Does Test-OutlookConnectivity work?

I’m going to have to go with “no, it does not” as my answer, but you can try it for yourself.

First off, the cmdlet documentation says you can specify a probe type, but not what the probe types are. This is an unfortunate oversight, considering that you can’t use the cmdlet without it. However, a little more digging turns up a troubleshooting article that says you can do it like this:

[PS] C:\>Test-OutlookConnectivity -ProbeIdentity 'OutlookMailboxDeepTestProbe' -MailboxId paul@betabasement.com -Hostname betabasement.com

Sadly, when I do that, all I get is an error:

WARNING: Could not find assembly or object type associated with monitor identity 'Outlook.Protocol\OutlookMailboxDeepTestProbe\PAO-EX01'. Please ensure that the given monitor identity exists on the Server.

This duplicates results reported by fellow MVPs Paul Cunningham, Brian Ricks, and others; I’m mentioning it here to help make the community aware of the issue, in the hope that it will soon be fixed in CU2. If you’ve been able to get it to work, please let me know in the comments.

7 Comments

Filed under UC&C

7 responses to “Does Test-OutlookConnectivity work?

  1. Michael

    I’m hitting the same issue. I have two deployments, one works perfectly (dev) and the other doesn’t (production, of course). Since MS removed the BPA tool these are the only tools that we even have. Like most other users, RCP authentication is becoming a random nightmare.

  2. Jamin

    I just finished a deployment and am also getting this. The deployment was using CU2.

  3. Here is what the verbose output generates:
    ———————————————————-
    [PS] C:\>Test-OutlookConnectivity -ProbeIdentity ‘OutlookMailboxCTPProbe’ -MailboxId ExAdmin@netometer.com -Verbose -Cre
    dential $cred -Debug -Hostname netometer.com
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.100 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Runspace context: Executing user:
    netometer.local/Users/Administrator, Executing user organization: , Current organization: , RBAC-enabled: Enabled.
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.146 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Active Directory session settings for ‘Test-OutlookConnectivity’
    are: View Entire Forest: ‘False’, Default Scope: ‘netometer.local’, Configuration Domain Controller:
    ‘DC1-12.netometer.local’, Preferred Global Catalog: ‘DC2-12.netometer.local’, Preferred Domain Controllers: ‘{
    DC2-12.netometer.local }’
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.146 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Beginning processing Test-OutlookConnectivity
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.146 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Instantiating handler with index 0 for cmdlet extension agent
    “Admin Audit Log Agent”.
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.146 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Current ScopeSet is: { Recipient Read Scope: {{, }}, Recipient
    Write Scopes: {{, }}, Configuration Read Scope: {{, }}, Configuration Write Scope(s): {{, }, }, Exclusive Recipient
    Scope(s): {}, Exclusive Configuration Scope(s): {} }
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.146 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Searching objects “Ex-13.netometer.local” of type “Server” under
    the root “$null”.
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.179 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Previous operation run on domain controller
    ‘DC1-12.netometer.local’.
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.179 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Running probe from server ‘Ex-13.netometer.local’.
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.179 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Searching objects “ExAdmin@netometer.com” of type “ADUser” under
    the root “$null”.
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.193 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Previous operation run on global catalog server
    ‘DC2-12.netometer.local’.
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.193 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Target Mailbox = ‘ExAdmin@netometer.com’
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.193 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Searching objects “ExAdmin@netometer.local” of type “ADUser”
    under the root “$null”.
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.210 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Previous operation run on global catalog server
    ‘DC2-12.netometer.local’.
    VERBOSE: [17:35:53.210 GMT] Test-OutlookConnectivity : Authenticating the logon with the following supplied
    credentials: ‘ExAdmin@netometer.local’.
    WARNING: An unexpected error has occurred and a Watson dump is being generated: Object reference not set to an instance
    of an object.

    Confirm
    Continue with this operation?
    [Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [H] Halt Command [?] Help (default is “Y”): y
    ———————————————————-

  4. Fast forward to 12th August 2014…no the Test-OutlookConnectivity with ProbeIdentity still does not work. Im wondering if the Exchange OnPremises team cares as much any more? 😦

  5. garypendlebury

    The same problem seems to exist in Exchange 2016 too.

  6. Christopher Chapamn

    Hey all, I have answers!

    This link has information at the bottom:

    https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd638082(v=exchg.160).aspx

    That led me here:

    http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/08/13/customizing-managed-availability.aspx

    There were two other links with background information that are also good for anyone interested.

    I am working through this now to see if I can get this probe working. I will report back later tonight or tomorrow.

  7. Steve

    So… did you find out anything. I can’t get Outlook clients to connect to new deployment and several posts refer to this tool for troubleshooting.

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