Secure Zammad with LetsEncrypt Certıfıcate on Ubuntu 20.4 Apache

January 26, 2021 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

The Story

after installing Zammad ticketing system I tried to implement Let’sEncrypt certificate to secure the system but there was nothing available on the internet except an old article about implementing this on Ubuntu 16 with Nginx (see article here).

In my case I was using apache and no Nginx in place, and after installing Zammad it was using pretty fine on Http but needed to redirect http to HTTPS after implementing the certificate.

Solution:

I first Installed Certbot for apache and then I took a backup of all my Zammad configuration and made sure not to alter the default Zammad directory.

So I created a dummy folder called /var/www/support and a file called /var/www/support/index.html within that folder and provided them the appropriate permissions.

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache

sudo mkdir /var/www/support

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/support

sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/support

sudo nano /var/www/support/index.html

Edit the index.html file with the following to make sure that it works

<html>
             <head>
                         <title>Welcome to Your_domain!</title>
             </head>
             <body>
                       <h1>Success! The your_domain virtual host is working!</h1>
           </body>
</html>

Edit Zammad’s Default Config File

Please make sure you take a move the original copy of Zammad file to another location using the following command

sudo mv /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/zammad.conf /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/zammad.bak

Then we’ll replace the file with this configuration but since we moved the original file to .bak then we’ll have to recreate it with our intended configuration.

Edit a new zammad.conf file and copy the configuration below

sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/zammad.conf

Configuration starts below this:

# this is the apache config for zammad

# security – prevent information disclosure about server version

#ServerTokens Prod

<VirtualHost *:8080> # I changed the default port of Zammad to 8080 to allow Letsencrypt to connect on 80 and create the certificate

# replace ‘localhost’ with your fqdn if you want to use zammad from remote

ServerName localhost:8080

## don’t loose time with IP address lookups

HostnameLookups Off

## needed for named virtual hosts

UseCanonicalName Off

## configures the footer on server-generated documents

ServerSignature Off

ProxyRequests Off

ProxyPreserveHost On

<Proxy 127.0.0.1:3000>

Require local

</Proxy>

ProxyPass /assets !

ProxyPass /favicon.ico !

ProxyPass /apple-touch-icon.png !

ProxyPass /robots.txt !

ProxyPass /ws ws://127.0.0.1:6042/

ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:3000/

— INSERT — 10,38 Top

DocumentRoot “/opt/zammad/public”

<Directory />

Options FollowSymLinks

AllowOverride None

</Directory>

<Directory “/opt/zammad/public”>

Options FollowSymLinks

Require all granted

</Directory>

</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>

ServerName support.cloud-net.tech

DocumentRoot /var/www/support

ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

– ————————-

In the above configuration we did two things:

1- Replacing the original Zammad listening port instead of 80 to 8080

2- Created a new virtual host that points to our dummy folder /var/www/support

Save the file and exit from vi

Make sure you restart Apache after this

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Enable the new site configuration

sudo a2ensite zammad.conf

Lets create the certificate

In the below commands , the first one will drive you through the process of getting the certificate.

The second checks the status of the configuration of the auto renewal script certbot and third command tests the renewal of the certificate.

1- sudo certbot –apache

2- sudo systemctl status certbot.timer

3- sudo certbot renew –dry-run

As you can see in the below screenshot the command also asks you if you’d like to redirect all http traffic to HTTPS. You should want to say Y to that.

When you accept creating Redirection rule from HTTP to HTTPs the main Zammad config will get that configuration which wont work in that case because we already changed the default zammad port to 8080.

So you’ll need to get into that zammad.conf that you created again and enter the redirection portion

# this is the apache config for zammad
#

# security – prevent information disclosure about server version
#ServerTokens Prod

<VirtualHost *:8080>
# replace ‘localhost’ with your fqdn if you want to use zammad from remote
ServerName support.cloud-net.tech:8080

## don’t loose time with IP address lookups
HostnameLookups Off

## needed for named virtual hosts
UseCanonicalName Off

## configures the footer on server-generated documents
ServerSignature Off

ProxyRequests Off
ProxyPreserveHost On

    <Proxy 127.0.0.1:3000>
         Require local
     </Proxy>

    ProxyPass /assets !
     ProxyPass /favicon.ico !
     ProxyPass /apple-touch-icon.png !
     ProxyPass /robots.txt !
     ProxyPass /ws ws://127.0.0.1:6042/
     ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:3000/

# change this line in an SSO setup
RequestHeader unset X-Forwarded-User

DocumentRoot “/opt/zammad/public”

    <Directory />
         Options FollowSymLinks
         AllowOverride None
     </Directory>

    <Directory “/opt/zammad/public”>
         Options FollowSymLinks
         Require all granted
     </Directory>

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =support.cloud-net.tech
RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE,R=permanent]

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName support.cloud-net.tech
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =support.cloud-net.tech
RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE,R=permanent]
</VirtualHost>

Note:

You need to make sure that you have enabled port 443 on your Firewall and changed the main protocol of Zammad to HTTPs

To do so you’ll need to get into the Zammad portal > Settings > System > Http Type and change that to HTTPS.

