Message tracing in Microsoft 365 is an invaluable approach for administrators to manage, troubleshoot, and monitor the overall flow of email content. It’s a feature offered by MS-203 Microsoft 365 Messaging exam.
Understanding Message Tracing
Message tracing aids administrators in understanding the flow of an email right from its origin until its delivery. This can include tracking the sender, recipient, date/time of delivery, email status (successful or failed), and much more.
How to Perform a Message Trace in Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 provides an intuitive interface for tracing an email flow. Here are the steps to perform a simple message trace:
- Start by navigating to the admin center in Microsoft 365.
- Click on “Exchange” to open the Exchange admin center.
- In the Exchange admin center, navigate to “mail flow” and then “message trace”.
- In the message trace dialog box, specify the necessary parameters. This might include the senders, recipients, date range, and delivery status.
Using PowerShell for Advanced Message Tracing
For those administrators who prefer command-line interfaces or need to automate tasks, PowerShell is available. A simple PowerShell command to do a message trace is as follows:
Get-MessageTrace -SenderAddress sender@domain.com -StartDate “09/20/2021 09:00:00” -EndDate “09/20/2021 17:00:00”
In this command, you need to replace ‘sender@domain.com’ with the actual email address of the sender. The ‘StartDate’ and ‘EndDate’ parameters constrain the trace to a specific timeframe.
Understanding Message Trace Results
A typical message trace result will include the following parameters:
- Date: The date and time the message was received.
- Sender: The email address of the sender.
- Recipient: The email address of the recipient.
- Subject: The subject of the email.
- Status: The final status of the message denotes whether it was delivered, failed, expanded, etc.
- To IP: The recipient IP address.
- From IP: The sender IP address.
- Size: The size of the email.
Each of these parameters provides critical insights for troubleshooting and monitoring the flow of emails.
Troubleshooting with Message Trace
Understanding the status of a message is key to troubleshooting email delivery issues. For instance:
- ‘Delivered’ means the message was successfully delivered to the inbox of the recipient.
- ‘Failed’ denotes that the message was not delivered.
- ‘Expanded’ indicates that the message was sent to a distribution group and was successfully expanded to all members.
Conclusion
Message trace is a crucial aspect of handling Microsoft 365’s Messaging environment and forms an important element of the MS-203 examination. By mastering the ability to trace messages via the graphical interface and PowerShell, admins will be in an even better position to maintain a smooth and secure messaging environment.
Practice Test
True or False: Tracing an email message is a method used to track the route that an email took as it travelled across the internet.
– True
– False
Answer: True
Explanation: Tracing a message (also known as ‘Tracking’) is the process of following the path that an email message took as it passed through various servers.
Multiple Select: Which of the following can be determined by tracing an email message?
– 1) Sender’s IP address
– 2) Date and time of sending
– 3) Recipient’s IP address
– 4) The topic of the conversation
Answer: A, B
Explanation: By tracing an email message we can determine the sender’s IP address and the date and time the message was sent. The recipient’s IP address and the conversation topic cannot be known through message tracing.
Single Select: In Microsoft 365, where can you perform message tracing?
– A) Security & Compliance Center
– B) Exchange admin center
– C) Azure portal
– D) Microsoft 365 admin center
Answer: B
Explanation: Message tracing can be performed on the Exchange admin center in Microsoft
True or False: In MS-203 exam, you will be required to know how to trace a message using PowerShell.
– True
– False
Answer: True
Explanation: As a Messaging Administrator, you should be able to use tools like PowerShell for tasks such as message tracing.
Single Select: During message tracing in Microsoft 365, what does DLP policy detection represent?
– A) A threat detected in the message
– B) A rule set by the organization has been activated
– C) The message has been marked as spam
– D) The message has been rejected
Answer: B
Explanation: DLP policy detection represents that a rule set by the organization (Data Loss Prevention policy) has been triggered in the message during its journey.
True or False: Message trace data in Microsoft 365 is retained for 90 days.
– True
– False
Answer: True
Explanation: Message trace data in Microsoft 365 is retained for 90 days only.
