Location Services in Teams Understanding and Troubleshooting

Summary

The speaker, an expert in unified communications with a focus on Microsoft since 2005, discusses the intricacies of Location Information Services (LIS) in Microsoft Teams. He explains the importance of location services, particularly for emergency services compliance, referencing theRAY BAUMS Act in the U.S. The presentation delves into the technical aspects of location, including physical and logical locations, managed networks, and the impact of VPNs on location accuracy. It outlines the components of LIS, such as emergency policies, network topology, and trusted IPs. The speaker also addresses the challenges of determining user location, especially with the rise of remote work, and the solutions Microsoft Teams offers, like dynamic location updates and work-from-home mode. The session includes troubleshooting tips for LIS issues and the importance of enabling location services on devices for Teams to function correctly. The Q&A session touches on the use of Teams on mobile phones for E911 services and the limitations of the Teams web client for emergency services.

Takeaways

• 📍 The concept of location in Microsoft Teams includes both physical and logical locations, which are crucial for emergency services and network management.
• 🏢 A managed network is one that an organization controls, including its physical infrastructure and public IP addresses, whereas an unmanaged network like a hotspot has a dynamic public IP address.
• 🔄 The use of a VPN can change a device's logical location, affecting how network traffic flows and potentially altering the perceived location of a user.
• 🚨 TheRAY BAUMS Act in the United States mandates that devices capable of making emergency calls must be able to route calls appropriately and provide a dispatchable location.
• 📞 Microsoft Teams can technically determine a user's location for enterprise voice services if the backend is configured correctly, aligning with the legal requirements for emergency services.
• 🏠 Home networks, especially for senior executives, can sometimes be managed by an organization's IT department, which can complicate location determination when combined with VPNs.
• 🤔 The accuracy of location information is essential for emergency services to respond effectively; hence, understanding how networks work is critical for location services.
• 📱 Mobile phones using Microsoft Teams can leverage geocodes to determine location when connected to a corporate-controlled Wi-Fi network, aiding in emergency call routing.
• 🖥 Desktop applications and IP phones can obtain a Location Information Services (LIS) address, but the latter cannot confirm or edit location details, which are automatically provided.
• 🛠️ Troubleshooting location services in Microsoft Teams involves checking diagnostic logs for information on location determination, ensuring that network and application settings align with the expected configuration.
• ⏱️ Location updates should occur automatically when switching networks, such as moving from a cellular network to Wi-Fi, and if not, re-logging into Teams can force a location refresh.

Q & A

What are the two main types of locations discussed in the script?

The two main types of locations discussed are physical locations, such as homes, offices, and parks, and logical locations, which refer to the networking perspective of where a user is in terms of their network and IP addresses.

Why is it important to understand both physical and logical locations in the context of Microsoft Teams?

Understanding both physical and logical locations is crucial for accurate location services, which are essential for emergency services routing, ensuring user safety, and complying with legal requirements such as the Ray Baum's Act in the United States.

What is a managed network and how does it relate to location services?

A managed network is a network that is controlled and maintained by an organization's IT team, including the management of physical infrastructure and public IP addresses. It is important for location services because it allows for the accurate determination of a user's logical location.

How does a VPN influence a user's logical location in Microsoft Teams?

A VPN can change a user's logical location because it alters the path of network traffic, potentially leading to a different public IP address and thus a different logical location being identified for the user.

What is the Ray Baum's Act and how does it impact Microsoft Teams users in the United States?

The Ray Baum's Act is a law that went into effect in the United States, which mandates that devices capable of making emergency service calls must route those calls appropriately and provide information consistent with the user's physical location. This impacts Microsoft Teams users by requiring that the technology be able to determine their location for emergency services.

What is a dispatchable location and why is it important?

A dispatchable location is a specific address that can be used by emergency services to locate and respond to a caller in need. It is important because it ensures that emergency responders can quickly and accurately find the caller, which is a requirement under laws like the Ray Baum's Act.

How does Microsoft Teams handle location services for users working from home?

Microsoft Teams uses a combination of network configuration, geocoding, and user-entered data to determine the location of users working from home. It allows for the setting of a work-from-home address, uses geocodes to suggest a location, and enables users to manually enter their address for location services.

What are the five main components of location services in Microsoft Teams?

The five main components of location services in Microsoft Teams are emergency policies, dynamic routing, emergency addresses, network topology, and trusted IPs.

How can a user manually enter their location information in Microsoft Teams?

A user can manually enter their location information in Microsoft Teams by accessing the location settings within the application, adding their physical address, and saving it for future sessions.

What is the purpose of the 'work from home mode' in Microsoft Teams location services?

The 'work from home mode' is designed to accommodate users who are working remotely. It allows Microsoft Teams to dynamically determine the user's location based on their current network and IP settings, ensuring that emergency services can be accurately dispatched even when users are not in a traditional office setting.

How can an organization ensure that their users' locations are accurately determined by Microsoft Teams?

An organization can ensure accurate location determination by configuring their network topology in Microsoft Teams, defining trusted IPs, setting up emergency policies, and verifying physical addresses. They should also train users on how to manually enter or confirm their locations when working remotely.

Outlines

00:00

🗣️ Introduction to Location Services in Microsoft Teams

The speaker introduces the topic of location services within Microsoft Teams, providing personal background information as a long-time expert in unified communications with a focus on Microsoft since 2005. The overview emphasizes the evolution of technology and the importance of understanding the concepts and inner workings of location information services. The discussion differentiates between physical and logical locations, managed and unmanaged networks, and the impact of VPNs on determining one's location. The speaker also touches on the complexity of identifying a user's precise location due to the potential mismatch of physical and logical locations.