That’s it, my example here worked as expected and now my traffic is automatically getting redirected to https.

Hope this helps anyone looking for such configuration.

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DNS, Security, Windows 10

Secure Your DNS Traffic with the outside world

January 22, 2021 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

DoH in Microsoft Windows OS

Until this moment Microsoft Windows OS doesn’t support DNS over HTTPS, The feature will most likely be implemented in future builds but no body knows when is that however, You can still take a peak into the feature which is in preview mode/

No alt text provided for this image

Benefit of using DoH on an OS level

The benefit of using DoH on an Operating System level would provide more certainty that your DNS queries leave your computer without being read by any other party even if that is your ISP.

A simple DNS nslookup query using Wireshark on your computer would show you how serious this topic is. After installing Wireshark you’ll be able to see that all of your dns queries are in clear text and can be read by anyone until it gets to the destination website/server.

Demonstration of DNS lookup without DoH

After installing Wireshark, I fire up Powershell or CMD and try to nslookup google.com and it’ll show what I just queried for.

No alt text provided for this image

So how to make sure that your DNS queries don’t leave your computer in clear text format? and since Microsoft OS is not DoH ready yet what can you do?

In my case, I am already using encrypted DNS on firewall level as I have Pfsense acting as a router and it already supports DoH but still not pretty satisfied :).

DNSCrypt as a solution

Since the foundation of DoH I have been looking for a solution that would work on Microsoft Windows OS and luckily someone already created this great project called Simple DNSCrypt which not just enables the encryption of DNS queries on your OS but also enables this to work as a service.

No alt text provided for this image

Installing DNSCrypt would create a Windows based Service which would start automatically when your OS boots and logs into Windows.

The service is called DNSCrypt Client Proxy

Add alt text No alt text provided for this image

DNSCrypt has a simple interface, You can pick up the DNS Server where to forward queries to and it works with proof.

Right after the installation of this tiny app, launch it as an administrator and configure it as in the below screenshot. You can choose to install the service or not.

Add alt text $No alt text provided for this image$

Right after you enable it (By clicking on your Network Card box) that will start protecting your DNS queries. Let’s go ahead with a little demo

I am going to start Wireshark after enabling DnsCrypt and do a google dns lookup , As you can see below on wireshark it’s not returning any dns queries.

No alt text provided for this image

When you install Simple DNSCrypt it changes your Preferred DNS configuration to localhost so that all queries is passed through the app in DNS over HTTPS which doesn’t allow even Wireshark to see it as DNS.

So that makes it pretty secure and not even your firewall will see it.

If you have any question please don’t hesitate to ask me

Official DNScrypt website https://simplednscrypt.org/

Support the project founder https://github.com/bitbeans/SimpleDnsCrypt

Exchange Online, Office365, Security

Mimecast trust cert hacked in Microsoft supply chain

January 20, 2021 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

The Threatpost.com and other cyber security news published articles claiming that A Mimecast-issued certificate used to authenticate some of the company’s products to Microsoft 365 Exchange Web Services has been “compromised by a sophisticated threat actor,” the company has announced.

Mimecast provides email security services that customers can apply to their Microsoft 365 accounts by establishing a connection to Mimecast’s servers. The certificate in question is used to verify and authenticate those connections made to Mimecast’s Sync and Recover (backups for mailbox folder structure, calendar content and contacts from Exchange On-Premises or Microsoft 365 mailboxes), Continuity Monitor (looks for disruptions in email traffic) and Internal Email Protect (IEP) (inspects internally generated emails for malicious links, attachments or for sensitive content).

A compromise means that cyberattackers could take over the connection, though which inbound and outbound mail flows, researchers said. It would be possible to intercept that traffic, or possibly to infiltrate customers’ Microsoft 365 Exchange Web Services and steal information.

Reference:

https://threatpost.com/mimecast-certificate-microsoft-supply-chain-attack/162965/

https://www.crn.com/news/security/hackers-compromise-mimecast-certificate-for-microsoft-authentication

Office 365, Office365, Skype for Business 2015, Teams

3- Migrate Users from Skype for Business 2015 to Teams

January 11, 2021 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

Hybrid Integration

In my last post about Skype for Business / Office 365 Skype for Business Online/Teams migration article I discussed the steps of how to create a hybrid environment between Skype for Business on-premises and went through the troubleshooting of each issue I have been through. In this article I am going to discuss the migration of users from on-premises to the cloud through UI and PowerShell.

