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Solved
Exchange Webmail failure but probably IIS problem
Posted on 2004-10-04
In my company we have a single domain with a single Windows 2003 server acting as the domain controller and data server. This server is also running Exchange 2003 standard edition and it was upgraded in two stages from an NT4 /Exchange 5.5 system. The server itself appears to be running fine, all users can logon and access their mailboxes via Outlook 2003 without problems. One or two user were interested in Outlook Web Access which naturally is included as standard with Exchange 2003 and was installed along with the rest of the package. However OWA simply isn't working.
From a machine on the network (or on the server itself) I can enter
//servername/exchange in IE and get a log-in prompt. However I enter the username and password (/domainname/username or username@fully_qualified_d
HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorised
error message. This is the same for all users and all users have webmail enabled.
I have also recently installed Microsoft's SUS software and when I attempt to go the the admin webpage //servername/SUSAdmin the system asks me to log-on (which I don't think it should be doing as I am already logged onto the server with admin rights), the system apparently accepts my log-in but then the IE screen remains completely blank (all white).
This is making me think that the problem is more with IIS or Windows itself rather than with Exchange or SUS. If I enter //servername in IE then I do get the IIS 'homepage' as I would expect. IIS permissions all appear to be OK and I have tried various authentication methods (anonymous, Windows digest etc. without any luck). There are no errors listed in any of the event logs and all other aspects of the server are running correctly
Do I need to uninstall and re-install IIS (is this even possible in Windows 2003 server and will it bring done the Exchange system)? or does anyone know of anything else I should look for?
Many thanks
John
From a machine on the network (or on the server itself) I can enter
//servername/exchange in IE and get a log-in prompt. However I enter the username and password (/domainname/username or username@fully_qualified_d
HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorised
error message. This is the same for all users and all users have webmail enabled.
I have also recently installed Microsoft's SUS software and when I attempt to go the the admin webpage //servername/SUSAdmin the system asks me to log-on (which I don't think it should be doing as I am already logged onto the server with admin rights), the system apparently accepts my log-in but then the IE screen remains completely blank (all white).
This is making me think that the problem is more with IIS or Windows itself rather than with Exchange or SUS. If I enter //servername in IE then I do get the IIS 'homepage' as I would expect. IIS permissions all appear to be OK and I have tried various authentication methods (anonymous, Windows digest etc. without any luck). There are no errors listed in any of the event logs and all other aspects of the server are running correctly
Do I need to uninstall and re-install IIS (is this even possible in Windows 2003 server and will it bring done the Exchange system)? or does anyone know of anything else I should look for?
Many thanks
John
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9 Comments
SUS will always ask you to login - that is by design.
The URLs you have entered, have you fudged them on purpose? It should be http://servername/exchange
The user authentication should be domain\username - no leading \
First fix for any OWA queries is authentication types.
In IIS Manager look at the Exchange virtual directories.
/exchange
/exadmin
/public
/exchweb
Each should have ONLY basic and integrated authenticaiton enabled.
/exchweb should also have anonymous authentication enabled.
Simon.
The URLs you have entered, have you fudged them on purpose? It should be http://servername/exchange
The user authentication should be domain\username - no leading \
First fix for any OWA queries is authentication types.
In IIS Manager look at the Exchange virtual directories.
/exchange
/exadmin
/public
/exchweb
Each should have ONLY basic and integrated authenticaiton enabled.
/exchweb should also have anonymous authentication enabled.
Simon.
Authentications are all checked and set ok; and that was a mistake on my part re the log-in name. I have tried domainname\username with no luck. Oddly enough if I enter
http://servername/exchange/username then I immediately get a page not found error and it doesn't ask me to log-in first.
As for the SUS log-in, on another system I look after, if I log-onto the server console directly as a domain admin and enter http://servername/susadmin it immediately gives me the front page (as I'm already logged in with admin privs.) wherase on the server in question doing the same thing asks for a log-in and still fails.
Very odd
John
http://servername/exchange/username then I immediately get a page not found error and it doesn't ask me to log-in first.
As for the SUS log-in, on another system I look after, if I log-onto the server console directly as a domain admin and enter http://servername/susadmin it immediately gives me the front page (as I'm already logged in with admin privs.) wherase on the server in question doing the same thing asks for a log-in and still fails.
Very odd
John
Try following this article to reset the virtual directories in Exchange 2003:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=883380
Simon.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=883380
Simon.
Simon
Thanks for the tip but I already found that article when doing a search for solutions. Needless to say it didn't work.
John
Thanks for the tip but I already found that article when doing a search for solutions. Needless to say it didn't work.
John
The two fixes I have outlined resolve most problems. If this machine was an upgrade then that is probably the cause. Upgrades can cause many problems - with legacy settings interfering. If the IIS Lockdown tool was run on the old NT4 system then some of those settings could be causing the problem.
You might be looking at moving the data to another machine, wipe and reinstall, unless anyone else can come up with ideas.
Simon.
You might be looking at moving the data to another machine, wipe and reinstall, unless anyone else can come up with ideas.
Simon.
I am beginning to come to the same conclusion myself.
Just to make things a little more wierd on another system (also Windows 2003 Server / Exchange 2003) I can check the IIS setting for the Exchange virtual directory and find that it's pointing to //./BackOfficeStore/domain
John
Just to make things a little more wierd on another system (also Windows 2003 Server / Exchange 2003) I can check the IIS setting for the Exchange virtual directory and find that it's pointing to //./BackOfficeStore/domain
John
That pinging problem sounds like duff DNS settings somewhere on the server. I presume you have gone through the network settings and ensured that they are correct? (DNS pointing to the DC only etc).
Otherwise it sounds like a mess and I would start planning to swing the data out to another machine so that it can be rebuilt clean.
Simon.
Otherwise it sounds like a mess and I would start planning to swing the data out to another machine so that it can be rebuilt clean.
Simon.
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