Overview

Users of GFI Archiver may encounter a 'failed to connect' error, even when the Journal mailbox is active and the credentials are correct. This issue is often accompanied by an 'HTTP status 403: Forbidden' error message. This problem is typically seen in hybrid 365 and Exchange setups and is often due to Exchange Web Services (EWS) application restrictions.

Disclaimer

The Archiver Support Team might be helpful in this topic, and we want to ensure you have the initial steps to tackle this problem. Still, reviewing connectivity issues isolated to EWS is out of scope. We recommend contacting the Exchange experts and Microsoft Support to ensure accuracy. Additionally, please review these two resources:

• Control access to EWS in Exchange | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer

Solution

If you encounter this issue, follow these steps:

1. Check the EWS application restrictions on your Exchange server.
2. Adjust the restrictions to allow GFI Archiver to connect.
3. Test the EWS protocol on your server using the Microsoft test connectivity Online tool.
4. If the test fails, continue to troubleshoot the issue on your Exchange server side until the connectivity test passes.
5. Check your Exchange server logs for more details about the authentication error by Archiver. The exchange logs should have detailed error descriptions for the 401 forbidden error returned to Archiver.
6. Upgrade to the latest version of GFI Archiver if not already done.

Summary

The 'failed to connect' error in GFI Archiver is often due to EWS application restrictions on the Exchange server. Adjusting these restrictions and ensuring that the EWS protocol is functioning correctly can resolve this issue.

FAQ

1. What is the EWS protocol?
   EWS, or Exchange Web Services, is a protocol that allows applications to communicate with the Microsoft Exchange server.
2. What are EWS application restrictions?
   EWS application restrictions are settings on the Exchange server that control which applications can connect to it using the EWS protocol.
3. What is the Microsoft test connectivity Online tool?
   This is a tool provided by Microsoft that allows you to test the connectivity of various protocols, including EWS, on your server.