On-Premises Diagnostics for Skype for Business Server Are Now Available

[Corbin Meek]

March 31st, 2022 Update: Be sure to check out Joao's comment for an incremental update!  Bug fixes and a few small enhancements.

The NextHop team is very pleased to announce the release of On-Premise Diagnostics (OPD) for Skype for Business Server.  OPD is a collection of diagnostic scenarios, analyzers, rules and insights for diagnosing common issues in Skype for Business 2015 and 2019 on-premises and hybrid environments based on real world support expertise from Escalation Engineers in CSS.  

Getting started

First you'll need to Install or upgrade to the latest version of OPD.  Next, check out the instructions on How to use OPD.  Then determine which scenario you would like to test for. Note that each scenario will have one or more unique tests.  For our initial release, we're offering diagnostics for some of the top support issues for On-Premises Skype for Business Servers: 

Scenario	Types of tests
Contact List	User contact list is not available
Deployment	Skype for Business Server deployment best practices analyzer Skype for Business Modern Authentication is not working Check to see if TLS 1.0/1.1 deprecation is properly configured
Exchange Integration	Skype for Business Server and Exchange Hybrid deployment integration is not working Skype for Business Server and Exchange Online deployment integration is not working Skype for Business Server and Exchange OnPrem deployment integration is not working
Federation	Federation is not working (On-Premises deployment) Federation is not working (Hybrid deployment)
Hybrid	Validate that the Skype for Business hybrid deployment is disabled IM and Presence problems between Skype for Business and Teams users
Performance	Skype for Business Server Performance Check
Response Group	Check if response group usage report runs correctly
Services	The front end service is not starting in Skype for Business Server

In the following screenshot we've chosen the Federation Scenario, here's a little teaser of what this looks like: 

Please go try these in your environments and let us know how it's going by providing feedback to the team.  We not only look forward to your feedback, we need it to make OPD better for you!  We'd love to hear if these diagnostics solved issues for your or your customers' environments, any issues you encounter, and your top 3 to 5 scenarios you would like to see next.

Quick Links: 

• Install or upgrade to the latest version of OPD
• How to use OPD
• Provide feedback 

Thanks!
The NextHop Team

[Deleted]

Looks like a really useful tool!

[Benoit HAMET]

The provide feedback link is a mailto to an email address which does not exist

Your message to pop-sfbsupport@microsoft.com couldn't be delivered.

pop-sfbsupport wasn't found at microsoft.com.

As such can only provide here:

* can you please add logging of activities when the diag scripts are running, or at least to save the results. If you hit enter at the end without copying, the results are lost

* MFA support; it seems the way you are gathering the credentials to logon to O365 services (when using the hybrid scenario) does not support MFA

[Corbin Meek]

Whoops, thanks @Benoit HAMET fixed a typo in the mailto: link

Thanks for the other feedback - good suggestions we'll pass on to team and follow up.  

Edit to add: looks like our feedback email address hasn't fully replicated through our email systems yet, for now please add feedback in the comments section.  Will update when it is ready to go.  

As of 4/11/20 the feedback e-mail address is working, thanks again for bringing that to our attention!

[Petri X]

It would be interesting to see how does it work, but after Easter :)

Did I misread it, or where it should be running? On-prem workstation or server? Outside network?

Support for MFA is highly appreciated in here as well. Or can I e.g. open the sessions to tenant using SfB online module, and then run this?

Do you have any requirements needed to run this? Does it run by its own, or is the some PS modules required as well? Found this: SfB OPD Readme 

You seems to be marking (on your example) with an error if "Remote User Access is disabled" on Edge pool. But you were analyzing federation issue. On set-CSExternalAccessPolicy have different configurations for remote use and federations. Or did I misunderstood this somehow, as I have not tested this yet? :)

[Petri X]

And as response for myself :)

[-] Determine if Skype for Business Frontend Server role is installed on local machine
        [-] Detection : Skype for Business Server Frontend role is not installed. This usually indicates that this not a Skype for Business Server frontend machine.
        [-] Action : The diagnostics script must be run on a Skype for Business Server Frontend.

But is it really mandatory...? 

[João Loureiro]

Thank @Petri X and @Benoit HAMET for providing feedback. Please see below regarding your questions/feedback:

- This tool needs to be executed from local frontend due some technical requirements. In the background performs remote PowerShell connection to edge to validate some edge specific rules. Tools checks if SFB online module is installed otherwise will flag that requirement (for scenarios that require SFB online module)

- Regarding MFA support that will be available in our next release (nice catch)

- Regarding set-CSExternalAccessPolicy please share output and your configuration so we can review (pop-sfbsupport@microsoft.com is already fully functional)

- Additional logging of activities when the diag scripts are running is written to the event viewer at 'Applications and Services Logs' -> OPDLog.  For more details, check out the following: https://github.com/onpremdiag/SfBServer/blob/master/docs/TelemetryData.md.

[Konrad Sagala]

Tool looks really nice. I hope it will cover in near future additional scenarios, like voice or presence problems.

