Iphone fails to connect to exchange

I have been trying to get this to work for weeks with my iPhone and finally yesterday I managed to sync it all.

I was looking far too far into settings, firewall ports, Exchange settings etc. The only thing I needed to do was make sure the Exchange server had Outlook Web Access installed and was working from the outside (using SSL on port 443), ensure the firewall had port 443 open and was forwarding to the Exchange server and enter the OWA server address into the iPhone.

I had read things about IMAP needing to be running, Secure IMAP forwarded, RPC over HTTP enabled, Exchange, Exchange Protocol 2.5, and lots more. However, none of these factors seemed to matter for me. I tried it with all of these solutions and it still wasn't working at the time.

We are running a single (no backend/frontend) Exchange 2003 SP2, store.exe version 6.5.7652.24 on a Windows 2003 R2 server and Sonicwall firewall. The only thing I 'think' might make this work is the OMA virtual directory being present on the Exchange server IIS, but I'm not 100% on this, we do have this present though.

The settings for the iPhone are as follows:

Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account > Exchange Server
Email: <Your Exchange email address>
Server: exchange.yourdomain.com   (no http://, , no http://, no /exchange, no /oma, no port numbers)
Username: domainname\username
Password: <domain password>
Use SSL: On

I hope this helps as it has now cured weeks of misery for me!

Lee.

Lee,

I am pulling my hair out!!! I can surf to my OWA and OMA server from the phone. It just won't connect through the exchange setup. I can even log into my OMA through safari.

I entered everything you said and the error states
"Unable to Verify Certificate" While automatically discovering account setting, the certificate from domain.com could not be verified.

Then it prompts my front-end server. After I input the server name webmail.domain.com - "Exchange account verification failed"

I look at the logs
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Logfiles\W3SVC1 and I don't find any errors there.

Does anyone know a good cell phone emulator? So I can test activesync with another phone.

I wasn't able to browse to my OMA folder using IE, I was getting a different error but I just presumed that was because it didn't detect a mobile browser version. I had the certificate error the same as what you had, so I installed the certificate on my iPhone. To do this I emailed the certificate (.cer file) to myself which was setup as a POP account on my phone, and when the emailed arrived I clicked on the attachment and it asks if you want to install the certificate to your profile store (Settings > General > Profile , it creates this menu option when you install certificates). This is how I cured that particular problem!

This may be a big problem why you can't verify your Exchange settings during setup, as it says, it can't verify the server certificate.

Lee.

Here is were I am stuck.
I found out that I don't have messaging and collaboration installed on the server.
So I tried reinstalling the Exchange SP2 and it won't install.
I have .Net Framework 1.1 Device Update 4.0 (not sure i
ASP.net installed
It is working on my backend exchange servers but it wont install on the frontend server.
I don't have any errors about it not installation though.
What could I be overlooking?

The messaging and collaboration requires ASP.net 1.1 to be enabled in IIS (Control Panel->Administrative Tools->IIS, select folder Web Service Extensions, select ASP.NET from the list and click Allow to enable it).

Do you have anything in the event log when the installation fails?

I definitely have ASP.net installed and it is allowed in IIS.

I saw nothing in the event log after I reinstalled Exchange SP2.

i am in the same boat as lgalan01

only i dont have multiple exchange servers.

i am able to verify the exchange server/account.  and i have mail, contacts, and calendars synced ON and according to the iphone all those settings are ok.

when i navigate to my mailbox, i dont see any emails, just an error that says, connection to the server failed.

my server is server 2003 with exchange 2003
SP2
OMA works/enabled
OWA works/enabled
RPC over HTTP enabled/works

mobile services are on
active sync is on
and i have a valid SSL from www.dyndns.com that expires in 2009

still cant connect.

imap and pop3 work fine.

oh well, i dont know what else to try for now.

I have the same problem.

I'm wondering about "sending a certificate" to the iPhone and installing it there. I have done that however it says it "Unsigned" in red text under settings / general / profile on the iPhone.

I'm confused as to WHICH certificate to install on the iPhone. I used the "same one" that I used for the "default webiste" on my sbs2003 server. Not sure it's supposed to be...  anyone???

Ive put "mydomain" instead of the domain Im working on (obviously) O.o

but this is what the certificat looks like on the iPhone - which obviously seems incorrect

yeah, same exact thing here...

how are you taking screen shots like that?

press your HOME button.. while holding it in press the "power on/off" button.. that takes a screen shot.

