dannydudek
asked on
Outlook extremally slow over VPN
Hi All,
I have a very weird problem with Outllook 2003 connecting to Exchange 2003 SP2 over VPN. Outlook in Cached mode.
Even though VPN speed is quite good (browsing network, downloading files etc.) then, when it comes to the Outlook, it can take even 10 minutes (!) to download 500 KB mail. Over that time it's poping up with "Outlook is trying to retrieve data from the Microsoft Exchange Server ..." every now and then. Probllem is also vidible while browsking public calendars - sometime Outlook can open calendar, and few seconds later hang for some time ("not responding" for few minutes...) .
Have no idea what's wrong, user says it started friday evening. Was trying alternative broadband services with no effect. :(
Any ideas?
Thanks,
I have a very weird problem with Outllook 2003 connecting to Exchange 2003 SP2 over VPN. Outlook in Cached mode.
Even though VPN speed is quite good (browsing network, downloading files etc.) then, when it comes to the Outlook, it can take even 10 minutes (!) to download 500 KB mail. Over that time it's poping up with "Outlook is trying to retrieve data from the Microsoft Exchange Server ..." every now and then. Probllem is also vidible while browsking public calendars - sometime Outlook can open calendar, and few seconds later hang for some time ("not responding" for few minutes...) .
Have no idea what's wrong, user says it started friday evening. Was trying alternative broadband services with no effect. :(
Any ideas?
Thanks,
I usually associate the pop up message you are seeing with connectivity problems on a really big mailbox that is getting downloaded for the first time.
Try a perpetual ping going and see if you are either seeing the low speeds that ehabsalem commented about or some consistent loss of connectivity.
Try a perpetual ping going and see if you are either seeing the low speeds that ehabsalem commented about or some consistent loss of connectivity.
ASKER
Mailbox is 900 MB in size.
Mail server respond withing 136 ms in avarage. IMHO it's not too bad. All servers (DC/MAIL) are in the same location and work perfect.
:(
Mail server respond withing 136 ms in avarage. IMHO it's not too bad. All servers (DC/MAIL) are in the same location and work perfect.
:(
WOW...that's a huge mailbox.Still in cached mode without the entire thing coming down...
Two things...and neither of these would explain why it just started on Friday, but something to check...
1. Let the ping run while the user access Outlook. When he gets the message see if the ping gets longer or if you get a loss of connectivity.
2. Set up a new user and mailbox or you can use a test user with a small mailbox. Log onto the affected PC as this user and access the mailbox. If you get no issues with this second user, I would think that perhaps the huge size of the mailbox may be causing the issue.
Two things...and neither of these would explain why it just started on Friday, but something to check...
1. Let the ping run while the user access Outlook. When he gets the message see if the ping gets longer or if you get a loss of connectivity.
2. Set up a new user and mailbox or you can use a test user with a small mailbox. Log onto the affected PC as this user and access the mailbox. If you get no issues with this second user, I would think that perhaps the huge size of the mailbox may be causing the issue.
ASKER
1. Ping is running very stable, even when Outlook is hanging.
2. will do , however i would like to notice, that network usage while Outlook is working/hanging is very low (between 10 - 50 kbps) on 1mbps/1mbps connection, so wouldn't extect amont of data is a problem here....
2. will do , however i would like to notice, that network usage while Outlook is working/hanging is very low (between 10 - 50 kbps) on 1mbps/1mbps connection, so wouldn't extect amont of data is a problem here....
If the ping is stable I am wondering if the huge mailbox is causing some issue on the Exchange server which is then showing up as an apparent slowness on the user's computer. I've never dealt with a mailbox that large and am not totally sure how it might affect things...10 minutes does seem like a long time even for a mailbox that big...but it doesn't seem that raw connection speed is the issue and it doesn't appear that you are losing connectivity.
ASKER
I logged in to some other user mailbox (only 20 MB) , and is the same story.
Just wanted to mention that server is way overspec, and running our exchange structure doesn't cause it any problems.
Just wanted to mention that server is way overspec, and running our exchange structure doesn't cause it any problems.
Is this the only PC doing Outlook operating over this VPN connection? Wonder if the PC itself is under some stress. If you have other users and they are not experiencing this problem, you should check Task manager for processes that are being resource hogs or memory or CPU that is being overdriven.
If not, about the only other suggestion that I would have is to either completely uninstall office and reinstall, do a repair on Office and/or make sure that Office has the latest services packs and patches.
If not, about the only other suggestion that I would have is to either completely uninstall office and reinstall, do a repair on Office and/or make sure that Office has the latest services packs and patches.
ASKER
No, i went through 2 laptops and both have symptoms. Was watching performance, they seem to be bored. I have very few VPN users and they don't use outlook, so no one else reported the problem.
On one of the tested laptops I have full uptodate package - Office 2003 SP3 + XP SP3, so more up-to-date coudn't be...
