Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer Gets Office 365 Support

Microsoft's Remote Connectivity Analyzer is a tool for system administrators to verify that the Internet connectivity of specific Microsoft services is setup and configured properly. The online tool has been initially released under the name Exchange Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer back in 2010. It has now been rebranded to take into account the availability of Office 365, Microsoft's new cloud based Office collaboration suite on the Internet.

The tool allows system administrators, actually all users, to remotely test the following client types and services:

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync Connectivity Tests

• Exchange ActiveSync- This test simulates the steps a mobile device uses to connect to an Exchange server using Exchange ActiveSync.
• Exchange ActiveSync Autodiscover - This test walks through the steps an Exchange ActiveSync device uses to obtain settings from the Autodiscover service.

Microsoft Exchange Web Services Connectivity Tests

• Synchronization, Notification, Availability, and Automatic Replies (OOF) - These tests walk through many basic Exchange Web Services tasks to confirm they're working. This is useful for IT administrators who want to troubleshoot external access using Entourage EWS or other Web Services clients.
• Service Account Access (Developers) - This test verifies a service account's ability to access a specified mailbox, create and delete items in it, and access it via Exchange Impersonation. This test is primarily used by application developers to test the ability to access mailboxes with alternate credentials.

Microsoft Office Outlook Connectivity Tests

• Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP) - This test walks through the steps Outlook uses to connect via Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP).
• Outlook Autodiscover - This test walks through the steps Outlook 2007 uses to obtain settings from the Autodiscover service.

Internet E-Mail Tests

• Inbound SMTP E-Mail - This test walks through the steps an Internet e-mail server uses to send inbound SMTP e-mail to your domain.
• Outbound SMTP E-Mail - This test checks your outbound IP address for certain requirements. This includes Reverse DNS, Sender ID, and RBL checks.

The online tool displays the available connectivity tests in a tabbed interface. Selectable are Exchange Server, with the tests listed above, or Office 365, which includes all the tests from above plus the following test.

Microsoft Single Sign-On (BETA)

• Microsoft Single Sign-On - This text will validate your ability to log on to Office 365 with your on-premises credentials. It also validates some basic Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS) configuration.

The sign-on test basically checks if it is possible to log on to Office 365 from the computer it is executed on.

Admins can only select one test at a time. A click on the Next button in the interface loads a page where credentials, email addresses or other data that is relevant for the tests need to be entered by the admin.

The online tool runs the connectivity tests afterwards and displays any connectivity issues directly on screen.

Here is a video by a young lady explaining the basics of the Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer.

Windows administrators and interested users can access the online tool to test the remote connectivity of Office 365 and Microsoft's Exchange server right here.