Have you ever installed an Office Communication Server and wanted to verify your remote access was setup and configured properly? Or what if you get a call or an escalation regarding a service or connection not working? How do you verify whether the issue is with an individual user or with everyone throughout the company? And if there is a problem, where do you start troubleshooting? Is it a DNS problem? Is it a certificate problem? Is a port not open on the firewall?

The Office Communications Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer is a great tool for performing testing, troubleshooting, and diagnostics on OCS 2007 & OCS 2007 R2 deployments. The tool will assist you in finding answers to the before mentioned scenarios.  You should use the RCA as your initial stop when attempting to troubleshoot an OCS edge server connectivity issue.  

The Office Communications Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer is a web site for IT Administrators to validate and diagnose end-to-end Office Communications Server scenarios. The site simulates multiple Office Communications Server client access scenarios from outside the customer's infrastructure and reports whether the test was successful.  If the test fails, we inform the IT Admin exactly where in the process it failed as well as provide troubleshooting tips on resolving the issue.

The OCS Remote Connectivity Analyzer is found here: https://www.testocsconnectivity.com/

Right now the tool is in its BETA release. This release allows you to either manually specify your server settings or have the server attempt to autodiscover your settings. Future tool enhancements will include deeper diagnostic information, detailed troubleshooting information, and other tests. If you encounter any issues with the tool or would like to provide suggestions/feedback, please do so using the email: ocsrca@microsoft.com