This is slightly off-topic, but I wanted to install OCS 2007 Server, not having done it before, in order to be able to then test connectivity from other devices including BlackBerry, and Android if/when a client is made available. Normally I wouldn't blog about the installation of a relatively common Microsoft server product, but I ran into a number of errors so thought I'd detail how they were resolved in case anyone else runs into the same problems.

The procedure I ran through was as follows:

• Install Windows Server 2003 SP2.
• Add the server to the domain.
• Install IIS, including the ASP and Message Queuing services.
• Install Certificate Services (only required if a CA is not already present on the domain elsewhere).
• IMPORTANT (this is where I ran into problems) - if Microsoft hotfix package 974571 is installed, uninstall it before beginning the installation of OCS. Failure to remove this hotfix will prevent you from being able to activate the OCS server one the program files have been installed.
• Create a DNS entry for the OCS server (or pool if required).

Raise the Domain Functional level from Mixed Mode to Server 2003 Native Mode

On the domain controller, open the Active Directory Domains and Trusts MMC snap in. Right click on the Domain and select the option to Raise Domain Functional Level. If the domain is set to Mixed Mode, it will need to be raised to Server 2003 Native Mode.

Click OK and then run a gpupdate /force command to force the change to replicate through the domain.

Create required service accounts

Create a new domain User Group called 'RTCSetupDelegate'.
Create two new domain user accounts: 'RTCService' and 'RTCComponentService' and add them both to the RTCSetupDelegate group created earlier.

Launch the OCS Installer

Log into the OCS server with a domain user account with both local admin rights on the OCS server and SchemaAdmin rights on the domain.

Launch the OCS installer application, if prompted to install the Visual C++ redistributable, select Yes.
Run the Forest Prep wizard followed by the Domain Prep wizards and ensure they complete successfully. Once completed, run another gpupdate /force command on the domain controller to force a replication throughout the domain.

Delegate setup tasks to required service accounts

Delegate the setup and administration tasks to the two RTCService user accounts created earlier. Launch the Command Prompt and navigate to the directory containing the OCS installer files. Browse to the \setup\i386 directory.

Run the following commands:

(Read the following Microsoft Technical article for full information - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb905930.aspx)

To delegate Setup:

LCSCmd.exe /Domain:domain.com /Action:CreateDelegation /Delegation:SetupAdmin 
/TrusteeGroup:RTCSetupDelegate /TrusteeDomain:domain.com /ServiceAccount:RTCService 
/ComponentServiceAccount:RTCComponentService /ComputerOU:DC=domain,DC=com

To delegate Server Admin:

LCSCmd.exe /Domain:domain.com /Action:CreateDelegation /Delegation:ServerAdmin 
/TrusteeGroup:RTCSetupDelegate /TrusteeDomain:domain.com /ServiceAccount:RTCService 
/ComponentServiceAccount:RTCComponentService /ComputerOU:DC=domain,DC=com

To delegate User Admin:

LCSCmd.exe /Domain:domain.com /Action:CreateDelegation /Delegation:UserAdmin 
/TrusteeGroup:RTCSetupDelegate /TrusteeDomain:domain.com /ServiceAccount:RTCService 
/ComponentServiceAccount:RTCComponentService /ComputerOU:DC=domain,DC=com 
/UserOU:CN=Users,DC=domain,DC=com /UserType:User

To delegate Read Only Server Admin:

LCSCmd.exe /Domain:domain.com /Action:CreateDelegation /Delegation:ReadOnlyAdmin 
/TrusteeGroup:RTCSetupDelegate /TrusteeDomain:domain.com /ServiceAccount:RTCService 
/ComponentServiceAccount:RTCComponentService /ComputerOU:DC=domain,DC=com

To delegate Read Only User Admin:

LCSCmd.exe /Domain:domain.com /Action:CreateDelegation /Delegation:ReadOnlyAdmin 
/TrusteeGroup:RTCSetupDelegate /TrusteeDomain:domain.com /ServiceAccount:RTCService 
/ComponentServiceAccount:RTCComponentService /ComputerOU:DC=domain,DC=com 
/UserOU:CN=Users,DC=domain,DC=com /UserType:User

Run the Deploy Server wizard to install the required program files to the server. At the end of the installation, the wizard will then attempt to activate the OCS server. If the wizard fails with an error along the lines of 'the server clock may not be set correctly', again verify that hotfix 974571 is NOT installed on the server. If it is, uninstall the hotfix, then attempt to activate the server manually at the command line with the following command:

LCSCmd.exe /Server:ocs.domain.com /Role:SE /Action:Activate /Password:PaSSword1

(where PaSSword1 is the password of the user account used to install the OCS software - the account currently logged in, not the RTCService account)

Return to the OCS installer wizard and resume where you left off.

Issue a certificate request to the online CA and assign it to the OCS server. Start all OCS services.
Under the "Deploy Other Roles" section, select the option to deploy the Communicator Web Access server role, assigning the certificate generated earlier when prompted.

If all has gone well, you should see the server roles listed within the Office Communicator Server MMC snap-in within Administrative tools, and several new context menu items within Active Directory:

The Communicator Web Access (CWA) web site should be listed in the CWA MMC snap in:

And browsing to https://(server)/cwa should display the Communicator Web Access login screen:

In my next post I shall detail how to set up the BlackBerry Enterprise Server solution to enable access to OCS from BlackBerry handheld devices.