Migrating users

This article will assume that you are planning to migrate users from Skype for Business Frontend 2015 Server and that you already have a hybrid configuration in place. If so then you’re going to fulfill the following prerequisites:

Update your PowerShell to 5.1 Framework https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54616
Install Skype for Business Online Powershell Module https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39366
Create a temporary admin user with MFA disabled.

To check the currently installed PowerShell run the following cmdlet

$PSVersionTable

After you Download and install PowerShell 5.1 you might need to restart the server. In which case the PowerShell will show that it is updated to the required version.

After Installing the Skype Online Connector Module, We will be able to connect right after launching PowerShell

To do so type:

Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector

Connecting to Office 365 (Teams Online or Skype for Business Online)

The process of connecting to Office 365 Online PowerShell sounds easy but with MFA enforced in your environment you’ll have a nightmare mix of errors when you try so.

I have came through a lot of errors trying to force the use of PowerShell with MFA user authentication but eventually came to realize that Microsoft still does not support MFA for some cmdlets like Move-CsUser for instance.

So In short, to connect you’ll need to have a global or Teams admin user with MFA disabled to do so.

To create a new Skype Online Session enter:

– Make sure you start the regular PowerShell as admin and not Skype for Business Management Shell.

If you run these commands from SfB Management Shell you’ll get an error

So first, We will import the Skype Online connector Module

Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector

Then get the OverRidePowershell URI using the command:

Get-CsOnlinePowerShellEndPoint

Next, We will connect and authenticate to our tenant using the following cmdlet

$sfbsess = New-CsOnlineSession -Username User@domain.onmicrosoft.com -OverRidePowerShellUri https://admin4a.online.lync.com/OcsPowershellOAuth –Verbose

Moving Users to Teams

To Move users to Office 365, You need to first provide credentials of the User with MFA disabled and then use the command Move-CsUser

An Example:

$Creds = Get-Credential

Moving User

Move-CsUser –Identity user@domain.com –target “sipfed.online.lync.com” –hostedMigrationOverRideUri https://admin4a.online.lync.com/HostedMigration/hostedmigrationservice.svc –ProxyPool “YourFEPool.Domain.local” –Credential $Creds

Let’s check the status of the migrated user, The hosting provider attribute is what we care about as it tells us where the user is homed at.

Checking the user from Teams Portal

Users seems to be licensed, online and can now login using the Microsoft Teams app.

Bulk Enable Users and assign Tel URI numbers to them

In case you have a big number of users that you want to enable them online

# Please provide your O365 admin credential

$creds = Get-Credential

-PSSession (New-CsOnlineSession $cred) -AllowClobber

$csv = Import-csv “C:\Users\Mohammed\users.csv”

ForEach ($user in $csv) {

Write-host now enabling $user.alias

Move-CsUser –Identity $user.alias –target “sipfed.online.lync.com” –hostedMigrationOverRideUri https://admin4a.online.lync.com/HostedMigration/hostedmigrationservice.svc –ProxyPool “YourFEPool.Domain.local” –Credential $creds

}

The CSV File will look like this

Alias

user@domain.com

user2@domain.com

Errors you might face

Error 1:

When you have your on-premises user enabled for dialin you will probably get the following error if you try to migrate them to Skype for Business online or teams.

Move-Csuser :: HostedMisrat ion fault: Error=(511), Description=(The user could not be moved because he or she is enabled for dial-in conferencing on-premises, but has not been an assigned an Audio Conferencing license in Office 365. Users must be licensed before they can be moved to Teams or Skype for Business Online.)

If you are sure do want to use migrate this user without an Audio Conferencing license, specify the

“BypassAudioConferencingCheck” switch. ) At line: 1 char: 1

The Solution is to either provide an audio conferencing license or as it is showing in the error itself as it says use the switch -BypassAudioConferencingCheck to ignore that.

Error 2:

When trying to import the session, I got the following error

the runspace state is not valid for this operation for PowerShell Online.

Solution: To overcome this problem you’ll need to use the overridePowershellUri Parameter in the New-CsOnlineSession in order to connect to Skype online powershell.

To get your tenant’s PowerShell URI use the cmdlet Get-CsOnlinePowerShellEndPoint

What you need to use is the AbsoluteUri

Error 3:

When you try to import the SkypeOnlineConnector module and then run the New-CsOnlineSession cmdlet from Skype for Business Management Shell you’ll get the following error after authenticating.

