Troubleshooting Office Communicator Phone Experience (a.k.a. Tanjay) Update Server

From time-to-time there will be a need to update the firmware on the Tanjay. Do to this we utilize a server known as the Update Server. This is seperate from WSUS or SMS. The Update Server is a combination of a server role and a Sharepoint site. The information about the Update Server is giving to the Tanjay via inband provisioning during the bootup process and this information is stored in WMI. This article isn't meant to be the end all for troubleshooting issues with the Update Server, but I did want to provide some information on one particular problem that I'm seeing more and more often. If you attempt to go to the BaseURL of the Update Server from a browser, you should be able to retreive one of the files without being prompted for credentials. In other words, this URL should be accessible to anonymous users. The BaseURL is actually pointing to the Sharepoint server and looks something like:

 

https://sharepointfqdn/ucupdateserver/updates/ucphone/microsoft/cpe/a/enu/cpe/</BaseURL

 

Then just append one of the file, such as cpe.nbt. When you execute the URL in IE you should be able to download the image without being challenged for credentials. If you are challenged, then so will the Tanjay and that's a problem. It indicated that annonymous access has not been granted. Here's what you need to do with allow annonymous access:

 

Use the following procedure to enable anonymous access to the SharePoint site. Anonymous access is required to allow devices and others to connect and retrieve updates from the Software Update Service SharePoint site. You must enable anonymous access on the Authentication Providers page, but only grant permissions to the Software Update Service site (as explained later in this guide).

To enable anonymous user access to the SharePoint site

1. Open the newly created site: https://<servername>:<default central administration port>/Default.aspx. For example: https://sharepointserver1:28406/default.aspx: Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.

2. Click the Application Management tab.

3. Under Application Security, click Authentication Providers.

4. On the Authentication Providers page, click Default.

5. On the Edit Authentication page, under Web Application verify that the Web site maps to the SharePoint-80 site.

6. Click the Enable anonymous access check box, and then click Save.

Problems with Anonymous Access or Permissions on the Document Library Folder

If you encounter problems with anonymous access to the SharePoint site or general problems accessing Document Library or other folders on the SharePoint site, use the following steps to ensure that anonymous access is enabled:

To grant anonymous users read access

1. Open the site at https://<servername>/sites/UCUpdateServer/default.aspx. For example, https://sharepointserver1/sites/UCUpdateServer/default.aspx.

2. Click Site Actions, and then click Site Settings.

clip_image002

3. On the Site Settings page, click Advanced Permissions under Users and Permissions.

4. On the Permissions page, click Anonymous Access in the Settings list.

clip_image004

5. On the Change Anonymous Access page, select Lists and Libraries under Anonymous users can access, and then click OK.

6. On the Permissions: Updates Server page, click Documents.

clip_image006

7. On the All Site Content page, click Updates.

clip_image008

8. On the Updates page, click Settings, and then click Document Library Settings.

clip_image010

9. On the Customize Updates page, click Permissions for this document library.

clip_image012

10. On the Permissions Updates page, click Settings, and then click Anonymous Access.

clip_image014

11. On the Change Anonymous Access Settings: Updates page, select the View Items check box, and then click OK.

clip_image016

By the way, I have to thank Dirk Keamy for providing a lot of the details and tools to help troubleshoot this type of issue.