Organizations can use the Barracuda Load Balancer to enhance the scalability and availability of their Microsoft® Lync® Server 2010 deployments (formerly known as Microsoft Office Communications Server).
Barracuda Networks has conducted interoperability tests between the Barracuda Load Balancer and Microsoft Lync Server 2010. This guide describes how to deploy the Barracuda Load Balancer to provide scaling in a Lync environment.
Microsoft Lync Server Overview
Organizations use solutions like Microsoft Lync to allow them to effectively disseminate information and enhance collaborative efforts among their employees. Microsoft Lync Server 2010 offers functionality such as VoIP, instant messaging and web collaboration. All these services may be accessed by clients from either the internal office network or from the Internet.
For companies that want a scalable solution, Microsoft recommends using a hardware load balancer to distribute the traffic among multiple Lync Servers.
Requirements
- Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition
- Barracuda Load Balancer running firmware version 3.6.1.009 or higher
- Barracuda Load Balancer 340 or above
- For Internal Lync Server Deployment: Minimum one Barracuda Load Balancer, two recommended for high availability
- For both Internal Lync Server Deployment and Edge Deployment: Minimum two Barracuda Load Balancers, four recommended for high availability. In order to maintain the integrity of the edge security model, separate load balancers are required for the internal traffic and the edge traffic.
- For Internal Lync Server Deployment, Edge Deployment, and non-collocated A/V Services: Minimum three Barracuda Load Balancers, six recommended for high availability. In order to maintain the integrity of the edge security model, separate load balancers are required for the internal traffic, the edge traffic and the non-collocated A/V Services.
This document assumes that you have installed your Barracuda Load Balancer(s), have connected to the web interface, and activated your subscription(s). If you are planning to deploy Lync Server 2010 with high availability, you must first cluster your Barracuda Load Balancers.
Additional References
Refer to the Microsoft TechNet library for the following:
- A description of ports and protocols used by the servers, load balancers, and clients in a Microsoft Lync deployment environment
- Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Documentation
Terminology
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Front-End Server | A Lync Server in the internal network running the Front End Lync Services. |
| Edge Server | A Lync Server deployed in the perimeter network running the Edge Lync Services. |
| Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) | The unique name for a specific computer or host that can resolve to an IP address, e.g., www.example.com |
| Service | A combination of a virtual IP (VIP) address and one or more TCP/UDP ports on which the Barracuda Load Balancer listens. Traffic arriving over the specified port(s) to a Service is directed to one of the Real Servers associated with a particular Service. |
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Understanding Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Deployment Options