Single Select: MS-203 exam covers Microsoft 365 messaging technologies including Exchange Online, Teams and:
– A) Azure AD
– B) SharePoint
– C) One Drive
– D) Skype for Business
Answer: D
Explanation: The MS 203 exam is about Exchange Online, Teams, and Skype for Business technologies.
Multiple Select: As a Microsoft 365 Messaging Administrator, you should be able to:
– 1) Manage messaging security
– 2) Manage messaging compliance
– 3) Plan and manage teams
– 4) Analyze the content of messages
Answer: A, B, C
Explanation: As a Microsoft 365 Messaging Administrator, you should be able to manage security, compliance and plan and manage Teams. Analyzing the content of the messages may breach privacy policies.
True or False: In Microsoft 365, you can perform a message trace for emails delivered over the past 6 months.
– True
– False
Answer: False
Explanation: In Microsoft 365, message trace data is retained for 90 days.
Single Select: Which tool can be used to perform a message trace in Microsoft 365?
– A) PowerShell
– B) Microsoft Edge
– C) SharePoint
– D) OneDrive
Answer: A
Explanation: PowerShell, an advanced management tool, can be used to perform a message trace in Microsoft
Interview Questions
What is message tracing in Microsoft 365?
Message tracing is a functionality in Microsoft 365 that enables administrators to determine what happened to a specific email message. It provides a way for administrators to search for, deliver, reject, redirect, or quarantine email messages that have been sent or received.
For how long does Microsoft 365 keep the message trace data?
Microsoft 365 keeps message trace data for 90 days.
How can you start a message trace in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal?
To start a message trace in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, navigate to Mail flow > Dashboard. Under Mail flow summary, select the View details link, then in the Flyout that appears, select the Start a message trace link.
What are some of the details you can find in a message trace report in Microsoft 365?
In a message trace report, one can find details including sender and recipient email addresses, date and time the message was sent, the statuses and actions taken on the message, the reason for any actions that were taken on the message, and the message’s unique ID.
What are the status types that a traced message can display in Microsoft 365?
The status types that a message can display during a message trace can be Pending, Delivered, Failed, or Expanded.
How can you perform an extended message trace in Microsoft 365?
You can perform an extended message trace by going to the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, navigating to Mail flow > Dashboard, select the message trace you want and choose ‘Report’ in the toolbar, followed by ‘Extended report’.
What is the purpose of the ‘Do Not Forward’ option in Microsoft 365 Trace a message?
The ‘Do Not Forward’ option is an Information Rights Management (IRM) setting that prevents a recipient from forwarding, copying or printing an email.
Can a traced message be recovered after it has been deleted?
A traced message cannot be recovered after it has been deleted. However, the message tracing data will still be available for 90 days.
If an email delivery status is marked as ‘Failed’ in a message trace, what does it mean?
If the delivery status of an email is marked as ‘Failed’, it means that the email was not delivered to the recipient. The failure could be due to various reasons such as the recipient’s mailbox being full, the mail server was temporarily unavailable, or the email was marked as spam.
What does the ‘Expanded’ status mean in a message trace?
The ‘Expanded’ status indicates that the message was part of an email distribution list. When the message reached the distribution list, it was ‘expanded’, meaning that it was sent to all the individual members of the list.
What is the ‘message ID’ in the context of message tracing in Microsoft 365?
The ‘message ID’ is a unique identifier for each email message. It can be used to correlate all the events pertaining to a single email transaction.
Can you conduct a message trace for emails sent or received beyond 90 days in Microsoft 365?
No, you cannot conduct a message trace for emails sent or received beyond 90 days because Microsoft 365 only retains message trace data for that period.
What are ‘delivery reports’ in the context of message tracing in Microsoft 365?
Delivery reports are a message tracking tool in the Exchange admin center (EAC) that you can use to search for delivery information about messages that are sent by and received by your organization’s users.
Can you use PowerShell to perform a message trace in Microsoft 365?
Yes, you can use PowerShell to perform a message trace in Microsoft 365. The ‘Get-MessageTrace’ cmdlet is often used to perform this action.
What is the maximum time period for which you can run a historical search in Microsoft 365 message tracing?
In Microsoft 365 message tracing, you can run a historical search for a maximum time period of 10 days. For a broader period, you may need to use the extended message trace functionality.
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