Set Up an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Federation Clearinghouse

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This article provides some guidance about how to set up a Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 federation clearinghouse deployment. The goal of the clearinghouse is to simplify Public IM Connectivity (PIC) (such as AOL, The Microsoft Network (MSN), and Yahoo) with existing on-premise Office Communications Server 2007 R2 deployments. The clearinghouse model also facilitates relationships between member organizations.

Author: Wajih Yahyaoui

Publication date: May 2010

Product version: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2

This article shows you how to set up a Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 federation clearinghouse deployment. This clearinghouse is a central location that manages federation connections between enterprises. The goals of the clearinghouse are to simplify the following:

  • Public IM Connectivity (PIC) (such as America Online (AOL), The Microsoft Network (MSN), and Yahoo)
  • Existing on-premise Office Communications Server 2007 R2 deployments

The clearinghouse model also facilitates relationships between member organizations. Companies can federate more easily with each other without setting up explicit pair-wise federation relationships.

Configure a Clearinghouse

Here is how to configure an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Access Edge Server to be a clearinghouse or route Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) traffic to a clearinghouse.

Routing outbound SIP traffic to a clearinghouse is usually done by configuring a default route on the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Access Edge Server. All federated outbound SIP traffic will be routed by using the default route.

Note: A default route cannot be specified at the same that that an Access Edge Server is being configured to be a clearinghouse.

  1. At the command prompt, type wbemtest. A dialog box appears.
  2. Click Connect.
  3. In the Namespace box, type root\cimv2.
  4. Click Connect, and then click Query.
  5. In the box for Query, type Select * from MSFT_SipFederationExternalEdgeSetting. Click Apply.
  6. Double-click the result that was returned.
  7. On the Object Editor tabbed page, double-click the DefaultRoute property.
  8. On the Value tabbed page, click Not Null.
  9. In the Value box, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Clearinghouse Access Edge Server.
  10. Click Save Property, and then click Save Object.
  11. Click Close, Close, and then click Exit to close wbemtest.

Troubleshooting

Acting as a clearinghouse and using a clearinghouse are special attributes that cannot be used in conjunction with other attributes. Following is a list of common issues that may arise when you attempt to configure a clearinghouse:

  • The IsClearingHouse attribute and the DefaultRoute properties cannot at the same time be configured in Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI); otherwise, a WMI error is thrown.
  • The issues for using a default route to a clearinghouse are as follows:
  • Attempting to use automatic discovery at the same time as a default route results in a misconfiguration. It is logged as an error to the event log.
  • Attempting to simultaneously use closed enhanced federation or an IM provider and a default route is considered a misconfiguration. If this occurs, a warning appears in the event log. A misconfiguration could lead to unpredictable behavior.

Note: If WMI throws a generic error code, the administrator should find the code's meaning by using lcserror, the command-line tool that shipped with the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Resource Kit.

When an Access Edge Server is configured to act as a clearinghouse or configured to use a default route to a clearinghouse, the administrator won't be able to access the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) property pages on the Access Edge Server by using MMC.

To update partner entries, the administrator has the following options:

  • If an array of Access Edge Servers is being used, wbemtest or a custom script should be used.

  • If an array of Access Edge Servers isn't being used, WMI can be used to manually create or edit instances of the MSFT_SIPFederationPartnerTable class.

Summary

This article describes how to configure Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to support a clearinghouse. Keep in mind, however, that these configuration steps are specific to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and might not work in future releases of Office Communications Server.

Additional Information

For more information, check out the following articles:

Communications Server Resources

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