Microsoft Exchange and Blackberry Server Specialists

RPC over HTTPS: Diagnostics

RPC over HTTPS Section Home Page

This page will help with diagnosing whether RPC over HTTP is working from the client.
If you need assistance on setting up RPC over HTTP, then please see our brief notes here.

Server Diagnostics

The first thing that you should do is confirm SSL certificate acceptance.
Browse to https://host.domain.com/rpc (where host.domain.com is the name on your SSL certificate).

If you get any certificate prompts, then the feature will not work. Outlook cannot cope with the certificate prompts, so the connection will fail. On Windows 2003 with Service Pack one or higher, you will get the error "401.3 - Unauthorized: Access is denied due to an ACL set on the requested resource." That is the correct error when doing a browser test. It does not mean either way that the feature is enabled correctly. 


Outlook Diagnostics

If you have configured Outlook to use RPC over HTTP then you can test the connection and see whether it is working using the built in tool "rpcdiag". It is best to configure and test the connection when there is a network connection to the Exchange server.

To start RPCdiag, click on Start, then run and enter the following command. There is a space between the word Outlook and the /

This will start Outlook as normal, but will also start another applet which will initially be seen then will go behind Outlook. If you bring the extra applet to the foreground, you will see one of the two results shown below.

You can also access this screen while Outlook is running. Hold down CTRL and click on the Outlook icon beside the click and choose "Connection Status..."

Note: Both screenshots are taken while working on the same network as the Exchange server. You should do initial configuration testing and diagnostics on the same network to rule out firewall and other connection problems.

RPC Configured Correctly

Note the HTTPS in the "Conn" column and "server06.xxxx" in the server name for all types.

Exchange Server Connection Status - RPC over HTTP - Note the HTTPS in the "Conn" Column

RPC not Configured, Configured Incorrectly or Not Working at All

Note the "TCP/IP" in the "Conn" column - and two different servers listed (server06.xxxx and server03.xxxx).

Exchange Server Connection Status - RPC over HTTP - Note the TCP/IP in the "Conn" Column


More Diagnostics

There are also tools available from Microsoft.

The Test Exchange Connectivity Site has an RPC over HTTPS / Outlook Anywhere (the name for this feature on Exchange 2007): https://testexchangeconnectivity.com

The Windows 2003 Resource Kit (free download from Microsoft) contains a utility called "rpcping" which can be used as a diagnostic tool.

For more information on using this tool to diagnose problems, take a look at this MSKB article: http://support.microsoft.com/defautl.aspx?kbid=831051