eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by LSWebTest

To support Lync mobile applications on mobile devices, Lync Server 2013 provides three services: Lync Server 2013 Mcx Mobility Service, Lync Server 2013 Autodiscover Service, and Lync Server 2013 Push Notification Service.

The services that support mobility are as follows:

  • Lync Server 2013 Unified Communications Web API (UCWA) Provides services for real-time communications with mobile and web clients in Lync Server 2013. When you deploy the Cumulative Updates for Lync Server 2013, the installation creates a virtual directory in the internal and external web services (Ucwa). A web component that is part of the Ucwa virtual directory accepts calls from UCWA-enabled clients. The client apps communicate over a REST interface for presence, contacts, instant messaging, VoIP, video conferencing, and collaboration. UCWA uses a P-GET based channel to send events, such as an incoming call, incoming instant message, or a message to the client app.
  • Lync Server 2013 Mobility Service (Mcx): This service supports Lync functionality, such as instant messaging (IM), presence, and contacts, on mobile devices. The Mobility Service is installed on every Front End Server in each pool that is to support Lync functionality on mobile devices. When you install Lync Server 2013, a new virtual directory (Mcx) is created under both the internal website and the external website on your Front End Servers.
  • Lync Server 2013 Autodiscover Service: This service identifies the location of the user and enables mobile devices and other Lync clients to locate resources—such as the internal and external URLs for Lync Server 2013 Web Services, and the URL for the Mcx or UCWA—regardless of network location. Automatic discovery uses hardcoded host names (lyncdiscoverinternal for users inside the network; lyncdiscover for users outside the network) and the SIP domain of the user. It supports client connections that use either HTTP or HTTPS.
  • The Autodiscover Service is installed on every Front End Server and on every Director in each pool that is to support Lync functionality on mobile devices. When you install the Autodiscover Service, a new virtual directory (Autodiscover) is created under both the internal website and the external website, on both Front End Servers and Directors.
  • Push Notification Service: This service is a cloud-based service that is located in the Lync Online data center. When the Lync mobile application on a supported Apple iOS device or Windows Phone is inactive, it cannot respond to new events, such as a new instant messaging (IM) invitation, a missed instant message, a missed call, or voice mail, because these devices do not support mobile applications running in the background. In these cases, a notification of the new event—called a push notification—is sent to the mobile device. The Mobility Service sends the notification to the cloud-based Push Notification Service, which then sends the notification either to the Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) (for supported Apple iOS devices) or to the Microsoft Push Notification Service (MPNS) (for Windows Phone), which then sends it on to the mobile device. The user can then respond to the notification on the mobile device to activate the application.
Whenever users login to the Microsoft Lync server from their Lync mobile client, they must be able to do so without any technical glitch. The LSWebTest test helps administrators achieve the same by continuosly monitoring the mobility services of the Microsoft Lync server. Using this test, adminsitrators can figure out the following:

  • The successfult Get Location requests;
  • The time taken to process the Get Location requests;
  • The Get Location requests that failed;
  • The PIN calls that were validated;
  • The Push notification that failed and throttled;
  • The requests to the Mobile Communication service that failed and rejected.
This way, administrators can be proactively alerted to issues faced by the users logging into the Lync server thorugh mobile clients before end users start complaining about the inaccessibility of the server.

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
FailLookupReq Indicates the number of local lookup user requests that failed. Number  
SuccLocationReq Indicates the rate at which Get Location requests were processed successfully. Requests/Sec The maximum value that is acceptable for this measure is 12. Requests to initiate a session consume the most CPU on the server. Peak supported load is 12/second. Sustainability depends on other loads on the server. Initiate a session typically means a sign-in for a user that has been signed out for an extended period of time.
CityReqTime Indicates the average time taken to successfully process a Get Location request to retrieve a city. Secs  
FailLocationReq Indicates the rate at which Get Location requests failed. Requests/Sec  
ReqRec Indicates the number of requests received for all device specific updates during the last measurement period. Number Device Update Web service supports Lync Phone Edition.

The first time a user starts Lync Phone Edition and signs in, the device gets in-band provisioning information from the server or Front End pool hosting the device user account. The information contains the internal and external URL of the server running Device Update Web service.

If the device is turned on, but no user signs on and no user has ever previously signed on to the device, the device sends a Domain Name System (DNS) lookup request to ucupdates-r2.<DNS domain name that was provided by DHCP> and obtains the internal and external URL of the server running Device Update Web service.

Thereafter, when the device is turned on, when the user signs in, and every 24 hours by default, Lync Phone Edition checks for updates by sending an HTTP request over port 443 to the server hosting Device Update Web service. The request includes the current version that Lync Phone Edition is running.

If a user has not signed on to the device, and the device is outside the organization's firewall, Device Update Web service denies the request.

Otherwise, the Device Update Web service returns a response that contains one of the following:

  • If there are no approved updates for the current version of the firmware, the response contains downloads=0. For test devices, updates must be pending rather than approved for this to occur.
  • If there is an approved update for the current version, the response contains an internal and external URL for Device Update Web service. For test devices, updates must be pending rather than approved for this to occur.
In the latter case, Lync Phone Edition sends an HTTPS update request over port 443 to Device Update Web service. If the device is outside the organization's firewall, this request must include a user name and password for a valid user account, which means a user must be logged on to the device.

The update image is downloaded to the device.

The device waits for five minutes of idle activity, and then restarts to complete the update.

ResolveUserCalls Indicates the number of resolve user calls to the web service during the last measurement period. Number  
UPRPMsg_Http Indicates the number of HTTP UPRP messages received during the last measurement period. Number  
ValidPinCalls Indicates the number of PIN calls that were sent to the PIN auth provider for validation during the last measurement period. Number  
FailCertValidate Indicates the cert calls to the cert auth provider that failed validation. Number Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
FailNotifyReq Indicates the rate at which the Push notifications failed. Failures/Sec Push notification refers to the sound alerts, on-screen alerts (text), and badges that are pushed by applications to the Apple iPhone, iPad, and Windows Phone, when the mobile device is inactive.

Nokia Symbian, Android based Lync Mobile clients and Lync Lobile clients for Apple devices do not use Push notifications. Therefore the value of this measure exclusively indicates the failure of push notifications for the Windows based phones alone. Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
ThrottledReq Indicates the rate at which the push notifications were throttled. Requests/Sec  
ReqFailed Indicates the rate at which requests to the Mobile Communication Service failed. Failures/Sec Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
ReqRejected Indicates the rate at which requests to the Mobile Communication Service were rejected. Rejects/Sec