05:01

📍 Importance of Location Services for Emergency Services

The paragraph highlights the legal and safety implications of location services, particularly in the context of emergency services in the United States. It references the RAY BAUM's Act, which mandates that devices capable of making emergency calls must route the call appropriately and provide a dispatchable location that matches the user's physical location. The speaker discusses the technical feasibility of determining a user's location when using Microsoft Teams for enterprise voice and the requirement for a verified address to dispatch emergency services. The importance of dynamic and accurate location information for routing emergency calls is also emphasized.

10:03

🤔 Understanding Location Services Components and Pitfalls

This section delves into the components of location services, including emergency policies, dynamic routing, emergency addresses, network topology, and trusted IPs. The speaker explains how physical addresses are tied to users and the routing logic that determines the user's location. The concept of network sites, trusted IPs, and the correlation between a user's public IP and the managed network is explored. The paragraph also discusses the challenges of managing dynamic IPs, especially in home networks, and the role of direct routing and service providers in automating location information services.

15:05

🏠 Working from Home and Location Services Dynamics

The speaker addresses the challenges of implementing location services for remote work, where traditional office-based network configurations are less applicable. The paragraph discusses the need for Microsoft Teams to adapt to a more dynamic workspace, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It outlines the methods by which location can be determined, including static assignment, computer-suggested data based on geo-codes, and manual user input. The importance of accurate location information for emergency services when working from home is reiterated, along with the various policies that can control location settings.

20:06

📱 Client Perspective on Location Services

The paragraph provides an in-depth look at how location services function from the perspective of different clients, including PCs, Macs, mobile phones, and IP phones. It explains the process of location determination based on known networks, geo-codes, and manual user input. The speaker discusses the limitations of the web client for emergency services and the importance of allowing location services for accurate location detection. The paragraph also touches on the troubleshooting process for location services, emphasizing the need for permissions and the use of diagnostic logs to identify issues.

25:08

🛠️ Troubleshooting Location Services

The final paragraph focuses on troubleshooting location services, particularly on Windows PCs. The speaker demonstrates how to access diagnostic logs to identify issues with location services. It outlines the process of searching for specific information within the logs to determine what data is being collected and processed. The paragraph also discusses the importance of location permissions in Windows settings and how they affect the functionality of location services. The speaker provides guidance on what to do if location information is not being captured correctly and offers a quick overview of third-party tools that can assist in validating network information.

Keywords

💡Location Services

Location Services refers to the technology that determines the geographical location of a user or a device and is a core theme in the video. It is crucial for various functionalities in Microsoft Teams, especially for emergency services where accurate location information can be a matter of life and death. The script discusses both physical locations, such as homes and offices, and logical locations from a networking perspective.

💡Unified Communications

Unified Communications is the integration of various forms of communication technologies into a single system. It is mentioned in the context of the speaker's expertise and experience with Microsoft's suite of communication tools. Unified Communications is the broader field within which Location Services operates, aiming to enhance the overall communication experience.

💡Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a platform that combines chat, meetings, notes, and attachments. It is the central application discussed in the video where Location Services are being explored. The speaker talks about how Location Services in Microsoft Teams can enhance the functionality, particularly for emergency calling features, which is a significant aspect of the platform's capabilities.

💡Logical Location

Logical Location is a term used to describe the network-related positioning of a device, as opposed to its physical location. It is an important concept in the video because it affects how Microsoft Teams determines a user's location, especially in scenarios where the public IP address might change, such as when using a VPN or a hotspot.

💡Emergency Services

Emergency Services are a critical application of Location Services within Microsoft Teams. The video emphasizes the importance of being able to accurately identify a user's location when an emergency call is made. This is particularly important in the United States, where laws like the Ray Baum's Act mandate that devices capable of making emergency calls must be able to route the call appropriately and provide a consistent location.

💡Dispatchable Location

A Dispatchable Location is a specific address that can be used by emergency services to locate the caller. It is a regulatory requirement in certain regions, like the United States, for services to provide this information when a call is made to emergency numbers. The video discusses how Microsoft Teams can provide this information when configured correctly.

💡VPN (Virtual Private Network)

A VPN is a service that allows users to create a secure and encrypted connection over a less secure network. The script mentions VPNs in the context of how they can affect a device's logical location. When a VPN is used, the network traffic flows differently, which can impact the determination of a user's location for Location Services within Microsoft Teams.

💡Home Network

Home Network refers to the network setup in a user's residence. The video discusses how a home network can be managed by an individual or a company, especially for senior executives, and how it ties into the Location Services by potentially being on a managed network with a VPN or a direct connection that affects the logical location of the user.

💡Location Information Services (LIS)

Location Information Services (LIS) is a component within Microsoft Teams that deals with the configuration and management of location data. The video delves into the various components of LIS, such as emergency policies, dynamic routing, and the physical addresses that are used to determine a user's location for emergency services.

💡Work from Home Mode

Work from Home Mode is a setting in Microsoft Teams that accommodates users working remotely. The video discusses how LIS can adapt to dynamic work environments, such as employees working from home, by allowing users to manually set their location or using geocodes to determine their location when they are not on a managed network.

💡Geocodes

Geocodes are the geographical coordinates, typically latitude and longitude, that represent the location of a user or a device. In the context of the video, geocodes are used by Microsoft Teams to determine a user's location, especially when working from home or in other unmanaged network environments. They are a key part of the Location Services functionality for emergency calling.

