Active sync stops working for BE server users

HELLO FRIENDS AND EXCHANGE EXPERTS!!

Need your help!!

Problem:
Active sync stops working for BE server users


Background:

All machines are W2K3+E2K3 with latest windows and exchange updates.

FE/BE topology at few sites and at other remaining sites we have only backend servers.

We have form based enabled on all servers on both FE/BE topology and BE environment.

Recently we did active sync setup


Troubleshooting steps taken till date;


We did bit a research and found that this is because of change of permission on Exchange folder under IIS default website.

(That is Windows integrated authentication check box gets cleared automatically)


http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid43_gci1188440,00.html

And as per steps suggested in above article we followed MS KB 817379  and created additional virtual directory for BE servers. Still it did not help.

As the issue persisted we installed hotfix KB 916640. Still no luck.


Expected Solution:

Customer wants ActiveSync, Forms Based Authentication, and SSL enabled at the same time for BE servers.


Any workarounds/solution will be highly appreciated.

Thanks & Regards,
Srinivasan K

 

 

 

Posted by Srinivasan Keshavachari at Monday, August 06. 2007
Categories: Exchange 2003

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  • Tuesday, August 07. 2007 Ismail wrote:
    hi,

    If this is the error message you are getting
    When you synchronize a mobile device by using Microsoft Server ActiveSync, you receive the following error message:
    Error code: HTTP_500 Synchronization failed due to an error on the server. Try again.

    then try this kb article...
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319681

    Tips:
    Check the IIS log at the time of issue re-occuring, check the application log and let us know what is the exact error message you are getting while syncing the devices
    Reply to this
    1. Tuesday, August 07. 2007 Srinivasan Keshavachari wrote:
      Dear Ismail,

      I appreciate your quick response on this. But then it seems you could not get the actual issue.

      Technical explanation:

      • If we configure either SSL or Forms-Based Authentication in OWA  we might suffer from the issues we are frequently observing. This issue can occur if the Exchange virtual directory in Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is configured to accept only Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connections or if Integrated Windows authentication is not enabled on the Exchange virtual directory. With Exchange ActiveSync, this issue can occur if forms-based authentication (FBA) is enabled on the Exchange Server which is our case. This occurs because ActiveSync and OMA virtual directories make an explicit DAV logon to the Exchange virtual directory. The Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync and Outlook Mobile Access virtual directories cannot access the contents of the user's mailbox if the Exchange virtual directory is configured to require SSL. The Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync and Outlook Mobile Access virtual directories only try to connect with the Exchange virtual directory over TCP port 80 (HTTP), not over TCP Port 443 (HTTPS).

       Options to resolve this problem:

      • Method 1 (not secure) configure FBA not to use SSL. This configuration is not recommended for production environments because of security issues. 
      • Method 2 (expensive) Install and configure an Exchange Server 2003 computer as a front-end server. Installing another server just for this purpose might be way over your budget.
      • Method 3(preferred)
        Create a secondary virtual directory for Exchange that does not require SSL, and then add a registry value to point to the new virtual directory. Uuse Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager to create this virtual directory for Exchange ActiveSync and Outlook Mobile Access to work.         If you are using Windows Server 2003. (MS KB 817379 has more info)

      So we went for the method 3 but still it is not working.


      Reply to this
  • Tuesday, August 07. 2007 Ismail wrote:
    Chinu,
    I saw that article http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=817379 which you are specifying here but again i had taught why we can't try this becoz i felt that this is the error message your are getting "Error code: HTTP_500 Synchronization failed due to an error on the server. Try again.

    I would appreciate if you give us compelte error message so that we can try out ...
    If i misunderstood let me know
    Reply to this
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