Defining the Topology in Topology Builder

Topic Last Modified: 2011-05-19

Topology Builder is an installation component of Microsoft Lync Server 2010. You use Topology Builder to display and adjust your planned topology. It also validates topologies, and when you are ready to begin deployment, you use it to author a topology for your Lync Server 2010 deployment. When you install Lync Server 2010 on individual servers, the server reads the authored deployment as part of the installation process, and the installation program deploys the server as directed in the topology. This section describes how to prepare for and then install Topology Builder, and how to use it to define a new Enterprise Edition topology and Front End pool, or a Standard Edition deployment.

After defining your topology, you must publish it before you can install Lync Server 2010. Before you publish it, however, you must set up your environment. The topics in this section describe how to use Topology Builder to define the topology, but not how to publish it. The procedures required to prepare your production environment and publish your topology are described in a later section of this Deployment documentation.