OCS 2007 R2 prepare active directory

Before you deploy and operate Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2, you must prepare the Active Directory® Domain Services (AD DS) by extending the schema and then creating and configuring objects. The schema extensions add the Active Directory classes and attributes that are required by Office Communications Server.

Before!

Before you start the process of preparing Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, ensure that your Active Directory infrastructure meets the following prerequisites:

• All domain controllers in the forest where you deploy Office Communications Server run Windows Server® 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 R2, or Windows Server® 2008.
  
  
• All global catalog servers in the forest where you deploy Office Communications Server run Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 R2, or Windows Server 2008.
  
  
• All domains in which you deploy Office Communications Server are raised to a domain functional level of Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008. You cannot deploy Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in a Microsoft Windows® 2000 mixed, Windows 2000 native, or Windows 2003 interim domain.
  
  
• The forest in which you deploy Office Communications Server is raised to a forest functional level of Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008. You cannot deploy Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in a Windows 2000 mixed, Windows 2000 native, or Windows 2003 interim forest.

Schema

The schema preparation step extends the Active Directory schema to include classes and attributes that are specific to Office Communications Server. It is run once, on the Schema master in the root domain, for each Active Directory forest where you plan to deploy Office Communications Server.

Forest

The forest preparation step creates the following for Office Communications Server use:

• Active Directory global settings and objects
  
  
• Active Directory universal groups
  
  

This step creates objects that contain global settings and information about your Office Communications Server deployment. Global settings are stored either in the Configuration container or in the System container of the forest root domain. This step also creates objects that contain property sets and display specifiers used by Office Communications Server, and stores them in the Configuration container.

Forest preparation must be performed once in the root domain for each Active Directory forest where you plan to deploy Office Communications Server.

Domain

The domain preparation step adds to universal groups the necessary access control entries (ACEs) that grant permissions to host and manage users within the domain. Domain preparation creates ACEs on the domain root and three built-in containers: Users, Computers, and Domain Controllers.