Initial PST Flight Deck Migration Agent testing (4306803)

Summary:

When troubleshooting agent functionality issues, it is often useful to ensure that a client is able to reach the FD server, obtain its configuration, use the configuration obtained, and upload data to the configured FD uploads area. The aim of this article is to describe some testing that can be done to determine if that is happening, and if not, where it is failing. This information can be useful in troubleshooting issues being experienced with PST Flight Deck Agents on the rare occasion that it is needed.

Details:

Architecture:
Versions before and including 8.1:
The FD agent is available in both a 64-Bit and 32-bit version. The correct version needs to be installed for the agent to work. The proper bitness of the agent is determined by the bitness of the Outlook application installed on the client. If a client has a 32-bit version of Outlook installed, then the 32-bit version of the FD agent should also be deployed to that client.
Version 9.0+
There is one installation package available, which will automatically install the correct bit version based on the installed bit version of Outlook.
Testing:
There are several areas that can be isolated to test that the FD agent is working as expected:

1. Client machine can communicate with the web server on the FD machine
2. Web server is configured to properly serve the types of files requested by the FD agent
3. Configuration files can be downloaded and used
4. The client machine can use BITS to successfully upload data to the configured location

As some of these concerns are centered around server based settings that should not change, they should only be required to be tested once from any client, where other areas may need to be tested as issues arise.
It is recommended to do some testing after the FD server is initially set up and your first client is installed. The purpose of the following tests are to ensure the communication to the FD server is working, configuration is able to be obtained from the server, and files can be transferred from the client to the server using BITS. All of the tests are performed from the client machine where the FD Agent was just installed.
FileScanner to server communication testing:

1. Browse to the install directory of the agent ( Typically C:\Program Files (x86)\QUADROtech\Migration Agent)
2. Open “config.xml” in an editor like Notepad
3. Copy the content between the “WebServiceURL” tags and paste it into a browser. The pasted value should resemble http://PSTFDAliasName.YourDomain.Name/PSTFlightdeckWS/DiscoveryScanner.asmx (where PSTFDAliasName.YourDomain.Name is the FQDN of the alias of your PST Flight Deck server)
4. Confirm you receive page similar to the following:

If you do not receive similar output, the FileScanner is unable to complete the initial communication with the FD server.

• Ensure the FD server is up and running
• Ensure IIS is appropriately configured to serve this type of file
• Ensure your network communication is intact between server and client
• Reference the error received to resolve the issue identified

Frequently issues identified at this stage are related to name resolution issues, Client Server communication issues, or FD server requirements not being set.
If successful, please proceed to the configuration and upload testing.
Configuration and Upload Testing:
If the FileScanner testing above went as expected, the next step is to test the ability to reach the server, download and use the desired configuration file, and upload a file to the BITs “Upload Location” as is configured on the FD server. This testing will be performed by the “BitsTester” application found in the FD Agent’s install directory (Default C:\Program Files\QUADROtech\Migration Agent).

1. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the install path of the FD agent
2. Double-click on the “BitsTester.exe” application seen in Fig 2.
3. Click the Detect button in the resultant BitsTester application
   • Successful result will show something config file downloaded from FD server as seen in Fig 3.
4. Upon download of config file from the server, click the test button.
   • Results pane will run through a few short steps and if successful will result in a window similar to what is seen in Fig 4.

Figure 2:

Figure 3:

Fig 4:

If there are issues encountered in successfully completing the Configuration and uploading testing, where to investigate depends on where the process failed.
If failure occurred during “Detect” portion of testing then you may wish to look into the following to isolate the issue:

• Ensure the FD server is up and running
• Ensure IIS is appropriately configured to serve this type of file
• Ensure your network communication is intact between server and client
• Attempt to access the servers AdvancedClient.SVC file local to the server within a web Client
  • If successful, attempt to access the same file within a web browser

If failure occurs during the upload, please ensure IIS on the FD server has been configured to permit uploading per the Post-Install steps in the FD documentation.
Should the above tests prove to be successful, the next test you should perform is an End to End test (E2E). Only a portion of this test takes place on the client and an End to End test should be performed more frequently than the other tests detailed in this KB article. For more details related to performing an E2E test, please review the PST FD Admin guide section titled “PST Migration – First Test User”