Highlights

The speaker has extensive experience in unified communications, particularly with Microsoft technologies since 2005.

Location services in Microsoft Teams are crucial for emergency services, with legal implications under the RAY BAUM's Act in the United States.

Location is not just a physical place but also includes logical aspects from a networking perspective.

Different environments like offices, homes, hotspots, and VPNs can influence the logical location and impact network traffic flow.

Microsoft Teams can technically determine a user's location if the backend is configured correctly.

A dispatchable location is required for emergency services, which involves the physical address and its compilation.

Location Information Services (LIS) in Teams involves five main components that interact with each other.

Policies within Teams can notify users or conference them in during an emergency call, depending on the configuration.

Working from home has introduced challenges in determining user locations due to the dynamic nature of home networks.

Microsoft Teams uses various methods to determine a user's location, including known networks, user configuration, and geo-codes.

Client logic in Teams can cache location information for known networks to reduce the burden on the user.

Troubleshooting location services involves checking diagnostic logs for information on location data collection and processing.

Mobile devices using Teams have the ability to pull geo-codes for emergency services, assuming the device's location services are enabled.

The web client for Microsoft Teams does not support emergency services due to browser limitations.

Enabling location services on both the device and within the Teams application is essential for location information to be utilized.

Troubleshooting can also involve using third-party LLDP tools to validate network information for location services.

The speaker provided a comprehensive overview of how location services function within Microsoft Teams, emphasizing their importance for emergency services and legal compliance.

