just ports, making it what marketing loves to call a “next-generation firewall”. Sophos calls this Application Control, Palo Alto Networks calls this App-ID, and other vendors have different names for it, but the underlying technology is similar to how an IDS would detect attacks by using signatures. In simple terms, the firewall identifies traffic based on application signatures and takes actions based on that. ...

When integrating an AudioCodes gateway with Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging, you may see an issue where the call is terminated while someone is leaving a voicemail longer than 30 seconds. This is because the gateway assumes the connection is broken the moment you start speaking, since UM is no longer sending RTP packets or silence suppression codes. The solution is to turn of the Disconnect on Broken Connection on the IP profile used for your UM server within the AudioCodes gateway. ...

Microsoft released updates to Lync Phone Edition devices yesterday, including updates for devices like the popular Polycom CX600 and CX3000 that we use around the office. An item worth mentioning is an update that enables non-EV or non-UC users to sign-in to Lync Phone Edition devices, and still use them for PC-to-PC calls, detailed here. Here’s the download (for CX series devices): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2988181. If you have other devices like Aastra or HP, there are other downloads out there.

Useful little utility if you’re probing network ports to find out where you’re plugged in. This reads Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) or Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) packets coming in the interface you pick, and displays it all. Sure beats filtering Wireshark packets! http://chall32.blogspot.com/2013/03/ldwin-link-discovery-for-windows.html

LyncFix: This Just In: Lync 2013 CU5 Has Been Released!.

If the default Zeacom System Administrator (or System Admin) credentials for your deployment have not been changed, they should be: Login Name: System Admin Password: 2222

New July 2014 Lync Phone Edition updates: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2973941 This cumulative update resolves the following issue: 2973943 Update for Lync Phone Edition to accommodate daylight saving time (DST) in Egypt and Morocco

My good colleague Anthony Caragol wrote a nice Lync tool to backup and restore contacts in Lync 2013. Check it out! Lync 2013 Contact Backup and Restore Tool (GUI).