Sorry, but we’re having trouble signing you in.

AADSTS50011: The reply URL specified in the request does not match the reply URLs configured for the application: ‘7716031e-6f8b-45a4-b82b-922b1af0fbb4’. More details: Reply address did not match because of case sensitivity.

Troubleshooting details

If you contact your administrator, send this info to them.
Copy info to clipboard

Request Id: f0f97265-4669-4e4f-bcf7-609469e92f00

Correlation Id: 829c8a2b-f697-416f-bfa6-4a794a229a13

Timestamp: 2021-01-10T23:00:10Z

Message: AADSTS50011: The reply URL specified in the request does not match the reply URLs configured for the application: ‘7716031e-6f8b-45a4-b82b-922b1af0fbb4’. More details: Reply address did not match because of case sensitivity.

Advanced diagnostics: Disable

If you plan on getting support for an issue, turn this on and try to reproduce the error. This will collect additional information that will help troubleshoot the issue.

Solution:

Run the cmdlets from Windows PowerShell as admin not Skype for Business Management shell.

References:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/upgrade-to-teams-on-prem-overview

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/34339.skype-for-business-online-enable-your-tenant-for-modern-authentication.aspx

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/skypeforbusiness/hybrid/move-users-from-on-premises-to-skype-for-business-online

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-powershell-install

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/skypeforbusiness/troubleshoot/hybrid-move-sfb-online/move-csuser-hostedmigration-fault-507

Azure RMS, RMS for O365, Office365, Powershell, Skype for Business 2015

error when Installing Nuget module for Microsoft Teams integration

January 9, 2021 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

Story

I got a client requesting to integrate Skype for Business 2015 with Microsoft Teams. Skype for Business 2015 is installed on Windows Server 2012 R2 which has PowerShell 4.0

I already installed PowerShell 5.1 and restarted the server in question.

When I tried to install the Microsoft Teams PowerShell Module to integrate Skype for Business with Teams I got the following error:

Error

PS C:\Users\Admin> Install-Module MicrosoftTeams

NuGet provider is required to continue
PowerShellGet requires NuGet provider version ‘2.8.5.201’ or newer to interact with NuGet-based repositories. The NuGet
provider must be available in ‘C:\Program Files\PackageManagement\ProviderAssemblies’ or
‘C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\PackageManagement\ProviderAssemblies’. You can also install the
NuGet provider by running ‘Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.201 -Force’. Do you want
PowerShellGet to install and import the NuGet provider now?
[Y] Yes [N] No [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is “Y”): y
WARNING: Unable to download from URI ‘https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=627338&clcid=0x409′ to ”.
WARNING: Unable to download the list of available providers. Check your internet connection.
PackageManagement\Install-PackageProvider : No match was found for the specified search criteria for the provider
‘NuGet’. The package provider requires ‘PackageManagement’ and ‘Provider’ tags. Please check if the specified package
has the tags.
At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\PowerShellGet\1.0.0.1\PSModule.psm1:7405 char:21
+ …     $null = PackageManagement\Install-PackageProvider -Name $script:N …
+   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (Microsoft.Power…PackageProvider:InstallPackageProvider) [Install-Pac
    kageProvider], Exception
     + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NoMatchFoundForProvider,Microsoft.PowerShell.PackageManagement.Cmdlets.InstallPackagePro
    vider

PackageManagement\Import-PackageProvider : No match was found for the specified search criteria and provider name
‘NuGet’. Try ‘Get-PackageProvider -ListAvailable’ to see if the provider exists on the system.
At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\PowerShellGet\1.0.0.1\PSModule.psm1:7411 char:21
+ …     $null = PackageManagement\Import-PackageProvider -Name $script:Nu …
+   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (NuGet:String) [Import-PackageProvider], Exception
     + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NoMatchFoundForCriteria,Microsoft.PowerShell.PackageManagement.Cmdlets.ImportPackageProv
    ider

More Details:

Although I have PowerShell 5.1 module installed but still it seems problems wont go away. It’s part of Microsoft’s main requirement to have Windows PowerShell 5.1 and to import the Microsoft Teams Module for an easy installation and integration with Teams as it leverages the Module MicrosoftTeams to make things easy.

When looking at the details of the error, it seems as if PowerShell is trying to connect to a particular link to download and install the NuGet Provider which is part of installing the MicrosoftTeams Module.

The error below can be noticed to be the cause.

Resolution:

After doing some digging it turns out that since April 2020 Microsoft has disabled the use of TLS Version 1.0 and 1.1 so people who are working on old Windows Server edition or any application servers that utilize these protocols will now have to force PowerShell or any other app to use the TLS 1.2 Version.

