The official Microsoft Lync Room System Deployment Guide covers in detail the creation of a resource mailbox which  will be dedicated to each Lync Room system, yet it also includes a number of optional steps as well as the use of separate cmdlets for each individual parameter.

Lync MVP Adam Jacobs has boiled the account creation process down into a simplified list of command in fewer steps, but even those instructions can be further compressed into less steps by stacking parameters into the same cmdlets and using the Exchange cmdlets to also configure the Active Directory users account in the same process.  Another Lync MVP Pat Richard has gone so far as to even create a PowerShell script to automate this process.

Account Creation

The following section in this brief article takes the mandatory configuration and combines it into three simple cmdlets.  Some additional optional steps are covered separately in the next session.

Required Steps

The first two steps need to be performed on the Exchange Server Command Shell, which includes the creation of the Active Directory user account, enabling it for authentication, and setting a password on the account.  Also added was the ability to define the target Organization Unit so that the account does not go into the default Users container, possibly needing to be moved later.

• Create the new resource mailbox replacing the individual parameter values with the desired information specific to the new account.

New-Mailbox –Name “Chicago Meeting Room” –Alias “chicagolrs” –UserPrincipalName “chicagolrs@schertz.local” –sAMAccountName “chicagolrs” –Room -RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String “p@5sw0rD” -AsPlainText -Force) -OrganizationalUnit “ou=Resources,dc=schertz,dc=local” -EnableRoomMailboxAccount $true

• Enable the Auto Accept Agent for the mailbox and control how meetings will be displayed on the LRS screen for the sake of privacy.  (Technically the AutomateProcessing parameter is optional, but in most cases the mailbox calendar would not be managed manually by an employee.)

Set-CalendarProcessing -Identity “chicagolrs” -AutomateProcessing AutoAccept -AddOrganizerToSubject $false -RemovePrivateProperty $false

The final step must be performed on the Lync Server Management Shell.  These cmdlets will enable the new user account in Lync as well as add the Enterprise Voice capability, if so applicable.  The optional Domain Controller parameter was added to insure that the same DC is used for each cmdlet to eliminate the potential of errors in the event that the individual commands were to be executed against different DCs which might not yet have replicated the previous changes.

• Enable the account in Lync as a Meeting Room.

Enable-CsMeetingRoom -Identity “chicagolrs” -SipAddress “sip:chicagolrs@mslync.net” -domaincontroller “dc1.schertz.local” -RegistrarPool “lync.schertz.local”

Optional Steps

The following steps are not required but may be needed based on the desired configuration.

• Using the Exchange Server Management Shell define a Mail Tip to be displayed in Outlook to assist users in remembering that Lync Meetings should be used with this mailbox for the ideal room experience.

Set-Mailbox -Identity “chicagolrs” -MailTip “This room is equipped with Lync Meeting Room (LRS), please make it a Lync Meeting to take advantage of the enhanced meeting experience from LRS”

• Using the Exchange Server Management Shell define the meeting acceptance response text.

Set-CalendarProcessing -Identity “chicagolrs” –AddAdditionalResponse $TRUE –AdditionalResponse “Enter your desired text here”

• Using the Lync Server Management Shell enable Enterprise Voice and define a Telephone URI for the account..

Set-CsMeetingRoom -Identity “chicagolrs” -domaincontroller “dc1.schertz.local” -EnterpriseVoiceEnabled $true -LineURI “tel:+15551234567;ext=4567“