DirectAccess Troubleshooting and the Windows 10 Network Connectivity Assistant

DirectAccess Troubleshooting and the Windows 10 Network Connectivity AssistantOne of the first places administrators look for information about the DirectAccess client connection is the Network Connectivity Assistant (NCA). The NCA is used to view current connection status and to gather detailed information that is helpful for troubleshooting failed DirectAccess connections. The NCA was first integrated with the client operating system beginning with Windows 8. Similar functionality can be extended to Windows 7 clients by installing and configuring the Windows 7 DirectAccess Connectivity Assistant (DCA).

NCA

The DirectAccess NCA can be accessed by pressing the Windows Key + I and then clicking on Network & Internet and DirectAccess. Here you’ll find a helpful visual indicator of current connectivity status, and for multisite deployments you’ll also find details about the current entry point.

DirectAccess Troubleshooting and the Windows 10 Network Connectivity Assistant

DirectAccess Missing?

If DirectAccess does not appear in the list, open an elevated PowerShell window and restart the Network Connectivity Assistant service (NcaSvc) using the following command.

Restart-Service NcaSvc

If you receive the error “Failed to start service ‘Network Connectivity Assistant (NcaSvc)‘”, ensure that the client operating system is Enterprise or Education edition. The NCA service will always fail to start on Professional edition as it is not a supported DirectAccess client.

Log Collection

The DirectAccess NCA also provides access to crucial troubleshooting information. Clicking on the Collect button creates a detailed diagnostic log file that is often helpful for troubleshooting DirectAccess connectivity issues.

DirectAccess Troubleshooting and the Windows 10 Network Connectivity Assistant

Troubleshooting Info Missing?

The option to collect a log, and email it to your IT admin will only be displayed if a support email address is defined in the DirectAccess configuration. To define a support email address, open the Remote Access Management console and perform the following steps.

1. Click Edit on Step 1.
2. Click Network Connectivity Assistant.
3. Enter an email address in the Helpdesk email address field.
4. Click Finish to complete Step 1.
5. Click Finish to apply the changes.

Email Program

Microsoft assumes that an end user will be generating the DirectAccess client troubleshooting log and will be emailing them to their administrator. If an email program is not installed on the client, the following information is displayed.

There is no email program associated to perform the requested action. Please install an email program or, if one is already installed, create an associate in the Default Programs control panel.

DirectAccess Troubleshooting and the Windows 10 Network Connectivity Assistant

If you wish to simply view the log file on the client and not email them, you can find the generated DirectAccess troubleshooting log file in HTML format in the following location.

%SystemDrive%\Users\%Username%\AppData\Local\Temp

DirectAccess Troubleshooting and the Windows 10 Network Connectivity Assistant

Unable to Generate Log Files

There are numerous reports that generating the DirectAccess troubleshooting log fails on Windows 10 v1709. DirectAccess administrators have been reporting that the process seems to fail during the creation of the log file, leaving it truncated and incomplete. To resolve this issue, open an elevated PowerShell window and enter the following command.

New-ItemProperty -Path “HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NcaSvc\” -Name SvcHostSplitDisable -PropertyType DWORD -Value 1 -Force

The computer must be restarted for this change to take effect. If initial testing of this workaround is successful, the registry setting can be pushed out to all DirectAccess clients using Active Directory Group Policy Preferences.

Additional Information

Installing and Configuring DirectAccess Connectivity Assistant 2.0 on Windows 7 Clients

Planning and Implementing DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 Video Training Course on Pluralsight

Managing and Supporting DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 Video Training Course on Pluralsight

Implementing DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 Book

Top 5 DirectAccess Troubleshooting PowerShell Commands

Top 5 DirectAccess Troubleshooting PowerShell CommandsNative PowerShell commands in Windows 10 make DirectAccess troubleshooting much easier than older operating systems like Windows 7. For example, with one PowerShell command an administrator can quickly determine if a DirectAccess client has received the DirectAccess client settings policy. In addition, PowerShell can be used to view the status of the connection and retrieve additional information or error codes that can be helpful for determining the cause of a failed connection. Further, PowerShell can also be used to review configuration details and perform other troubleshooting and connectivity validation tasks.

