Access Edge Server : Access Edge Server is used to support any external
user scenario, including public IM connectivity,
remote user access, federation, external access to
conferences, and external access to voice
functionality. The Office Communications Server 2007
Access Edge Server enables the following
capabilities:
Federation. Internal users can communicate with
external users of a federated organization by using IM
or conferencing. You can also configure federation with
an audio conferencing provider (ACP) to provide
telephony integration.
Remote user access. Remote or roaming users of
your organization can access servers running Office
Communication Server from outside your intranet.
Public IM connectivity. Employees can use IM to
communicate with users of instant messaging services
that are provided by the MSN® network of Internet
services, Yahoo!®, and AOL®. Public IM connectivity
requires a separate license.
Web Conferencing
Edge Server: Web Conference Server is used to
support web conferencing for external users. The Web
Conferencing Edge Server permits external users to
join on-premise meetings by using the Live Meeting
2007 client. When your organization deploys a Web
Conferencing Edge Server, internal users can invite
remote users to meetings, including users from a
federated domain (federated users) or other external
users (anonymous users, who do not have an identity
in the Active Directory® Domain Services either in
your organization or in a domain that is federated
with your organization).
Enterprise users and federated users are
authenticated using their Active Directory
credentials. Anonymous users are authenticated by
using a per-meeting conference key provided to them
inside the invitation conference organizers send.
All recipients of an e-mail containing a conference
key are authenticated using the same conference key.
Audio/Video
Edge Server: Add an
A/V Edge Server if you want to make it possible to
share audio and video with external users, such as
vendors or employees who are working from home. With
an A/V Edge Server, users can:
Add audio and video data to meetings
with external participants.
Share audio and video directly with
an external user (point-to-point).
An
A/V Edge Server provides a single, trusted connection
point through which media traffic enters and exits your
network. The A/V Edge Server also provides remote
connectivity through any intermediate network address
translation (NAT) devices and firewalls
Reverse Proxy:
Reverse
Proxy provides Group expansion, address book file
download, and access to meeting content (such as
slides) for Web conferencing.
|
Important points regarding Edge Servers |
·
Deploy edge servers only after you have
finished deploying Office Communications Server 2007
inside your organization, unless you are migrating from
Microsoft® Office Live Communications Server 2005 with
Service Pack 1 to Microsoft Office Communications
Server 2007. For information about the migration
process, see Migrating to Office Communications
Server 2007.
·
Deploy edge servers in a workgroup rather
than a domain. Doing so simplifies installation and
keeps the Active Directory® Domain Services out of the
perimeter network. Locating Active Directory in the
perimeter network can present a significant security
risk
·
Deploy your edge servers in a staging or
lab environment before deploying them in your production
environment. Deploy the edge servers in your perimeter
network only when you are satisfied that the test
deployment meets your requirements and that it can be
incorporated successfully in a production environment.
·
Deploy at least one Director to act as an
authentication gateway for inbound external traffic.
·
Deploy edge servers on dedicated computers
that do not run anything that is not required. This
includes disabling unnecessary services and running only
essential programs on the computer, such as programs
embodying routing logic that are developed by using MSPL
(Microsoft SIP Processing Language) and the Office
Communications Server API.
·
Enable monitoring and auditing as early as
possible on the computer.
·
Use a computer that has two network
adapters to provide physical separation of the internal
and external network interfaces.
·
Deploy the edge server between two
firewalls (an internal firewall and an external
firewall) to ensure strict routing from one network edge
to the other.