In order to fix this, You will need to run the following Script on your PowerShell as an Admin

[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

See the announcement here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/gallery/installing-psget?view=powershell-7.1

After running this script, I was able to install NuGet and run the installation of MicrosoftTeams PowerShell Module

Hope this helps

Uncategorized

EXCHANGE 2016: FIND REMAINING FOLDERS OF DELETE OR NON EXISTING DATABASES

July 31, 2020 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

Story

Let’s assume that you work for a company that has Exchange 2016 and has big amount of databases (50-100 DB).

You constantly delete databases to clear white space or for whatever reason but don’t usually keep on deleting folders or lost track of which database is deleted in your DB Folder.

Real Life Scenario

In the following PowerShell script I am going to demonstrate how to check which of the folders in my D drive (Database drive) has an existing Database and which do not have.

Databases Folder path

OutPut:

Script

The below script gets all folders in the drive path D:\Databases to check if they exist or not.

# Get deleted database that still has remaining non deleted folders
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.SnapIn
$databases = Get-ChildItem D:\Databases\*  -Directory | select Name

foreach ($database in $databases)
{
        $DB = $database.Name
        if ((Get-MailboxDatabase -Identity $db -ErrorAction Ignore ))
            {
            write-host "Database $($db) exists on Exchange Server" -ForegroundColor Green
            }
                else
                {
                Write-Host "Database $($db) doesn't exist on Exchange Server " -ForegroundColor Red
                }
}

I did not add the part to delete the folder through the script as it is still a risky thing to automate and would rather do the deletion manually after double confirming it’s totally gone.

For more about Exchange Server related articles please visit Exchange section here

Hope this helps.

RDS, Windows Server 2019

Changing RDWeb default Port on Windows Server 2019

July 9, 2020 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

Story:

When you install RDS on a server which uses the port 443, you will get the following error when you try to access RDWeb main page.

Reason for this is the server you installed RDWeb on is most likely already using the port 443 or something else.

Error Message:

When trying to access RDWeb on the same server you’ll get the following error:

Service Unavailable

Http Error 503. The Service is unavailable

Troubleshooting

To Troubleshoot, Let’s see what is using the port 443.

Run CMD or PowerShell as an Administrator and type the following command

Netstat -anbo | findstr 443

Changing Port to 1443 or 8443

Let’s try changing the Port using the RD Gateway Manager

From the Gateway Manager click on the Properties on the right pane > Go to Transport Settings Tab and change the HTTPS port to 1443 or 8443

Changing Ports using Registry

Navigate to and make sure you first take a backup (Export the key)

[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\TerminalServerGateway\Config\Core]

Change the following registry value

IsUdpEnabled REG_DWORD 0

Backup and change the following port value to the intended one

[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\TerminalServerGateway\Config\Core]

HttpsPort REG_DWORD (8443)

Change the base to Decimal to type the write port number.

Restart Service

From PowerShell restart the service

net stop tsgateway

net start tsgateway

Let’s see the listening port 8443

From PowerShell type

Netstat -anbo | findstr 8443

Let’s go to the main page and see if it works..

Voila! Finally it worked

Email, Exchange 2016, Exchange 2019

Brightmail does not deliver email to Distribution group members

June 25, 2020 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

The Story

Note: This article assumes you have Brightmail Gateway

When you try to send an email to a particular Exchange Distribution group Group@domain.com the result is either users don’t exist or you might get the following error if you test with Microsoft Test connectivity online tool.

Error:

The server returned status code 554 – Transaction failed. The server response was: 5.7.1 Delivery not authorized

Other related errors

‘554 5.7.1: You are not allowed to connect’

Cause:

Because the group has been cached in the Symantec gateway with its old members, The result could be an error that users don’t exist or delivery is not authorized.

Solution:

To solve this problem, You need to go to Brightmail gateway Administration > Directory Integration and click on your AD Directory > Advanced and hit on Clear Cache.

This would cleared the cached group and take the most recently updated group and its members.

This should resolve the problem.

