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The ApplicationEndpoint class is an endpoint type that is principally used by server applications, and that provides communication and collaboration services for end users.
The UserEndpoint class is an endpoint type that is primarily used to represent an endpoint for a user with a SIP identity.
Each of the preceding endpoint types is derived from the abstract LocalEndpoint class. Although it is possible to create a class derived from LocalEndpoint, developers should not attempt to do so, but should instead use the UserEndpoint and ApplicationEndpoint classes.
The information in this section is concerned with concepts that apply to the ApplicationEndpoint type.
ApplicationEndpoint instances can be created only against server-mode CollaborationPlatform objects. On a manually-provisioned CollaborationPlatform, the ApplicationEndpointSettings object, which is needed to initialize the endpoint, must be created and populated by the application. An auto-provisioned CollaborationPlatform instance automatically discovers the application endpoint settings that are configured for the application and invokes the handler passed to the RegisterForApplicationEndpointSettings (EventHandler) method on the CollaborationPlatform instance. Also, if the settings are deleted for an auto-provisioned application endpoint, the endpoint is automatically terminated.
An ApplicationEndpoint instance can optionally register with a Skype for Business Server 2015 registrar if it must publish presence uniquely for each endpoint. However, application endpoints with the same URI for different application instances typically are equivalent. As a result, application endpoints need to publish presence for the URI to which they correspond rather than for each individual endpoint. An application endpoint can turn off registration by setting the UseRegistration property on the ApplicationEndpointSettings instance to false.
A Contact object in Active Directory enables Skype for Business Server 2015 to route messages to an application endpoint. An application can be deployed on a single server or a pool of servers. When servers are deployed in a pool, each computer in the pool runs an instance of the application. Each application instance has an application endpoint that corresponds to the Contact object that the application is configured with. When a message arrives, targeting the URI or phone URI of a Contact object, the Skype for Business Server 2015 routing logic can look up the FQDN of the pool of servers on which the application is deployed. The message is then dispatched, by means of DNS-based load balancing, to the address of one of the servers in the pool. For more information about DNS-based load balancing, see General application activation.
While users access a service by the well-known URIs of its endpoints, trusted applications can be reached by targeting the GRUU of a pool where an application is deployed. An application can discover the pool GRUU of another application if the application ID is known. The GetApplicationTopologyData(String) method on the TopologyConfiguration property of a CollaborationPlatform instance returns all of the pool GRUUs of an application. Only auto-provisioned applications can use this method.
A particular ApplicationEndpoint instance in an application instance can be designated as the default routing endpoint by setting the IsDefaultRoutingEndpoint property to true on the ApplicationEndpointSettings instance for that endpoint. If an incoming message cannot be matched uniquely to any of the endpoints in an application instance, the message is routed to the default routing endpoint, if one exists. The Contact Center sample demonstrates one aspect of this concept by having custom routing logic in the default routing endpoint. This logic causes a message to be routed to a specific endpoint when the message target is the application’s GRUU rather than an endpoint’s URI.
Draining allows an application endpoint to be taken down gracefully without calls being dropped. When a computer running one instance of an application needs to be stopped for maintenance or other reason, the application should call BeginDrain(AsyncCallback, Object) on all the endpoints of that application instance. Each endpoint then enters the Draining state (a value of the LocalEndpointState enumeration, and accessible through the State property). In this state, new calls or calls on existing conversations are unaffected, but requests for establishing calls for new conversations are rejected with a specific error code prompting the server’s routing logic to send the request to a different application instance. As each endpoint finishes servicing the existing conversations (that is, becomes drained), the callback passed to BeginDrain is invoked. After an endpoint has drained, it can be terminated without losing any calls.
The material in this section is specific to the UserEndpoint type.
UserEndpoint instances can be created from client-mode or server-mode CollaborationPlatform objects. When a UserEndpoint is established, it registers with a server running Skype for Business Server 2015. This connection to the server is cached and is used for all outgoing communications.
When a UserEndpoint instance is created, a UserEndpointSettings object is initialized and passed to the endpoint constructor. If the settings do not contain the FQDN of a server running Skype for Business Server 2015, a DNS SRV query is used to discover such a server.
If a UserEndpoint is used with a server-mode CollaborationPlatform instance in a high-scale application, the application should set the IsEndpointThrottled property on a SipEndpoint instance to false.
The following code example shows how to set the IsEndpointThrottled property for an existing UserEndpoint instance named userEP.
SipEndpoint sipEP = userEP.InnerEndpoint as SipEndpoint; sipEP.IsEndpointThrottled = false; Registered endpoints of both types refresh their registrations periodically and after a connection is dropped. Because connection recovery can take time, a default number of retries is built into UCMA 5.0 to retry for a few minutes before terminating the endpoint. The MaxRegisterRetries property on a LocalEndpointSettings instance can be used to increase the number of retries. While retries are in progress, the endpoint is in the Reestablishing state, a value of the LocalEndpointState enumeration.
When registration recovery is finished, existing subscriptions are refreshed automatically. If presence publications are lost because a Skype for Business Server 2015 computer was removed from service, the RepublishingRequired event might be raised. The application should handle this event by republishing its presence.
The State property on the LocalEndpoint class records the state of the endpoint. The state transitions for both endpoint types, ApplicationEndpoint and UserEndpoint, are shown in the following illustration.
The state transitions in the preceding illustrations are shown in the following list:
