Message Analyzer, an SMTP header analysis tool in Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer

Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer is a web-based tool that provides administrators and end users with the ability to run connectivity diagnostics for our servers to test common issues with Microsoft Exchange, Lync and Office 365. Microsoft is excited to announce Message Analyzer, a brand new addition to the Remote Connectivity Analyzer. Message Analyzer makes reading email headers less painful.

 

Figure 1: The new Message Analyzer tab in RCA

 

SMTP message headers contain a wealth of information which allows you to determine the origins of a message and how it made its way through one or more SMTP servers to its destination. To use Message Analyzer, all you need to do is copy message headers from a message and paste them in the Message Analyzer tab on the RCA web site.

 

where are my message headers?

 

Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013

 

  1. Open Outlook 2010.
  2. Select the email message for which you'd like to view the headers.
  3. Click on File, see Figure 2.

 

Figure 2

 

 

 4. Click on Properties as in Figure 3.

 

Figure 3

 

 

5. The new window contains the headers. See Figure 4.

 

Figure 4

 

 

 

Outlook 2007

 

  1. Open Outlook 2007.
  2. Open the email message.
  3. Under the Message tab, in the Options group, click on the Dialog Box Launcher icon.
  4. In the Message Options dialog box, the headers appear in the Internet headers box.

 

 

 

Outlook 2000, 2002 and 2003

 

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Double-click to open the email message in a new window.
  3. Select View > Optionsfrom the message's menu.

 

 

 

4. All header lines appear under Internet Headers at the bottom of the dialog box

 

 

 

To use Message Analyzer, all you need to do is copy message headers from a message and paste them in the Message Analyzer tab on the RCA web site.

 

 

  

Figure 2: Paste message headers in the Message Analyzer

 

Features of the Message Analyzer

Here's a quick look at what you can do with Message Analyzer.
View the most important properties and total delivery time at a quick glance.

 

Summary⇓⇑

Subject

TEST

Message Id

<6a04e107682548a297a4481a3f7c8aa5@AM2PR06MB592.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com>

Creation time

Thursday, March 28, 2013 5:10:09 PM (Delivered after 1 second)

From

Joanna Vathis <joannav@itprodev.onmicrosoft.com>

To

Joanna Vathis <joannav@itprodev.onmicrosoft.com>

Received headers⇓⇑

Hop↓↑

Submitting host↓↑

Receiving host↓↑

Time↓↑

Delay↓↑

Type ⇐ ⇒ ↓↑

ID↓↑

For↓↑

Via↓↑

1

AM2PR06MB592.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com ([169.254.11.40])

AM2PR06MB592.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com ([169.254.11.40])

Thursday, March 28, 2013 5:10:10 PM

 

mapi

15.00.0651.000

 

 

2

AM2PR06MB592.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com (10.255.61.35)

AM2PR06MB594.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com (10.255.61.37)

Thursday, March 28, 2013 5:10:11 PM

1 second

Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS)

15.0.651.16

 

 

3

AM2PR06MB594.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com (10.255.61.37)

AM2PR06MB592.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com (10.255.61.35)

Thursday, March 28, 2013 5:10:11 PM

0 seconds

Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS)

15.0.651.16

 

Mailbox Transport

Other headers⇓⇑

#↓↑

Header↓↑

Value↓↑

1

Content-Type

application/ms-tnef; name="winmail.dat"

2

Content-Transfer-Encoding

binary

3

From

Joanna Vathis <joannav@itprodev.onmicrosoft.com>

4

To

Joanna Vathis <joannav@itprodev.onmicrosoft.com>

5

Subject

TEST

6

Thread-Topic

TEST

7

Thread-Index

AQHOK8ZWvL1pod5qCUm/1ztqQT/y7A==

8

Date

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:10:09 +0000

9

Message-ID

<6a04e107682548a297a4481a3f7c8aa5@AM2PR06MB592.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com>

10

Accept-Language

en-CA, el-GR, en-US

11

Content-Language

en-CA

12

X-MS-Has-Attach

 

13

X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL

-1

14

X-MS-TNEF-Correlator

<6a04e107682548a297a4481a3f7c8aa5@AM2PR06MB592.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com>

15

MIME-Version

1.0

16

X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthSource

AM2PR06MB592.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com

17

X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthAs

Internal

18

X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthMechanism

04

19

X-Originating-IP

[88.203.200.58]

20

X-MS-Exchange-Organization-Network-Message-Id

c34d8ff2-c78f-4f71-6a8a-08cff9dd79bb

21

Return-Path

joannav@itprodev.onmicrosoft.com

22

X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AVStamp-Service

1.0

23

X-Forefront-Antispam-Report

SFV:SKI;SFS:;DIR:OUT;SFP:;SCL:-1;SRVR:AM2PR06MB594;H:AM2PR06MB592.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com;LANG:;

  • Quickly collapse the sections that you don’t need.
  • All processing is done in your browser, and no private information is shared with Microsoft.
  • Useful for any header, whether generated by Exchange, Office 365, or any other RFC standard SMTP server or agent.

Note, we consider this feature to be in beta for the moment, try it Wink