How to clear the DDS cache in Messaging Gateway

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=tech132131

Exchange 2016, Exchange 2019, Skype for Business 2015

Skype for Business IM integration with Exchange 2016 OWA–Part 2

June 12, 2020 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

This article is a completion of Part 1, Click here to go to Part 1

Configuration Steps – Part 2

7. On Exchange: Enable OWA VD Instant Messaging
8. On Exchange: Enable Messaging on OWA Policy
9. On Exchange: Create Enterprise Application for Skype Pool.
10. On Exchange: Create new SettingOverride for Skype for Business.
11- Generate a new Certificate for Exchange IM
12. Assign the newly imported certificate to IIS Exchange Back End site
13. On Exchange: Restart the WebAppPool
14. Log out and sign back in to OWA to Check
15. Troubleshooting methods

7- On Exchange Server: Enable OWA VD Instant Messaging

Part of enabling IM integration between Exchange and SfB is to enable OWA Virtual Directory to allow this. The below cmdlet does the job for you on all your Exchange Servers

From Exchange, Launch Exchange Management and run the following cmdlet

Get-OwaVirtualDirectory | Set-OwaVirtualDirectory -InstantMessagingEnabled $true -InstantMessagingType Ocs

8- On Exchange: Enable Messaging on OWA Policy

Run the following to enable Messaging for Owa Policy

Get-OwaMailboxPolicy | Set-OwaMailboxPolicy -InstantMessagingEnabled $true -InstantMessagingType Ocs

9- On Exchange: Create Enterprise Application for Skype Pool.

From Exchange Management shell Run the following cmdlet

Cd $exscripts

.\Configure-EnterprisePartnerApplication.ps1 -AuthMetadataUrl “https://sbg-pool01.domain.com/metadata/json/1” -ApplicationType Lync

The AuthMetadataUrl is going to be your local Skype for Business Pool URL. This URL should work in your Exchange server without any Certificate error. Meaning that the certificate assigned to your Skype for Business pool should already be imported to Exchange Servers to trust this URL.

If your previous configuration is correct then you should see the “The Configuration has Succeeded” Message.

10- On Exchange: Create new SettingOverride for Skype for Business.

Notes:

To configure the same settings on all Exchange 2016 and Exchange 2019 servers in the Active Directory forest, don’t use the Server parameter.

New-SettingOverride -Name “<UniqueOverrideName>” -Component OwaServer -Section IMSettings -Parameters @(“IMServerName=<Skype server/pool name>”,”IMCertificateThumbprint=<Certificate Thumbprint>”) -Reason “<DescriptiveReason>” [-Server <ServerName>]

The Thumbprint you use here will define if whether IM will work or not as this what secures the communication between Exchange and Skype. If you use the wrong certificate your Integration will fail and users wont be able to login to IM through OWA.

11- Generate a new Certificate for Exchange IM

IMPORTANT NOTE:

In order for IM in OWA to work the certificate you will generate must have its common name set as mail.domain.com to match the configuration.

Using Digicert tool on Exchange Server I will generate the CSR of the new certificate

Click on Create CSR

Choose SSL certificate type and make sure you choose Mail.domain.com as CN

In the SANs type all of the involved servers (Skype for Business Frontends, Mailbox servers in FQDN and in Hostnames as in the screenshot below). and click on Generate

Go to your CA Server’s CertSRV URL and copy the CSR code there to generate the new certificate.
Import the new certificate to the current server, then export it in PFX format and import it to all the Exchange Servers you’re planning to use.

After importing the certificate I will verify that I can see the private key

Click on the Details and copy the Thumbprint or from MMC right click the certificate > Properties give it a friendly name e.g. (IM) and then from Exchange Management shell you can copy the Thumbprint directly.

Get-ExchangeCertificate | select thumbprint,friendlyName

Now use the previous script to create the setting Override for OwaServer.

Things you can change are in bold “Name, IM Servername Value, and the Thumbprint value”.

New-SettingOverride -Name “IM Override” -Component OwaServer -Section IMSettings -Parameters @(“IMServerName=SBG-Pool01.domain.com“,”IMCertificateThumbprint= 28E4B1BA0F2FCB1535AF199F02A64EFC78367F2D“) -Reason “Configure IM”

If you enter the server parameter to use a single server you can change that by using. Note that you must not use FQDN but rather only the server’s hostname.

Get-SettingOverride | Set-SettingOverride -Server sbg-mx01,sbg-mx02

This should generate an event ID 112 on Exchange servers involved in the deployment.

12. Assign the newly imported certificate to IIS Exchange Back End site

Once the certificate is in the server store, You will be able to easily find in from IIS and bind it to the Exchange Back End site.

This is the most crucial step to get IM to work in OWA. Don’t worry about breaking up Exchange Sites or Powershell. If you have added Exchange Servers Hostnames and FQDNs in this certificate then you should be good.

Now Launch IIS
Click on Exchange Back End
Select Binding
Click on the 444 port and edit
Select the newly generated certificate that has the mail.domain.com as CN. (This certificate must also have all Exchange Servers hostnames and FQDNs set as SANs)

Make sure you change the backend cert to the new on all the involved Exchange Servers.

