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Install and configure Busy Options for Skype for Business Server

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Read about how to install and configure Busy Options in Skype for Business Server.

Busy Options is a new voice policy introduced in the July 2016 Cumulative Update that allows you to configure how incoming calls are handled when a user is already in a call or conference or has a call placed on hold. New or incoming calls can be rejected with a busy signal or forwarded to voice mail.

If Busy Options is enabled for the organization, all users at the Enterprise, both Enterprise Voice and non-Enterprise Voice users, can use the following configuration options:

  • Busy on Busy - In which new incoming calls are rejected with a busy signal if the user is busy.

  • Voicemail on Busy - In which new incoming calls are forwarded to voice mail if the user is busy.

Regardless of how their busy options are configured, users in a call or conference, or those users with a call on hold, aren't prevented from initiating new calls or conferences.

For more information about the Busy Options feature, see Plan for Busy Options for Skype for Business Server.

Install

Make sure you have the latest version of Skype for Business Server installed and that you install the most recent patch. To install, first stop all services, and then run the Skype for Business Server update installer as follows:

  1. Run the Stop-CsWindowsService command.

  2. Run the SkypeServerUpdateInstaller.exe installer on each Front End server in a pool.

  3. Run the SkypeServerUpdateInstaller.exe installer on each Survivable Branch Server (SBS), if you want to ensure support for failover on SBS.

The installer deploys the latest version of the Busy Options application. However, the application isn't enabled by default. To enable the application, perform the following steps:

  1. Run the Set-CsVoicePolicy cmdlet to globally enable Busy Options as shown in the following example:

    Set-CsVoicePolicy -EnableBusyOptions $true

  2. Next, if the site has a voice policy is place, you must enable Busy Options for the voice policy as follows:

    First, run Get-CsSite to retrieve the name of the site:

    Get-CsSite

    Use the Identity value (for example: Site:Redmond1) retrieved from Get-CsSite to retrieve the voice policy of the site as follows:

    Get-CsVoicePolicy -Identity Site:Redmond1

    If a voice policy exists for the site, run the following command:

    Set-CsVoicePolicy -Identity Site:Redmond1 -EnableBusyOptions $true

  3. Next, run the New-CsServerApplication cmdlet to add Busy Options to the list of server applications as shown in the following example:

    New-CsServerApplication -Identity 'Service:Registrar:%FQDN%/BusyOptions' -Uri http://www.microsoft.com/LCS/BusyOptions -Critical $False -Enabled $True -Priority (Get-CsServerApplication -Identity 'Service:Registrar:%FQDN%/UserServices').Priority

    Note

    You must replace %FQDN% with the fully-qualified domain name of a specific pool.

  4. Next, run the Update-CsAdminRole cmdlet to update the Role-based access control (RBAC) roles for the Busy Options cmdlets as shown in the following example:

    Update-CsAdminRole

  5. Finally, start the Skype for Business Server Windows services on all the Front End servers in all the pools where Busy Options are installed and enabled by running the Start-CsWindowsService command:

    Start-CsWindowsService

Configure

To configure Busy Options, use the Set-CsBusyOptions cmdlet.

For example, the following command configures busy options for the user "Ken Myer". In this configuration, any call to "Ken Myer" returns a busy signal when they're already in a call:

Set-CsBusyOptions -Identity "Ken Myer"  -ActionType BusyOnBusy

In the next example, the command configures busy options for the user "Chrystal Velasquez". In this configuration, new incoming calls to "Chrystal Velasquez" are forwarded to voice mail when they're already in a call:

Set-CsBusyOptions -Identity "Chrystal Velasquez" -ActionType VoicemailOnBusy

You can retrieve configuration information about Busy Options by using the Get-CsBusyOptions cmdlet. The following example returns the Busy Options setting for "KenMyer@Contoso.com":

Get-CsBusyOptions -Identity sip:KenMyer@Contoso.com

You can remove Busy Options by using the Remove-CsBusyOptions cmdlet. The following command removes Busy Options for "Ken Myer":

Remove-CsBusyOptions -Identity "Ken Myer"

For detailed information about the cmdlets you use to configure Busy Options, see the technical reference content for Set-CsBusyOptions, Get-CsBusyOptions, and Remove-CsBusyOptions.

Enable logging

To enable logging for Busy Options by using the Centralized Logging Service, specify the following:

$p1 = New-CsClsProvider -Name S4 -Type WPP -Level Info -Flags All
$p2 = New-CsClsProvider -Name Sipstack -Type WPP -Level Info -Flags
 "TF_PROTOCOL,TF_CONNECTION,TF_SECURITY,TF_DIAG,TF_SHOW_CONFERENCE,TF_SHOW_ALLREQUESTS,TF_SHOW_ALLSIPHEADERS" -Role Registrar
$p3 = New-CsClsProvider -Name BusyOptions -Type WPP -Level Verbose -Flags All
New-CsClsScenario -Parent Global -Name BusyOptions -Provider @{Add=$p1,$p2,$p3}

Verify and troubleshoot

After installing Busy Options, you can verify that the installation was successful by using the Get-CsServerApplication cmdlet to retrieve the list of server applications. If Busy Options is installed properly, the output of the cmdlet should show the Busy Options configuration as follows:

Identity   : Service:Registrar:pool0.vdomain.com/BusyOptions
Priority   : 5
Uri        : https://www.microsoft.com/LCS/BusyOptions
Name       : BusyOptions
Enabled    : True
Critical   : False
ScriptName :
Script     :

You can also use Windows Event Viewer to verify that the Busy Options installation was successful and that Skype for Business Server successfully loaded Busy Options. To verify Busy Options, open Event Viewer -> Application and Services Logs -> Skype (or Lync) Server and search for Event ID = 30253.