Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 : Bypassing Exchange Admin Center and troubleshooting (part 2) - Troubleshooting Outlook Web App, ECP, PowerShell, and More

Sometimes users and administrators see a blank page or an error when they try to log on to Outlook Web App or ECP. This problem and other connection issues, such as those related to OAB, Autodiscover, and PowerShell, can occur because of a wide variety of configuration issues, including:

Typically, the next logical step is to validate the TCP/IP settings of the front-end and back-end servers. Not only do front-end and back-end servers need to communicate with each other, they also need to communicate with domain controllers.

If Exchange Server can’t communicate properly with a domain controller, you may see an error similar to the following when you open Exchange Admin Center or Exchange Management Shell:

The LDAP server is unavailable.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the
current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information
about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.DirectoryServices.Protocols.LdapException: The
LDAP server is unavailable.
Source Error:
An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current
web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception
can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Stack Trace:
[LdapException: The LDAP server is unavailable.]
   System.DirectoryServices.Protocols.LdapConnection.Connect() +160015
   System.DirectoryServices.Protocols.LdapConnection.BindHelper
(NetworkCredential newCredential, Boolean needSetCredential) +264
   Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.PooledLdapConnection.BindWithRetry
(Int32 maxRetries) +702

Resolve the problem by doing the following:

Users or administrators may see a blank page when they try to log on to Outlook Web App or ECP as a result of a configuration or certificate problem. If you’ve determined that required services are running and that the TCP/IP settings are correct, next try to isolate and identify the specific issue.

Try to log on to Outlook Web App or ECP in a browser. Sometimes when you log on to Outlook Web App or ECP, you’ll see a runtime error that indicates an improperly configured virtual directory or an application error due to misconfiguration in IIS (see Figure 1). Other times, the browser window may simply be empty or blank as mentioned previously.

Figure 1. A runtime or application error can indicate an improperly configured virtual directory or a misconfiguration in IIS.

For deeper troubleshooting, log on to the Client Access server where the problem is occurring and open Exchange Management Shell. Next, try to log on to the Mailbox server hosting the mailbox for the users or administrators experiencing the problem and open Exchange Management Shell. If there’s a problem with SSL certificates rather than virtual directory configuration, you’ll see an error similar to the following:

New-PSSession : [mailserver17] Connecting to remote server mailserver17
failed with the following error message : The server certificate on the
destination computer (mailserver17:443) has the following errors:
The SSL certificate is signed by an unknown certificate authority. For more
information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
At line:1 char:12
+ $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange
-ConnectionUri ht …
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OpenError
 (System.Manageme….RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession],
PSRemotingTransportException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : 12175,PSSessionOpenFailed

If there’s a problem with virtual directory configuration, you may see another type of error, such as:

New-PSSession : [mailserver17.pocket-consultant.com] Processing data from
remote server mailserver17.pocket-consultant.com failed with the following
error message: The WinRM Shell client cannot process the request. The shell
handle passed to the WSMan Shell function is not valid. The shell handle is
valid only when WSManCreateShell function completes successfully. Change
 the request including a valid shell handle and try again. For more
information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-PSSession -ConnectionURI "$connectionUri" -ConfigurationName
Microsoft.Excha … + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OpenError:
(System.Manageme….RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession],
PSRemotingTransportException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : -2144108212,PSSessionOpenFailed

To help diagnose the problem, you can test services using Test-OutlookWebServices. By default, Test-OutlookWebServices verifies the Availability service, Outlook Anywhere, Offline Address Book, and Unified Messaging. You can test Outlook Web App, ECP, and PowerShell using Test-OwaConnectivity, Test-EcpConnectivity, and Test-PowerShellConnectivity respectively.