Article ID: 960625 - Last Review: January 13, 2012 - Revision: 31.0

The Microsoft Online Services Diagnostics and Logging (MOSDAL) Support Toolkit

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INTRODUCTION

The Microsoft Online Services Diagnostics and Logging (MOSDAL) Support Toolkit performs network diagnostics and collects system configuration, network configuration, and logging information for applications that are used to connect to Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS-S) or to Microsoft Office 365. The logs that the tool generates provide data that helps technical support professionals troubleshoot configuration, network, installation, and other service-related issues. The MOSDAL Support Toolkit collects log files, registry keys, and configuration settings that would otherwise require time-consuming and labor-intensive collection by using separate tools.

This article contains the following information about the MOSDAL Support Toolkit:

Download location
System requirements
Installation and usage instructions
Toolkit functionality

MORE INFORMATION

Download location

To download the MOSDAL Support Toolkit, visit the following Microsoft website:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=457e0786-1bec-40a2-95ab-06428f53b5cc&displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=457e0786-1bec-40a2-95ab-06428f53b5cc&displaylang=en)

System requirements

The MOSDAL Support Toolkit requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (or a later version) and is compatible with all major versions of the Windows operating systems after Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Notes

Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems are supported.
The MOSDAL Support Toolkit is currently incompatible with Macintosh operating systems.

Installation and usage instructions

Download the MOSDAL setup package that is appropriate for your language.
Extract the contents of the MOSDAL setup package to a location that you can easily access.
Run the Setup.exe file.

Note The MOSDAL.msi file must exist in the same folder as the Setup.exe file.
Follow the step-by-step instructions that are provided in the setup wizard.

The installer puts the MOSDAL Support Toolkit in the specified location and then creates Start menu and desktop shortcuts that enable easy access.
An Installation Complete window appears after the installation is complete.

Notes

Users who are using earlier versions of the MOSDAL Support Toolkit should uninstall earlier versions before they try to install a new version of MOSDAL.
For more detailed installation information, see the Readme file in the MOSDAL Support Toolkit.

Why use the MOSDAL Support Toolkit and what can it help me do?

The MOSDAL Support Toolkit should be used as a preemptive tool before contacting Microsoft Online Services Support. If it is possible, use the MOSDAL Support Toolkit at the time when you experience a problem or an issue with Office 365 or with BPOS-S.

What kinds of services can the MOSDAL Support Toolkit help me with?

BPOS-S

Microsoft Exchange Online
Microsoft SharePoint Online
Microsoft Office Communications Online (OCO)
Microsoft Live Meeting
Directory Synchronization for directory synchronization servers (Administrators only)
Exchange migration by using Microsoft Online Services Migration Tools (Administrators only)

Office 365

Exchange Online (Microsoft Outlook)
SharePoint Online (Team sites)
Microsoft Office Web Apps
Microsoft Lync Online
Microsoft Office Professional Plus
Single sign-on (identity federation) for Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 2.0 servers (Administrators only)
Directory Synchronization for directory synchronization servers (Administrators only)

How to collect the correct data by using the MOSDAL Support Toolkit

The MOSDAL Support Toolkit must be run on the computer on which the problems occur and in the context of the user who is experiencing issues with the service. If you use MOSDAL to collect data for any of the following services, you should run MOSDAL on the computer on which those applications are hosted in the on-premises environment:

Directory synchronization for Office 365 and BPOS-S
Exchange migration for BPOS-S
Single sign-on (identity federation) for Office 365

To start the MOSDAL Support Toolkit, click Start, point to All Programs, click MOSDAL Support Toolkit, and then click MOSDAL Support Toolkit. Or, double-click the icon on the desktop.

When MOSDAL starts, click to select the check box next to the services that you are experiencing an issue with. Depending on the services that you select, MOSDAL collects information about the applications that are used by that service and stores the data in centralized folder. This makes it easier to analyze the data or send the data to Microsoft Support for additional assistance. Local administrators on the computer have additional options for Exchange migration, directory synchronization, and single sign-on. However, these services should only be diagnosed on the computers that host those features, such as the AD FS 2.0 server or the server on which the Microsoft Online Services Directory Synchronization Tool is installed.

Depending on the services that you select, MOSDAL may ask you to enter your Office 365 credentials to perform additional diagnostics for the Office 365 single sign-on feature. MOSDAL uses the credentials that you entered to simulate an authentication attempt, and then it logs any issues that occur with the federated authentication process. You can review the results of the authentication tests in the ADFSO365Diag subfolder of the MOSDALREPORT folder.

