Restoring Settings in Enterprise Pool, Consolidated Topology Environments

Topic Last Modified: 2009-03-01

To restore service servers in an Enterprise pool configuration, use the procedures and guidelines in this section to complete the following steps:

1. Prepare for restoration of settings.
2. Restore settings.
3. Start services.
4. Validate server and pool functionality.

Repeat the procedures in the first two steps (that is, the preparation and restoration steps) as appropriate to restore each server in an Enterprise pool environment that requires restoration of settings, before continuing with the activation step.

Prepare for Restoration of Settings

Before restoring settings, you should ensure that servers are ready for restoration. To prepare for restoration of settings, use the following procedure.

To prepare for restoration of settings in an Enterprise pool environment

1. Set up hardware and software for each server that requires restoration, by completing the applicable procedures in Setting Up Server Platforms.

2. If you need to re-create the entire pool, use the information in Installing Restoration Tools and Re-Creating Enterprise Pools to re-create the pool before restoring any server settings.

3. If required, restore databases by using the information in the “Restoring Databases” section in Restoring Data. Restoration of databases is always required if setting restoration is a result of re-creating a pool.

4. If required, restore files by using the information in the “Restoring File Shares” section in Restoring Data. Restoration of files is always required if setting restoration is a result of re-creating a pool.

5. Verify that the configuration file (.xml file) that contains the most recently backed up settings is accessible from the computer that you will use to restore settings. This computer can be the server to be restored or a separate computer on which the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools have been installed (such as a management console). If the configuration file is in a backup location that is not accessible, copy it from the backup location to an accessible location.

Restore Settings

To restore settings, you import the required settings, as appropriate to the lost service. In an Enterprise pool environment, this can include the following settings:

• Global-level settings. Restoration of global-level settings is only required in the event of loss of Active Directory Domain Services. If you need to restore global-level settings, you only need to do so once, on a single Front End Server.
• Pool-level settings. Restoration of pool-level settings is only required in the event of loss of all Front End Servers or a back-end server. If you need to restore pool-level settings, you only need to do so once, on a single Front End Server.
• Computer-level (machine-level) settings. You must restore computer-level settings on each server requiring restoration. For details about the computer-level settings to be backed up and restored, see Settings.

• To restore both global-level settings and pool-level settings or only pool-level settings, use the first procedure. If restoration of these settings is required, restore them before restoring any computer-level settings in the Enterprise environment.
• To restore computer-level settings to a computer in an Enterprise pool environment, use the other procedures in this section.

Note

For details about the use of the commands described in this section, see the Command-Line Reference documentation.

To import global-level and pool-level settings in an Enterprise pool environment

1. Log on to the first Front End Server to be restored, or another computer on which the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools have been installed, as a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group or a group with equivalent user rights, and then stop all Office Communications Server 2007 R2 services (that is, all services that have "Office Communications Server" at the front of the name).

2. Ensure that the required configuration file (.xml file) is accessible.

3. Open a command prompt. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

4. At the command prompt, change to the directory that contains the LCSCmd.exe tool (by default, <drive>:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2).

5. Import settings by doing one of the following:

   • To restore both global-level and pool-level settings for an Enterprise pool (which is required in the event of loss of Active Directory Domain Services, plus the loss of all Front End Servers) from a configuration file that contains both levels of settings, type the following command:

     lcscmd /config /action:import /level:global,pool /configfile:<drive>:\<path>\<filename>.xml /poolname:[name of pool to which to restore server] /restore:true  
     

   • To restore only pool-level settings (which is required in the event of loss of all Front End Servers or a back-end server, but not Active Directory Domain Services) from a configuration file that contains the pool-level settings, type the following command:

     lcscmd /config /action:import /level:pool /configfile:<drive>:\<path>\<filename>.xml /poolname:[name of pool to which to restore server] /restore:true
     

   For either of these commands, for the drive, specify a separate, removable media or mapped drive to a separate location in a secure location. For example:

   lcscmd /config /action:import /level:global,pool /configfile:C:\Backup\OCS1FrontEndServersettings.xml /poolname:ocspool1 /restore:true
   

   If you are running the command from the Front End Server being restored (instead of a separate computer that serves as a management console), you can omit the /poolname attribute. If you backed up global-level and pool-level settings to separate configuration files (.xml files) and need to restore both levels of settings, run the command once for each level of settings (global and pool), with the following modifications:

   • For the /level attribute, specify only one setting level (global or pool) each time you run the command.
   • For the /configfile attribute, specify the name of the file to which the single level of settings was backed up.

