OOF and Free Busy Don't Work 4

[markdmac]

My environment is SBS 2008 which has Exchange 2007. Out of Office Assistant works via OWA but not with Outlook 2007. My research shows that this is due to the fact that the Autodiscover service changed for Outlook 2007 clients.

We are using a public cert issued by Thawte.When I run Test-OutlookWeb Services I get a failure. Details below.

[PS] C:\Windows\System32>Test-OutlookWebServices | fl


Id      : 1003
Type    : Information
Message : About to test AutoDiscover with the e-mail address Administrator@company.com.

Id      : 1007
Type    : Information
Message : Testing server PHOENIX.company.local with the published name https:
          //phoenix/EWS/Exchange.asmx & [URL unfurl="true"]https://mail.company.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx.[/URL]

Id      : 1019
Type    : Information
Message : Found a valid AutoDiscover service connection point. The AutoDiscover
           URL on this object is [URL unfurl="true"]https://mail.company.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml.[/URL]

Id      : 1013
Type    : Error
Message : When contacting [URL unfurl="true"]https://mail.company.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.[/URL]
          xml received the error The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.

Id      : 1006
Type    : Error
Message : The Autodiscover service could not be contacted.

I have resolved this problem for other customers int he past with the following commands but they are not resolving the issue on this server.

Set-ClientAccessServer -Identity PHOENIX -AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri [URL unfurl="true"]https://mail.company.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml[/URL]

Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory -Identity "PHOENIX\EWS (SBS Web Applications)" -InternalURL [URL unfurl="true"]https://mail.company.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx[/URL] -BasicAuthentication:$true 

Set-OABVirtualDirectory -Identity "PHOENIX\OAB (SBS Web Applications)" -InternalURL [URL unfurl="true"]https://mail.company.com/OAB[/URL]

Enable-OutlookAnywhere -Server PHOENIX -ExternalHostname "mail.company.com" -ClientAuthenticationMethod "Basic"-SSLOffloading:$False

Set-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory -Identity "PHOENIX\Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync (SBS Web Applications)" -ExternalURL [URL unfurl="true"]https://mail.company.com/Microsoft-Server-Activesync[/URL]

Set-UMVirtualDirectory -Identity "PHOENIX\UnifiedMessaging (SBS Web Applications)" -InternalURL [URL unfurl="true"]https://phoenix.company.local/UnifiedMessaging/Service.asmx[/URL] -BasicAuthentication:$true

When I execute the command Enable-OutlookAnywhere -Server PHOENIX -ExternalHostname "mail.company.com" -ClientAuthenticationMethod "Basic"-SSLOffloading:$False I receive and error:

Enable-OutlookAnywhere : The virtual directory 'Rpc' already exists under 'PHOENIX.company.local/Default Web Site'.
Parameter name: VirtualDirectoryName
At line:1 char:23
+ Enable-OutlookAnywhere  <<<< -Server PHOENIX -ExternalHostname "mail.company.com" -ClientAuthenticationMethod "Basic"-SSLOffloading:$False

But when you look in IIS, the RPC and RPC With Cert folders are not under Default Web Site but under the SBS Web Applications.

Anybody have any ideas that can help me? I've tried everything I can think of.

 

[Zelandakh]

Dumb question but in the event log are you seeing failure events on 9518, 454, 492, 413 and 485 by any chance?

Even dumber one since it is you but are you running SP1 RU5?

I've seen this exact issue before but not on an SBS box.

 

[ShackDaddy]

I think what you're seeing with the RPC directory is normal. Here's the output from a Get-OutlookAnywhere I ran on a fresh install:

ServerName                 : SERVER
SSLOffloading              : False
ExternalHostname           : remote.corpulent.com
ClientAuthenticationMethod : Basic
IISAuthenticationMethods   : {Basic, Ntlm}
MetabasePath               : IIS://SERVER.corp.local/W3SVC/1/ROOT/Rpc
Path                       :
Server                     : SERVER
AdminDisplayName           :
ExchangeVersion            : 0.1 (8.0.535.0)
Name                       : Rpc (Default Web Site)
DistinguishedName          : CN=Rpc (Default Web Site),CN=HTTP,CN=Protocols,CN=
                             SERVER,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group
                              (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=Fir
                             st Organization,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,
                             CN=Configuration,DC=corp,DC=local
Identity                   : SERVER\Rpc (Default Web Site)
Guid                       : 6085a875-637e-40f9-9056-94239ee26521
ObjectCategory             : corp.local/Configuration/Schema/ms-Exch-Rpc
                             -Http-Virtual-Directory
ObjectClass                : {top, msExchVirtualDirectory, msExchRpcHttpVirtual
                             Directory}
WhenChanged                : 1/12/2009 9:58:11 PM
WhenCreated                : 1/12/2009 9:58:11 PM
OriginatingServer          : SERVER.corp.local
IsValid                    : True

It must be something else. If you deleted and recreated your mailbox store, did you reassociate your mailbox store with a default offline address book?

Also, I should note that when I run the get-OutlookAnywhere cmdlet, I also get this error before the results above show up:

WARNING: IIS://SERVER.corpadvisor.local/W3SVC/1/ROOT/Rpc was not found. Please
make sure you have typed it correctly.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net

 

[Zelandakh]

Also, check Outlook client Sync issues. Are you getting any 0X8004010F errors?

 

[ShackDaddy]

I think that in general, I'd be careful about firing off cmdlets that you use in non-SBS environments, as things have sort of been kludged in order to get the single-name certs to work... I think the rpc thing is evidence of that: it shouldn't work, but they've hacked it together so that it does, and we're supposed to ignore the error.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net

 

[markdmac]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Zelandakh SBS 2008 ships with SP1 Roll Up 5. I don't see any of those event IDs in the event logs and no sync errors on my client.

