XCON: How to Use the PortPing Utility (295416)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5
  • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server
This article was previously published under Q295416

SUMMARY

This article describes the PortPing utility that is located in the Microsoft BackOffice Resource Kit.

MORE INFORMATION

You can use PortPing to verify that a computer is actively listening on a specific port. For example, you can use PortPing to verify that your server is listening on port 25 when you install an Internet Mail Connector on your Exchange Server computer, and then start the Internet Mail Service. When you use PortPing, you can type either the host name of the server or the Internet protocol (IP) address in the Target Server box. If you type the host name and PortPing fails, type the IP address. If you can reach the specified port when you type the IP address, but not when you type the host name, the name resolution service on the computer may not be working properly. When you run PortPing, if the remote port is listening, you receive the following message:

Success! Pinged port x in y milliseconds.

However, if the remote port is not open or if a firewall is blocking that particular port, you receive the following error message:
Error Detected: Connection refused XXXXX returned.
In this error message, XXXXX represents the error code.

The following scenario describes how to use this information for troubleshooting purposes:

Messages are backed up between two Exchange Server computers that are connected by an X.400 connector. The X.400 connector uses Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) port 102. To confirm that this issue is caused by network problems, run PortPing to that port number. When you start PortPing to make a remote call on the server to port 102, if the ping command does not come back successfully to port 102, you can confirm that X.400 mail traffic is not flowing.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/26/2005
Keywords:kberrmsg kbinfo KB295416
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