Is there anything with MTAs i could try? I googled it, but can't make any sense from it...
On one of the tested laptops I have full uptodate package - Office 2003 SP3 + XP SP3, so more up-to-date coudn't be...
Is there anything with MTAs i could try? I googled it, but can't make any sense from it...
Found some others that have some similar situation to you. Some suggestions were to make the user's email editor not Word or set up a terminal server situation with the T/S on the main LAN and have him access his email from there.
I also found this link which I found interesting as it does address some of the MTU concerns of a slower VPN connection. The user is in an older environment, but think that some of the same things would apply. I can't vouch for the effeciveness of the registry edits so take normal precautions if you try any of them.
http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=651431
I also found this link which I found interesting as it does address some of the MTU concerns of a slower VPN connection. The user is in an older environment, but think that some of the same things would apply. I can't vouch for the effeciveness of the registry edits so take normal precautions if you try any of them.
http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=651431
ASKER
Ok - the registry trick didn't help :( neither disabling Work as mail editior.
However - interesting twist - there's no problem with sending mails. When sending big mail, the connection is reaching very reasonable speeds (300 - 600 Kbps). problem is only with downloading mails :/
i just runned test from my home computer - completly different situation - Outlook 2007, Vista, different broadband connection. Exactly the same problem however :/
However - interesting twist - there's no problem with sending mails. When sending big mail, the connection is reaching very reasonable speeds (300 - 600 Kbps). problem is only with downloading mails :/
i just runned test from my home computer - completly different situation - Outlook 2007, Vista, different broadband connection. Exactly the same problem however :/
When you were doing the Reg hacks from the link above, did you do the one about changing the RPC binding order or just the other one.. I did find another reference to the RPC binding order hack. It was in a post for Outlook 2000 so suppose this problem may have been fixed in later versions of Outlook.
Not a solution for the "why" of the problem, have you tried using OWA instead of Outlook?
Also, have you tried using RPC over HTTP for your connection? I think that it's something you specifically have to turn on and, if I remember right, you also have to be running totally with 2003 AD.
http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Outlook_2003_Connect_Exchange_2003.html
Here is the link I meant to put in the post about RPC
Here is the link I meant to put in the post about RPC
ASKER
Hi All,
I kmow i could walk around the problem by using RPC over HTTP, but what is really annoying me is the problem itself. Apperently it didn't start until some time las week, it doesn't seem to be on client site, or the VPN tunnel itself (browsing/downloading from network, also sending mails works fine).
Interesting thing is, that if i use SonicWall VPN Client rather than dial in ti RRAS server, everhting works perfect...
I kmow i could walk around the problem by using RPC over HTTP, but what is really annoying me is the problem itself. Apperently it didn't start until some time las week, it doesn't seem to be on client site, or the VPN tunnel itself (browsing/downloading from network, also sending mails works fine).
Interesting thing is, that if i use SonicWall VPN Client rather than dial in ti RRAS server, everhting works perfect...
Interesting...we use RRAS for our VPN authentication as well and my remote Outlook doesn't have cached mode enabled and I've never seen this problem. Since it just started recently, could it be that a patch was applied to the RRAS server right before the problem started or has something changed that would cause the RRAS server to be under stress. Perhaps it just needs to be rebooted?
ASKER
Reboot didn't solve the problem. In fact, i build completly new VPN server, and problem persist when connecting to it :/
OK, I know this makes no sense, but can you try and access Outlook from this device with another user account with a smaller mailbox and make sure that you are NOT running cached exchange mode. The initial pull may take a while, but I am interested to see if it might actually run faster without cached exchange mode...which as I said seems totally counter intuitive. But nothing else that makes sense that we've tried has worked.
ASKER
tried. still no joy. Outlook still extremally slow. Whatever I do, Outlook never downloads data faster than around 60kbps (30 kbps in avarage). It can sends faster, also, VPN can download/send data faster, just Outlook over VPN seems to be causing problems :/ I even used different internet connections to the new VPN server (we have two in the office). I would say that I tried to replace everything apart from mail server at this stage ... :/
Have to say that I am out f ideas. We done all of the obvious stuff and some even non-obvious. I can't think of anything else to change.
ASKER
ok, thanks for all your help anyway!
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Hi
I got exactly the same problem, Server 2008, exchange 2007, outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003.
Can acces files and documents at good speed, ping reponse times are like 50 - 80ms.
Outlook just hangs and cannot send or receive emails.
New setup with RRAS and MS VPN client?
Any ideas?
I got exactly the same problem, Server 2008, exchange 2007, outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003.
Can acces files and documents at good speed, ping reponse times are like 50 - 80ms.
Outlook just hangs and cannot send or receive emails.
New setup with RRAS and MS VPN client?
Any ideas?
Maybe the mail server is located on another location than the other servers!