Transcripts

today we are going to discuss the

exciting parts of location services in

microsoft teams

i'm me

that's who i am

some know some do not i live in arizona

where it is a

a nice 80 degrees

today which is clear skies beautiful

sunny day

um

married with a couple boys and have been

doing

unified communications and specifically

focused on microsoft unified

communications since 2005 since the lcs

day so it's been a long journey with

microsoft as an mvp and

um

and in the field itself so i i'm excited

that a lot of the technology that has

been worked on in the past is moving

forward specifically today that is

location information services so enough

about me

i wanted to start off with the concepts

and and

and it's typically

anyone that's presented or seen my

presentations it's typically where i

start

trying to understand what it is we're

doing why we're doing it and the kind of

the inner workings of what that is so

starting with that whole basis and

concept we're going to start with what

is a location all right so

some of this will be very obvious to

some people and to others it will not

but a location is more than just

a physical place that we're in right so

there are offices there are homes there

are bars there are parks your home

there's your your parents house they're

your children's i mean there's right

locations can be anywhere that's

physical physically where we are at with

our computer i'm speaking on our

location however there's also the

logical location and the logical

location is from a networking

perspective where are we

so

when we're talking about an office while

that office may be an office we own

right it's somewhere that we go it's

it's a shared workspace it's not

something that we actually manage and so

it's not a managed network and

controlling

what

that network is ip wise from a layer two

and technically layer three but a layer

two perspective of what i p addresses we

are we don't always maintain that so a

managed office is something that is

completely managed it's a network our

network team manages the physical

infrastructure as well as the public ip

addresses how we get to the internet all

of that all right then we move off of

that concept to a hotspot a hotspot

could be a hotspot that you own whether

it's your phone whether it is

somewhere that is at a coffee house or

it is it's whatever it happens to be

right it's a hot spot that turns on and

turns off dynamically

what public ip address you receive when

you do that is all is an unknown it's

unmanaged you don't manage that

and so while you may own the hotspot

that you're connecting to and from

depending on where that hotspot connects

within geographically it can it can get

a different public ip address so it's a

hotspot that's owned or again in a

coffee house where you're just

connecting and you're utilizing someone

else's network

take that same network concept and then

add in a vpn on your device and now we

technically are in a different logical

location because our network traffic

potentially is flowing differently

there is a lot to be said about split

tunneling and breaking off your

microsoft traffic

in that split tunnel when you are on a

vpn so that that's different however

that's not always the case so it's

understanding and knowing how your

network works and does not work from a

vpn perspective that rolls right into

the same concept of the home network

something that's more managed and

sometimes even managed by a company

especially when we're talking about

senior level executives

they may have a network that's at their

house but i.t of the company manages it

much more common in smaller businesses

um and and mid-size less common in

larger enterprises but it does still

happen

that home network could be on the

physical mpls or sd-wan or

a site-to-site vpn connection it could

also just be a home network that's

that's been configured and set up by

somebody that is

you know you've said this is the

guidelines this is the hardware we want

you to use that kind of thing

and again is there a vpn is there not a

vpn how is that location going to

influence us and taking all of that

information into account when we go and

try to find out where you're at it can

get very tricky because

obviously

you can be any mismatch of any of these

physical or logical locations and when

we do so uh knowing exactly where your

physical

physical person is is what we're trying

to locate and and the whole point is why

right why do we care whoa

why do we care where your physical

location at and the biggest reason is

from an emergency services perspective

now

from emergency services there is the law

of what you have to do which can be

what's the driving force in location

services there is the because it's the

right thing to do

and then there is because we're trying

to do what what needs to be done to make

our our users in a safer place so in the

united states

the ray bombs act

has actually already gone to effect that

was earlier this year and in that law it

specifically states that if you are on a

device that has the potential to call

to an emergency services one that

service must route you appropriately

where technically feasible and two

the information needs to be consistent

with where you're physically at right

needs to be the right location so

microsoft technology good and bad here

right so the first part being where it

is technically feasible well

it's technically feasible so if you're

using microsoft teams for enterprise

voice we can technically find out where

you're at if you have configured the

back end to do so

so we've met that requirement now we

have to provide a dispatchable location

and a dispatchable location specific to

the united states has to do with the

address and how the address is

physically

compiled right so there is the emergency

database and that emergency database

should automatically be able to hit and

look up your physical address to

dispatch emergency services

so taking all that into consideration

i included a link for anyone that really

wants to look at the fcc rules for 9-1-1

and how this all works but that's there

and also wanted to state that there was

an earlier law from um before the

carries law and this supersedes that and

it is much more

encompassing so it brings us to a point

where every single person that is using

microsoft teams with enterprise voice in

the united states legally must be able

to dial an emergency service and be able

to be properly located

now

what all that means to you and your

company how things work that's for your

your um legal team

for me that's just here's the

information take that as you will

um

beyond that from an emergency service

perspective the desire to re receive a

dynamic and when i say 9-1-1 we're

referring to just emergency services

that could be a a 1-1-2 a 1-1-9 that can

be whatever the local emergency services

is

and dynamic depends on

what level of dynamic we're looking at

right self-made emergency calling is

possible and has been for a very long

time where we can create a network

mapping

of our network get our location from

that physical logical perspective and if

we know what that is we can send and

route calls appropriately so from a poor

man's emergency services perspective i

could have independent

gateway set up at every physical office

location i own

where it's logical to do so and actually

send out the call out that gateway and

appear that i'm at that location so

again i'm actually meeting the criteria

of if i'm in this building then i am

sending it out this particular network

gateway and that particular gateway is

tied to this physical address and so

everything kind of is kosher but that

only works when we're on known managed

networks that doesn't work when we're

dynamically roaming in a coffee shop on

our own networks and so or working from

home so getting all of that into play is

what we're trying to do with location

services

okay

so with com with location services or

lis location information services there

are multiple pieces that are configured

and of course nothing is simple and they

all interact with one another and kind

of inner tie so there are five main

components and a bunch of subs but five

main components of what we're looking at

when we're talking about location

services right so we have the emergency

policies themselves the policies are

in the policies group of the voice

section as well as well as dynamic

routing but those two pieces of the

voice are specific to

who gets notified when an emergency is

called

uh

