aconway
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Exchange 2003 OWA problems caused by iPhones/Droids?
I have been fighting with random OWA weirdness on my Exchange Server.. I think it's related to a couple of iPhone/Android users.. The service will randomly go offline and I have to iisreset /restart to get it back up. Then it'll stay up for a while and go down again. The environment consists of 2 old servers, both running Win2K3; one runs ADS+Exchange, the other is acting as an ADS server only (and it can barely do that, real old hardware).
Here is what I see in the App and System log every time, right as it goes down:
Application Log, I see this error 2-3 times in a row:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Server ActiveSync
Event Category: None
Event ID: 3005
Date: 2/24/2011
Time: 8:08:38 AM
User: COSMOS\iPhoneUser
Computer: SERVER
Description:
Unexpected Exchange mailbox Server error: Server: [server.mydomain.org] User: [iPhoneUser@mydomain.org] HTTP status code: [503]. Verify that the Exchange mailbox Server is working correctly.
Then in the System Log, I see:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: SAM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 12294
Date: 2/24/2011
Time: 8:09:23 AM
User: COSMOS\IUSR_SERVER
Computer: SERVER
Description:
The SAM database was unable to lockout the account of IUSR_SERVER due to a resource error, such as a hard disk write failure (the specific error code is in the error data) . Accounts are locked after a certain number of bad passwords are provided so please consider resetting the password of the account mentioned above.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: c00002a5
I have 2 remote iPhone users and also myself using Android... I always see that App log error referencing one of the 3 of us, right as OWA goes offline... It sure seems to me like the phones are having authentication issues to the server (or something) and causing IIS to barf on itself.
I am in the midst of setting up a new Exchange 2010 server, but it's not going live for another couple months.. and I hate having to babysit OWA and restart IIS all the time... :( I don't really want to cut off the phone users either... any idea on where I should start troubleshooting?
Here is what I see in the App and System log every time, right as it goes down:
Application Log, I see this error 2-3 times in a row:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Server ActiveSync
Event Category: None
Event ID: 3005
Date: 2/24/2011
Time: 8:08:38 AM
User: COSMOS\iPhoneUser
Computer: SERVER
Description:
Unexpected Exchange mailbox Server error: Server: [server.mydomain.org] User: [iPhoneUser@mydomain.org] HTTP status code: [503]. Verify that the Exchange mailbox Server is working correctly.
Then in the System Log, I see:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: SAM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 12294
Date: 2/24/2011
Time: 8:09:23 AM
User: COSMOS\IUSR_SERVER
Computer: SERVER
Description:
The SAM database was unable to lockout the account of IUSR_SERVER due to a resource error, such as a hard disk write failure (the specific error code is in the error data) . Accounts are locked after a certain number of bad passwords are provided so please consider resetting the password of the account mentioned above.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: c00002a5
I have 2 remote iPhone users and also myself using Android... I always see that App log error referencing one of the 3 of us, right as OWA goes offline... It sure seems to me like the phones are having authentication issues to the server (or something) and causing IIS to barf on itself.
I am in the midst of setting up a new Exchange 2010 server, but it's not going live for another couple months.. and I hate having to babysit OWA and restart IIS all the time... :( I don't really want to cut off the phone users either... any idea on where I should start troubleshooting?
Does the particular iPhone user have a jailbroken phone? Sometimes that can adversely effect exchange among other things. Do a factory reset on the offending handset if that is not the case.
ASKER
The iPhones are not jailbroken, to my knowledge.. however, my Droid is rooted and using Touchdown Exchange to connect to OWA.
I guess I could just shut my Droid down for a few days and see if OWA still goes offline..
I guess I could just shut my Droid down for a few days and see if OWA still goes offline..
Test it out and see what happens. Have you rebooted the exchange server since the problem began?
ASKER
Yes, a few times... but not today.. I will reboot it again tonight and keep my Droid offline for a few days and report back...
Hopefully it works out, good luck
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
^^^ that might be very related to my problem.. I DO see Japanese characters in some of the System log errors (in the "data" field).
Are you making fun of my suggestion ? ;-) seriously if your ActiveSync issue is not resolved after installing that hotfix then I will be quite surprised.
ASKER
lol no I was totally serious.. when I view the event log errors, in the 'data' field, I see:
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: a5 02 00 c0 ¥..À
I admit I don't know Japanese, but isn't "¥" a Japanese character?
Definitely applying this hotfiix tonight and will report back tomorrow.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: a5 02 00 c0 ¥..À
I admit I don't know Japanese, but isn't "¥" a Japanese character?
Definitely applying this hotfiix tonight and will report back tomorrow.
Ok, fingers crossed
ASKER
Applied the Hotfix and it ran over the weekend with zero problems... this seems to be the exact fix I needed!
Glad to hear it. You could of left the question open all week though to verify server stability, I don't mind.
ASKER
Well, perhaps I did award points too soon. I had over a month of 100% stability, then last week, OWA started crashing again with the same errors! ARG! It was working great up until I applied this last round of MS patches, then like 2 days later it started going down again.. I am going to try to reapply the hotfix again, but I might just say forget about it because I'm about 3 weeks away from rolling out our new Exchange 2010 server..
Yep, re-apply that hotfix and then if it doesn't work install kb972220