Office 365 – Advanced configuration and troubleshooting tools

While working with my Exchange 2013 hybrid configuration, especially updating the hybrid configuration after certificate and domain updates, I ran the HCW on Exchange 2013 SP1 CU 6 and discover few new stuff (I already introduced it with my previous post about the automated OAuth configuration http://blog.hametbenoit.info/2014/08/28/office-365-exchange-online-exchange-2013-hybrid-mode-updated-to-automate-oauth-authentication-method-support/)

As part of this, I took care on the URL displayed while running this new wizard (https://configure.office.com/scenario.aspx?sid=2) and so was interested to see what is hosted/offered by https://configure.office.com/

NOTE I had confirmation this site is not completely ready and any configuration options should be performed using the usual steps – such as the HCW for Exchange Hybrid.

So if you open this link https://configure.office.com/ using an Office 365 admin account, you will reach a specific page of the Office 365 admin portal. Please note that this page is not directly referenced from the “normal” admin portal neither documented anywhere. If you use a “normal” account, you will also reach the same page but there is NO filtering based on the user permission, so configuration options will be displayed anyway.

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As you can see, this page is mainly oriented to troubleshoot issues with Office 365 uses.

For any of the option, the Cancel button returns to the main/normal admin portal; if you want to go back to the Configure page you have to enter again the URL. I recommend to run the option from a server using the service, I mean if you run a mail option (configuration or troubleshooting), run it from an Exchange server; even if you can run these tools from any client, some actions may requires server configuration updates.

Dashboard

This page is “under construction” Smile – so we may assume this should display the same details than the current dashboard on the “normal” admin portal

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Setup

This page is assisting you in the Office 365 setup. You can install and use an App if you match the requirements or continue using a web wizard.

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For the purpose of this post, I ran the 2 options – with and without the app

Running the app

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The app automatically discovers what you already have setup or can configure according to the current states of your tenant

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Not using the app

This page displays the different options/scenarios you can setup with Office 365 (from identities management to service setup).

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When you select a first option, it will automatically disabled options which are not compatible with your selection; you can choose your first option as you want, meaning you can select a service configuration (Hybrid deployment for your mail for example)

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Cloud Connect

This option is used for Exchange Hybrid configuration; you should not have to run this manually as this is the one which is automatically launched from the HCW to configure OAuth with your on premises system.

 

After these first 3 option related to service configuration, the others are related to troubleshooting.

Lync Diagnostic

This helps troubleshooting Lync connectivity.

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It seems there is some bug(s) here in the results as the so called missing entries already exist and are working fine.

Outlook Diagnostic

As for Lync, this option helps troubleshooting Outlook connection to Exchange Online. This is obvious but it will start to check if you have Outlook installed and his version. Checks are performed against the current Outlook profile (current connected account).

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OWA Diagnostic

This helps to diagnostic OWA connection and use. The tool is checking connectivity as well as Internet Explorer settings to ensure nothing blocks or disturb OWA access. NOTE I did not test using another web browser, so I’m not sure if this will check only IE or any compatible browser.

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