Defining Network Sites

Lync Server sites are used to organize resources according to geography and bandwidth. IP subnets are then associated with the sites so that the Lync Servers can identify the locations where endpoints are located. A correctly configured Lync site topology allows Front End Servers to determine how call setup and routing should be handled; therefore, this is an important aspect of the Lync configuration. All subnets in a network should be defined and associated with a Lync site. Although this can be configured using the Lync Server Control Panel, in an enterprise network it could take a considerable amount of time to input all IP subnets into the configuration. For larger networks, this task is more easily handled using a simple comma-separated value (CSV) file and the Lync Management Shell. For example, a CSV file can be created including separate fields for network address, subnet mask bits, description, and Lync site ID, as shown here:

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IPAddress, mask, description, NetworkSiteID
10.0.0.0, 24, "NA:SF subnet", SF
10.1.0.0, 24, "EMEA:Dublin subnet", Dublin
10.2.0.0, 24, "EMEA:London subnet", London

Using a sample CSV filename of subnet.csv, these values can then be easily imported into the Lync Server network configuration by using the Lync Management Shell to execute the following command:

import-csv subnet.csv | foreach {New-CSNCSSubnet $_.IPAddress -MaskBits $_.mask -Description $_.description -NetworkSiteID $_.NetworkSiteID}

This command can then be scheduled to run regularly as a script, such that whenever new sites or subnets are added to the network, the CSV file is adjusted to reflect these and the script maintains the most current network topology.