Configuration and Administration Overview

The good news about Lync Server 2013 is that with the Topology Builder tool much of the configuration is done automatically. Although much of both configuration and administration can be done from the Silverlight web GUI, there are many tasks for which only the Lync Server Management Shell will suffice.

First, an introduction to the Lync Server Control Panel. This section reviews each of the tabs and options in the Silverlight Control Panel web application and cites Management Shell commands for functions that do not appear in the Control Panel.

Before opening the Control Panel for the first time, ensure that the server is included in the list of trusted sites on the server or your client. Without this setting, the Control Panel will fail to launch. To launch the Control Panel on a Lync Server 2013 server, select the Lync Server Control Panel link from the Start menu under the Microsoft Lync Server 2013 program group. To launch the Control Panel from another system, enter the Admin simple URL you entered during the initial installation or https://<poolFQDN>/cscp. In the example environment this would be either https://Lync2013.companyabc.com/admin or https://Lync2013.companyabc.com/cscp/. Either URL will bring you to the Control Panel.

When you first log in, you’re brought to the Control Panel home page. The navigation bar is on the left and includes options for Home, Users, Topology, IM and Presence, Voice Routing, Voice Features, Response Groups, Conferencing, Clients, Federation and External Access, Monitoring and Archiving, Security, and finally Network Configuration.

On the Home page you’ll see a link to a quick-start guide and other informational links in the center pane, and shortcuts to common tasks in the main pane. Explanations of these functions and more are covered in detail in Chapter 14, “Administration of Microsoft Lync Server 2013.”