[João Loureiro]

On-Premises Diagnostics for Skype for Business Server version 1.1.2008.05001 has just been released

Description

1.1.2008.05001 is a general maintenance release that contains enhancements, and bug fixes. A few of the specific issues that have been fixed in this release are listed below. The majority of customer-reported issues, reproducible system errors, have been corrected. Applying this maintenance release is recommended for all users.

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Bug: SFB Server Frontend Service not starting - Fixed a problem that certificate warnings were incorrectly displayed as errors when SQL was stopped
• Bug: Fixed Test-CsDatabase cmdlet generating a false positive error
• New!: Skype for Business Server Frontend service is not starting scenario - Added new analyzer to check DNS records
• New!: Add progress bar to all Skype for Business scenarios
• Bug: Fixed error message when On-Premises and Online allowed domains lists didn't match
• Bug: Fixed an issue when spawning admin PowerShell instance, Skype for Business Server OPD switches were not honored

 What's planned for the next releases (coming soon)

• Feature: Multi factor authentication
• New scenario: Exchange integration is not working
• New scenario: Presence subscription and IM delays (Performance)
• New scenario: Modern authentication not working
• New scenario: Skype for Business Server Deployment Best Practices Analyzer

Thanks to Mike McIntyre for great contribution to this new release.

[João Loureiro]

On-Premises Diagnostics for Skype for Business Server version 1.1.2008.31001 has just been released

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Bug: Returning an explicit 'bad password or username' when Skype for Business Online PowerShell credentials are incorrect
• New!: Add Skype for Business Online PowerShell Multi Factor Authentication support

 What's planned for the next releases (coming soon)

• New scenario: Exchange integration is not working
• New scenario: Presence subscription and IM delays (Performance)
• New scenario: Modern authentication not working
• New scenario: Skype for Business Server Deployment Best Practices Analyzer

[singhvk1992]

The group sfbsupport only accepts messages from people in its organization or on its allowed senders list, and your email address isn't on the list.

Thanks!

Singh.vk1992@outlook.com

[Corbin Meek]

hey @singhvk1992 that's not the correct feedback alias - please use pop-sfbsupport@microsoft.com

If THAT doesn't work let us know we'll have you send us the NDR in full.  I just checked it and, configured correctly according to our internal ID mgmt systems.  Doesn't mean it's not broken, just looks good from here 

[Konrad Sagala]

According to description, newest build should have Exchange integration checking included, but there is no such an option in script console

[João Loureiro]

@Konrad Sagala Thank for your feedback. Exchange integration diagnostic will be included in next major release (work is currently in progress and expected to be released in less than one month). Recent releases we have been publishing are minor releases been mainly to address bug fixes, related to MFA and problems related to environments not having direct external connectivity and relying exclusively on proxy. 

[João Loureiro]

On-Premises Diagnostics for Skype for Business Server version 1.3.2011.10001 has just been released

Bug Fixes: 

• Ping causes failure in networks where ICMP is disabled.

New Scenarios:

• Skype for Business Server with Exchange On-Premises
• Skype for Business Server with Exchange Online
• Skype for Business Server with Hybrid configuration

[jakke91]

Hello, tried running the tool on our Hybrid infra but after giving the O365 admin credentials, it just come's back at 'enter to continue'.    After pressing enter, back to the menu before.  

[João Loureiro]

Hello @jakke91 

Thank for providing feedback. This particular version was released 6 days ago and introduces some enhancements that might have introduced this issue. Would be possible to share SFB OPD event viewer so we can investigate this further? I will contact you directly in order to get more details.

[João Loureiro]

On-Premises Diagnostics for Skype for Business Server version 1.5.2106.10001 has just been released

Bug Fixes: 

• 1.5.2106.10001 contains several bug fixes, for more details please refer to SFB OPD 1.5 release notes

New Scenarios:

• Skype for Business Server with Exchange On-Premises
• Skype for Business Server with Exchange Online
• Skype for Business Server with Hybrid configuration

[João Loureiro]

On-Premises Diagnostics for Skype for Business Server version 1.6.2109.29001 has just been released

Bug Fixes: 

• 1.6.2109.29001 contains several bug fixes, for more details please refer to SFB OPD 1.6 release notes
• Replacement of Skype for Business Online Connector by Teams PowerShell module

New Scenarios:

• Validates that the Skype for Business hybrid deployment is disabled

[João Loureiro]

On-Premises Diagnostics for Skype for Business Server version 1.7.2112.21001 has just been released

New Scenarios:

• Check to see if TLS 1.0/1.1 deprecation is properly configured
• Check if response group usage report runs correctly

[João Loureiro]

On-Premises Diagnostics for Skype for Business Server version 1.8.2203.31002 has just been released

Bug Fixes: 

• 1.8.2203.31002 contains several bug fixes, for more details please refer to SFB OPD 1.8 release notes

New Scenarios:

• Skype for Business Server Performance Check