Unable to resolve autodiscover on split-brain dns from outside domain.

Hello Guys.

I really hope someone can help me resolve this asap. I have spent hours upon hours pouring through blogs and forums and applied and double checked every conceivable autodiscover tool and can not resolve this.

Scenario: Server 2012 Standard with Exchange 2013. Split-Brain DNS, (Internal = domain.local) (External = mail.domain.com.na)

I have applied CNAME, PTR, SRV and Autodiscover.xml, but still Exchange Connectivity (Autodiscover) keeps failing on all points.

Everything else is working 100%, OWA, Activesync, IMAP etc.

But I have 1 client PC with Windows 8 Single Language that can obviously not join the domain, and the client doesn't want to use IMAP saying it looks different?? Don't know why. But he wants to use Exchange.

From outlook 2013 I configure it as follows:

Server: server.domain.local

Username: domain user account

Exchange Proxy Server: mail.domain.com

Connection: SSL, HTTP and HTTPS, authentication "auto negotiate"

It just comes back with "Unable to resolve username"

Is it necessary to, as with "mail.domain.com" point "autodiscover.domain.com" to the public IP?

Thank you in advance.

Kind Regards

Hentie Loots


July 5th, 2015 2:25pm

Hello Ed and thank you for the reply.

This is exactly where I get a bit hazy.

Some of the forums I have read talk about "internal" and "external" DNS Zones.

Internal is fine. But what do you mean by "External / Internet" DNS? Is it something my ISP has to setup on the internet dns? Like with the MX Records that point mail.domain.com to the public IP? Or is it a new zone I need to create on the Server's DNS? Reverse Lookup Zone or something?

I can't find anything on the web about "External DNS Zone". I completely lost with where exactly on this split-brain dns between .local and .com and Foreward and Reverse Lookup Zone I need to create the PTR, SRV, CNAME and A records.

Like I said, everything else works like a well oiled machine. It is only the Autodiscovery from the internet that keeps failing, so Outlook keeps saying exchange is offline and it wasn't able to resolve the username.

I get the same issue even when connected via VPN.

"The action cannot be completed. The connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action."

Hoping to hear back soon.

Thanks again.

Hentie Loots




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July 5th, 2015 6:54pm

This is the response I get.

<Autodiscover>

<Response><Error Time="11:46:31.9846029" Id="2220214705">

<ErrorCode>600</ErrorCode>

<Message>Invalid Request

</Message><DebugData/>

</Error>

</Response>

</Autodiscover>

From what I saw with a quick google search, is that this is correct and normal?


July 6th, 2015 10:52am

Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer keeps failing.

It doesn't matter where in the DNS I add whatever records. I am still unclear as to where in the split brain DNS between, "domain.local" and "mail.domain.com" under the "forward or reverse lookup" zones I am supposed to add CNAME, SRV etc records and can't find any clear instructions on the net regarding this.

Attempting the Autodiscover and Exchange ActiveSync test (if requested).

Testing of Autodiscover for Exchange ActiveSync failed. Additional Details Elapsed Time: 4021 ms. Test Steps Attempting each method of contacting the Autodiscover service. The Autodiscover service couldn't be contacted successfully by any method. Additional Details Elapsed Time: 4018 ms. Test Steps Attempting to test potential Autodiscover URL https://hamiltonpartners.com.na:443/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml Testing of this potential Autodiscover URL failed. Additional Details Elapsed Time: 1428 ms. Test Steps Attempting to resolve the host name hamiltonpartners.com.na in DNS. The host name couldn't be resolved. Tell me more about this issue and how to resolve it Additional Details Host hamiltonpartners.com.na couldn't be resolved in DNS InfoNoRecords. Elapsed Time: 1427 ms. Attempting to test potential Autodiscover URL https://autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na:443/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml Testing of this potential Autodiscover URL failed. Additional Details Elapsed Time: 1320 ms. Test Steps Attempting to resolve the host name autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na in DNS. The host name couldn't be resolved. Tell me more about this issue and how to resolve it Additional Details Host autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na couldn't be resolved in DNS InfoDomainNonexistent. Elapsed Time: 1320 ms. Attempting to contact the Autodiscover service using the HTTP redirect method. The attempt to contact Autodiscover using the HTTP Redirect method failed. Additional Details Elapsed Time: 6 ms. Test Steps Attempting to resolve the host name autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na in DNS. The host name couldn't be resolved. Tell me more about this issue and how to resolve it Additional Details Host autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na couldn't be resolved in DNS InfoDomainNonexistent. Elapsed Time: 6 ms. Attempting to contact the Autodiscover service using the DNS SRV redirect method. The Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer failed to contact the Autodiscover service using the DNS SRV redirect method. Additional Details Elapsed Time: 629 ms. Test Steps Attempting to locate SRV record _autodiscover._tcp.hamiltonpartners.com.na in DNS. The Autodiscover SRV record wasn't found in DNS. Tell me more about this issue and how to resolve it Additional Details Elapsed Time: 629 ms. Checking if there is an autodiscover CNAME record in DNS for your domain 'hamiltonpartners.com.na' for Office 365. Failed to validate autodiscover CNAME record in DNS. If your mailbox isn't in Office 365, you can ignore this warning. Tell me more about this issue and how to resolve it Additional Details There is no Autodiscover CNAME record for your domain 'hamiltonpartners.com.na'.

Elapsed Time: 632 ms.

Regards

Hentie

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July 8th, 2015 12:18pm

Your answer is right there:

Attempting to resolve the host name autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na in DNS. The host name couldn't be resolved.

You don't have an Internet DNS record for Autodiscover for your e-mail domain.

C:\>ping autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na
Ping request could not find host autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na. Please ch
eck the name and try again.

July 8th, 2015 12:29pm

Your answer is right there:

Attempting to resolve the host name autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na in DNS. The host name couldn't be resolved.

You don't have an Internet DNS record for Autodiscover for your e-mail domain.

C:\>ping autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na
Ping request could not find host autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na. Please ch
eck the name and try again.

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July 8th, 2015 4:41pm

The MX record is not the Autodiscover record.  You need an Autodiscover record for external clients.  It's an A record autodiscover.hamiltonpartners.com.na in Internet DNS.
July 8th, 2015 5:23pm

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