The Microsoft Online Services Diagnostics and Logging (MOSDAL) support toolkit

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Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite

INTRODUCTION

The MOSDAL support toolkit performs network diagnostics and collects system configuration, network configuration, and logging information for service-based products. The logs that the tool generates provide data that helps technical support professionals troubleshoot configuration, network, installation, and other service-related issues. MOSDAL 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 use instructions
Toolkit functionality

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MORE INFORMATION

Download the MOSDAL support toolkit

To download the MOSDAL support toolkit, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

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)

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System requirements for the MOSDAL support toolkit

The MOSDAL support toolkit requires .NET Framework 2.0 (or a later version) and is compatible with the following operating systems:

Windows XP Professional
Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows Vista Business
Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows Vista Home
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows 7 Enterprise
Windows 7 Ultimate

Notes

32-bit versions and 64-bit versions of these operating systems are supported.
MOSDAL is currently incompatible with Macintosh operating systems.

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Installation and use instructions for the MOSDAL support toolkit

Installation instructions

Download the MOSDAL.msi file and the Setup.exe file.
Run the MOSDAL.msi file to install the MOSDAL support toolkit.

Note Depending on the system settings, you may have to run the Setup.exe file instead.
Follow the instructions that are provided in the Setup wizard. You are prompted when the installation is complete.

Notes

Users of MOSDAL v1.0 can download and install MOSDAL v2.0.1 without having to first uninstall v1.0. MOSDAL automatically updates the existing version.
For more detailed installation information, see the Readme file in the MOSDAL support toolkit.

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Use instructions

Note The MOSDAL support toolkit must be run on the computer where the problems occur and in the context of the user who has problems with the service.

To start MOSDAL after it is installed, click Start, point to All Programs, point to MOSDAL, and then click MOSDAL Support Toolkit.

When MOSDAL starts, a new folder is created in the directory where the toolkit was installed. By default, this location is C:\MOSDAL. A subfolder that contains diagnostic data is then created when the tool is executed.

If the tool is run for data collection, the folder that is created is named MOSDALReports-DC_Time_Date. For example, the folder name MOSDALReports-DC_1_44_32_PM_4_7_2009 indicates that the data collection log files were collected on April 7, 2009, at 1:44:32 P.M. (The time stamp is determined by the local time of the computer). This folder contains subfolders that contain the collected data.
If the tool is run to perform network diagnostics against a data center, the folder that is created is named MOSDALReports-ND-XXXX_Time_Date. XXXX is the acronym for the Data Center. For example, a folder name of MOSDALReports-ND-EMEA_1_44_32_PM_4_7_2009 indicates that the network diagnostics data was collected against the EMEA Data Center on April 7, 2009, at 1:44:32 P.M. (the local time of the computer). This folder contains the network configuration and network diagnostics subfolders that contain the data that was collected.

A pop-up window appears when the toolkit has finished running. It notifies the user of the name and the location of the compressed file that was created in the folders as described previously.

If the user has the Show Results when Complete? check box selected, the folder that contains the final compressed (.zip) file will be opened and displayed to the user.

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MOSDAL support toolkit functionality

MOSDAL can be used to run network diagnostics against a particular data center where data resides. Or, MOSDAL can be used to collect system, network, and service-enabled application configuration information, logs, registry keys, file versions, and other related data. Regardless of network diagnostics or data collection execution type, the toolkit always creates a log file that is named MOSDALLog.txt to track progress as the tool runs. MOSDAL takes an average of 8 to 10 minutes to complete data collection and an average of 20 to 25 minutes to complete network diagnostics.

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

Network diagnostics

The network diagnostics portion captures network configuration data together with network diagnostics output. Configuration information that is captured includes the computer’s IP address, the subnet mask, the default gateway, the DNS servers, ARP tables, the Host file, static routes, and other similar information.

Network diagnostics data includes output of pings, pathpings, nslookups, port queries, and HTTP server responses for cloud servers in a particular data center. Ping output shows the replies from a particular data center and other well-known Web sites. Pathping traces the route and the reliability of communication links between the customer and a particular Microsoft data center. The support toolkit also individually performs domain name resolution on several Microsoft online cloud servers and other popular Internet Web sites by using each assigned DNS server. Port queries output the port responses from well-known ports for Microsoft online cloud servers. HTTP server responses are the responses that are received from the cloud Web servers that host the services. The tool also performs trace routes to several popular Web sites to make sure that there is no routing issue on the customer’s end.

