Monitoring Benefit
Remote Probe Connectivity reports whether each probe is still checking in with the ENow web server. It is not a test of Exchange, Microsoft 365 or anything a probe measures — it is a test of the monitoring itself.
Without it, a site could lose its probe and you would have no way of telling the difference between "everything is fine here" and "nothing is being measured here".
What you see when a probe stops reporting
ENow does not leave a silent probe looking healthy. When a probe stops checking in:
- Its indicators turn red — the failure is visible at the top level, not buried.
- The lower-level pages for that probe display a message stating that the agent has not reported in for a given amount of time.
That message is the thing to look for. It distinguishes the two cases that matter:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| A red indicator, and the detail page names a real error | The probe is alive and the test is failing. Work the test. |
| A red indicator, and the detail page says the agent has not reported in for X | The probe itself is not reporting. Nothing at that site is being measured, and the individual test results are not current. Work the probe. |
Reading that message first saves the wasted effort of troubleshooting an Exchange or Microsoft 365 problem that is really a machine that has been switched off.
Alerts are also generated for this condition. See Ecloud-Internet Is Sending Critical Alerts Stating The Agent Has Not Reported Into Web Server For "X" Amount of Time for the alerting side of the same behaviour.
Where this is shown in the console
Probe state is visible on the dashboard, and in more detail on the agent monitor:
https://<ENow web server>:20080/MailscapeWeb/Default.aspx
https://<ENow web server>:20080/MailscapeWeb/AgentMonitor.aspx#<PROBE>The "agent has not reported in" message appears on the individual probe pages beneath Exchange Remote Probes — for example the Network, Outlook and ActiveSync pages for that probe. That message is what to read before treating any red indicator as a test failure.
What makes a probe stop reporting
| Cause | What to look for |
|---|---|
| The probe machine is off, rebooting, or decommissioned | The most common cause by some distance. Confirm the host is running before anything else — a probe on a virtual machine that was migrated, patched or retired is easy to lose track of. |
| The ENow service on the probe is stopped | Check the ENow services on the probe machine are running and set to start automatically. |
| The probe cannot reach the ENow web server | A firewall or routing change between the site and the web server. The probe reports in, so this is the path from probe to server — not probe to Microsoft. |
| The web server cannot record the check-in | If several probes stop at the same moment, suspect the server or its database rather than the sites. |
| Credentials or certificates expired on the probe | Probes hold their own configuration. A credential change made centrally does not always reach them. |
How do we verify the monitoring test results?
- Read the message on the probe's detail page. It tells you how long the probe has been silent, which usually points straight at what changed in that window.
- Confirm the probe host is powered on and reachable from the ENow web server.
- Check the ENow services are running on the probe machine.
-
Test the path from the probe to the web server — run
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName <ENow web server> -Port <port>on the probe. This direction is the one that matters here, and the one people forget to test. - Compare against other probes. One probe quiet is a site problem; several at once is a server or network problem closer to home.
- Check the probe's own logs on the probe machine for errors around the time it went quiet.
Common warning or error results, and potential solutions
| Result | Potential solution |
|---|---|
| One probe not reporting | Work that site: host, then service, then the network path back to the web server. |
| Several probes stopped at the same time | Look at the ENow web server, its database, or a shared network change — not at the individual sites. |
| A probe reports intermittently | Usually the link, or a service restarting repeatedly. Check the probe's logs for a crash and restart pattern. |
| A probe is reporting, but one of its tests never changes | Different problem. The probe is alive, so work the individual test rather than the probe. |
| A decommissioned probe still appears here | Remove it from the configuration rather than leaving a permanently red indicator. A dashboard with known-bad tiles stops being read. |
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