Lync Network Readiness Assessment

A network readiness assessment is an important proactive step toward implementing and deploying new technology in your network. Conducting such an assessment using reliable tools and techniques can help identify issues that your organization might not even be aware of, ranging from possible bottlenecks, to latency problems, to assessing the current level of your network’s readiness, and serving the future needs of your organization.

Network Assessment Overview

Key Concepts for Network Assessment

After completing this module, students should have the knowledge and skills to:

Explain network readiness assessment goals and activities.

Apply key concept of networking to a network assessment.

The Microsoft Lync Network Readiness Assessment methodology (MLNRAM) is comprised of four different phases: discovery, modeling, traffic simulation, and recommendations. This module provides an overview on each phase in this methodology.

The objective of the network assessment is to provide insight into the readiness of the network infrastructure for supporting an excellent user experience, while using Lync Server for Real-time Communications (RTC). The network assessment helps to answer the critical pre-deployment question, "Is my network infrastructure ready to support Lync Server?”

Microsoft Lync Network Readiness Assessment Methodology Overview

Discovery Phase

Modeling Phase

Traffic Simulation Phase

Recommendations Phase

Discuss Your Network Assessment Experiences

After completing this module, students will be able to:

Explain the four major phases of the Microsoft Lync Readiness Assessment methodology.

Identify the objectives and goals of each phase of the network assessment.

Discuss real-world experiences with network assessments, processes, and methodologies.

The objective of the Discovery phase is to gain a full understanding of all aspects of the network infrastructure, the existing telephony infrastructure, the conferencing infrastructure, and details of the planned deployment. You should understand the physical topology of the customer’s network, the size and type of their most common WAN connections, and the current levels of data traffic for each site. It is important to remember that all discovery sessions are unique.

This module examines several of the key goals of the Discovery phase, such as revealing potential sources of network impairments, raising awareness of Lync Server traffic flows, confirming the simulation probe placement choice for the traffic simulation, and offering guidelines for network devices.

Documenting Current Network Infrastructure

Documenting Current Client Devices

Locating Network Impairments and Roadblocks

Overview of Transport Reliability IP Probe Tools

Reviewing the Contoso IT Infrastructure

Document Discovery Findings

Start the Network Emulator for Windows Toolkit

After completing this module, students will be able to:

Discover current network infrastructure and utilization.

Identify client and Lync devices.

Locate network impairments and roadblocks.

Use common network assessment tools.

The deployment and monitoring portion of the Lync Server lifecycle is where you keep the Lync Server infrastructure running in optimal condition. If planning was properly handled, you will not be expected to fix a backlog of infrastructure issues. Instead, you will be watching for new signs of service degradation and usage trends.

During the Discovery phase of your network assessment, you will use monitoring and managing methods to determine server, network, and client health. This information will help you pose your recommendations to the customer, as well as supply valuable information for the next phases of your network assessment.

Determining Server, Network and Client Health Indicators

Monitoring and Managing Methods

Start the Performance Monitor System Data Collector Sets

Generating Network Load Tests

Review the Performance Monitor System Health Data

Continue Discovery Findings Documentation

After completing this module, students will be able to:

Determine server, network, and client health.

Use monitoring and managing methods to analyze network data.

Usage and traffic modeling is a key part of a network readiness assessment because you need to know the usage patterns and the actual traffic on the network in order to properly estimate the bandwidth Lync or Unified Communications (UC) might consume on the network. This module introduces the different usage scenarios, usage models, and personas needed for usage modeling. It covers the process of calculating expected data usage for traffic modeling. Modeling tools, such as the Lync Bandwidth Calculator and Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Planning Tool, will also be covered.

Performing Usage Modeling

Performing Traffic Modeling

Lync Bandwidth Calculator

Entering information into the Lync Bandwidth Calculator

Reviewing Calculated Results

Using the Lync Server 2013, Planning Tool

Designing Simulations Based on Modeling Tool Results

After completing this module, students will be able to:

Perform usage modeling and traffic modeling.

Use the Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Planning Tool.

Use the Lync Bandwidth Calculator.

Traffic simulation is an important step in a network readiness assessment because it provides a way of predicting how a network will perform. This module covers how to perform traffic simulations to understand traffic patterns on a network. By sending representative real-time communication (RTC) traffic through a network, a full readiness picture can be determined.

Overview of Traffic Simulations

Lync Server 2013 Stress and Performance Tool

Starting the Performance Monitor System Data Collector Sets

Using the Lync Server Stress and Performance Tools

Reviewing the Performance Monitor Lync Server Health Data

Analyzing Monitoring Reports

Performing Traffic Simulations Using the Iperf Tool

After completing this module, students will be able to:

Perform a traffic simulation as part of a network readiness assessment.

Use traffic simulation best practices.

Use the Lync Server Stress and Performance Tool to perform stress and performance tests.

Customers are often not equipped to manage the complexity of Lync. In addition to completing a network assessment, you can take many proactive steps to prevent the most common scenarios that generate support calls, and potentially leave Lync functionality compromised and unreliable. This module covers the various solutions that might be recommended to meet business and technical requirements to achieve network readiness.

Quality of Service

Bandwidth Management with Call Admission Control

Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Tools

Configuring Quality of Service (QoS)

Verifying Quality of Service Application

Reviewing Call Admission Control to Manage Bandwidth

Verifying Call Admission Control is Being Applied

Using the Lync Centralized Logging Service

Using Synthetic Transactions for Monitoring

Using Synthetic Transactions

Fixing Network Link Bandwidth Issues

After completing this module, students will be able to:

Describe Quality of Service.

Implement bandwidth management with Call Admission Control.

Use troubleshooting and diagnostic tools.

After completing the previous phases of a network readiness assessment, it is now time for recommending areas to be investigated. This could include implementing different software based strategies, such as Quality of Service (QoS) or call admission control (CAC). It could also include networking and topology changes or hardware and device changes. Sometimes it may just be troubleshooting and fixing problems with the current network or configuration. This module examines how to analyze the data that you compile, how to make recommendations based on that data, and how to create reports based on those recommendations.

Forming and Documenting Recommendations

Write a Network Assessment Report for Contoso

Discussion: Network Readiness Assessment Report

After completing this module, students will be able to:

Form recommendations based on network assessment analysis.

Document and summarize their recommendations for network preparedness.