13. On Exchange: Restart the WebAppPool

Restart-WebAppPool MSExchangeOWAAppPool

14. Log out and sign back in to OWA to Check

Log out of OWA and back in and check if you are able to Login to IM . It should normally sign you in automatically but in case of an error then you should see it.

In case of an error you should see the following.

If it works then you should see the presence

15. Troubleshooting Methods

If you follow the above steps correctly then it should work especially when applying the right certificate for your Exchange Back End IIS part however if you face an error then you should do the following steps to troubleshoot the error

Set the Eventlog for Instant Messaging on Exchange from Low to High

Set-EventLogLevel -Identity “sbg-mx01\MSExchange OWA\InstantMessage” -Level High

Look in the following path for errors

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Logging\OWA\InstantMessaging

Check the Healthset of the OWA Instant Messaging.

Get-ServerHealth -HealthSet OWA.Protocol.Dep -Server sbg-mx01 | Format-Table Name, AlertValue –Auto

Get-MonitoringItemIdentity -Server sbg-mx01 -Identity OWA.Protocol.Dep | Format-Table Identity,ItemType,Name -Auto

Ref

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/plan-and-deploy/post-installation-tasks/configure-im-integration-with-owa?view=exchserver-2019

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/high-availability/managed-availability/health-sets?view=exchserver-2019

Exchange 2016, Exchange 2019, Skype for Business 2015

Skype for Business IM integration with Exchange 2016 OWA–Part 1

June 12, 2020 Mohammed Hamada Leave a comment

The Story

A good and detailed documentation is everything we need to implement any kind of project especially if it’s an integration between two different servers that perform different roles.

And with PKI involved the complications multiply thus a good article write up is what we need.

Previously I have tried a test lab with Skype for Business 2015/2019 IM Integration with Exchange 2016/2019 and the result was a complete failure and endless search for what’s missing to get IM to work from OWA?

ERROR

Upon completion of the steps mentioned in Microsoft’s Official documentation and after restarting Exchange IIS or OWAAppPool you will see this when you try to login to OWA with your user

There’s a problem with instant messaging. Please try again later.

MS Official Documentation

In their Official documentation Microsoft says that the certificate in question must be trusted by all the servers involved meaning Skype for Business Frontend and Mailbox Servers.

Meanwhile this is true, it still would not get the IM to login/work although it might drop the initialize event ID 112 in the event log.

Here is what MS says about the certificate.

Exchange and Skype for Business integration requires server certificates that are trusted by all of the servers involved. The procedures in this topic assume that you already have the required certificates. For more information, see Plan to integrate Skype for Business Server 2015 and Exchange. The required IM certificate thumbprint refers to the Exchange Server certificate assigned to the IIS service.

REF URL: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/plan-and-deploy/post-installation-tasks/configure-im-integration-with-owa?view=exchserver-2019#what-do-you-need-to-know-before-you-begin

Step by Step Deployment

To do things the way that should get this to work, I will detail steps one by one so we can be sure to get the positive results we are all waiting for when dealing with Exchange and Skype for Business.

Exchange IM URL ¹: mail.domain.com

Skype for Business Pool FQDN: SBG-Pool01.domain.com

Autodiscover URL : Autodiscover.Domain.com

Prerequisites

For Default and Web Service Internal, Your Skype for Business Frontend Server/Pool must use a certificate that is generated from an internal CA which you can use later to generate Exchange’s IM Certificate.
UCMA must be installed (Doesn’t matter if version 4 or 5) both are supposed to work with Exchange 2016.
Local Certification Authority must already be deployed in the domain.

Configuration Steps – Part 1

On SfB: Set CsAuthConfiguration Autodiscover URL for Skype server to find Exchange Autodiscover
On SfB: Get-CsSite to see what is the current site ID.
On Exchange: Check AutodiscoverServiceInternalURI
On SfB: Create new Partner
On SfB: Create new Trusted Application Pool
On SfB: Create new Trusted Application ID

Configuration Steps – Part 2

Prerequisites

1- Update or Create Server Default and Web Service Internal Certificate for SfB Pool servers

The certificate installed on the Skype for Business Pool Frontend servers must be generated from a local Certification Authority which can be trusted by Exchange Server services.

The Certificate generated for Skype for Business pool as in the below screenshot is generated from my CA and includes the names of the servers:

Skype for Business Pool
Skype for Business Frontend FQDNs
Exchange Servers
Autodiscover FQDN
Lyncdiscover.domains.com
Lyncdiscoverinternal.domains.com
sip.domains.com
meet.domains.com
dialin.domain.com
External.domain.com

2- UCMA must be installed

On both Exchange and Skype for Business servers I already have UCMA 4.0 version installed, but if you don’t have it or have an older version then you can’t continue without it.

