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Administrative Consoles

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.

 

Topic Last Modified: 2016-12-01

To manage Office Communications Server 2007 R2, you can do either of the following:

  • Install the administrative tools on any server on which Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and its components are installed.

  • Install the administrative tools on a separate computer, such as a centralized administration console on which Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is not installed.

Note

The Office Communications Server administrative tools are no longer installed automatically on servers running Office Communications Server, but you can install the tools by using the same Deployment Wizard that you use to install Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The exception is the Group Chat Server Configuration Tool, which is installed by default on each computer running Group Chat Server or the Group Chat Compliance service.

This section describes the tools available for administering Office Communications Server 2007 R2, including information about deploying these tools.

Administrative Tools

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 provides dedicated administrative tools for administering Office Communications Server, Response Group Service, Communicator Web Access, and Group Chat. The following table describes the available administrative tools and their usage.

Table 1. Administrative Tools

Tool Description Availability and use

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in

A Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that is the primary administrative tool for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 servers in an Active Directory domain.

Available on any other computer in the domain on which the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools are installed. It cannot be used to manage Edge Servers, Proxy Servers, or other computers not in the domain. Use it to view and configure Office Communications Server 2007 R2 pools, servers, and users, including the settings for the servers and users on Standard Edition servers and in Enterprise pools that are in the Active Directory forest.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 management components for Active Directory Users and Computers

Additional functionality for management of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 servers in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). It is required for initially enabling each user for Office Communications Server. You can also use it for managing user settings for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 users in the domain, based on the organizational unit (OU) or folder in which they reside, by using the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.

Available in Active Directory Users and Computers on computers on which the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools are installed, but can be used only if the server is in a domain.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in extension for the Computer Management console

An MMC snap-in that is the primary tool for management of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 servers that are not in an Active Directory domain, such as Edge Servers in the perimeter network, as well as Proxy Servers.

Available on any computer on which the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools are installed. On the local computer, only server-level settings can be managed with this snap-in extension. If the local computer is not running Office Communications Server 2007 R2, you can use Computer Management to connect to an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 server and then use the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in extension to manage the server-level settings of that computer.

The 2007 R2 version of Communicator Web Access snap-in

An MMC snap-in that is the primary administrative tool for Communicator Web Access.

Available on any server in the domain on which the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools are installed.

Response Group Service snap-in

An MMC snap-in that is the primary administrative tool for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 servers.

Available in the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in.

Response Group Configuration Tool

A Web-based tool that is used to create and manage Response Groups.

Installed with the Web Components Server or Standard Edition server. Any computer that is in the same forest as the server that is running the Response Group Service can use the Internet Explorer Internet browser to access the Response Group Configuration Tool.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Administration Tool

A Group Chat tool to create categories and chat rooms, define their scope and membership, create federated users and groups, manage how users can use the chat rooms, and specify which users are administrators and managers.

Can be installed on any computer in the domain available for installation of the Group Chat Administration Tool.

Group Chat Server Configuration Tool

A Group Chat tool to start, stop, and configure Group Chat Servers, configure the Group Chat database, manage compliance, and set logging levels.

Available on any server running Group Chat Server or the Compliance service.

LCSCmd.exe

A command-line tool used to prepare Active Directory Domain Services, create Enterprise pools, perform XML-based logging, manage permissions, and install, activate, check the status of, or deactivate servers, as well as to perform backup and restoration operations for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 servers and Enterprise pools.

Available on any computer in the domain on which the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools are installed.

This tool is used initially for Active Directory preparation, and then for ongoing backup and restoration operations, so it is not covered in this documentation. For details about how to use this tool for Active Directory preparation and other command-line management tasks, see Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Active Directory Guide in the Deployment documentation and the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Command Line Reference Guide in the Reference documentation.

RGSCOT.exe

A command-line tool used to create and manage Response Group Service Contact objects.

Available on any server in the domain on which the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools are installed.

In addition to the administrative tools described in the table, you can use Windows Management Instrumentation Tester (WBEMTest), which ships with the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 operating systems, to modify WMI settings. Run the WBEMTest tool on any computer on which Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is installed. This guide includes specific procedures for using WBEMTest to change WMI settings. For details about WBEMTest, see "Using WBEMTest user interface" at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139797.

Permissions

Installation of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools on a computer that is not running Office Communications Server 2007 R2 requires using an account that is a member of the Administrators group (or an account with equivalent privileges).

Using administrative tools requires the following:

  • To administer user account settings, an account that is a member of the RTCUniversalUserAdmins group, or an account with equivalent privileges.

  • For all other Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administration tasks, an account that is a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group, or an account with equivalent privileges.

Prerequisites

Installation of the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools requires that the computer on which the tools are installed meet applicable requirements. For details about these installation requirements, see Internal Office Communications Server Component Requirements.

Deployment Process

To install Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools, you can use the Deployment Wizard to install the following:

  • Office Communications Server 2007 R2 core components. This includes the Lcscmd.exe tool and the Office Communications Server WMI providers. The Core Components are required to install and run all Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tool snap-ins on computers, but they are installed automatically when you start the installation of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools.

  • Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools. This includes all management consoles described in Table 1 previously in this section, except for Group Chat tools.

The following table describes the process for deploying the administrative tools, including the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools and Group Chat tools, which are installed separately.

Table 2. Administrative Console Deployment Process

Phase Steps Permissions Documentation

Verify that prerequisites have been met.

Do the following:

  • Verify that the computer meets the hardware and software requirements for administrative tools for Office Communications Server and, if appropriate, Group Chat.

N/A

Internal Office Communications Server Component Requirements

Install Office Communications Server 2007 R2 administrative tools.

Do the following:

  • Install the administrative tools on a computer in the same domain as the servers to be administered.

Administrators group

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Administration Guide in the Operations documentation

Install the Group Chat Administration Tool.

Do the following:

  • Install the Administration Tool on a computer in the same domain as the servers to be administered. The Group Chat Server Configuration tool is already automatically installed on each computer that hosts Group Chat Server.

Local Administrator

Installing the Group Chat Administration Tool in Deploying Group Chat Server in the Deployment documentation