Technical data

DATA CENTER and CAMPUS NETWORKS DEPLOYMENT GUIDE
Deploying Brocade Networks with Microsoft Lync Server 2010 5 of 52
SOLUTION COMPONENTS
The Network
At the core of UC is the underlying network. With voice and video converging to the same network that transmits an
organization’s data, demands rise exponentially. Successful deployment of Microsoft Lync Server 2010 requires a
solid, open, and scalable network infrastructure. Brocade provides comprehensive, end-to-end IP network
infrastructure solutions built on a wire-speed, non-blocking architecture, which provides high levels of reliability,
availability, and security in enterprise environments. The convergence of voice, data, and video places heavy
demands on the network, and and a Brocade network infrastructure has the ability to give priority to the most critical
traffic. In addition, a Brocade network allows the administrator to scale the corporate infrastructure on demand
without impacting the current operating environment.
In addition, Brocade ServerIron
®
Application Delivery Controllers (hardware load balancers) deployed in front of the
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 servers increase application uptime, maximize server farm utilization, and shield servers
and applications from malicious attacks. The switches receive all client requests and distribute them efficiently to
the best server among those available in the pool. These Brocade hardware load balancers consider server
availability, load, response time, and other user-configured performance metrics when selecting a server for
incoming client connections.
By performing sophisticated and customizable health checks on servers and applications, Brocade hardware load
balancers quickly identify resource outages in real time and redirect client connections to available servers. Server
capacity can be increased or decreased on demand without impacting applications and client connections. When
demand grows, IT engineers can simply slide in new server resources and configure the Brocade hardware load
balance switch to use the new servers for client connections.
NOTE: Microsoft Lync Server 2010 comes in two different versions—the Standard Edition and the Enterprise Edition—
as described below. The Standard Edition includes all of the components on a single server, while the Enterprise
Edition is deployed on multiple servers, allowing a customer to scale when demands increase.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition is deployed with the Front End Server, Microsoft SQL Server,
A/V Conferencing Server, Web Conferencing Server, and Web Components Server installed on a single
physical computer.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition is recommended for small to mid-sized organizations, that is, branch
deployments that do not require high availability, and pilot deployments.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition
In the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition consolidated configuration, one or more Enterprise Edition
servers are deployed, each running the Front End Server, A/V Conferencing Server, Web Conferencing Server, and
Web Components Server. Each of these components can be installed on one server or on separate servers to
balance the load.
The Enterprise Edition is recommended for most organizations; an expanded deployment is shown in Figure 1. It
provides simplified administration, as well as high performance and high availability. This solution enables you to
scale an environment by adding servers to the pool.