ShackDaddy I totally agree with you on the need to stick with the wizards. One thing I worry about is that SBS 2008 REALLY wants you to use a public name of remote.company.com and we are using mail.company.com. I wonder if that has anything to do with this.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[Zelandakh]

Mark,
Install RU6 anyway. Then can you try remote.domain and see if that fixes it? Would be good to know for sure!

 

[markdmac]

Installing the new RU6 at 4PM my time today.

I was of the original opinion that these issues were related but I think otherwise now.

I just tried the following:

Get-PublicFolder -server PHOENIX "\non_ipm_subtree\SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY" -recurse | Format-List
Set-PublicFolder -Identity "\NON_IPM_SUBTREE\SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY\EX:/o=COMPANY/ou=First Administrative Group" -Replicas "phoenix\Public Folder Database"
Set-PublicFolder -Identity "\NON_IPM_SUBTREE\SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY\EX:/o=COMPANY/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)" -Replicas "phoenix\Public Folder Database"

Then I followed the following KB.
[URL unfurl="true"]http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb331972.aspx[/URL]

Waiting to restart services after installing RU6.

 

[markdmac]

Wow, [red]WARNING TO ALL INSTALLING RU6: Will take about 15 minutes and requires a server reboot.[/red]

So far the problem doesn't appear to have been resolved by RU6 or the restart of services, but I still need to reboot the server tonight.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[markdmac]

Server was rebooted but still no joy. Free busy info is available via OWA but not Outlook 2007.

OOF is available via OWA but not Outlook 2007.

Anybody have any other ideas?

 

[ShackDaddy]

You know, I had exactly this situation a couple of weeks ago, and knuckled down one morning and resolved it. But I didn't document it, so I'm going to have to call the guy that I had on the phone when it was resolved and see what it was. Seems like it had something to do with the EWS. Could you paste your "get" for that here so I can look at it?

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net

 

[markdmac]

Many thanks Dave. That would be most appreciated.

Here is what you requested.

[PS] C:\>Get-WebServicesVirtualDirectory | fl


InternalNLBBypassUrl :

https://phoenix.company.local/EWS/Exchange.asmx

Name : EWS (SBS Web Applications)
InternalAuthenticationMethods : {Basic, Ntlm, WindowsIntegrated}
ExternalAuthenticationMethods : {Basic, Ntlm, WindowsIntegrated}
BasicAuthentication : True
DigestAuthentication : False
WindowsAuthentication : True
MetabasePath : IIS://PHOENIX.company.local/W3SVC/3/ROOT/EWS
Path : C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\ClientAccess\exchweb\EWS
Server : PHOENIX
InternalUrl :

https://mail.company.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx

ExternalUrl :

https://mail.company.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx

AdminDisplayName :
ExchangeVersion : 0.1 (8.0.535.0)
DistinguishedName : CN=EWS (SBS Web Applications),CN=HTTP,CN=Protocols,CN=PHOENIX,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=company,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=company,DC=local
Identity : PHOENIX\EWS (SBS Web Applications)
Guid : c8a20dcc-582f-477a-9c66-61829d445250
ObjectCategory : itSynergy.local/Configuration/Schema/ms-Exch-Web-Services-Virtual-Directory
ObjectClass : {top, msExchVirtualDirectory, msExchWebServices
VirtualDirectory}
WhenChanged : 2/11/2009 10:06:14 AM
WhenCreated : 12/24/2008 1:03:08 PM
OriginatingServer : PHOENIX.company.local
IsValid : True

 

[Zelandakh]

This feels the same as a guy from the public newsgroups. I took it offline and after dozens of emails and checks, we nailed it to Exchange being on a 2008 DC. Blew the box, installed exactly the same way but without the dcpromo and it worked fine.

I've just done Get-WebServicesVirtualDirectory | fl on my CAS and get similar response except:
Internal and External Auth modes do not include Basic Auth so Basic Auth is therefore False. My originating server is a 2003 box which could be a difference of course.

 

[ShackDaddy]

I compared the EWS to my fresh SBS 2008 build, and it looked identical.

Zel, seems like whatever kludge the SBS team did is the difference between what you had to do with that other guy and what should be configured on this server.

I should note that when I dealt with this problem a week or two ago, it was a multi-server Exchange deployment, and not an SBS 2008 situation.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net

 

[markdmac]

Dave, can you verify if your Outlook 2007 client can access OOF?

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[markdmac]

Can anyone post a sample autodiscover/autodiscover.xml file. I'm not sure the one on this server is complete. It only has the following in it.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
- <Autodiscover>
- <!--  This is a placeholder file 
  --> 
  </Autodiscover>

 

[Zelandakh]

Identical to mine in every way.

 

[markdmac]

Thanks Zelandakh.

I have half of this fixed now. I was able to resolve issues with the Free/Busy by pushing out a registry key via Group Policy Preferences.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\Calendar
Value Type: DWORD
Value Name: UseLegacyFB
Value:1

Our install of SBS 2008 was a migration and the above key forces Outlook 2007 to use the Public Folder based Free/Busy information.

That only took 26 hours of research to find a fix for! Aghhh.

Now I just need to figure out the OOF part.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[patstone]

Thanks Mark, your free/busy code helped me. I am all so having the same issues as you.

 

[markdmac]

Patstone,

I'm still working on the Free/Busy solution too as we discovered that the above setting disables some of the newer Free/Busy features. For example the Scheduling Assistant button changes to just Scheduling. This removed text preview of meetings and removes the suggestion feature to find a good time for a meeting.

So the above is OK for a quick fix but not the ideal situation.

Patstone are you running SBS 2008 also? I'm trying to figure out if this is a bug in all SBS installations or if it is just in Upgrades VS Greenfield installations.


I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.