3- Make sure you have a Local Certification Authority deployed in your domain.

Configuration Steps – Part 1

1- On SfB: Set CsAuthConfiguration Autodiscover URL for Skype server to find Exchange Autodiscover

For Skype for Business Server to find Exchange Autodiscover Service point and to be able to authenticate servers we’ll be using the below cmdlet

This enables both servers to authenticate and share information when needed and without user’s interference.

Set-CsOauthConfiguration -ExchangeAutodiscoverUrl https://autodiscover.domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.svc

Ref:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/skype/set-csoauthconfiguration?view=skype-ps

2- On SfB: Get-CsSite to see what is the current site ID.

Getting a site ID will be useful for later use to setup the Trusted Application Pool.

On Skype for Business Management shell. Type the following

Get-CsSite

So the Site ID is 1. I will keep this for later use

3- On Exchange: Check AutodiscoverServiceInternalURI

Specify the AutodiscoverServiceInternalURI for internal Autodiscover service. Make sure it points to your public URL and certificate not the internal one otherwise your users will get a certificate error through Outlook and might cause IM chat not to work.

The Cmdlet would be

Get-ClientAccessService | Set-ClientAccessService –AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri https://autodiscover.domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml

4- On SfB: Create new Partner Application

On Skype for Business Server, Launch Management Shell and use this cmdlet to add Exchange as a trusted Application to the SfB topology.

New-CsPartnerApplication -Identity Exchange -ApplicationTrustLevel Full -MetadataUrl “https://autodiscover.domain.com/autodiscover/metadata/json/1“

5- On SfB: Create new Trusted Application Pool

New-CsTrustedApplicationPool -Identity mail.domain.com -Registrar sbg-pool01.domain.com -Site 1 -RequiresReplication $false

6- On SfB: Create new Trusted Application ID

From SfB Management Shell run the following cmdlet .

New-CsTrustedApplication -ApplicationId OutlookWebAccess -TrustedApplicationPoolFqdn mail.domain.com -Port 5199

Finally

The Story

Solution:

Edit Zammad’s Default Config File

Configuration starts below this:

In the above configuration we did two things:

Enable the new site configuration

Lets create the certificate

Note:

DoH in Microsoft Windows OS

Benefit of using DoH on an OS level

Demonstration of DNS lookup without DoH

DNSCrypt as a solution

Hybrid Integration

Migrating users

To check the currently installed PowerShell run the following cmdlet

Connecting to Office 365 (Teams Online or Skype for Business Online)

To create a new Skype Online Session enter:

Moving Users to Teams

An Example:

Moving User

Checking the user from Teams Portal

Bulk Enable Users and assign Tel URI numbers to them

Errors you might face

Error 1:

Error 2:

Error 3:

Solution:

Story

Error

More Details:

Resolution:

See the announcement here:

Story

Real Life Scenario

Databases Folder path

OutPut:

Script

Story:

Error Message:

Troubleshooting

Changing Port to 1443 or 8443

Changing Ports using Registry

Restart Service

The Story

Error:

Cause:

Solution:

This article is a completion of Part 1, Click here to go to Part 1

Configuration Steps – Part 2

7- On Exchange Server: Enable OWA VD Instant Messaging

8- On Exchange: Enable Messaging on OWA Policy

9- On Exchange: Create Enterprise Application for Skype Pool.

10- On Exchange: Create new SettingOverride for Skype for Business.

11- Generate a new Certificate for Exchange IM

Click on Create CSR

12. Assign the newly imported certificate to IIS Exchange Back End site

13. On Exchange: Restart the WebAppPool

14. Log out and sign back in to OWA to Check

15. Troubleshooting Methods

The Story

ERROR

MS Official Documentation

Here is what MS says about the certificate.

Step by Step Deployment

Prerequisites

Configuration Steps – Part 1

Configuration Steps – Part 2

Prerequisites

1- Update or Create Server Default and Web Service Internal Certificate for SfB Pool servers

2- UCMA must be installed

3- Make sure you have a Local Certification Authority deployed in your domain.

Configuration Steps – Part 1

1- On SfB: Set CsAuthConfiguration Autodiscover URL for Skype server to find Exchange Autodiscover

2- On SfB: Get-CsSite to see what is the current site ID.

3- On Exchange: Check AutodiscoverServiceInternalURI

4- On SfB: Create new Partner Application

5- On SfB: Create new Trusted Application Pool

6- On SfB: Create new Trusted Application ID

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