6. After typing the command, to start importing settings, press ENTER.

7. After you import the settings, verify that the settings are appropriately applied by opening the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools, right-clicking the server name, clicking Properties, and then verifying that both levels of settings are correct.

To import computer-level settings on a computer in an Enterprise pool environment (except Group Chat or Communicator Web Access servers)

1. Log on to the server to which computer-level settings are to be restored or another computer on which the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools have been installed, as a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group or a group with equivalent user rights, and then stop all Office Communications Server 2007 R2 services (that is, all services that have "Office Communications Server" at the front of the name).

2. Ensure that the required configuration file (.xml file) is accessible.

3. Open a command prompt. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

4. At the command prompt, change to the directory that contains the LCSCmd.exe tool (by default, <drive>:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2).

5. Import computer-level settings to the server by typing the following command:

   lcscmd /config /action:import /level:machine /configfile:<drive>:\<path>\<filename>.xml /fqdn:[FQDN of Front End Server to which settings are to be imported] /restore:true
   

   For the drive, specify a separate, removable media or mapped drive to a separate location in a secure location. For example:

   lcscmd /config /action:import /level:machine /configfile:C:\Backup\OCS1FrontEndServersettings.xml /fqdn:ocspool1frontend.contoso.com /restore:true
   

   The /fqdn attribute is only required for a Front End Server, and only if you are running the command on a separate computer that serves as a management console.

   • After typing the command, to start importing settings, press ENTER.
   • After importing the settings, verify that the computer-level settings are appropriately applied by opening Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools, right-clicking the server name, clicking Properties, and then verifying that the settings are correct.
   • Repeat this procedure for each server in your deployment to which settings are to be restored, except the server on which you restored multiple levels of settings (as described in the previous procedure).

To import computer-level settings for a Group Chat Server or Group Chat Compliance Server

1. Log on to the Group Chat Server or Group Chat Compliance Server to be restored, as appropriate, with an account that has RTCUniversalReadOnlyAdmins or equivalent user rights, as well as write permissions for the folder to which settings are to be restored.

2. Locate the ChannelService.exe.config file, and then copy it to the backup location.

To import the Communicator Web Access virtual server configuration

1. Log on to the computer that will host the new Communicator Web Access virtual server. You must be logged on as a member of the local Administrators group and the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group in order to import a virtual server configuration file.

2. On the Start menu, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Communicator Web Access.

3. In the console tree, right-click the name of the computer that will host the imported virtual server and then click Import Configuration File.

4. In the Office Communicator Web Access Import Wizard, on the Welcome page, click Next.

5. On the Choose Source Location page select the file to import. To do that, do one of the following:

   • To import the default file, click Next.
   • To import a different file, click Select to display the Open dialog box. In the Open dialog box, select the file to be imported and then click Open. On the Choose Source Location page, click Next.

6. On the The Import Wizard successfully imported the configuration settings page, click Finish.

Start Services

To complete restoration of service in the Enterprise pool configuration, after restoring all required settings, start all applicable services in the following sequence:

1. SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2005 with SP2
2. Office Communications Server Archiving Server service, if required
3. Office Communications Server Front End Service
4. Office Communications Server IM Conferencing Server service
5. Office Communications Server Telephony Conferencing Server service
6. Office Communications Server Web Components Service
7. Office Communications Server Web Conferencing Server service
8. Office Communications Server A/V Conferencing Server service
9. Office Communications Server Monitoring Service, if required
10. Office Communications Server Mediation Server service, if required
11. Office Communications Server Proxy Server service, if required
12. Office Communications Server Access Edge Server service, if required
13. Office Communications Server Web Conferencing Edge Server service, if required
14. Office Communications Server A/V Edge Server service, if required
15. Office Communications Server A/V Authentication Service, if required
16. Office Communications Application Server Service, if required
17. Group Chat Channel Service and Compliance Service, if required
18. Application services (such as Response Group Service, Dial-in Conferencing service, and other applications deployed in your organization, if required)

Validate Server and Pool Functionality

To validate a pool and servers, use the Validation Wizard and the following procedure.

To validate server and pool functionality

• If you have re-created the Enterprise pool, run the Validation Wizard from the Office Communications 2007 R2 Server Deployment Wizard to validate the functionality of the pool and servers in the pool. As part of the validation task, you can validate each Enterprise pool server role that you restore, which includes the following:

  • Front End Servers
  • Web Conferencing Servers
  • A/V Conferencing Servers
  • Web Components Servers
  • Optional server roles deployed in your organization

Next Steps

After you have completed the procedures in this section to restore service to servers in the Enterprise pool, do the following:

• Reassign users, if required. For details, see Reassigning Users.
• Restore domain information. For details, see Restoring Domain Information.