Here are my top 5 PowerShell commands for troubleshooting DirectAccess on Windows 10.

1. Get-DAClientExperienceConfiguration

Ensuring that the DirectAccess Client Settings group policy has been applied to the client is one of the first steps in troubleshooting failed DirectAccess connections. While it is possible to use gpresult to do this, using the Get-DAClientExperienceConfiguration PowerShell command is much simpler. If DirectAccess client settings have been applied, the output of the command will include information such as the IPsec tunnel endpoint IPv6 addresses and the Network Connectivity Assistant (NCA) corporate resource URL. If DirectAccess client settings have not been applied, this information will be missing.

Top 5 DirectAccess Troubleshooting PowerShell Commands

Figure 1. DirectAccess Client Settings group policy successfully applied.

Top 5 DirectAccess Troubleshooting PowerShell Commands

Figure 2. DirectAccess Client Settings group policy not applied.

2. Get-NetIPHttpsState

Performance improvements first introduced in Windows 8 have made IP-HTTPS the IPv6 transition technology of choice when it comes to supporting DirectAccess client connectivity. Also, if the DirectAccess server is located behind an edge device performing Network Address Translation (NAT), IP-HTTPS is the only supported transition technology. Using the Get-NetIPHttpsState PowerShell command, the DirectAccess administrator can quickly determine if the IP-HTTPS connection was successful. If it was not, the command will return an error code and interface status that will indicate why the IP-HTTPS connection was unsuccessful.

Top 5 DirectAccess Troubleshooting PowerShell Commands

Figure 3. Get-NetIPHttpsState

3. Get-NetIPHttpsConfiguration

When troubleshooting IP-HTTPS connection failures, it is necessary to obtain additional information to continue the troubleshooting process. Using the Get-NetIPHttpsConfiguration PowerShell command, the DirectAccess administrator can obtain the public hostname for the DirectAccess server and ensure that the name resolves to the correct IP address in DNS and that it is reachable on TCP port 443.

Top 5 DirectAccess Troubleshooting PowerShell Commands

Figure 4. Get-NetIPHttpsConfiguration

4. Resolve-DnsName

Using the Resolve-DnsName PowerShell command is crucial when performing any name resolution tasks on the DirectAccess client. This is because Resolve-DnsName is aware of the Name Resolution Policy Table (NRPT) and will direct name resolution requests accordingly. Tools like nslookup are DNS server testing tools and are unaware of the NRPT. Typically they do not yield expected results when testing name resolution on a DirectAccess client.

Top 5 DirectAccess Troubleshooting PowerShell Commands

Figure 5. Name resolution results from Resolve-DnsName and nslookup.

5. Get-DnsClientNrptPolicy

Often the cause of DirectAccess client connectivity issues is a misconfigured NRPT. Using the Get-DnsClientNrptPolicy PowerShell command the DirectAccess administrator can validate that name resolution requests for host names in any internal namespaces are being sent to the DirectAccess DNS64 IPv6 address.

Top 5 DirectAccess Troubleshooting PowerShell Commands

Figure 6. Get-DnsClientNrptPolicy

Additional Resources

Top 5 DirectAccess Troubleshooting Tips

Troubleshooting Name Resolution Issues on DirectAccess Clients

Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches Book by Don Jones and Jeff Hicks

Implementing DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 Book

Planning and Implementing DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 Video Training Course

Managing and Supporting DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 Video Training Course

 

 

DirectAccess Network Connectivity Assistant (NCA) Configuration Guidance

DirectAccess Network Connectivity Assistant (NCA) Configuration GuidanceThe DirectAccess Network Connectivity Assistant (NCA), first introduced in Windows 8, provides DirectAccess connectivity status information as well as diagnostic support on the client. The NCA validates that DirectAccess is working end-to-end by attempting to reach internal resources defined by the administrator during the configuration of DirectAccess. NCA configuration and operation is a source of much confusion. This article serves to provide best practice configuration guidance for the NCA to ensure optimum and reliable operation.

