I'm having problems with Lync for Mac 2011 not being able to search for users, and not displaying their photos, only on our internal network. The details are:
WorkMac - Lync 14.3.3 on Yosemite, in our work environment
HomeMac - Lync 14.3.3 on Yosemite, at home
WorkPC - Lync 2013 32-bit (15.0.4805.1000) on Windows 7 Home Premium, on same network at work, not domain-joined
On the HomeMac (outside of work, but connected to my work account), Lync shows all available user images, and contact lookup works as expected. But the WorkMac does not display the pictures, and lookup does NOT work (except for names already in my local contact lists). Presence information and status message DOES display for entries on my local contact lists, and If I enter their full email into the contact search, it WILL find them (info and presence, but no picture). I also have Outlook for Mac 2011 on the WorkMac, and its "Contact Search" DOES find the people, and show their pictures.
On the WorkPC, lookup and pictures DO work in Lync. This makes me think that the Mac and Windows clients are doing something different in the way of protocols in retrieving the info? If so, it is possible that the corporate firewall is blocking access on whatever Lync for Mac is using, but not the Windows version. Is there a brief outline of what protocols/ports the two programs would be using for these lookups and image retrieval?
The other possibility is that autodiscover is somehow misconfigured for internal in a way that affects the WorkMac but not the WorkPC; HomeMac might be getting an external autodiscover that is correct. My understanding is that we have a local Lync server and AD controller, but there are a couple of corporate locations in other cities with their own setup. There's limited sympathy for Mac problems with IT, and being a geeky programmer type I'd like to see if I can pin down what Lync is trying to do on those lookups and be able to give them a suggestion as to what sort of firewall or server configuration might be involved.