Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer
When it comes to testing a user’s claim that their mailbox is magically not working again there are a ton of different tests you can do to troubleshoot. But if your Exchange or support staff’s Exchange skillset is limited, Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer is your friend. In fact, it’s your best friend.
We get a lot of assumptions when someone is reporting an issue with a mailbox, the usually consists of random connectivity that all conclude with “I don’t know, so it’s you”. Well the first thing we do when we such a report is attempt to load the mailbox in OWA/Outlook. If it loads, we get into the support cycle of “it’s broken, it’s you” , “no, it works, it’s you and/or your user”. This tool allows you to test everything remotely and spits out verbose error messages that can help you skip a test and if something is wrong, it helps you provide us with actually useful information. Of course, the garbage in/garbage out of software applies, if you’re putting in incorrect info then the error information becomes useless.
You can click on that link and see a list of tests, the one to emulate the Mailbox Access through Outlook is the “Outlook Anywhere” test.
The next page will ask for your log in information, make sure to observer the authentication practices for the server your client is on. They’re different on 2007 and 2010. You also get the option to use Autodiscover or manual server information. Remember, if you don’t have Autodiscover set up, don’t test using Autodiscover.
Carlos Lascano
VP Support Services, ExchangeDefender
carlos@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x737