when i when an emergency is called right

what do i do with it do i allow people

to enable the work from home mode or the

external location lookup as well as

do i need to have some sort of alert or

banner inside my

um

team's um enterprise voice phone app so

when i go to the phone's app do i get a

banner that has to be cleared that says

something whether it be a warning a

reminder some information from that

perspective

the emergency addresses are obviously

physical addresses and those addresses

should be verified and and known

addresses

and get entered as they would as they

would be passed in what's known as

pitfall information

um to over the physical network um

they have physical addresses are also

tied to users right so if we are

when we are doing calling plans so when

i'm setting up a user and i'm giving

them a number from a callings plan

perspective i have to set their location

that's a static location that i'm

setting there and that is at the bottom

of the list of our routing logic which

we'll get to

the network topology itself is your

network sites right so these are the

offices the physical networks and

locations are tied to it's kind of this

background robbening and the trusted ips

that are tied to that site and when we

say trusted ip we're saying when i go to

ipchicken or to what's my ip or to

whatever on the internet from my pc that

physical ip address that i'm presented

to to the internet which will be the ip

that i'm presented to

i'm presented to with microsoft teams

isn't an ip that i own if it is then i

trust that ip and i can make this

correlation right the whole correlation

is i have

the next section of networks and

locations tied i am one of those i am on

a subnet i i've defined i'm on a wi-fi

access point that i've defined or i'm

physically plugged into a switch and a

report that i've defined and my public

ip is one that's trusted those two

things mesh together

then i'm on a known network i'm

somewhere that i control and i know what

that expectation is

and again that that known ip ideally are

ips that you manage

could you

put in an ip that's dynamic at some

point right so you're using a home based

internet at a location and that

home-based internet has ip 1.1.1.1 today

is there any guarantee that that ip's

going to remain because it's not a

static ip that's assigned to me because

i'm a home

network user

so do i own that network not really um

could i put that in sure

managing it may be cumbersome and

there's the potential that if it does

change and it just happens to have

changed when the user dials an emergency

call that it doesn't get caught as being

a known location so

there's that so from again from a

network we have subnets very basic we

have wi-fi which is our vss ids of

whatever network we're connecting to

that's not your ssid right that's the

bss id

switches if you have lldp

enabled in your network or your switches

are capable and even up to the port

so we have the ability to get you down

to a physical location from a port

perspective if you're plugged in which

means i can send and include information

to look to information to emergency

services

that is down to the physical office on

the plug that i'm plugged into very very

minute or

very broad from a specific of this

subnet is in this entire wing or floor

or building as the case may be

to even a little bit more granular when

i'm in it with a wi-fi access point and

i've got 30 of them across my building

if i'm on this one that means i'm on

floor

x with

wing b or whatever the case may be right

but we can get more granular so we go

from less granular to more granular as

we go down that road and then the final

thing that i often forget that's part of

the emergency services is if we're doing

direct routing which

a lot of

this uh you know i would think people

are using but maybe not but from a

direct routing perspective

if you are using a service provider that

can understand this information to

automate the location information

services

then ideally

which is an ideal world then ideally

you have configured your sbcs

and the configuration within direct

routing to say include this information

if not if you don't click this on and

say yes include the pitfall information

then in fact it just doesn't get sent so

you could configure everything the user

could be configured to know their

location but when they dial an emergency

call that emergency location doesn't

actually flow outbound all right it's

tagged into the sip information so those

are your various components and before

we get to the work from home we're going

to try

to share

an application to show you visually what

i'm talking about because i think it

would it helps me to kind of run through

what it is we're referring to so if

we're looking at in my tenant the

various policies again here we have our

calling policies and our call routing

policies that are specific to emergency

the value of the call routing policy is

if i had multiple locations that had a

direct route capable

handoff then i could potentially have

a call from a certain location route out

a specific location and that gives me

the ability to to present that call as

that location because the calls egress

is the actual location that that phone

is routing too

calling policies include all the

information again specific generally in

a large enterprise we will have many

many emergency policies and those

policies will be tied to

the user's location typically and that

comes down to this notification mode

where we are notifying a user or users

when somebody dials an emergency number

that that person has in fact done so

it sends a team's notification they

realize hey sally down in office a in

florida dialed 9-1-1 i'm in the florida

office i'm security of florida i need to

be aware that that's happening and to be

on the lookout so that when emergency

services do arrive i can correctly

direct them to the correct location that

kind of information depending on the

provider if you're tied into one that

has and uses the emergency location

information we also have a notification

mode and the notification modes allow us

to actually conference someone in and

that's typically again an

emergency or a security desk or somebody

that's handling emergency calls call

comes in they all get conferenced in and

it creates a nice scenario but that's

what that is here's the external

location lookup mode we talked about the

the location mode is the work from home

mode we're about to speak on so that is

our emergency policies area so when

we're talking there again direct routing

and then our location so all of the

locations that we were discussing are

located here okay let's jump back to the

deck

and

maybe

maybe

it doesn't want to play

there it goes

maybe

or maybe not

yeah

sometimes maf is low you know yeah it is

it's like load and go load and go and it

doesn't want to

okay

it says it's loading

and powerpoint lines coming back up

there we go okay

so working from home so working from

home the whole concept of working from

home is not new right i mean obviously

there have been people working from home

remotely for a very very long time

however

when the pandemic started way back when

it seems like forever ago

in 2020 that kind of accelerated the

whole concept of now everybody's working

from home and so because we're working

from home how do we accommodate

a more dynamic workspace so now while we

can define and we've gone through we can

set subnets we can set our our physical

switches to gather information we know

where you're at well now we don't know

where anyone's at because everybody's

working from home so you went from

trying to get most people covered to now

nobody's covered and so microsoft was

looking at methodologies and changes to

the application to say how do we make

this an easier solution for users that

don't burden the user that they're

constantly changing things looking for

updates so

there are definitely a lot of parts of

the whole lis world

and there's policies that can control

can you even set a work from home

address because there may be reasons

that you don't want to but assuming that

that's that button is on

and you have you configured your your

physical internal network and your pc

allows it to look up its own location

then you have the options of a

physically controlled location that

you've managed a customer or client

entered data and a computer suggested

data be invited geo codes and that that

precedence of how that's identified and

how we decide what's important goes

