Introduction

The Edge Server seems to be one of the least understood Office Communications Server (OCS) components, and one that causes the most confusion. The Edge Server installation is straightforward; the wizard makes things easy. Most of the confusion comes from not understanding the underlying network requirements, having problems with certificates, or improper security configuration. In the following sections, I will clear up some of the mystery by walking you through an Edge Server deployment, step by step. To start, I ll give you some background on the Edge Server.

The Edge Server connects your OCS deployment to the outside world. There are four main reasons for you to deploy the Edge Server. You need the Edge Server if your organization requires:

• Users to access OCS from outside the firewall without a virtual private network (VPN) connection

• Users to send and receive instant messages (IMs) with public IM providers (MSN, Yahoo!, or AOL)

• External parties to participate in your OCS-hosted Live Meetings

• The ability to federate with other organizations that are using OCS or Live Communications Server (LCS)

To accomplish this functionality, the Edge Server has main three services (also called roles): the Access Edge, A/V Edge, and Web Conferencing Edge. The Access Edge service is responsible for external user authentication allowing home or mobile users to connect. The A/V Edge service gives remote users the ability to utilize OCS audio and video capabilities. And the Web Conferencing Edge service allows external users to connect to the...