Phase 11: Migrate Communicator Web Access (2007 R2 Release) (Optional)
Topic Last Modified: 2011-07-18
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 has replaced Communicator Web Access with a new Microsoft Silverlight-based client called Microsoft Lync Web App. Lync Web App does not support instant messaging (IM) and presence. Depending on the requirements of your organization, you have the following options for migrating browser-based functionality to Lync Server 2010:
IM and presence are not required for browser-based scenarios
In this scenario, only Lync Server 2010 is deployed. You do not need to perform any additional migration steps.
IM and presence are required for browser-based scenarios
If browser-based IM and presence are required for your organization, you must also maintain a deployed instance of the previous version of Communicator Web Access in your environment. Because Communicator Web Access can point to a Lync Server pool, you do not need to maintain a separate Office Communications Server pool.
During the coexistence phase of migration, the user experience varies depending on where the user is homed and on whether the user uses Communicator Web Access or Lync Web App.
Note
When Communicator Web Access is deployed, all users who sign in through Communicator Web Access have support for IM and presence. It does not matter if they are homed in the Office Communications Server pool or the Lync Server pool.
If you decide to use the previous version of Communicator Web Access to support browser-based IM and presence in your Lync Server environment, you need to first decommission your Office Communications Server pool, including Communicator Web Access, and then reinstall Communicator Web Access. For details, see Redeploy Communicator Web Access (2007 R2 Release) for IM and Presence.
Deployment Scenarios
If a deployment contains a Communicator Web Access server, all users can access IM and presence functionality regardless of the following conditions:
Whether users are homed in an Office Communications Server pool or Lync Server pool
Whether the Communicator Web Access server points to Office Communications Server or Lync Server
The following table describes the behavior for the various deployment scenarios and end user experience.
| Scenario | Behavior |
|---|---|
Note This scenario applies when your migration to Lync Server is complete and you deployed the legacy version of Communicator Web Access to support IM and presence. |
All users have support for IM and presence through Communicator Web Access and for meetings through Lync Web App. |
Note This scenario applies after you migrate all users to Lync Server but before you decommission your legacy pools. |
All users have support for IM and presence through Communicator Web Access and for meetings through Lync Web App. |
Note This scenario applies during the migration coexistence phase. |
Lync Server homed users have browser-based IM and presence through Communicator Web Access and meeting access through Lync Web App. Office Communications Server homed users have browser-based IM and presence, in addition to meeting access, through Communicator Web Access. If a user has migrated and joins or creates a new conference using Meet Now (Join Launcher link), the user joins the meeting using Lync Web App. If the conference has not yet migrated, but the user has migrated, the user joins the meeting through Communicator Web Access. If a user has not yet migrated, the new conference is created on the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 pool, and the user uses Communicator Web Access to join the conference. The user should also be able to join a conference created on Lync Server 2010 by using the Lync Web App Join Launcher link. If using Communicator Web Access to join a conference, a user has IM and presence available. If using Lync Web App to join a conference, a user does not have IM and presence available. |