Exchange 2013 Autodiscover a real service?

[jmair]

I'm receiving the following error on all Outlook2010 and 2012 connection attempts. "“The Connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action.”"

My nslookup points correctly to autodiscover.mydomain.com and mail.mydomain.com.

https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com fails across the board with everything having to do with autodiscover.

When I check services on my new exchange server, I don't see any autodiscover anywhere (or Exchange autodiscover, Microsoft Exchange Autodiscover etc) Should I see an actual service?

 

OWA works like a charm, but would like to be able to use Outlook to import old pst files for my clients.

[TechMonkey]

I am not an expert on Exchange but as far as I know autodiscover is effectively just an address that points to where Outlook or devices can get the right information, effectively an XML or soap response I think. Have you got a DNS entry pointing to the right place? And is it internal and external? Check your DNS also for an _autodiscover entry. Should be under Forward lookup zones > FQDN > _tcp. That, if my recollection is correct, allows internal autodiscover to work.

 

The Connectivity analyzer is normally quite good if you drill down and gives ideas and options to fix issues.

[jmair]

I am not an expert on Exchange but as far as I know autodiscover is effectively just an address that points to where Outlook or devices can get the right information, effectively an XML or soap response I think. Have you got a DNS entry pointing to the right place? And is it internal and external? Check your DNS also for an _autodiscover entry. Should be under Forward lookup zones > FQDN > _tcp. That, if my recollection is correct, allows internal autodiscover to work.

 

The Connectivity analyzer is normally quite good if you drill down and gives ideas and options to fix issues.

 

Thanks for the heads up about the _tcp _autodiscover... I believe I forgot to update the offsite dns provider with an SRV also. I'm hoping that will solve the issue. Thanks again!