Here is how to configure persistent chat for your Lync 2013 deployment.

1. Login to your Lync Front End Server and start the Lync Server Topology Builder
2. When the Topology Builder window opens, select Download Topology from existing deployment and select OK
   
   
3. Save the file to your desktop
   
4. Expand Lync Server -> Your Site -> Lync Server 2013 -> Persistent Chat pools
   
5. Right click Persistent Chat pools and select New Persistent Chat Pool...
   
6. On the Define the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) page, enter the FQDN your standard front end server and check Single computer pool.  If you want to deploy a highly available environment for persistent chat, you will need to deploy 2 new machines to put into a persistent chat pool and check Multiple computer pool.  It is not supported by Microsoft at this time to collocate the persistent chat service on the same machines in an enterprise front end pool.  Once done, click Next.
   
   1. In this tutorial, I am going to go over deploying persistent chat in a highly available environment.
7. If you clicked on Multiple computer pool, enter in the machine names where the persistent chat service will be installed, and click Next.
   
8. On the Define properties of the Persistent Chat pool page, enter in the Display name of the Persistent Chat pool (you can name this whatever you would like to) and click Next
   
   
9. Select the SQL Server store you wish to use and select Next
   
   
10. Select or create a new file store and click Next
    
    
11. Select the Front End pool/server as the next hop pool and click Finish
    
    
12. Once done with the Persistent Chat wizard, right click on Lync Server in the Topology Builder and select Publish Topology...
    
    
13. Click Next on the Publish the topology window
    
14. Click Next on the Create databases screen
    
15. Click Finish once the topology has been published
    
16. Complete the following steps on each of the Persistent Chat servers you created
    1. Login to the server that will be running the persistent chat service
    2. Copy/mount the Lync Server 2013 installation media
    3. Run the setup.exe program from the Lync Server 2013 installation media
       
    4. Click Yes on the "In order to run the software on this CD, the Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x64 Minimum Runtime - 11.0.50727 Package must be installed." Dialog box.
       
    5. Click Install on the Microsoft Lync Server 2013 dialog box
       
    6. Check I accept the terms in the license agreement and click OK
       
       
    7. Once installed, click on Install or Update Lync Server System
       
       
    8. Click Run next to Step 1: Install Local Configuration Store
       
       
    9. Check Retrieve directly from the Central Management store and click Next
       
       
    10. Click Finish once the installation has completed.
        (oops, no picture for this one :()
    11. Click Run next to Step 2: Setup or Remove Lync Server Components
        
        
    12. Click Next
        
        
    13. Click Finish
        
        
    14. Click Run next to Step 3: Request, Install or Assign Certificates
        
        
    15. Click Request on the Certificate Wizard screen
        
    16. Check Send the request immediately to an online certification authority and hit Next
        
        
    17. Click Next on the Certification Authority (CA) page
        
    18. Click Next on the Certification Authority Account page
        
    19. Click Next on the Specify Alternate Certificate Template page
        
    20. Type in a Friendly name for the certificate (I would just use whatever you used for the Persistent Chat Pool Display Name) and click Next
        
        
        1. NOTE: If you are deploying multiple servers in the Lync Persistent Chat Pool, make sure to check the Mark the certificate's private key as exportable box.
    21. Enter in your Organization and Organizational Unit and hit Next
        
        
    22. Enter in your Country/Region, State/Province, City/Locality, and hit Next
        
        
    23. Hit Next on the Subject Name / Subject Alternative Names screen
        
    24. Hit Next on the Configure Additional Subject Alternative Names screen
        
    25. Hit Next on the Certificate Request Summary page
        
    26. Hit Next once the certificate request process has finished executing commands
        
    27. Hit Finish on the Online Certificate Request Status screen
        
    28. Hit Next on the Certificate Assignment screen
        
    29. Hit Next on the Certificate Assignment Summary screen
        
    30. Hit Finish on the Executing Commands screen
        
    31. Close the Certificate Wizard screen
        
    32. Click Run next to Step 4: Start Services
        
        
    33. Click Next on the Start Services screen
        
    34. Click Finish on the Executing Commands screen
        
    35. Click Run next to Service Status (Optional)
        
        
    36. Scroll through the list of services and find Lync Server Persistent Chat and verify it is Running.
        
17. At this point of the deployment, the infrastructure should be in place to actually push Persistent Chat out to your clients.  Next we will create a test group.
18. Login to the Lync Admin Panel (Cscp)
19. Select the Persistent Chat tab
    
20. Click New and select your persistent chat pool and click OK
    
    
21. Type in a Name for your persistent chat category and select who can have access to the category.  This category will be the container that holds a set of chatrooms.  Click Commit when finished.
    
22. Next, select the Persistent Chat Policy tab and double click on the Global policy.
    
23. Check Enable Persistent Chat and click Commit
    
24. Next, we need to create the actual chatroom.  This step needs to be done via PowerShell, so open up the Lync Server Management Console.
    
25. Execute the following command
    New-CsPersistentChatRoom -Name "My test chatroom" -Category "Test Category"
    
26. Next, we will assign a user to the chatroom, so execute the following command:
    Set-CsPersistentChatRoom -Identity "My test chatroom" -members @{Add="sip:[email protected]"}
    
27. Now, we are ready to join our test chatroom.  First, close your Lync client if it is already running.
    
28. Relaunch Lync, and you should see the persistent chatroom icon.
    
29. Double click on the chatroom and try sending a message.
    
30. Congrats!  If you have made it to this point, you should now be able to offer a new collaborative feature to your users at your organization! 🙂