Question

Iphone sync with SBS 2003

Asked by: pbaee

We have a client that we can not get their Iphones to sync to their Exchange mailboxes.  OMA and OWA work fine.  Setting up a test account on the server works fine.  Sending and receiving email to and from the test account works fine.  The test account was created by copying one of the problem accuounts in AD.  The only major difference between the test account and the copied account is mailbox size (21KB vs 2.6GB).  On the problem accounts the mailbox folders are populated on the iphone but there is no content in any of the folders.  Any ideas?

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Asked On
2009-07-03 at 13:51:28ID24543064
Topics

iPhone

,

Exchange Email Server

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Answers

 

by: tntmaxPosted on 2009-07-03 at 13:57:24ID: 24774374

Did you setup a 3rd party SSL cert? What version of Iphone? Do you have Form Based Authentication turned on, or require SSL turned on? These will both break active sync on the iPhone (and other phones as well).

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-03 at 14:22:22ID: 24774472

Visit https://testexchangeconnectivity.com and run the activesync test.

If you get any errors, there is information on the site about the errors and potential solutions.  If you need further assistance, please post the errors back here for us to go over and offer suggestions.

Do you have other handsets that work with your exchange server or are the iPhones the first?

I am including a link to an iPhone setup walkthrough, just in case you are missing something:

http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2008/07/13/walkthrough-exchange-activesync-on-your-iphone-20/

Alan

 

by: leewPosted on 2009-07-03 at 14:57:49ID: 24774610

Assuming the ActiveSync for iPhone works the same way as it does for windows, then what you're experiencing is normal.  On my Windows Mobile phone, I have to tell it which folders to I want to sync.  It lists them all so I can decide, but it only syncs the ones I select.  They are also listing all folders so that you can "file" mail into other folders as you want to.  Once filed and a sync takes place, that mail is no longer accessible UNLESS you have indicated you want to sync a folder other than the inbox.

 

by: leewPosted on 2009-07-03 at 14:58:33ID: 24774616

 

by: pbaeePosted on 2009-07-03 at 15:07:38ID: 24774676

I guess I was not clear in my post.  We created a test account on the server with an exchange mailbox on the server.  We configure the Iphone (same Iphone used for the problem accounts) to use the test account.  It connects fine and syncs with the server.  Sending and receiving emails on the Iphone works with the test account.  

If we change the account information (or create a new one) on the Iphone (same Iphone that works with the test account) to one of the problem accounts, the folders get populated on the Iphone but none of the folder contents arrives.  All we are interested is the inbox.  When you go to the inbox on the Iphone nothing is there and the "spinner" at the bottom of the Iphone keeps spinng with the comment "checking for mail".


 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-03 at 15:12:26ID: 24774706

It could be an error in the Exchange Database.

Are there any ESE errors in the Application Event log on the server?

You may need to run ESEUTIL /P on the database to repair it and then ISINTEG -s (Server) -fix -test alltests

Some useful info on ESEUTIL / ISINTEG: http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Exchange-ISINTEG-ESEUTIL.html

 

by: leewPosted on 2009-07-03 at 15:21:02ID: 24774743

How large is the user's inbox?

 

by: pbaeePosted on 2009-07-03 at 15:48:01ID: 24774830

I think leew is onto something.  The users inbox was 1.2GB.  We copied the users inbox to the test account and now the test account has the same issue.   We removed most of the 1.2GB content and it is now flowing again.  We have the Iphone set to show 25 recent messages, mail days to sync to 1 day and sync only the inbox.  Even with these settings the 1.2GB would stop the flow or at least take forever to sync.

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-05 at 14:14:22ID: 24781339

I don't think the size of the mailbox is going to be an issue - I have users with far more in their mailboxes and they don't have a problem.

My thoughts lean more towards a corrupt message / mailbox store.

Are there any ESE errors in the Application Event Log?

Can you / have you run eseutil /g (integrity check) against the particular store (needs to be taken offline) to see if the store is happy?

If not, then run eseutil /p and follow it by isinteg -s (servername) -fix -test alltests

 

by: cepollyPosted on 2009-07-05 at 18:10:26ID: 24781905

I agree on the mailbox size not being the issue. I use the iPhone and my mailbox is over 4GB's

As a quick solution, you could export all the user's email to a PST file, remove the mailbox. Make sure the mailbox is purged.

Create a new mailbox for the existing user and move all his email back to their respective folders.

Complete any housekeeping and try setting up the iPhone again for the user.

 

by: pbaeePosted on 2009-07-08 at 08:51:01ID: 24805085

We tried eseutil /g and the store came back happy.  We did create a test user and it works fine.  As soon as we copy more that 100 messages to the test mailbox is when it quits syncing.  If ther are only ten or so, it syncs.  We are going to go on site and connect via 802.11 and reconfigure with the local server name and see if that helps.  We suspect a incoming connectivity issue.  Any other ideas?

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-08 at 08:53:46ID: 24805118

How many messages is the iPhone set to show?  This can be limited and is probably why you are stopping synching.

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-08 at 09:04:36ID: 24805257

Does this Apple article help?

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1693

 

by: pbaeePosted on 2009-07-09 at 07:55:04ID: 24814325

We tried connecting onsite using the internal IP of the server and WFII for the connection and it still does not work.  We already tried configuring of the IPhone to minmum settings and the suggestions in link that alanhardisty sent.  Any other ideas?

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-09 at 07:57:33ID: 24814359

Then it has to be a problem with the iPhone.

Have you downloaded / installed the latest OS for the phone?

 

by: pbaeePosted on 2009-07-09 at 08:02:10ID: 24814408

Yes, these are brand spanking new iPhone 3Gs'es. We've tested it with other sites and it syncs fine.

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-09 at 08:05:47ID: 24814449

A bit harsh, but how about exporting the problem users mail to a .PST file, nuking their account from exchange, re-create the exchange account, put the mail back and then try reconnecting.

If that fails, nuke the user account and then create a new one.

 

by: pbaeePosted on 2009-07-09 at 14:21:13ID: 24818488

We've tried that. The iPhone will sync until we start importing the .pst to the users account. After the import the iPhone says, "checking for mail".

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-09 at 14:34:57ID: 24818582

Okay - how about importing an exported mailbox from another user!

To my mind, it sounds like there is an issue with one or more emails in the mailbox you are importing.

If you try another users mailbox (exported to a PST) and then import that PST - does the iPhone sync properly?

 

by: pbaeePosted on 2009-07-10 at 14:45:27ID: 24827710

We have tried that too with no success.

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-13 at 14:22:23ID: 24844123

When you import the PST file into Exchange, do you wait until Outlook says all folders up-to-date before checking the phone?

 

by: pbaeePosted on 2009-07-13 at 23:02:04ID: 24846605

Problem solved....  We paid $175 to a group we found on the internet and got our solution resolved in 15 minutes (as a consultant in the business for 22 years, I was very upset we did not figure it out).  We must have put in 20 man hours plus all your time trying to figure this out.  They logged in, fixed our problem THEN asked for a CC for payment.  I've instructed our staff that if it takes longer than 30 minutes to set up an Iphone to Exchange and have problems, STOP and call these guys.  

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-13 at 23:07:22ID: 24846619

Okay - well done - but what did they do to fix the problem?  (for the benefit of all).

 

by: pbaeePosted on 2009-07-17 at 19:31:48ID: 24884536

They made multiple changes but the one that we think did the trick was changing the default website identification IP address from (All Unassigned) to the actual IP address.

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-07-18 at 00:19:58ID: 24885113

Okay - appreciate the update - are you going to close the question down now?

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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