Microsoft Exchange Server Spoke Question and NTLM Authentication

[RyanPSchneider]

Hi all,

I've been tasked to install the Microsoft Exchange Server spoke. Going through the documentations and setup, all was performed correctly on our ServiceNow Instance. In attempting to use one of the actions from the new spoke, we've been continually hitting an error that we are stumped on.

The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)

Stack Trace: at System.Management.ThreadDispatch.Start()
at System.Management.ManagementScope.Initialize()
at System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Initialize()
at System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Get()
at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetWmiObjectCommand.BeginProcessing()

Failed while executing ExchangeSpoke-GetMailbox.ps1

The closet things I found to troubleshoot the issue can be found here:
https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/rome-servicenow-platform/page/product/orchestration/concept/powershell-troubleshooting.html

We've confirmed that WinRM on the server is configured
We've confirmed that the firewall is not blocking the port(s)
We've confirmed that Kerberos is not an issue.

Other items confirmed that the credentials we are using allow for remote execution of Powershell and we were able to go out to the specified mid server and manually run the PS1. files manually.

The only item to note is that we were informed that Basic Authentication was disabled on the Exchange Server so the request was to use NTLM authentication which seems to not be supported by SN at this time.

Does anyone have any suggestions of other troubleshooting methods to (at least) get a new error or bypass this RPC one? Thank you!

[_ChrisHelming]

The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)

Stack Trace: at System.Management.ThreadDispatch.Start()
at System.Management.ManagementScope.Initialize()
at System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Initialize()
at System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Get()
at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetWmiObjectCommand.BeginProcessing()

Failed while executing ExchangeSpoke-GetMailbox.ps1

That's an error coming from powershell. How did you execute ExchangeSpoke-GetMailbox.ps1 from the MID server? Were you signed in as the account that's running the MID service?

[RyanPSchneider]

We logged into the specified mid server with the Windows Credentials that has full access to the MidServer. We then ran the powershell commands directly. The first powershell script we ran was the one to establish the connection. When running it, it prompted us with entering user/pw which was the same we used to log into the mid server.

Hopefully that provides some additional context!

Please note - I'm fairly novice when it comes to Powershell and Exchange Server configuration so i will do my best to field related questions!

[Gerrity]

@RyanPSchneider  Did you ever resolve this?

[RyanPSchneider]

Kind of!

It turns out it was multiple small things that prevented us from being able to connect.

I didn't directly fix the problem but rather a newly hired architect. From their changes, I think I was able to gather the following as to why I think this works.

For our Connections and Cred. Aliases, I think that the Exchange Alias didn't have an appropriate connection made to it. Within that connection, I think we had setup an IP address vs. a resolved host name that included our domain which I think was a huge deal. Also, we had to ensure our Attributes was set to Kerberos auth but I think that was the case from last time.

So in general, I think it was the host that was the biggest culprit for us was how the host name was populated.

My solution is a big vague as I don't want to give out any direct server information but hopefully that does provide some avenue for others that are having the same issue.