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Microsoft Connect Test

Description

The Microsoft Connect Test test probes the connection to servers that Microsoft installed worldwide to test the internet access from devices running Windows. By measuring the latency to these servers the general availability and speed of the internet access can be checked. High latencies therefore indicate issues with the internet connection in general.

Parameters

Parameter Value
Method ICMP
Target www.msftconnecttest.com
Number of measurements 58
Warning threshold 100
Critical threshold 150
Status percentage 5%

Troubleshooting

Locate the issue

A bad connection to your the Microsoft Connect Test has likely local reasons, but does not have to. Therefore, narrow down where and when issues occur. Use the general troubleshooting guide and try to answer these questions:

  • Is it a client-specific, local or global issue?
    • Are there other clients with a bad connection at the same location?
  • Are there other related services with issues?
    • Does performance issues relate to local network issues?
    • Does the internet provider test has issues, too?
  • Does the performance change over time?
    • Are there periods where the connection is better or worse?

If you find other services with issues also look at their test documentations.

Possible causes (status warning/critical):

IP routing bad

As the address for the Microsoft Connect Test server is a unicast address, a bad performance of this test is an indicator for bad IP routing that is not caused by a misconfigured DNS server.

  • Check the internet provider and local network tests. If everything is fine there it is very likely that your provider routes your packets very bad (over many hops).

Microsoft issues

Of course the Microsoft frontend server might be troubled and therefore respond slowly. Although this is unlikely, it is possible.

  • If only this test has events and all other services are fine, please report this to us.

Possible causes (status error):

Microsoft Connect Test blocked

If the Microsoft Connect Test is not working for all clients in the same location, a network component might block the access to that target.

  • Check your proxy, firewall or similar network components whether they block ICMP requests to www.msftconnecttest.com.

Software bug

Generally the test very robust. But bugs are always possible.