PDF Attachement problem

[dsk525]

Hi All,

At our office, our server connects thru VPN connection to an offsite exchange server. On client machines, whenever we try to receive or send emails with attachments (primarily PDF files) that range anywhere from 200kb to 1 Meg, Microsoft Outlook just hangs for ever. We end up just "killing" it, as it does not respond. On the exchange server, there is no such size limit policy set

I've checked for viruses, no viruses have been found. I've done a ping on the mail server and there was 25% data packet loss. At the same time, there is no loss of Internet connectivity. I also reset the router with no luck.

Any tips or pointers would be much appreciated!

Thank you in advance.

 

[mawilson]

Does Outlook ever give you a message about requesting data from the exchange server? How many people are connecting through the VPN connection? Do they all use the same connection? What is the connection speed? Do you connect across the VPN for anything except email?

Mark

 

[xmsre]

Sound like a bandwith issue.

 

[JillofAllTrades]

Had a similar issue and just power cycling the hub that connected the Exchange server to the Internet resolved the issue.

Christine

 

[dsk525]

Your question> Does Outlook ever give you a message about requesting data from the exchange server?
ANSWER> No, Outlook does not give any sort of a message about requesting data from the exchange server? I've tried sending like doc files and they seem to go thru fine.

Your question> How many people are connecting through the VPN connection?
ANSWER> Actually, just the server is connecting for VPN. But there are 8 client machines logged on to the server.

Your question> What is the connection speed?
ANSWER> We have DSL service. 1Mbs downstream and 512 upstream.

Your question> Do you connect across the VPN for anything except email?
ANSWER> It is only used for exchange server connection (emails).

In addition, I do not think it is a bandwidth problem as we use to be able to send and receive PDF files across all the time about two - three weeks ago. Absolutely, no setting have been changed on our or the remote server either.

Thank you for your help and your time!

 

[xmsre]

VPN adds encryption overhead. In additon, some VPN clients muck with MTU settings. Which VPN client do you use?

 

[dsk525]

The VPN we use is Watchguard Soho. I've confirmed we have the latest updates for this as well. Users at the actual remote server are able to send emails with PDF attachments upto 5megs. It's just our office who is having the issue since the last couple of weeks. Thanks for your input.

 

[xmsre]

Sounds familiar. Try setting the MTU size to 1378 or so on the client:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;826159