Unable to upload files in OCS Group Chat

If you are a regular user of OCSR2 Group chat, you will find this ever interesting. Have you ever tried File transfer ( i.e. Upload / Download ) in OCS Chat room?. If you say yes, then you must be facing the issue with file transfer; I am sure you are unable to upload the file. You must be getting either one the following errors during File Upload in OCS Chat room.

i) A file transfer error occured.Server was unable to process request.—> Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

ii) A file transfer error occured.System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request; System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Microsoft.Rtc.Chat.MgcCommon.Logging.ParlanoLogger.get_IsInfoEnabled()
at Microsoft.Rtc.Internal.Chat.Server.MGCWebService.Provider.ConfigureEverytime()
at Microsoft.Rtc.Internal.Chat.Server.MGCWebService.MGCWebService..ctor()
—End of inner exception stack trace—

I would say it’s a MS bug & just ask me why? Here is the answer. I just want to share this, which may helpful for all.

Case -1

1.OCS Group Chat Web Service ( i.e. MGCWebService ) is responsible for File Upload & Download.
2.Go to run & type “inetmgr” in OCS GC machine & you will find this website is running under Local Computer (i.e. AS-64b-VM1) –> Web Sites –> Default Web Site –> MGCWebService.
3.Right Click on MGCWebService & then go to Properties –> Directory Security –> Authentication and Access Control –> Edit
4.You will get the user name as “IUSR_MCName” (i.e. IUSR_AS-64B-VM1) & this is member of the Guests group of the local machine.

Case -2

1.When we configure OCS Group Chat Web Service we provide a share folder to specify the “Root directory used to store files that are uploaded to any instance of the Web service”.
2.This shared folder name can be found once we open the GC Server Config Tool à File Repository tab.
3.Now go to the properties of the File Repository folder (i.e. \\AS-64b-VM1\GCCWebService ) & check for NTFS permissions (Security Tab) of this File Repository folder.
4.You will find that Guests group is not present in its Access Control List, but the MGCWebService account needs Full Permission (Read / Write) on this File Repository folder, inorder to file upload happens.
5.Hence you need to choose one domain account that is having Full Permission for this folder. Additionally this account should be member of RTCComponentUniversalServices as the account needs to access the file repository as well as Message Queuing.
6.You can say OCS GC Channel service account OR OCS Group Chat Admin service account are the right candidate for this are they are natively ready with all these permissions.

Case -3

1.Now you need to change the user name from “IUSR_MCName” (i.e. IUSR_AS-64B-VM1) to OCS GC Channel service account ( i.e. 64AS\GCManage ).
2.Also change the password accordingly w.r.t this new account.
3.Make sure that Enable Anonymous Access check box is selected under Authentication Methods dialog box.
4.Now reboot the OCS Group Chat Server
5.Try file upload after the server is up & ENJOY with File Transfer. Finally you are able to make it work.