Exchange 5.5 and Outlook 2003

[Terry51]

Whenever I try to set-up a user using Outlook 2003 I get an error message stating that the Exchange Server is unavailable. This results regardless of the machine OS.

Any help??

 

[Griffyn]

We're using Exchange 5.5 SP4 and a mixture of Outlook 98 and 2003 clients. No issues - except that 2003 seems to be much slower than Outlook 98. Especially on mailboxes with a large number of messages.

 

[Marcs41]

See also thread10-991338

Marc
_{If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC!}
Have a look at the shop @

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!

 

[Terry51]

Maybe I was unclear about my situation, Marc. I have an Exchange 5.5 server running on NT 4.0 for the time being (scheduled for upgrade to server 2003 and Exchange 2003 as soon as we go with AD on the domain). Using Outlook 2003 on any machine trying to connect to the Exchange 5.5 server results in not being able to locate the Exchange server for a name check. Outlook 2000 has no problems. I have the Outlook 2003 evaluation CD from Technet and loaded it onto my workstation (WIN2K Pro) and it had the same result.

 

[Marcs41]

Did you install all SPs on the 5.5?

Marc
_{If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC!}
Have a look at the shop @

http://www.cafepress.com/tektips

!

 

[Terry51]

Yes, I have applied SP4 yet I have not applied any hotfixes subsequent to the SP4 issue date.

 

[joepc]

Create an entry in you host file pointing to you mail server. Outlook 2003 likes to use DNS to find the mail server.

 

[hedgie]

Terry51,
I have a similar issue, as I am unable to send internal mail using the exchange server. See thread10-990821 Hopefully, we will be able to work this together. Thanks.

-Hedgie

 

[Marcs41]

Don't forget about WINS! It is still used by Exchange until further notice!

Marc
_{If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC!}
Have a look at the shop @

http://www.cafepress.com/tektips

!

 

[Dyadmin]

also there are several patches to the information store when clients using outlook 2003 tries to connect to an exchnage 5.5 server. Go to technet and type in 2003 and exchange 5.5, that should yield some answers to people slow or not connecting to eachange 5.5.

WINS does help..

better yet see if the following helps anyone...

Try this:

http://search.microsoft.com/search/...=82&qu="outlook+2003"+"exchange+5.5"+slow&s=1

 

[chrisab]

Is the Outlook 2003 profile using "Cached Mode"? If it's caching the Exchange information you'll run into problems communicating with the Exchange 5.5 server. Outlook 2k3 and Exchange 5.5 don't play nice together.

 

[hedgie]

Terry41,

Here is a link to the MS article(s) concerning patches for the Information Store issues with Outlook 2003.

http://office.microsoft.com/enus/assistance/HA011402531033.aspx

Hope this helps,


Hedgie

 

[hedgie]

oops...try this link, the first one is broken...

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011402081033.aspx

Hedgie

 

[lappesjl]

I am running Exch 5.5 sp4 and the clients are using Outlook 2000, XP, & 2003, with very few problems. (Over 1200 mailboxes)

Just about everything has been covered in previous posts.

- DNS (very important w/Outlook 2003)
- Don't use the cache mode with OL 2003
- Apply all of the Exch 5.5 patches (I believe there are 2 or 3 patches concerning 5.5 & OL 2003)

Do all of these and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[Terry51]

Hot fixes are sometimes difficult to find...or require a fee from MIcrosoft. Was this the case with those applied after SP4??

 

[archeron]

I am having the same problem - getting patches from Microsoft is laughable, you have to call them up and then you are told the patches are no longer available - forcing you to upgrade your server.

I have found that if I install outlook 2000 first then do an upgrade to outlook 2003 it works fine - until you make any changes to the users mailbox.

If I do a stand alone install of outlook 2003 it fails to find my exchange server - the funny thing is that if I only put in my first name and then press the check name box it tells me that there are 3 mail boxes with the name paul and asks me which one I want (proving that it is communicating with my exchange server) oncee I chose which mailbox to use it then tells me my exchange server is unavailable.

 

[sdiesler]

We also have Exchange 5.5 an most Clients on OL2003. No Problems. Some Clients use Cache Mode, most do not.

OL2003 uses DNS or Hostfile for connecting the exchange server, older versions used WINS.

So be sure that name resolution via DNS or hostfile works properly.

 

[cagedmonkees]

I had the same problem sporadically. I ended up having to put the ip address of my exchange server into the hosts and lmhosts file to get this to go thru. Open up you lmhosts file in notepad and go to the bottom of the page. You will probably see 127.0.0.1. Just below it type "server ip address" "server name". This should clear up the problem.

 

[blakey2]

Hi all,

Am running exchange 5.5 on NT4 on domain1.
Running AD on win 2k server in domain2.
Running DNS service on win 2k3 (web)server in domain2.
-- DNS requests are all done through firewall.
- primary DNS server is the 2k3 (web)server (above)
- secondary DNS servers are those of out ISP

Trust between domain1 and domain2.

Mixture of client outlook versions, predominately though we are running Office (Outlook) 2003. No problems whatsoever.
- We use cached mode.

To rule out DNS as a culprit, i would ping the mail server from the command prompt of one of the workstations.

ie.
c:>> ping mailserver

Where mailserver is the name of your mailserver.
This should resolve the IP address, send 4 packets and receive them just dandy. If it doesen't I would look at DNS config.

c:>> ipconfig /all

will tell you what you need to know about your current configuration.

Either put the servername IP address in the (lm)hosts file of every workstation as suggested above, or enable DNS service on one of your servers and point your DNS search records to that server. Or put the IP address of the mailserver into the mailbox profile when you set it up for a new user.

Cheers.

 

[prairieseahorse]

Is the Windows Firewall enabled? I've had a similar problem in the past and adding Outlook to the exclude list in the Firewall resolved it.