Note The credentials that you enter are not required, and they are not saved or stored anywhere by the MOSDAL Support Toolkit.

For more information about how to read the AdfsDiagnostics.txt file, see the MOSDAL Support Toolkit training that is available on the MOSDAL download page. Additionally, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

2598459 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598459/ ) How to use the Microsoft Online Services Diagnostics and Logging (MOSDAL) 3.2 Support Toolkit to diagnose identity federation issues in Office 365.

Next, MOSDAL asks you to close all running applications and then only restart the application in which you are experiencing the issue. For example, if you experience an issue with sending and receiving email messages, close and reopen Microsoft Outlook, try to reproduce the issue, and then let MOSDAL collect the log files that are generated while you reproduce the issue. MOSDAL turns on additional levels of logging for certain applications, such as Outlook and Microsoft Lync 2010. After you reproduce the issue, and then you click Generate Report, the logging options are returned to their earlier state.

When the report generation is finished, click Close and open the MOSDAL Reports folder to view the report. When a new report is generated, a folder is created in the MOSDAL subfolder in the user's My Documents folder. The folder that is created is named by using the following format:

REPORTS-Date_Time

For example, REPORTS_6_17_2011_10_25_21_AM indicates that files were collected on June 17, 2011 at 10:25:21 AM. The compiled report is compressed into a file that is named MOSDALREPORT.zip.

What kind of data is collected by the MOSDAL Support Toolkit?

The data that is generated and collected by the MOSDAL Support Toolkit contains log files that are specific to the applications that are related to the services that are selected. The data also contains information about the computer on which MOSDAL is installed. The results are organized into a folder hierarchy, based on the application or the component. The following tables list the applications for which MOSDAL collects data based on the services that are selected when MOSDAL starts.

Note MOSDAL collects information about the computer configuration in the context of the user who is currently logged on to the system and who runs the tool. MOSDAL can be run by an administrator or by a non-administrator user.

The following table shows the mapping of Office 365 services to the modules in MOSDAL.

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	Exchange Online	Lync Online	Office Web Apps	SharePoint Online	Office 2010 Professional Plus	Directory Synchronization (Coexistence)	Single Sign-On (Identity Federation)
System configuration	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
The .NET Framework configuration	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Internet Explorer	X	X	X	X	X
Outlook	X				X
Lync/Communicator		X
AD FS Authentication Diagnostic Tool	X	X	X	X	X		X
Directory Synchronization Tool						X
Active Directory Federation Services 2.0							X
Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Microsoft Online Services Module for Windows PowerShell						X	X
Office 2010 Professional Plus					X
Office 365 Desktop Setup	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Network configuration	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Advanced network configuration	X	X	X	X		X	X
PortQry	X	X	X	X		X	X
NsLookup	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Ping						X	X
Tracert						X	X
Path ping			X	X		X	X
HTTP responses	X	X	X	X	X	X	X

The following table shows the mapping of BPOS-S services to the modules in MOSDAL.

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	Exchange Online	Office Communications Online	SharePoint Online	Live Meeting	Directory Synchronization (Coexistence)	Exchange Migration
System configuration	X	X	X	X	X	X
The .NET Framework configuration	X	X	X	X	X	X
Internet Explorer	X	X	X	X	X
Outlook	X
Lync/Communicator		X
Live Meeting				X
Transporter Tool						X
Microsoft Online Sign In Client for BPOS	X	X	X	X
Directory Synchronization Tool					X
Network configuration	X	X	X	X	X	X
Advanced network configuration	X	X	X	X	X	X
PortQry	X	x	X	X	X	X
NsLookup	X	X	X	X	X	X
Ping	X	X	X	X	X	X
Tracert			X
Path Ping	X	X	X	X	X	X
HTTP responses	X		X	X

Network configuration and diagnostics

In addition to collecting information about the computer or about installed applications, the MOSDAL Support Toolkit also obtains information about the network configuration of the computer and about the network to which the computer is connected. MOSDAL also uses standard command-line tools to perform network diagnostics against specific URLs in both public domains (such as Bing.com) and private domains (BPOS-S and Office 365 data centers). Configuration information that is captured includes the computer's IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, Domain Name System (DNS) servers, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) tables, Host file, static routes, and other similar information.