Data collection

The data collection component of MOSDAL collects data about the user’s system configuration, the network configuration, and the following applications:

Microsoft .NET Framework
Microsoft Online Service (Sign In) Client
Microsoft Live Meeting 2007
Microsoft Live Meeting Conferencing Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
Windows Internet Explorer 7
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2
Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
Microsoft Office Outlook 2010
Microsoft Online Directory Synchronization tool
Microsoft Online Migration Tool

Prominent data that is collected about the system that will help troubleshoot customer problems include Windows firewall settings, proxy settings, installed applications and hot fixes, event logs, and Msinfo32 output. For each application in this list, 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.

Verbose logging

MOSDAL provides eight scripts to enable or disable logging functionality in some service-based applications. They can be used to enable or disable verbose logging functionality of these applications. The scripts can be accessed and run from the Start menu or from the folder where MOSDAL is installed.

Start menu: Start > All Programs > MOSDAL > Enable-Disable Verbose Logging >
- Service Client
  Verbose logging of the service client (Sign In) application (SignIn_*.log)
- Outlook 2003
  Verbose logging of Outlook (Opmlog.log)
- Outlook 2007
  Verbose logging of Outlook (Opmlog.log)
- Outlook 2010
  Verbose logging of Outlook (Opmlog.log)
- Outlook 2003 Connector for Microsoft Online Services
  Verbose logging for Connector
- Office Communicator 2007
  Verbose logging of Office Communication Online (Communicator-uccapi-*.uccapilog and Communicator.etl)
- Live Meeting 2007
  Verbose logging of the Live Meeting (LiveMeeting-uccp-0.uccplog)
- Live Meeting 2007 Addin
  Verbose logging of the Live Meeting Addin for Outlook (*LMAddinsLogFile#.txt)
- DirSync
  Verbose logging in the application event log

These scripts can be used for troubleshooting by enabling verbose logging for a particular application that may be causing issues, restart the application, reproduce the issue, and then rerun MOSDAL to make sure that all the relevant logs are collected.

Network Diagnostic Configuration

The Network Diagnostics component is configured through a customizable XML file (config.xml) that is stored in the root directory of the application folder. The config.xml file is used to define the different Data Centers and the URL’s where network diagnostics can be performed. The structure of the config.xml file is important to the application, and cannot be altered. Otherwise, MOSDAL will not operate correctly. The XML structure is defined in a read-only, hidden file that is named config-schema.xsd. Any changes to the config.xml file that do not meet the requirements of the schema will cause the application to display an appropriate error message and stop.

Adding a new Data Center

To add a new Data Center, open the config.xml file and add a new DATACENTER node underneath the MOSDAL node. For example, if a new Data Center named "CHICGO" is online, the new entry in the config.xml file would resemble the following entry:

<MOSDAL>
<DATACENTER ID="CHICGO" DESCRIPTION="Chicago Data Center">
    <COMMAND text="nslookup">
      <URL>www.google.com</URL>
      <URL>www.yahoo.com</URL>
    </COMMAND>
    <COMMAND text="ping">
      <URL>128.252.120.1</URL>
      <URL>www.google.com</URL>
    </COMMAND>
    <COMMAND text="portqry">
      <URL>admin.microsoftonline.com,443</URL>
      <URL>home.microsoftonline.com,443</URL>
    </COMMAND>
    <COMMAND text="pathping">
      <URL>echoVA3.microsoftonline.com</URL>
    </COMMAND>
    <COMMAND text="tracert">
      <URL>www.google.com</URL>
      <URL>www.yahoo.com</URL>
    </COMMAND>
    <COMMAND text="httpresponses">
      <URL>https://lm.microsoftonline.com</URL>
      <URL>https://admin.noam.microsoftonline.com</URL>
    </COMMAND>
  	</DATACENTER>
</MOSDAL>

The ID attribute in the DATACENTER node is what is displayed in the main graphical user interface (GUI) window, together with the description.

There are six COMMAND nodes for each Data Center, and as many URL nodes as you want under each COMMAND node. The COMMAND nodes are predefined and hard-coded into the tool. Therefore, the "text" attribute must be spelled exactly as in the example entry in the "Adding a new Data Center" section. Otherwise, the tool will not recognize the command.

There are two COMMAND nodes that have special instructions when they add URL nodes. The "portqry" command must have a port that is specified after the URL. Otherwise, the URL will not be tested. Additionally, the "httpresponses" command must be a full URL that includes HTTP or HTTPS. Otherwise, the results will not be as expected.

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