HTTP/1.1 503 Service Unavailable' error- MS Steps

Hey.

Yopu can simply safe the console if you please. The only thing you've done is manually created a new MMC. When opening the AD USers and Computers you are also openeing an MMC, but this is allready inthere..

Public folders should be in your Exchange server Management. You shoudl go to your server (if you have admin groups go to the admin group your server is located) go to the optionm folders and then go to Public Folders there.

The public folders are not folders located on your machine. Those are 2 files somewhere on your computer (you gave up a location when installing Exchange) and Exchange is capable or reading out those 2 files and make it into a public folder tree, something like SQL does to.

Check with
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823159
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837285
 
 

For some reason RWW quit working also...i've been trying to fix it and OWA ....any help is highly appreciated....

Do you see any errors in the event viewer?? Because the info at this point is not really that much..
You could try and reinstall OWA, but still, i'm not sure if your RWW will work then..

Btw, it looks like you have some ISS issues... Try checking that to..

rhandels,
When I tried to access 'Public Folder' according to your instruction, it gives the following error..

The HTTP Service used by Public Folders is not available, possible causes are that Public Stores are not mounted and the Information Store Service is not running.

Does it tell much?

Euhm yeah, it tells you that your public folder store in Exchange isn't mounted. I don;t think the information store isn't running, if that was the case, you weren't able to use any kind of mailbox.

I have to do this without the manager in front of me, so bear with me :) You should go into the Exchange System Manager and then go to your servername.  Then you should to the your First mailstore.. Normally you should see 2 stores there, your first mailbox store and your public folder store.. Most propably it will be unmounted. Try to mount it by pressing with the right mouse and select mount..

If an error accours, please post it here..

Try removing and reinstalling the Exchange Virtual Directories using this Microsoft document:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=883380 

RWW has working fine now.

In the document
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=883380 
I tried option 3 (editing the XML file), but that did not fix it.

rhandels
Both the stores were already mounted.

rhandels
I should have said 'Both the stores are now mounted" But OWA still does not work. Still get the error , when I got to 'Remote Web Workplace' and click on 'Read my company e-mail'. It says 'HTTP/1.1 503 Service Unavailable'.

You had mentioned "reinstall OWA". How exactly do you do that?

thanks for your help.

Here's how you reinstall the OWA virtual deirectories, this should do the trick..

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=883380

rhandels,
is it enough to do one step or all three?

I already did the step3: Edit the Metabase.xml file last week, but that did not help?

I reset my own OWA with step 1.. It's not only editing the metabase XML file, it's also deleting the Exchange Virtual directoris using your IIS admin tool and reïnstalling the virtual directories using the Exchange installation.

rhandels,
Yes, I am trying Step 1 now.

I have come to step 9 and it says
"In this scenario, your Exchange Server users lose connectivity to their Exchange Server mailboxes.".

Will this be momentary? Today user have a busy day, and if emails stop comming, they are going to be affected a lot. If the virtual directories are not re-created, does it affect the emails that are got through outlook from the exchange server?

thanks

Yes it will be, but the system attendent is th most important service of Exchange. If you stop this, all other Exchange services will stop working.. Normally, if you don't have any issues with your Exchange services it will take about 1 to 2 minutes..

rhandels,
I am asking just as a precaution:
if there are any issues with the Exchange services, in the worst case scenario, will a reboot of the server fix the emails to the outlook? (if that should disrupted for any reason).

thanks

You are only restarting the services to make sure the folders will be recreated.. If you have any issues with your Exchange server it will come out eventually anyway.. I would only advice you to restart these services after working hours, not because i think you will have issues but only to make sure that if you get some worst case scenarios (which i doubt you'd get, cause else you'd have more issues allready) you don;t have your boss on your ass looking for a rope :) :) (or is your boss that kind?? ;))

the boss is cool! but the users are not!! :-(

will let you know what comes out of it.!

rhandels,
you are right, it took 2 minutes, but phew.. it came back again..
time is against me, so I had to take the risk..

Well, I went through point 9 & 10, and all the virtual directories I have deleted are all back. But still when i go to check OWA, I get this message
"HTTP/1.1 503 Service Unavailable".

Which security group do I need to check for the users who have access to OWA.

I also ran the configure email and internet connection wizard. No Use.

When I go to servername.com/exchange, it tells me about the certificate, i say ok, then I put th e Username and password, and then it give the final error "HTTP/1.1 503 Service Unavailable".

There are a lot of folders created under 'ExchWeb', but nothing under 'Exchange' in IIS Manager->Websites. Is that expected?

Thanks a lot for your help.

it should have the anonymous access allowed for the default website.. The other security settings are set when you recreate the folders on the server.. So no security group onthere..

Also, what URL are you typing when you try to connect to the website?? Are you using http://servername/exchange?? Could you also try http://servername/oma?? What happens then?

Also, the actual site that is being used is ExchWeb, not the Exchange folder... So yes, this is as expected..

I tried the http://servername/oma; it says the same about the certificate like for OWA, and then I enter the user credentials, and the error I get is "  Unable to connect to your mailbox on server SERVER. Please try again later. If the problem persists contact your administrator."