through the list of the company what

they say is your location is primary

past that

if the computer can figure out where

you're at from a geo codes perspective

your latitude and your longitude we'll

use that

if that's not correct then we look to

see can you um have you put in

information that is statically assigned

so this would be from your calling

plan's perspective if that user's there

if not okay so we don't know where

you're at so that's where it follows

through the

the actual lookup client codes and we'll

actually look at that logic a little

deeper now so um client logic is and

this is from microsoft's little blur i

just copied and pasted so this is not

something that um is created by me but

from

there's two various ways clients look at

their location right have i been on this

this physical logged into teams before

and have i been able to identify myself

do i know who i am

do i know the network i'm on

and have it

is that known information so that would

mean i've logged into this specific pc

from this specific teams application and

it has cached this information that that

knows where i'm at or is it new which

isn't the case i've never done any of

those things one of those variables is

off so i've logged into this location

before but it's a new pc or it's a

different pc or whatever the case may be

i've cleared out my cache could be

potentially another one but from a

client perspective it looks like a brand

new

network right

so from that if an admins define the

network it's the li information the lis

information is from your clients um

collected my public ip as well as my

private as potentially your bss id

potentially your your

ldap not

lldp not all that lldp information

potentially all of that's gathered it's

pushed up to microsoft it kind of turns

on and says oh i know where you are and

it sends down your location and stamps

it all good

second option is

the admins define your

dynamic location but it's not one of

them

teams wasn't able to get geo codes so

you're you maybe you don't allow it on

from a pc perspective

by policy or just because you guys

haven't

and so the end user is allowed to put in

their information they type in their

address they save it it's cached the

next time

we log in it may have that information

that matches but that's the physical

location you're at during that specific

session and the third one is we don't

get anything dynamically bad but the os

does provide geo codes at that point we

will get a screen pop that says hey it

appears you're here and you either

confirm or edit that is the place that

you're actually at and depending on

logic of which one of these were chosen

depends on how

confident microsoft is where you're at

and how the routing and logic will

happen so if it is a high probability

or confidence a hundred percent are

higher then guess what that call is

going to route itself automatically to

your service provider um or in the psap

right where it's going driving directly

to them there's no interaction it just

works if we're not sure where you're at

then different routes are going to be

taken but the whole point is we're

trying to be as specific as possible and

as ideological as possible that we get

to where you are so let's look at those

different clients from a client

perspective now these are screenshots

because trying to switch off networks to

make this happen won't work

but

option number one so the admin has

configured your network they're your

location they have gone through the

process and set up your known ip

addresses and either subnet or some

information we're here we're not getting

into that we're just getting that it's a

configured location

when that happens and the client logs in

what we're looking at is down here in

the bottom left hand corner

so you'll notice one that in purple

you have a physical address that's

pushed back to you that should be the

address you're at if you're not you need

to reach out to your admin and say hey

something's wrong here you're actually

assigned an address that's not correct

to my location

two you will notice that it is showing

you that the current location is a work

provided location you and it grayed out

there's nothing you can do about it

the work is said this is where you're at

so therefore that is where you're at it

is a confident location based off

configuration again assuming the

configuration is correct but the key

here is that it's not something that we

can modify because it is a location that

has been pushed down by the admin it's

not something we need to even think

about all right it's just done

automatically on our behalf

okay looking at option two where the

user is configuring it so in this case

no geo codes no known location by the

admin what does the client look like

here and if we look initially we have at

the very bottom left where it says

location not defined right we don't know

who you are we don't know where you're

at all we know is that teams is running

that's it and you're on somewhere we

don't we're not sure where that's at

if i click on the button i get the

current emergency location you'll notice

i have a plus ad the whole ad concept is

to add my physical address it's a whole

manual process to do so and when i click

it i get the whole new location box now

the location box is broken up into what

would be considered the format

the location services are looking for

so if this does get passed to an

emergency help desk

that goes outbound to the emergency

services they will get your information

if they support pitfall but it's not

going to be a verified address but it

will allow them to say hey this is what

i see you entered

um

if you're assuming that we can talk

while you're on this 911 call or

emergency call i see that the

information you entered is x is that

accurate if it is great they punch it in

their database it pulls up the actual

location that they're looking for from a

verified address perspective and they

can dispatch so it helps speed up that

process

um it also helps um if it's right right

so the more accurate and more precise

you are in the information that you're

putting here obviously the better

number three is once i put in that

information i can click add and once i

click add you'll notice at the bottom it

now looks similar to the very first

slide right

however if i click on the address i have

an edit or a reset so

if i've done something wrong

the most common times this will look

wrong in my experience has been when you

are on a hotel network and that hotel

network constantly uses the same ip

addresses and it just gets confused um

sometimes we just reset stuff and do

edit or and and put a new one back in

if in fact that's what we're trying to

do so

that is from a user configured

perspective what that looks like or

option two again we don't have geo codes

we don't know anything about where

you're at

and off we're going now option three

using geo codes is a uniquely new

feature that in my experience works

never but

it's supposed to work so

i actually don't have a working

screenshot because i can never get it to

work and there's an open bug that i have

on this but

when your box throws its geo codes to

the service microsoft's back end takes

those coordinates right latitude and

longitude looks it up in their database

and pushes back a physical address

um and we'll see in logs where the

client definitely knows its geo codes

it's being able to pull that information

it's definitely sending it off to

microsoft and then it just gets a

timeout and doesn't get a response so

unfortunately that is what it is but if

you notice here there's a couple things

one the traditional location icon is

shown i'm next to the address the

physical address where they believes

you're at shows up and assuming that's

where you're at you can click confirm

and you are on a

physical location that's not always

accurate keep in mind that your ip

address and your locations and how this

works and where this goes

you know it's up to up to the device

you're using from a precision

perspective i think probably even more

important is satellite information and

and location information typically

doesn't pinpoint down to the

the one by one meter space that you're

at but rather it is kind of a general

circle or error so is it the right

address is it not is it close is it not

we can edit this address um

instead of just leaving it as is

but it's doing its best to know where

you're at so those are the three client

looking options when we're new but what

if we're known so it simplifies things

