Installing Microsoft Lync Server 2010 I would highly recommend that you include the Monitoring server role. The Monitoring server collects all the data that the Lync solution generates, and populates predefined reports. Now these reports are generated in the Microsoft SQL reporting services.

The Monitoring server has to be installed on Microsoft SQL 2005, 2008 or 2008 R2. The databases cannot be placed on the free version of Microsoft SQL Express. Normally the deployment of the Monitoring server is done in an existing SQL environment. However if that is not possible, the server itself can host the SQL server role.

It is important to know what extra needs there is to the Lync infrastructure when implementing the Monitoring role. Every server needs to enable Message Queuing so that they can transport the information on to the Monitoring server itself.

But what is new in the Monitoring server compared to the old one in Office Communication Server 2007 R2?

In short terms we now have thresholds in our reports. In the old version it could be frustrating to find calls that were actually failing or with bad quality because there usually are many. Microsoft saw this issue, and now the reports come with yellow and red thresholds which can help with a quick overview. Also the Quality of Experience reporting has been improved. There are now more data in the reports, which will help in troubleshooting scenarios. Also the user side has been enhanced. Users get a lot more message indications when a problem arises, and also information on what might cause it. Now this is a very good upgrade. A little information bar on the client states that there is an issue with the sound, and a suggestion of what might be the cause of it. And the really cool thing is that this is actually working. Normally the information is valid, and therefore the users are able to troubleshoot themselves, saving a time consuming e-mail dialog or a voice call to the IT support.

Calculating the size of the database is a question I get quite often. To answer it, I normally show the customer the calculation that Microsoft has come up with. Have a look here;

Database size = 16.8KB * (Number of users) * (retention period days)

So for a solution with 1000 users and keeping the data in the Monitoring database for 60 days, it would look like this;

16.8 * 1000 * 60 = 1008000KB, which again is 1008MB and just about 1GB of data.

The 16.8KB size is a measure of an average user. This can be a bit more, or a bit less. It all depends on how much traffic the user generates. That is the instant messages, conference calls, voice calls etc. that the users generate. It should at least give a good indication of how much hard drive space it will take up on your SQL environment.

Hopefully this gave you a nice overview of the monitoring server and why you should need it for your Microsoft Lync Server 2010 deployment.