Jan 20, 2015

In today’s blog post, I will discuss the area of monitoring Office 365. Effective monitoring tracks performance and ensures that consumers receive a quality experience. Microsoft offers a range of tools such as Remote Connectivity Analyser, Microsoft Online Services Diagnostics and Logging Toolkit, Transport Reliability IP Probe, Microsoft Connectivity Analyser Tool and Free/Busy Troubleshooter Tool. The Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyser (RCA) can be used to run test from this website. Microsoft Connectivity Analyser Tool runs similar kinds of tests from the client machine. These tools helps to troubleshoot issues like problem logging into Office Outlook, problems sending and receiving emails, problems logging onto Lync, problems with federation services and many more.

The Microsoft Online Services Diagnostics and Logging Toolkit (MOSDAL) performs network diagnostics for all Microsoft online services. It provides troubleshooting for Office 365, Office Web Apps, email and calendar issues, directory synchronisation problems and many more. MOSDAL can be installed on a client computer running Windows XP3 or later a OS.

You can use Lync Transport Reliability IP Probe to test transport between client and Lync online. It performs tests such as speed, route, VOIP and firewall. The Free/Busy Troubleshooter troubleshoots free/busy issues when Exchange is deployed in a hybrid environment. System Center Operations Manager also offers an effective monitoring of Office 365. You can download the SCOM management pack for Office 365 Office 365 has a service health page where you can view information about any upcoming maintenance. The service health page also shows the status of various services.

There are a series of auditing reports in Office 365. You can view and print reports such as mailbox access by non-owners, role group changes, mailbox content search and hold and mailbox litigation holds. The report menu of Office 365 provides access to several mail and protection reports. The report shows information’s such as active and inactive mailboxes, new and deleted mailboxes, mailbox usage etc.

To find out more about monitoring Office 365 and other features of Office 365, I recommend that you take a look at New Horizons’ 20346 - Managing Office 365 Identities and Services.