Lync Autodiscover DNS Issue

If you run into an issue where the Lync client shows the following error, a very likely cause is that the DNS settings are incorrect or are missing altogether.

Symptoms

Lync client shows the error message ‘Cannot sign in because the server is temporarily unavailable. If the problem continues, please contact your support team.’ on try to sign in:

Cause

If ‘Automatic configuration’ method is selected to configure connection settings in the Lync client, then it is likely that the necessary DNS records are incorrect or are missing altogether.

Resolution

In order to be sure that the issue is related to Autodiscover, turn off ‘Automatic configuration’ in the Lync client and specify Lync connection settings manually:

• Open Tools > Options in the Lync client
• Select Personal settings and click the ‘Advanced‘ button
• Select ‘Manual configuration’ and type the server name.
• Apply changes in the Lync client and try to reconnect.

If manual configuration works, check for the following DNS records on your external and internal DNS:

• DNS record ‘lyncdiscover.’
  • Check whether the record ‘lyncdiscover.’ exists in the list of DNS records and whether it points to the correct IP address in the domain. Correct if needed by either modifying the existing record or creating a new record.
• DNS record ‘_sip._tls.’
  • Check whether the record ‘_sip._tls.’ exists in the list of DNS records and whether it points to the correct IP address in the domain. Correct if needed by either modifying the existing record or creating a new record.
• DNS record ‘_sipfederationtls._tcp.‘
  • Check whether the record ‘_sipfederationtls._tcp.’ exists in the list of DNS records and whether it points to the correct IP address in the domain. Correct if needed by either modifying the existing record or creating a new record.

Jacob Eker, PEI