EXCHANGE: Autodiscover/Outlook Connectivity Issues (STILL)

[GRitchie]

Security tab -

[CAWJames]

I assume thats greyed out, so not selecting! Hmmm, ok give me the output of the following exchange powershell command:

 

Get-AutodiscoverVirtualDirectory | select Name, Server, InternalAuth*, ExternalAuth*

 

But I assume that will list Basic, Ntlm, WindowsInteg...

 

Other than that what error do you get when trying to access a DGroup?

[ITGURU]

I assume if you run Exchange 2016 and maybe 2013, it is exactly the same technology as Office 365, but with more access, governance and control... just my 2p

 

We run in Hybrid with staff on-prem and students in the cloud, EOP doing all the anti-spam. Works really well for us.

 

James

 

Still running an on-site exchange server, currently 2013 and shall go to 2016 in a few years - no intention of changing to 365. Get so much more control and options, and if it goes down (not that it ever has) I can start work on fixing it straight away, rather than waiting for MS

[GRitchie]

Console output:

 

Nothing else really happens when trying to access a distribution group on outlook I just can't see the members - can send emails to the groups though...!

[CAWJames]

Don't suppose this helps any? https://community.office365.com/en-us/f/148/t/56682

 

My issues were mainly autodiscover based, but yours seems fine. The above seems to fit as when you rebuild the client from scratch they show, if I have got my facts straight

[GRitchie]

Nope, no luck with that

When trying to expand the group, we get this:

 

This does then tie in with the error about not being able to see the server initially when trying to set up outlook?

I'm assuming my DNS is all setup correctly mind...

[CAWJames]

Hmm, strange, do you have entries in internal DNS for autodiscover? Are there any corresponding logs in windows event viewer?

[GRitchie]

For internal DNS I created a FLZ for the domain. Then in there I have the following:

 

Event viewer on my PC when I try and expand a group says:

"Cannot perform the requested operation. The command selected is not valid for this recipient. We can't complete this because we can't contact the server right now. Please try again later."

[sister_annex]

if this is internal, do you have these addresses (or the whole FLZ) bypassed in your proxy?

 

As in Proxy (IE) Settings etc?

[GRitchie]

Not entirely sure, the website (http://www.) works internally, if that would advise? How would I check this on Smoothwall?

Thanks.

 

Note: We don't use a proxy on the client machines.

Edited April 29, 2016 by GRitchie

[sister_annex]

ahh poots....

 

if you tracert the internal addresses do they route through your FW?

 

We don't have a smoothwall here (and use proxy settings) so may be barking up wrong tree but internal resolution may be an issue... IIRC autodiscover should be done without any authentication on your FW (if smoothwall is asking for username and password it will not work) - in all honesty it has been a while since I set up our exchange box and it took me some time to get autodiscover working correctly

[GRitchie]

Just did tracert mail.myschool.co.uk and it just did 1 hop straight to the internal IP of the server (the same with autodiscover.myschool.co.uk).

[sister_annex]

you're going straight there then... so your smoothwall shouldn't be interfering

 

having a quick look back at your OP it looks like IIS is complaining about some bits not being installed...

[GRitchie]

Looks like we might be getting a 3rd party company to do the migration to 365 for us. Hopefully this will then get rid of these tedious problems!

 

Thanks for your help though!

/thread

[zag]

Good plan! At the start of this thread I mentioned that these kind of problems are a thing of the past with cloud email.

 

We are in our 4th year now and the only thing I ever touch is the users and groups from the web interface. "It just works" ™

[GRitchie]

I should ask too - I assume 365 comes with it's own antispam/filtering?

And the same with backups, I suppose MS deal with that in some way?

[CAWJames]

365 has EOP, which filters and does the neccessary, provides quarantine and uses standard exchange transport rules for anything more diverse and custom, not sure on backup, but would assume it is backed up properly in the background, I am sure someone will back that up soon enough

[zag]

Filtering uses forefront protection and is builtin, you can also set your own message rules for phrases or attachments. Its very good.

 

Office 365 now lets you change your retention policy over 30 days so backups become pretty automated.

 

I certainly have never bothered with a 3rd party backup solutions. Microsoft runs the email of most of the corporate world these days, I wouldn't worry about it at all really.