if the if it's a known network and then

by a no network it means

you're logging back into this pc again

or this application and this has

happened before we've seen you right the

your physical public ip address and your

physical ip that's your your personal

life address they match hey and you have

cached information that you said this is

where you're at well it'll bring it all

back and this is part of

eliminating or limiting the burden onto

the client where if i'm working from

home and i've put this information in

once well then every time i go home with

my laptop it should just show that as my

location and it should assuming nothing

changes

that constantly will be there so

again i go somewhere with my pc

it will still check to see is this a

something that's on the um defined

network and we do that because hey

what if something's changed in the back

end and your subnetting has changed

where you used to be building x was uh a

10.1.1 now you're 10.1.2 well hey then

let's go ahead and

take that information

from the service and push it back down

to overwrite your cache so it does

verify that that's still statically the

same if it is otherwise if it's not

something that's set there we just pull

your information and from your cache and

bring up your location so it's a it's a

much quicker process and less

okay so that's all from the client

perspective

that's all great so

um

some additional thoughts and processes

on this whole concept is working from

home

works from your pc and your mac so

if you have a a macintosh or a

microsoft based personal computer a pc

you're using microsoft teams natively on

that machine so it can pull your

information and location and everything

happy and go lucky well great then

that's going to work

mobile phones if you're running teams

from a work from home from look from any

location right a mobile phone if it can

pull to your lis location which would be

i'm on a physical

network i have my physical phone my

physical

mobile device is connected to wi-fi that

wi-fi is a network that is controlled by

the company well guess what that address

is pushing down to the to that device

and you can actually see it in the

calling

if it gets it by geo codes which it can

do as well

it's supposed to show that address but

it doesn't always so there's a little

work being done there but it's same

thing so the mobile phone can use geo

codes and the mobile phone can use ls

but you can't manually enter that

information that's not an option for you

last would be your ip phones right so

your poly

your audio

codes

your

sennheiser yay link

etc those physical phone devices your

desktop phones they can get an lis

address but they don't enter confirm or

edit anything it's just what they get is

what they get

generally speaking

they maintain that information

all the way down to your uh lldp

information that comes however we have

seen where it reverts back to subnet

every so often um

and typically it has to do with

the network itself or the device there's

multiple ways but the phone should be

able to pull your lis location

and then finally again geocodes they do

require that you allow your pc

one to get its location and two to allow

the application to pull the location

whether it's on your phone or with

mobile phone or whether it's on your pc

so that's just one of those things that

if you're not going to allow it to find

your location because location services

are either disabled or very limited then

it's not going to be able to get geo

codes

lastly i'll say

if i'm on a device and i jump from

network to network so i like a mobile

device i'm outside um my office building

i am on cellular network i walk into my

office building it jumps on the wi-fi if

teams was open that physical address

should be updated within two to five

minutes

and i say should because i typically see

it updated within around 30 seconds it's

actually very quick but i will also say

when i don't see it update it doesn't

have ever updated just it seems to be in

a stuck state logging out of teams

re-logging in will cause that location

service to re-pull its location and use

its logic and that'll fix it but

it should be an automatic process but

again keep that in mind so

that happens obviously mobile phones

desktop applications whatever it is that

you're jumping between networks so

okay so now off to the fun part

troubleshooting so

troubleshooting we're going to focus on

the

windows pc because that's what i'm on

and that's easier to do

since that's what i have to show um

control alt shift one the old key

sequence to pull down those diagnostic

logs or on the mac option command shift

one

that is where we get the information

right that things are coming up

they dumps to on a windows machine to

your user profile your downloads folder

and then it's creating the logs and then

in a couple seconds it moves all the

logs to a subfolder called ms teams

diagnostics logs and the date and time

they were captured at so there will be a

nice little folder for you to go look

into and there'll be a bunch of sublogs

within there the two that we care about

are in a subfolder called web and then

the main microsoft teams diagnostic log

followed by date and time capture and

the exact same log followed by

underscore calling those two logs will

show us what we're looking for from an

information perspective so

rather than just talk about it i want to

show how that actually looks i do set

that when you guys are opening up and

looking at things search on set location

info will get you into the information

you're looking for so that's typically

what i do when i'm looking for am i

actually getting location right so i've

configured everything i've set up my

machine i plug it into the network i'm

on a known network and nothing happens i

don't get a location why well

let's go ahead and try to switch sherry

now to

this tool

now

this happens to be um sccm's

logging tool right parsing tool that's

what i like to use there are all kinds

of things you can open things on notepad

you can open things and a visual be

decoder there are

there's all kinds of different ways to

look at whatever you're like no plan

notepad plus

again i don't care do whatever it is

that you like to do um this happens to

be that the one that i'm looking at

because i like it for all logs it works

seems to work anyway that's what i'm

using so that's what anyone's looking

for today it's the sccm or the endpoint

configuration manager that free tool

that comes with sccm okay so i'm looking

at my my various log and this particular

one

as i pulled it up is the main

diagnostics log

i i named it on-prem and subnet because

i've got to keep these things separated

but it's a fairly large log it's about

three megs in size and there's a lot of

information right this is where we're

setting our policies and things are

going so if i do a search

for set location info i'm going to jump

down to the towards the bottom of where

i'm looking for

when i get to this information

i can see what data

teams is figuring out and sending back

up to the service the parsing of that

data will be in the calling log but we

if it doesn't always get that far right

so starting here will tell us what data

is actually being collected

and if i look i can see that from this

particular network this pulled my

location

of my physical ip address my physical

mac address my subnet and you can see

geo coordinates were pulled as well so

that is configured and let to go and i'm

not a calling plan user that's led it

knows here right um 911 is different so

it's trying to figure stuff out

um my location was in cash

and it comes back again with my

my subs and this information gets pushed

back up

so

basic information of what's being

captured is gathered here

and then we will quickly look at

if we can get the calling log

which is if there is one with data

probably where i would start to see what

information is being processed from the

cloud right

so i look at the calling log you'll

notice that it's broken it down into

okay so this is just specific to what

has to do with my call i haven't made

any calls all i've done is log in so i

found out that i have an emergency

numbers right so when i dial this

particular pattern that's seen as an

emergency number my policy that's been

applied to me

if there's a mass that's applied and

where it routes out all of those

informations that right while awesome

don't really apply to us at this moment

unless we're not getting the

notifications and things that we're

looking for