I just spoke to a friend of mine that has his iPhone syncing with their corporations email/calendar/contacts. He does NOT have a certificate installed on his phone! :) This obviously means you don't need to in my opinion. Bah! Back to trouble shooting IIS more I guess :(

then how do you send the screen shot?

its saves it in your pictures.. email it

Nice!!!

ok, back to trouble shooting the issue.

this is just frustrating.  

i have every other connection method working....but cant sync with iphone.

imap
pop3
RPC over http
OWA
OMA

same here.. got all that working. Just not the phone sync

great - now I've messed around ... my IMAP doesn't work now. It keeps saying incorrect password :(

What is that USUALLY again? Sigh..

Hey Guys,

Just to let you know, I have the certificate installed on my iPhone and that too says Unsigned. However, my iPhone does sync all ok to my Exchange server but you don't actually need to install the certificate as it works without.

Lee

https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/

my activesync test passes on that site....i dont get this!!!!!

Nice link!

I got:

      Testing SSLCertificate for validity.
       The SSLCertificate failed one or more certificate validation checks

I just installed my SSL Certificate (from Godaddy) yesterday on my Default Website. I guess they sometimes say it can take up to 72 hours to propagate? Does anyone else have experience with it "taking long" for the certificate to actually show up as valid? I do not have a lot of experience trouble shooting SSL certs as of yet :(  Usually they just work...  Last time I had a problem with a cert was becauseI they had bought it for www.domainname.com instead of secure.domainname.com which is where the secure site was located.

This time I bought it for mail.domainname.com .. I'm assuming that's where it should be since that is the external DNS name for my mail domain which I'm securing? I sound like a noob now but that's only because the "normal stuff" isn't working O.o

apple support says you NEED the enterprise data plan to connect to an exchange server.

however, people on other forums say that's a joke and you should be able to connect with the regular data plan package.

That's not true. My colleague that works for a big corporation has a "regular" iPhone plan just like me and he Syncs everything to their Exchange Server without Certificates nor any special IPhone plans...

yeah, good to hear.  i guess apple found another way to make some extra money.

Guess what? I got everything to work now. The problem where everything stopped working was due to ...expanding all the way down the chain of my Default Website in IIS somehow... something had DUPLICATED my default website twice!! I had two Default Webistes fighting over the same ports. I stopped the 2nd default website and that solved alot of my NEW exchange problems that I had got in the past day. Then after the TWO 3rd party certs that were required from Godaddy in order for them to work correctly became clear.. everything else worked.

The Certificate was the last piece of the puzzle for the ActiveSync to work!

I had ordered a Godaddy cert. It is complicated to actually get it installed correctly as you need 2 certificates to get it work RIGHT. They also need to be installed in a particular order.

Here is the perfect tutorial video's that explains exactly how:

http://www.netometer.com/video/tutorials/iis7-godaddy-ssl-certificate/

As soon as I installed the certs this way this https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/ worked perfectly!

I then configured the Iphone 2.1 and it still complained ONCE about the certificate not being "able to verify" it. However after pressing accept everything else worked like a charm. It now syncs ALL the information (mail, calendar & contacts) perfectly with my SBS2003 Exchange server.

well, i only have 1 default web site, so i dont think my server is getting confused with where the cert goes.

No it wasnt that it got confused about the cert! The 2nd default webiste appeared LATE in the game. I still couldn't sync with only ONE default website.

There is a trick to the certificate. Trust me. On this.

When I had only 1 default website running - I still couldn't get activesync to work.

The only way was to REALLY figure out how to install the certificate.

when you run the https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/ and test the activesync part. What does it error out on? Which step??

i just tried it from my house PC, i am at work now, and my active sync test passed.

Attempting to Resolve the host name mail.my company name.com in DNS.
 Host successfully Resolved
Additional Details
 IP(s) returned: x5.x1.9x.xxx

Testing TCP Port 443 on host mail.my company name.com to ensure it is listening/open.
 The port was opened successfully.

