Exchange Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer

More Exchange 2007 goodness from the Microsoft Exchange Team!

Have you ever installed an Exchange server and wanted to verify your Internet facing services were setup and configured properly? Things like Exchange ActiveSync, AutoDiscover, Outlook Anywhere (RPC/HTTP), and inbound email. Sure there are cmdlets included in Exchange 2007 like test-ActivesyncConnectivity and test-OWAConnectivity, but these tests can only be run inside your network and effectively only test your internal network connectivity. Or what if you get a call or an escalation regarding one of these services not working? How do you verify if just this user or everyone has a problem? And if there is a problem, where do you start troubleshooting? Is it a DNS problem? Is it a certificate problem? Is a port not open on the firewall?

I'd like to introduce you to the Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer (ExRCA) tool which can be accessed at https://www.TestExchangeConnectivity.com.

In this version, the tool will allow you to remotely test the following client types and services:

Exchange ActiveSync

• Windows Mobile 5, 3rd party devices


• Windows Mobile 6.1+ with AutoDiscover

Outlook Anywhere (aka RPC/HTTP)

• Outlook 2003


• Outlook 2007 with AutoDiscover

Inbound SMTP

The tool will simulate the protocol logic used by the specific client and not only tell you if the scenario was successful, but if it fails, it will tell you exactly where in the process it failed as well as try to guide you to the problem resolution.

Read more about the tool and how it works here!