NCA Operation

When a DirectAccess client is outside the corporate network, it will attempt to establish a DirectAccess connection any time it has an active Internet connection. After a DirectAccess connection is made, the NCA will attempt to validate DirectAccess connectivity by verifying availability of corporate resources as defined in the DirectAccess configuration (Remote Access Management console, Step 1, Edit, Network Connectivity Assistant).

If the NCA can reach the defined internal corporate resource(s), the DirectAccess connection is verified end-to-end and it will report the connection status as “Connected”. If it fails to connect to any internal corporate resource, it displays “Connecting”.

DirectAccess Network Connectivity Assistant (NCA) Configuration Guidance

Figure 1. NCA successfully validated internal corporate resource connectivity.

DirectAccess Network Connectivity Assistant (NCA) Configuration Guidance

Figure 2. NCA failed to connect to one or more corporate resources.

NCA Configuration

When first installing DirectAccess, the Remote Access Setup wizard will collect information to be used by the NCA, including corporate resources, helpdesk email address, and DirectAccess connection name. It will also provide the option to allow DirectAccess clients to use local name resolution.

Note: The NCA settings configured in the Remote Access Management console pertain only to Windows 8.x and Windows 10 clients. They are not used by Windows 7 clients at all.

DirectAccess Network Connectivity Assistant (NCA) Configuration Guidance

Intuitively it would appear that information needs to be entered in the Resource and Type fields. However, it is recommended to leave this blank when first configuring DirectAccess. This is because the Remote Access Setup Wizard will automatically populate this field later. Specifying a resource during initial configuration will result in two entries being included, as shown here.

DirectAccess Network Connectivity Assistant (NCA) Configuration Guidance

As you can see, the Remote Access Setup wizard automatically added the resource directaccess-WebProbeHost.<internal domain.>. A corresponding DNS record is created that resolves this hostname to the internal IPv4 address of the DirectAccess server. In this configuration, the DirectAccess server itself serves as the corporate resource used by the NCA.

Multiple Corporate Resources

Having more than one resource to validate connectivity to the internal network is problematic though. If there are multiple entries specified, they must ALL pass a validation check from the client to report the connection status as “Connected”. Some administrators configure multiple entries with the mistaken belief that it will provide redundancy for the NCA, but it actually has the opposite effect. Having more than one entry only increases the chance of a false positive.

NCA Configuration Best Practices

It is recommended that only a single corporate resource URL be defined for the NCA. The default directaccess-WebProbeHost running on the DirectAccess server can be used, or, alternatively, another internal web server can be specified if desired. Any web server will work, including Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), Apache, NGINX, and most Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) or load balancers. HTTPS is not required for the web probe host, only HTTP. If using an internal web server, ensure that it is highly available.

Do NOT use the Network Location Server (NLS) as a corporate resource! The NLS is exempted from the Name Resolution Policy Table (NRPT) on the client and is not reachable over DirectAccess. This will result in the NCA failing and reporting a “Connecting” status perpetually. In addition, avoid the use of PING for validating internal corporate resources. Ping uses ICMP which is inherently unreliable and commonly blocked by host and intermediary firewalls, making it an unreliable indicator of corporate network connectivity over DirectAccess.

Summary

The NCA is a crucial and often misunderstood component in the DirectAccess architecture. Follow the guidance outlined here to ensure that the NCA works reliably and effectively in your environment.

Additional Resources

DirectAccess Clients in Connecting State when using External Load Balancer
Planning and Implementing DirectAccess on Windows Server 2016 on Pluralsight
Implementing DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 book