Testing SSLCertificate for validity.
 The certificate passed all validation requirements.
Additional Details
 Subject: CN=mail.company name.com, OU=Domain Control Validated - QuickSSL Premium(R), OU=See www.geotrust.com/resources/cps (c)08, OU=GT26530701, O=mail.company name.com, C=US, Issuer OU=Equifax Secure Certificate Authority, O=Equifax, C=US

Testing Http Authentication Methods for URL https://mail.comapny name.com/Microsoft-Server-Activesync/
 Http Authentication Methods are correct
Additional Details
 Found all expected authentication methods and no disallowed methods Methods Found: Basic realm="mail.company name.com"

Attempting an Activesync session with server
 Testing an ActiveSync session completed successfully
Test Steps
 Attempting to send OPTIONS command to server
 OPTIONS response was successfully received and is valid
Additional Details
 Headers received: MicrosoftOfficeWebServer: 5.0_Pub Pragma: no-cache Public: OPTIONS, POST Allow: OPTIONS, POST MS-Server-ActiveSync: 3.0.4215.0 MS-ASProtocolVersions: 1.0,2.0,2.1 MS-ASProtocolCommands: Sync,SendMail,SmartForward,SmartReply,GetAttachment,GetHierarchy,CreateCollection,DeleteCollection,MoveCollection,FolderSync,FolderCreate,FolderDelete,FolderUpdate,MoveItems,GetItemEstimate,MeetingResponse,Notify Content-Length: 0 Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:32:25 GMT Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0 X-Powered-By: ASP.NET

Attempting FolderSync command on ActiveSync session
 FolderSync command completed successfully.
Additional Details
 Number of Folders: 11

Attempting initial sync (no data) for Inbox folder
 Completed Sync Command successfully
Additional Details
 Status: 1

Attempting to test GetItemEstimate command for Inbox Folder
 Successfully received GetItemEstimate Response from Server
Additional Details
 Estimate: 1 messages

Attempting to test Sync of Inbox Folder
 Completed Sync Command successfully
Additional Details
 Number of items synchronized: 0

So does the activesync work on the iPhone now??

no.

my server has always been able to pass the active sync test.  that's why i don't understand this.

What kind of cert do you have installed? A 3rd party one correct? Thawte? Verisign?

http://www.geotrust.com/

i am still confused.

if SSL is not needed and the cert is not verified on the phone, why would it matter how the certificate is installed?

one thing i just noticed...

i have no idea if this will effect the iphone connecting...or any device that is.

but i just noticed that my cert points to

https://mail.companyname.com

but when i check web mail off of the network i use...

https://mail.companyname.com/exchange

mail.domainname.com is correct for the certificate.

OWA goes on mail.domainname.com/exchange

Active Sync uses mail.domainname.com not /exchange

ok, well back to my problem then....as long as the names are correct.

at this point, i think i just give up.  the tests are passing from that test exchange web link i posted...i dont see how the test can pass, basically confirming that active sync is on/ready/working, etc....but the iphone wont connect.

UPDATE!!!!

i have a sprint ppc 6700, old phone, at my house.

windows mobile 5.0

i connected it to my home LAN, and it had no problem syncing to my exchange server at work.  i got email, contacts, and calendar...not problem!!!!

so that is good news.

looks like the server is setup fine and working as it should.

problem must be with the iphone.

UPDATE!!!!

i have a sprint ppc 6700, old phone, at my house.

windows mobile 5.0

i connected it to my home LAN, and it had no problem syncing to my exchange server at work.  i got email, contacts, and calendar...not problem!!!!

so that is good news.

looks like the server is setup fine and working as it should.

problem must be with the iphone.

ok, i was able to connect to a friends server and sync contacts, mail, and calendar.

however, i still cant connect to my server.

windows mobile 5 connects and the test exchange connectivity web site confirms active sync works.

his exchange version is 6.5.7638.1

my exchange server is 6.5.7226.0

i helped him enable active sync, and his mobile services properties page had an extra tab and an extra box to click.  my active sync box was missing that information.

maybe a certain version of exchange is needed for the iphone to sync properly?

kajbjo:

What version of ESM do you have?

i have version

6.5.7226.0

My friend has

6.5.7638.1

and i was able to connect to his exchange server, with my iphone, and sync everything.

i already got the updates from MS, but i need to reboot and i wont be able to do that until after hours.

I have 6.5.7638.2

ok, well i upgraded my exchange to service pack 2, this whole time i thought it was the server that needed sp2...

mine syncs.  my server had sp2, but my exchange was not the latest, now it is and now everything syncs!!!

finally!

Yay!! Congrats!! :)

I am so glad I stumbled across this page. I was going through the same misery as tomdlgns. I was losing my mind, I could of swore that microsoft update rolled me up to exchange 2003 sp2, but i checked my updates and it sure didn't, so i downloaded it manually and let it install. Waited for it to reboot, and magically it started to work.

Took forever to find this page, though.

Good work!