Skype for Business Edge Services Fail to Start

You may have noticed on your newly installed Skype for Business Edge Servers that not all services are listed as running when a Get-CsWindowsService command is run. This in general is a little concerning and should cause an alarm for most…

However, as it turns out, FabricHostSvc showing up as Stopped in the service list is not only expected, but has been this way since Lync 2013. The difference – the cmdlet Get-CsWindowService filtered out the FabricHostSvc on non-Front End servers on 2013 and it does not on Skype for Business. So why is the service even installed? Sometimes there are no answers to why questions and in this case we can safely ignore the service and move on.

PS C:\> Get-CsWindowsService

Status       Name                         ActivityLevel
------           ----                               -------------
Running  REPLICA
Running  RTCCLSAGT
Stopped  FabricHostSvc
Running  RTCSRV                   Incoming Requests per Second=0,Messages in Server=0,Incoming Messages Held=0
Running  RTCDATAPROXY   Server Connections Currently Active=84
Running  RTCMRAUTH          Current Requests=0
Running  RTCMEDIARELAY Active Sessions=16
Running  RTCXMPPTGWPX

 

Additional Notes:
Lync Server 2013 build number is 5.0.8308.887

Lync 2013 Client build number is 15.0.4727.1001

Skype for Business Server 2015 build number is 6.0.9319.55

Lync Group Chat build number is 4.0.7577. 4409

Lync Group Chat Server build number 4.0.7577.4409

Lync Group Chat Admin build number 4.0.7577.4409

Lync Attendee build number is 4.0.7577.4461

Lync Attendant build number is 4.0.7577.4098

Lync Phone Editions build number is 4.0.7577.4463
Lync Phone Edition (Tanjay) build number is 4.0.7577.4463
Lync for Mac 2011 build number is 14.0.11

Lync 2013 for Windows Phone build number 5.9.1371.0

Lync 2013 for iPad build number 5.7.563

Lync 2013 for iPhone build number 5.7.563

Lync 2013 for Android build number 5.6.3.1
Lync 2013 for Android tablet build number 5.5.3.8919
Lync Windows Store App build number is March 2014

Lync Basic 2013 build number is 15.0.4420.1017
Lync VDI 2013 build number is 15.0.4420.1017


The first Skype for Business Patch has Arrived

It didn't take long for the first patch for Skype to come along and it is a highly important patch for many. A bug discovered after RTM of Skype was discovered with Exchange UM Interaction and normalization. The actual bug is KB3069206 and stalled many Skype for Business upgrades as Exchange UM Auto Attendants are kind of important.

In addition to the UM fix there are smaller yet just as important fixes listed such as dropping parked calls, SfBWA (aka LWA) crashes, RGS agent transfer issues, and so on. In short - if you have Skype for Business deployed this patch is a must and for those waiting because of the aforementioned bugs, migrations can now move on.

Upgrades are a bit different in Skype for Business only because of the new patching methods. If you were comfortable with patching in Lync & clearly understood upgrade domains, then there is no change. There are also no updates required to the Skype databases in this release so while we can run the good-old Install-CsDatabase command you will simply get a result of:

VERBOSE: All databases at the specified installation location are already up to date.

Make sure all servers are updated in the FE pool, the Edge servers, P-Chat, Mediation and any app servers you may have. The core components at a minimum will be updated while servers like the Edge role have an actual update.

For those that have a highly non-recommended two-node Enterprise Pool, there is an additional Fabric step required. Once you have patched the pool and rebooted, run the following command from PowerShell.

Reset-CsPoolRegistrarState -ResetType FullReset

Additional patching information can be found on the KB Update page 3061064.

Product

Version

KBs

Download

Skype Server 2015

6.0.9319.55

3061064

MS Download

 

Additional Notes:
Lync Server 2013 build number is 5.0.8308.887

Lync 2013 Client build number is 15.0.4727.1001

Skype for Business Server 2015 build number is 6.0.9319.55

Lync Group Chat build number is 4.0.7577. 4409

Lync Group Chat Server build number 4.0.7577.4409

Lync Group Chat Admin build number 4.0.7577.4409

Lync Attendee build number is 4.0.7577.4461

Lync Attendant build number is 4.0.7577.4098

Lync Phone Editions build number is 4.0.7577.4463
Lync Phone Edition (Tanjay) build number is 4.0.7577.4463
Lync for Mac 2011 build number is 14.0.11

Lync 2013 for Windows Phone build number 5.9.1371.0

Lync 2013 for iPad build number 5.7.563

Lync 2013 for iPhone build number 5.7.563

Lync 2013 for Android build number 5.6.3.1
Lync 2013 for Android tablet build number 5.5.3.8919
Lync Windows Store App build number is March 2014

Lync Basic 2013 build number is 15.0.4420.1017
Lync VDI 2013 build number is 15.0.4420.1017