IMAP services unresponsive

[rliebsch]

I have an Exchange 2003 Enterprise SP3 (6603) running on a Windows 2000
Server SP4 (current).

Several days ago the IMAP services degraded severely. There are no errors in
the Application or System logs. The IMAP server accepts connections but the
LOGIN and LIST commands often take a great while to return the results and
final OK. Sometimes even NOOP takes awhile to return OK. (Commands tested by
telnet exchaange 143). In Exchange System Manager I can see session logon
attempts taking as long at 300 seonds to change to active sessions. I imagine
the client then requestiong LIST and timing out. Maximum logging of the
IMAP4svc for the server shows connection aceepted from and many closing
connection, but very few Successful logins. No configuration or performance
changes were made before the changes in quality service occured. Memory and
Network performance are normal. We have about 65 current users.

I work in a Macintosh heavy office with many users on Entourage (configured
as Exchange Clients) and several using Mail.app (also configured as Exchange
Clients) and iCal (with snerdware's GroupCal). All WebDAV and SMTP services
plus the usual MAPI access methods appear to be fully functioning. OWA is
working as well. Additionally, we have a Blackberry Enterprise server which
is sending and recieving mail through the Exchange server with no issues.
Entourage is capable of sending but not receiving mail; Calendars and
Contacts are also appropriately updated. Only noteworthy item for Entourage
is many users are being asked repeatedly for their passwords, they do
re-enter the passwords to no avail. They can restart the application after a
short time and successfully get mail for a short period before being prompted
for password again.

Yesterday in attempt to fix this issue, I reinstalled SP3 and the August
Hotfix Rollup.

Additional note. I have found some errors which might just be coincidence.
With IMAP4SVC diagnostic logging on Maximum the following error appears:

"Type: Error Computer: Exchange Source: IMAP4SVC Category: General
EventID:1014

An error occurred calling into the Microsoft Exchange Information Store
service: the call to EcGetMessageProp failed with error 0x8004010f. "
The data is: bytes: 0000: 62 05 62 00 b.b.
words: 0000: 00620562


Either just before, during or after this error shows up, the IMAP server
works as it should for a short while.

 

[wyzard]

Hello rliebsch,

Have you tried to set up the account from scratch in Entourage using the Exchange tab? If so, does the account "auto set up" properly with the proper domain servers indicated?

If this fails there should be some indication from this pointing to a failure in the network of some service.

I assume that all or most of your Macintoshes are OSX?

Just troubleshooting questions for now.

Wyz

 

[rliebsch]

Wyzard,

I have configured and reconfigured EntourageX and 2004, Mail.app, and Outlook Express 6. 2004 runs okay, mostly, though requires the users log in again (so there might be something odd with the WebDAV as well). All other IMAP clients exhibit the same waiting and spinning. "server is taking too long to respond - wait or stop"

I tried setting up the above clients as POP3 as well. They worked fine. And Traditional MAPI clients like Outlook work like a charm too.

I tested the IMAP from the server by issuing IMAP commands from the command line as well. The rest of Exchange seems fine. Just the IMAP services are lagging.

 

[wyzard]

Couple of things I have heard of is to make sure on the IMAP virtual server that you have the I.P. address instead of the default "All Unassigned", and to turn on the fast delivery option to speed up access.

I have about 20 OSX Macs with Entourage X in our environment, (so far no problems), so I don't have a lot of troubleshooting experience with IMAP and Exchange.

Wyz

 

[rliebsch]

My settings match your recommendation.

Oddest thing. About 2 hours ago, everything picked back up.

We found Entourage X was horrible, and Entourage 2004 only slightly less bad. We started using Apple's Mail.app configured as an Exchange client and we use Snerdware's GroupCal 2.0 to synchronize Calendars, and Tasks.

Back to the topic: I have an email into Microsoft about this. I'll make the phone call tomorrow. Additionally, I am also on the hunt for an MCSE Exchange Engineer to take a look. I have been administering Exchange for about 8 years now. I haven't seen this before. Apparently, no one else has either....

Thanks though...

 

[wyzard]

Sorry I couldn't help more.

Wyz

 

[rliebsch]

Another pair of eyes looking at any problem is always help. Otherwise you're just trying to knock a whole in a brick wall with your head.

Thanks much