Celebrating 10 Years as a Microsoft MVP!

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Back from my vacation, I am thrilled to share that I have been awarded the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for the 10th consecutive year. In addition to being recognized as an expert within Teams, I am have also been recognized as an expert with Microsoft Copilot. This means a lot to me.  Being an MVP has been an incredibly rewarding journey, both personally and professionally. It has provided me with countless opportunities to grow, learn, and connect with like-minded professionals who share a passion for technology and innovation.  The award is not just a title; it's a testament to the hard work, dedication, and contributions to the tech community. It's a privilege to be part of such an esteemed group of individuals who share the same love for technology, and sharing their knowledge about it.  As I reflect on the past decade, I am thankful for the experiences and knowledge I've gained. This recognition motivates me to continue sharing my expertise, mentor

Lync client may connect to a non federated partner, even if you though it should not.

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Here is an "interesting" observation I did a couple of days ago. The customer has chosen not to allow DNS discovery of federated partners, but will allow federation with selected partners on the allow list. After a while with this configuration, the customer called me and told me they had mixed experiences with the solution. There were times when meetings with a partner (NOT on the allow list) actually would work, even if they expected the meeting to fail.

They asked me to verify the settings, and to investigate why some users reported they could connect to a meeting others couldn't.

This is what I saw on a client who failed to connect:




5 messages. And the interesting one would be the 504 message: "Can not route".



And then the client stops trying, as I would expect it to.

But here is an interesting twist. Log on with the same client from a remote connection (through edge), and then let's see what happens.



The client does not honor the 504 message "Can not route". It continues and connects to the meeting, unexpectedly. How can that be?

The interesting part is what happens after the 504 message. First the client acknowledges the rejection, but then it does something it didn't do on the inside. There is a new invite, trying to connect anonymously:



And this connection is allowed. Quite confusing for the end user, actually. But now they know.


It is important to note the user was allowed for federation in this scenario, but the domain in question was not in the allow list and DNS discovery was not allowed. Also, the organizer on the other side was allowing anonymous invites.