For OWA, I do use http://servername/exchange

Glad ExchWeb is what should be populated, and I am glad it is.

The Enable anonymous access check box is turned on, indeed. Actually, it was turned on when I first went in there. I left it that way. The Integrated Windows authentication check box was first turned on, and then turned off.

Under Enable anonymous access check box(which is clicked on), it say the Windows user is "IUSR_SERVER" and a password that is hidden. In Authenticated access, all four options are checked off.

But I know there is no windows user called 'IUSR_SERVER', but perhaps this is how windows sees anonymous connections?

Thanks much!
http://servername by itself works, and Remote Web Workplace also works fine.

rhandels
Are all exchange users by default entitled for OWA, also? If that true, then all the users who have an outlook access on their computer from the SBS Exchange 2003, will have access to OWA online, without me having to put any extra setting for "OWA User directory & Permission list" of some sort?

thanks

Yes, all domain users will have permissions for OWA. You can check in AD USers & Computers and there should be 1 Exchange tab that allows webmail. You should have an IUSR_Servername user account, this is the user that enumerates anonymous access to the website if it is turned on. So if you don;t have that user i'm afraid it has been deleted and you need to recreate it. Reinstalling IIS should do that trick, recreating the user and trying to set permissions is undoable, that account has way to much permissions..

The password for this account is set automatically. But if you are 100% sure the local databse of the server doesnt; have that account i think that;s were your issue is..

In AD USers & Computers, where would the exchange tab be? I looked under Security Groups, and I see the Remote Web Workplace Users, but none for Exchange. For Remote Web Workplace Users, the Group scope is universal, Group type is security. It has members tab with members information, and the 'Members of' tab is blank.

please see all the list I have under Security Groups.
Thanks
SecurityGroups.bmp

No, not a group.. If you look at the properties of a user it shuld have 4 Exchange tabs, Exchange general, Exchange Advanced, Exchange E-mail addresses and one more, not quite sure about that tabs name.. This is to check if a single specific user has these permissions..

I see 2 Admin Users in Server->Users
IUSR_SERVER
IWAM_SERVER
WHen I right click, there is an option to disable it. So Persume that it is enabled.

But, Under Server->My Business->Computers->SBS Users, it does not have IUSR_SERVER. Is that ok.

Under  Exchange Features, I do see the users are enabled for OWA.

What else to check?

Thanks for your help

Hey,

Nothing else to check imho, did you do the entire steps pointed out in the article of Microsoft?? And yes, as long as these accounts exist your good to go with them.

Else, it might be something dead obvious which i'm not seeing but i'm out off ideas here...

I did not try step 2. Step 1 alone worked for you. I have tried Step 1 & 3. Should I try Step 2 also?

2 hijack files were found in the server: Could this have any issue?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel\Homepage (Hijack.Homepage) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop\NoChangingWallpaper (Hijack.DisplayProperties) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0)

No not really, that only means that your homepage has been set. This can also be done by a policy when in a domain.. If the default website you have is not what you expect it to be then yes it could be an issue... The second one only point out you cannot change your wallpaper..

You could give option 2 a try but imho it's the exact same thign as as doing 1 and 3, just using another method..

so you won't worry about the 2 hijack files?

How can i set the right default website? (company web)
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24599617/companyweb-for-SBS-2003-Exchange-Server-Step-by-Step.html

Nope i won't really.. :)

But it's still not working i guess??

OWA still giving 503 error.

Can you try the following link??

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823159

rhandels
thanks. i strongly felt that this link would be it. I have been trying all the steps in it since yesterday, but still no resolution..

rhandels,
Can you please help me confirm my settings, and my concern about local path settings in IIS Manager?
kindly see
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24599617/companyweb-for-SBS-2003-Exchange-Server-Step-by-Step.html?anchorAnswerId=24942526#a24942526

rhandels,
I ran the SBS Best Practice analysis tool: It has three issues with my server:
"DNS Client was not configured"
"Task Offloading is enabled"
"Sharepoint 2.0 RTM installed"

Do you see any trouble, related to OWA? I am also attaching the whole report, for the complete big picture.

Also there are 2 application log error events when I restarted the server:
MSExchangeDSAccess;Category:Topology;Event 2114; User N/A; Computer :Server
MSExchangeIS; Category:General;Event 9542; User N/A; Computer :Server
Would appreciate any feedback if this could be causing any trouble to the OWA.

Thanks
Critical-All-Issues.jpg
Info-Items.jpg

Thanks.

Calendar items were present in event logs, called MS and they resolved by deleting registry Sub-key N34d90ae5 and everything now works.

Below is the resolution from Microsoft:
"the Sub key: N34d90ae5 was causing the 503 Service Unavailable issue since it has exceeded the Default 259 characters. This problem can occur if the Exoledb library does not initialize. When the Exoledb library initializes, it scans the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (HKCR) registry hive for content class information. If the Exoledb library finds a ProgID with a value that exceeds 259 characters, the Exoledb library cannot initialize."

Bye's eye solution! Thanks much.