The RPC server is unavailable and There are currently no logon servers available to service the logon request

99% of the time this is DNS related.  If you have Scavenging enabled in DNS it's likely the SRV records are getting deleted before their renewal.

The other 1% is due to Exchange not being able to locate the GC.

The GC was mentioned once in an event..but I looked into it..and couldn't find out why this had hapened.....

Hi andymack,

have run dcdiag? it will help to pinpoint where this is falling over

Cheers!

This is what came up...i'm not sure what this is..but it's the only error.

Starting test: kccevent
    An Warning Event occured.  EventID: 0x8000043B
       Time Generated: 04/24/2006   18:45:09
       (Event String could not be retrieved)
    ......................... STORAGE failed test kccevent

Make sure your DCs clocks are syncronized with each other (also same Time Zone).

You may need to configure a time server for the root DC.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816042/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/262680/en-us

Let us know.

I get two errors now

Event Type:      Error
Event Source:      W32Time
Event Category:      None
Event ID:      4
Date:            4/25/2006
Time:            2:52:21 PM
User:            N/A
Computer:      STORAGE
Description:
The Application Experience Lookup service failed to start.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


and this one


Event Type:      Error
Event Source:      W32Time
Event Category:      None
Event ID:      21
Date:            4/25/2006
Time:            2:52:21 PM
User:            N/A
Computer:      STORAGE
Description:
The time service is configured to use one or more input providers, however, none of the input providers are available. The time service has no source of accurate time.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

What time server did you use?  ...and do you have Internet connection to that server?

You should be using Stratum 3 servers.

Actually I never got a chance to even enter one.....there was no place in the registry that I saw.....that allowed me to choose one.

If registry keys are missing (not there) and you need to change a value as per the article, you must create the key manually then populate it.

Restart the w32tm service after it's all done.

I went ahead and configured the time server locally see below.....then today...it happened again..exchange shut down..letting me know that the rpc server is down...no domain server's can be found..yadda yadda


Configuring the Windows Time service to use an internal hardware clock
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To configure the PDC master without using an external time source, change the announce flag on the PDC master. The PDC master is the server that holds the forest root PDC master role for the domain. This configuration forces the PDC master to announce itself as a reliable time source and uses the built-in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) clock. To configure the PDC master by using an internal hardware clock, follow these steps:1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags
3. In the right pane, right-click AnnounceFlags, and then click Modify.
4. In Edit DWORD Value, type A in the Value data box, and then click OK.
5. Quit Registry Editor.
6. At the command prompt, type the following command to restart the Windows Time service, and then press ENTER:
net stop w32time && net start w32time

Check the time between servers (including time zone and daylight savings time settings) - they cannot be more than 5 minutes off of each other.

Let me know what you find.

They are within a minute of each other. I found this on the exchange event viewer to confirm

Event Type:      Information
Event Source:      W32Time
Event Category:      None
Event ID:      35
Date:            4/26/2006
Time:            8:08:03 AM
User:            N/A
Computer:      MAILBOX
Description:
The time service is now synchronizing the system time with the time source storage.camarillo.com (ntp.d|192.168.0.8:123->192.168.0.4:123).

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Ok, so this much is working properly.

Now - are there any other errors relating to the cave-in of Exchange during the outage?

Perhaps, clear the logs and wait for it to happen again so we can see something real-time.

Is there anyway to send you the two log files of the exchange server. There is all kinds of info regarding the crash.

Sure.  My EE username at gmail.

on it's way

well it happened again...just now....man this sucks..I have to restart the exchange server..and all is fixed.

Just looking at those logs now.

I did make one change. It seems like it could be a DNS issue. I had two DNS entries listed on the nic card. the internal dns server as well as an external. I have removed the external. We shall see what happens. Thanks for all your help on this one.

OK, those are event logs - unless I have exactly the same software installed I won't be able to read the errors - especially for Exchange.

Post a few of the entries here.

you should be able to open any event viewer and open them.

I can open them in Event View sure, but if I don't have the perfcounters for Exchange then the errors look like this:

Event Type:      Error
Event Source:      MSExchangeAL
Event Category:      (5)
Event ID:      8026
Date:            4/26/2006
Time:            11:49:18 AM
User:            N/A
Computer:      xxxxx
Description:
The description for Event ID ( 8026 ) in Source ( MSExchangeAL ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: xxxx.xxxxx.com, , 51, Server Down,  .

One of your Kerberos errors relate to PAC (Proxy Auto Configuration)  are you handing this info out from DHCP, through a GPO or from an upstream proxy?

If you don't use it, remove it.

I"m thinking this is default in windows 2003 server...to block pop up's.....because I didn't set this up....what do you think?

I thought PAC was used to block pop up's....sorry....hey I"ve been watching it and so far so good....it might be the external dns entries that messed it up. I"m out of the office Friday....so i'll get back to you Monday....thanks...

Ok....still no hiccup......I think it was the external DNS entry on the nic card that was messing things up. It was trying to resolve DNS using that external I suppose. Thanks for all your help.