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Choosing a Client Deployment Method

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will reach end of support on January 9, 2018. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

If users in your organization can install programs themselves, you can set up a file server as a software distribution point and have users install Office Communicator Mobile on their own. This topic outlines additional unattended installation methods for installing Office Communicator Mobile.

Unattended Installation Methods

If you perform an unattended installation, when users connect to the enterprise network by using their mobile devices, the system will automatically perform a silent installation. The Windows Installer informs the user that an installation is in progress and that the user is not required to take any action.

There are a number of ways to distribute the Office Communicator Mobile client, including the following:

  • Software distribution point. If users in your organization can install programs themselves, you can use a file server on your network as a software distribution point for the Office Communicator Mobile Windows Installer package. During deployment, you can send an e-mail to users explaining the installation process, and you can provide a link to the distribution point.

  • Microsoft Windows logon script. You can write a logon script that will perform an unattended installation of Office Communicator Mobile when a user logs on to his or her device. You can then employ group policy objects to target logon scripts to specific devices or users.

  • Group Policy Object. You can create a Group Policy object to deploy Office Communicator Mobile to specific users or computers based on group memberships.

  • Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Windows Installer is suitable for simple software deployments. However, for more complex software installation scenarios where scheduling, inventory, reporting, status, and support for installation across a wide area network (WAN) is required, we recommend using Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007.

For all of the distribution methods mentioned above, you will need the appropriate Office Communicator Mobile Installer package (.msi file), which is included in the Office Communicator Mobile download. The following files are provided:

  • Communicator.SP.msi

  • Communicator.PPC.msi

Important

Office Communicator Mobile no longer supports creating a provisioning file. This feature, supported in the previous Office Communicator Mobile edition, provided functionality to set your organization’s preferred default settings to install along with Office Communicator Mobile. The preferred method is to auto-discover the server name from the client devices. For details, see Configuring the Client.