asked on

Exchange 2003 Activesync and OWA stop working after 1-2 days

Exchange 2003 Activesync and OWA stop working after 1-2 days and server needs to be rebooted. Email is working fine other than ActiveSync and OWA. Browsing to OWA shows RESET error on the browser or site not available.

IISRESET does not solve the issue nor does starting/stopping all Exchange services. Only a full reboot solves the issue. Thoughts ?

E C

Next time it happens, view your Services control panel and check to see if the World Wide Web Publishing Service is stopped. Then check the Event Log to see what's causing it to stop. Do you have the latest Cumulative Updates and all other Windows and Exchange updates installed?

Are there any other programs running on your Exchange Server?

Does it always stop at the same time? If so, check the Task Scheduler on your Exchange Server to see if something is running at that time.

How many users are on this Exchange Server? I highly recommend working on a migration to a newer version, since support (and updates) for Exchange 2003 ended over 4 years ago.

jtd1

ASKER

As patched as it can get. Hangs on different times, different days. Sometimes a week, last time 24 hours. Nothing else running on Exchange except Trend Micro Office scan. Customer has been warned for 10 years to get off this server. Can't force them. Will check WWW Publishing service status next time. ABout 100 users with about 200 GB of mail files.

E C

Trend Micro? Is this actively scanning anything on Exchange Server?

jtd1

ASKER

Absolutely required. Since exchange server is exposed (80, 443) to internet, absolutely required.

M A

Did you install any updates recently?
If yes please check if there is any updates related to IIS. uninstall the recent IIS related updates and check.

jtd1

ASKER

there has not been many updates to install in years. We did have a ransomware attack on that server so we tightened up some Trend OfficeScan Parameters. Thinking these parameter changes are the most likely cause so have opened a case with Trend Micro. Cant put the parameters back however as they changes made are required.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Aaron Guilmette

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

jtd1

ASKER

EDB, STM were already excluded, added .LOG to exclusion list for all scan types. No error messages around midnight in either APP or SYSTEM.

jtd1

ASKER

Also excluded the entire G:\LOG FILES directory

Aaron Guilmette

Also, if you haven’t seen it, this is a great guide that has 90% of the stuff hat plagues Exchange 2003.

https://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/1798/Exchange-2003-Activesync-Connection-Problems-FAQ.html

I would pay attention to the .NET framework version in particular. Also, Exchange 2003 experiences weird behavior if you don’t have the correct settings in boot.ini (typically /3GB and /USERVA=3030), especially if your server has 4GB or more of memory. (I know I’m dating myself here).

jtd1

ASKER

THanks - issue was resolved by excluding some Trend Micro file locations and additional extensions. Thanks !