Prominent data that is collected about the system will help troubleshoot problems that include Windows firewall settings, proxy settings, installed applications, installed hotfixes, event logs, and Msinfo32 output. For each application that is listed in the tables earlier in this article, MOSDAL verifies that the application is installed and then collects the version number of certain program files, relevant registry keys, configuration files, logs, and other such pertinent data.

Additional scenario-based troubleshooting help

This article does not include detailed information about how to use the data that is collected by the MOSDAL Support Toolkit to troubleshoot specific scenarios and issues. For more information about how to diagnose specific issues by using MOSDAL, download the following training package that is available on the MOSDAL download website:

en-us\MOSDAL v3.2 training.zip and en-us\MOSDAL en-us.zip (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=457e0786-1bec-40a2-95ab-06428f53b5cc&displaylang=en)

Microsoft Support assets that demonstrate the MOSDAL Support Toolkit

The following table contains links to Microsoft Knowledge Base articles and videos that use and demonstrate the MOSDAL Support Toolkit.

Collapse this tableExpand this table

Collapse this imageExpand this image	2541980 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2541980/ ) How to troubleshoot authentication and connectivity issues in Lync Online This article describes how to troubleshoot issues that may occur when you use Microsoft Lync Online in an Office 365 environment.
Collapse this imageExpand this image	2392146 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2392146/ ) Instant messages to federated Lync contacts fail This article describes how to troubleshoot issues that may occur when you use Lync Online in Office 365.
Collapse this imageExpand this image	2386684 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2386684/ ) The participants in a conversation cannot connect to the desktop-sharing session in Lync Online This article describes how to troubleshoot the "Cannot start Desktop/Application Sharing due to network issues" error that may occur when Lync Online meeting participants try to connect to a shared desktop.
Collapse this imageExpand this image	2598459 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598459/ ) How to use the Microsoft Online Services Diagnostics and Logging (MOSDAL) Support Toolkit to diagnose identity federation issues in Office 365 This article discusses how to use the MOSDAL Support Toolkit to troubleshoot identity federation issues in Office 365.
Collapse this imageExpand this image	2433327 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2433327/ ) How to use MOSDAL to enable tracing for the Microsoft Online Services Sign-in Assistant to troubleshoot rich client authentication issues This article discusses how to use the MOSDAL Support Toolkit to enable tracing for the Microsoft Online Services Sign-in Assistant. The log files that the tool generates can help troubleshoot issues that may occur when you use the Sign-in Assistant in Office 365.
Collapse this imageExpand this image	2629108 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2629108/ ) How to use the "Open with Explorer" command and how to troubleshoot issues with this option in SharePoint Online for Office 365 This article discusses how to use the Open with Explorer command in SharePoint Online in Office 365 to view, copy, and move files in a library. The article also discusses how to troubleshoot issues that you may experience when you use this command.
Collapse this imageExpand this image	Troubleshooting Microsoft Lync Online Connectivity Issues in Office 365 (http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/diagnostic_tools/troubleshooting-microsoft-lync-online-connectivity-issues-in-office-365.aspx) This video shows you how to troubleshoot some error messages your users might receive when they try to connect to Lync Online in your Office 365 environment.
Collapse this imageExpand this image	Troubleshooting Audio/Video Connection and Quality in Microsoft Lync Online (http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/diagnostic_tools/1056.aspx) This video shows you how to troubleshoot issues with choppy, tinny, or delayed audio, errors when you try to start audio or video in a one-to-one or group conference, and issues with Lync Online that are caused by your on-premises firewall.

For more information about troubleshooting and diagnostics tools that you can use with Office 365, visit the following Office 365 Community website:

http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/diagnostic_tools/default.aspx (http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/diagnostic_tools/default.aspx)

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that is collected by MOSDAL

The data that is collected by the MOSDAL Support Toolkit contains Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as user names, IP addresses, network configuration, and other items that could potentially identify a person. The MOSDAL reports are not automatically transmitted to Microsoft or any other service. They must be manually transmitted. To review Microsoft Privacy Policy for Office 365 or for BPOS-S, visit the following Microsoft websites:

Microsoft Online Services Privacy Statement (BPOS-S) (http://www.microsoft.com/online/legal/?langid=en-us&docid=7)
Privacy Notice (Office 365) (http://www.microsoft.com/online/legal/v2/?langid=en-us&docid=18)