our latitude and longitude is a trusted

network right we know that we're on a

trusted network and we know that because

the public ip is matching

but here's our latitude and longitude

provided the address that pushes back

from our information and you can see i

have

from an additional info this is our sub

info it's just in this office 16

somewhere within the suite of offices

but i don't actually

go beyond the sub offices within this

location because it is being

brought to us by again here's our

matched public ip address

and more importantly the sites being

matched on subnet so we can find out

that the subnet is what's matched we're

on this particular one right we have a

match there we have a match on the

trusted information

and i have a location id all right so

that doesn't mean much to you but we'll

show back quickly at the end if we have

time that those ids are actually visible

within teams admin center when you

create a location that's the idea it's

given so that's that's how we match that

up and it actually brings back

this physical address right okay so

that's when we're on prem when i'm

working from home

i don't get a calling logs specific to

this information because none of this

calling information none of the lis has

done well i find it interesting that it

doesn't show you that it failed it just

doesn't show you that anything happened

because nothing happened um so we start

with your location is unknown right we

don't know who you are we don't know

where you're at um everything is unknown

it's no no no no out once we get that

unknown information we then come down to

what is the information that we have

well we do know your mac address we know

that you're on an ssid of this was my

phone that i was coming through

um your subnet your geo code so you have

latitude and longitude still

and

what would be applied from an emergency

calling perspective now i've set my

stuff to global so the global policy is

still going to apply

but that information is coming down but

more importantly i'm on a public network

and there is no information here to tell

me who or what i am and so there's no

way for this to automatically pull

anything out and so if i jump to my

calling log and look at the log specific

to this

calling working from home

there's nothing there it didn't process

anything it didn't look at anything

there was nothing to be found

automatedly okay so those are the two

kind of when we're looking at things a

big gotcha if we have a calling log

we've just logged in and pulled

diagnostics right so we've logged in

we've waited about a minute control

shift one we go to our calling log

nothing's there

more than likely something's not getting

caught and we'll need to back up to the

other logs

well that i did not mean to do

so

let's try that again

all right

and so

the last three will just

it's more interesting than anything else

um to show that we actually have

data that's being captured um

and how it's being seen differently so

if we look at

the

wi-fi and we'll just look at the calling

side of things of where things are

captured

a lot of it looks the same and what

we're looking for once we get down to

this trusted information again

interestingly this confidence is low on

these these geocodes being actually in

this site id however

we do have as we move down the

patch we match on subnet but we also

match on the chassis id now this is the

switch one yep so we match on chassis we

also match on subnet well chassis is

more specific or potentially more

specific than our side id and so we

actually pushed back our location id

that matches that specific um chassis or

switch right and that one happens to be

the exact same thing it is no more

granular that switch is just in this

location but

we do find both answers in that specific

scenario

also of interest here will be

[Music]

nothing

that's all that i'm going to show of

interest in this one however we will

show

the port that if we've defined the

actual port and we support lldp that

when we search on on it

we get information back and this

information is physically within the

calling log 2 of the switch

capture but because the port wasn't

defined

in

the tenant right in admin center it

doesn't even bother to try it just

brings it back but you can see here that

we bring back the chassis id and the

port that we're physically on sunday and

everything that else comes back and so

we have the ability to do so and then

finally as we're out of time let's go

ahead and quickly look at our wi-fi and

when we're looking at wi-fi the

interesting part here is let me roll

down to it

again we find the bss id the bsi sid

matches we have a location id so all of

that follows down the same scenario

we only see in the calling log what's

been parsed so if you're missing

information validate that you're getting

it

one way to do so and one of the things

that we want to quickly touch on because

we are out of time and i apologize but

um we do have the ability to

uh

back to

[Music]

we will we won't be sharing the deck so

there is that um and a lot of the

information that's in here is

specifically because of there's

links and copies and information that

hopefully are of value

but

when we're looking at

the information here

okay so we've done that troubleshooting

there is a third party lldp tool

hell

is the one that

sponsors this they have the ability to

do a discovery you can install the

module import the module and then you

can evoke it it basically listens to the

network traffic and then brings back

what your actual lldp information you

see because if you don't see the

information well then we can kick it

back to being the network team that's

the problem we're not getting things

back but we should get back your switch

your port your chassis id all that

information and it's a great way to

validate that things are working on

specific subnets or network chassis that

you're

working on

the demo is just to run that so for

other time we'll skip that and finally

the windows location if you're not

seeing your geo code this is windows 11

same applies to windows 10

ios and android have the same location

restrictions as well

if we don't have location services even

enabled but then we don't allow it per

application we're not going to allow it

to actually do anything so if i click

this on and i and i relaunch

teams it will immediately try to pull

location again and you'll notice teams

will show up in the bottom when it lasts

pulled and it'll start to gather

information so if we don't allow that to

happen you're not going to get geo codes

and things aren't going to pull so with

that

we have the end of our session and we

will open for some

couple of minutes because we're out of

time but a couple of minutes of q a if

there are anything that's in the queue

yes

yes there are a couple of questions in

the chat

we'll try to hurry

yeah so uh one second so the course the

first question would be

uh what happens when i use teams on a

mobile phone with e911

yep so

same thing um mobile phones today have

the ability to the mobile application to

pool your geo codes and so it will pull

just like on your your cellular phone

would

many will say why use teams to call

9-1-1 if you're on a mobile phone just

use the dialer that's built into your

dialer but it does have the ability to

pull geocodes and again if you're

on-prem in a known location using wi-fi

it'll pull that location too and send

that information

thank you and we have one more question

how does team web climb determining

locations end users set

will it try

um ls based on the hosts network

information

so if i understand the question

how does the

how does the client determine its

location

yeah the question is how does team's web

client determining location oh the web

client okay

does not yeah web client is excluded web

client does not work so the actual

emergency services from a web client

is not an option so unfortunately

they don't have the ability to make the

same calls to the

network to find your information right

the actual application

being the browser isn't allowed and

blocked and that doesn't work so the web

client is excluded from

applications at work

thank you very much bran um thank you

everyone for your attention and for

being present at this session

i have placed a link for rating this

session and

please if you would like to give us a

feedback because it means a lot to the

speakers and to us as well

so yes thank you once again bran for the

awesome session

and

i wish you a great rest of the day

great thanks everyone