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dannmclainFlag for United States of America

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No messages display in Outlook Web Access

Several users (myself included) try to access email from outside our LAN using OWA.
Their mailbox says x Unread messages but when clicking on the inbox or any folder within we get the message 'there are no items to show in this view'.
It worked fine up until this morning and nothing has changed & nothing out of the ordinary in the event viewer.
This goes for calander, tasks, sent items, you name it. Same message. It works fine from inside the LAN though.
Any thoughts?
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midustouch
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Do you have a front-end exchange server or a single server accessible externally?
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Sorry. I have a single server running in AD using NAT through a Firebox X700. The exchange box is not a DC.
I would suggest a cold recycle of the Firebox before doing anything else. If I understood correctly OWA works within the LAN.
Tried rebooting the Firebox but still the same result.
Yes, OWA works just as it should from inside. It's only when users accessing their mailbox over the Internet (from home, traveling etc.) that the issue comes up.
This issue does not seem to want to go away.
I've checked my firewall logs & don't see anything unusual.
Checked the event logs & they are primarilly clean (except the stuff that was there prior to this happening).
I've checked all of the services & they look great.

If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it. My company has 'higher ups' that only access email via the Internet & OWA but as of now they can NOT.

Thanks.
Is this how your network is connected?

Modem - Firewall - Switch
Exchange + LAN clients - Switch?

The firebox has minimum 3 connectors, DMZ, Internal, External; where is the switch connected to?

This looks like a firewall problem. You might want to check if all the correct ports are open on your firebox's external facing NIC. Is there some sort of filtering enabled on the firewall? I'd check that too.
Power down the firebox. Don't reboot it. Wait for a minute then restart = cold restart.
In addition power-down all the switches in-between the firebox and the LAN. I've see switches do funny stuff like "selective transmission" especially if there's a power problem like blackouts, surges etc.
Here's my layout;
ISP->router->firewall
firewall; external to router, trusted to LAN switch.
I tried the cold boot and restarting the switches. Same result. I checked to make sure necessary ports were open & they are. I have not changed anything and the weird part is OWA comes up fine after authentication. It just doesn't show any content.
I also tried removing the IIS virtual folders, restarting the services (which recreated the folders) but still the problem persists.
Hmmm... ok.

Are you able to simulate an external connection to your site? Like dialout to your ISP using a modem and try logging on to OWA?

Maybe it's an internet explorer setting problem.

In internet explorer:
click on tools on the file menu at the top
Click on Internet Options
When the options window opens, click on the tab labled Privacy
On the Privacy Tab, click on the button that says advanced
Click on the checkbox to override automatic cookie handling
Make sure both select options are set to accept
Also check the box next to always allow session cookies
click ok twice
Which version of Exchange is this?
What method of authentication is IIS using?
Check if any your logs in \Windows\System32\LogFiles folder and see if there's anything we can use to track down the problem.

The default Web site's logs are stored in a subfolder named W3SVC1
Exchange 2000 OWA Clients Receive Blank Page When Socket Is Prematurely Closed
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816922

The above is related to ISA server, it's most likey not entirely relevant to your setup but it does hopefully help in the troubleshooting process.

You wouldn't by any chance be running some variation of the Small Business Server would you?
Thanks for the attention to my issue. Here's some more info.
I'm running Exchange 2003 standard, no ISA, no SBS, IIS authentication is Windows integrated.
I'm pretty sure it isn't an IE issue because I use IE 7 and another user has IE 6 with the same result. Both of which could see messages just fine several days ago.

What should I be looking for in my IIS logs?
IIS Logs: Errors, warnings. Authentication

Is your exchange server a fresh install or migrated from 2000?

Do you have URLscan installed on your exchange server?

Are you using the default ports for OWA? Port 80 and 443?
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midustouch
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The above specifically the part about opening all open above 1024 for outbound connections?
Ports above 1024... lol... can't type anymore. Off to bed for me. 4am my time.
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I did point you in the right direction. Cheers.