how to put in maintenance mode a front server in Skype for business 2015

If you need to reboot a front server in Skype for business 2015 or for some reason shutdown, you must put in maintenance mode the front end server.

First, check that all services are running:

PS C:\> Get-CsWindowsService -ComputerName FQDNServer

The output should be something like this:
Status   Name            ActivityLevel
——   —-            ————-
Running  W3SVC
Running  REPLICA
Running  RTCCLSAGT
Running  FabricHostSvc
Running  RTCSRV          Incoming Requests per Second=0,Messages in Server=9…
Running  RTCCAA          Concurrent Calls=0
Running  RTCCAS          Concurrent Conferences=0
Running  RTCRGS          Current Active Calls=0
Running  RTCPDPAUTH
Running  RTCPDPCORE      Active Client Connections=0,Active Edge Connections=3
Running  RTCCPS          Total Parked Calls=0
Running  RTCATS          Current Active Calls=0
Running  RTCIMMCU        Active Conferences=0,Connected Users=0
Running  RTCDATAMCU      Active Conferences=1
Running  RTCAVMCU        Number of Conferences=0,Number of Users=0
Running  RTCASMCU        Active Conferences=0,Connected Users=0
Running  RTCMEDSRV       Current Outbound Calls=0,Current Inbound Calls=0,Cu…
Running  LYNCBACKUP
Running  RTCXMPPTGW
Running  RTCHA

You can continue using the follow command:

PS C:\> Stop-CsWindowsService -ComputerName abzpauf001x -Graceful

where the switch Graceful means the server will not accept more connections but will wait until the communication ends before stop the service.

This process can take several minutes or hours. The good news is that we have the follow command:

PS C:\> Invoke-CsComputerFailOver -ComputerName FQDNServer

Once the command has been executed, you can check again the services and all of them should be in stopped status. To do this run the Get-CsWindowsService again: