Step 3 OCS2007PB Deployment (Prep your ADS Domain)

Step 3 OCS2007PB Deployment (Prep your ADS Domain)

Before you can run OCS2007 you need to extend your schema first after that you need to prep your forest. Last but not least you need to prep your Domain. Before you can prep your Domain you must take care of the following steps. This information is based on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Public Beta.
Prepare your Active Directory (Domain)

What Does Prep Domain Do?
The Prep Domain step adds the necessary ACEs to universal groups that grant permissions to host and manage users within the domain. Prep Domain is required in all domains where you want to deploy Office Communications Servers and any domains where your Office Communications Server users will reside. The task is run once in each domain.
Prep Domain create ACEs on the domain root and three built-in containers: Users, Computers, and Domain Controllers.

The most common failure on proceeding is that the Schema extensions or forest preparations are not replicated yet. Please make sure all your Active Directory Domain Controllers are updated with the corrected Schema. Therefore open your Active Directory Sites and Services (Administrative Tools) and replicate your Schema. To check your Schema extensions open ADSIedit or LDP.exe to drill down your OCS attributes.

Prep Domain can be run on any computer in the domain where you are deploying your Office Communications Server. Domain Admins credentials are required to run Prep Domain.

To prepare the domain using Setup.exe

(1) Log on to any server in the domain using Domain Admins credentials.
(2) On the Office Communications Server installation folder or CD, run Setup.exe to start the Deployment Tool.

(3) Select one of the following:
For Standard Edition, click Deploy Standard Edition Server.
For Enterprise Edition, click Deploy Enterprise Pool in a Consolidated Topology or Deploy Enterprise Pool in an Expanded Topology. For this example we will choose Enterprise Pool in an Expanded Topology.

(4) Click Prepare Active Directory.
(5) At Prep Current Domain, click Run.
(6) On the Welcome to the Domain Preparation Wizard page, click Next.
(7) On the Domain Preparation Information, review the information, and then click Next.
(8) On the Ready to Run Domain Preparation page, review your current settings before clicking Next.

(9) On the Domain Preparation Wizard has completed page, click View Log. Under the Action column expand Domain Prep. Look for Execution Result at the end of each task to verify Prep Domain completed successfully. Close the log window when you finish.

(10)Click Finish.

Wait for Active Directory replication to complete or force replication to all the domain controllers listed in the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in for the forest root domain controller.
Wait for Active Directory replication to complete or force replication to all the domain controllers listed in the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in for the forest root domain controller before running Prep Domain.

The next step in the deployment process of OCS2007PB is to setup your Enterprise Pool. Refer to Step 4 OCS2007PB Deployment (Create your Enterprise Pool) - tomorrow i will post how to setup an Enterprise Pool.