The backend database exists as a location for blob storage for the front-end servers, this allows the front-ends to hydrate their local database when a routing group is started. What should be obvious is that the basic concepts are the same.

In terms of how Skype and Fabric work together, it’s a very similar picture from Lync 2013. Your best option for high availability will be to do a side-by-side migration to Skype for Business 2015 on new hardware (or virtual machines). RECOMMENDATION: If you are running Windows 2008 R2 you should not do an in-place upgrade. Support long term to me is questionable and when and what CU stops supporting it will be the million dollar question. So although Windows 2008 R2 supports Fabric v3.0 and an in-place upgrade I wouldn’t do it. Initially the thought was Server 2008 R2 was going to support only Fabric v2.0 but somewhere late in the process the key parts of v3.0 (or maybe the whole thing) were ported back to work on 2008 R2. Lync Server 2013 used Windows Fabric v1, Skype for Business 2015 uses Windows Fabric v3, but this wasn’t always going to be the case. Back in October 2013 I wrote an article on how Windows Fabric and Lync Server 2013 interact with one another and now it’s time to write an in-depth article on what’s change.

Setting up groups in skype for business