RPC over HTTP on Back-End only Exchange Server
andrew...@gmail.com
from one of my other Windows Server 2003 EE servers. When I tried to
connect a customer's (3) computers today, howevevr, all I ever
received was 'Exchange server unavailable'. All three computers are
running XP Home SP2, and I installed the root certificate to all three
the same way I did to my laptop and server. They are on a Comcast
cable connection, with only a SOHO firewall with default
configuration.
Everything has been configured precisely as per the Back-End only
deployment scenario for Exchange 2003 in the technet library. Here are
some other oddities:
Although I added an exception for SSL (TCP port 443) to the Windows
firewall on the Exchange box, I couldn't connect at all (even from my
laptop) until I turned the firewall off completely (which I'd rather
not do for obvious reasons).
When I do connect from my laptop, and hold ctrl and right-click the
Outlook icon in the systray, and click connection status, there are
four entries in the following screen, all of which say TCP/IP under
the 'conn' column - should those be HTTPS?
While going through the troubleshooting steps found in the technet
article, I've also found that I can't get the right results when
trying to browse https://host.domain.com/rpc - I just get page cannot
be displayed (regardless of whether or not the Windows firewall is
enabled). I've triple checked that the Default Website (under which
the RPC directory sits) has the default configuration (and wasn't
really mentioned in the technet article aside from specifying where to
find the RPC virtual directory).
Any ideas about what's going on here? Why do I have a sinking feeling
that the two boxes I got to successfully connect to the server aren't
using RPC over HTTP or SSL at all? Why doesn't IIS seem to be
responding to HTTPS traffice at all?
aau007
> The connection works fine from my XP Pro laptop over DSL, as well as
> from one of my other Windows Server 2003 EE servers. When I tried to
> connect a customer's (3) computers today, howevevr, all I ever
> received was 'Exchange server unavailable'. All three computers are
> running XP Home SP2, and I installed the root certificate to all three
> the same way I did to my laptop and server. They are on a Comcast
> cable connection, with only a SOHO firewall with default
> configuration.
>
> Everything has been configured precisely as per the Back-End only
> deployment scenario for Exchange 2003 in the technet library. Here are
> some other oddities:
>
> Although I added an exception for SSL (TCP port 443) to the Windows
> firewall on the Exchange box, I couldn't connect at all (even from my
> laptop) until I turned the firewall off completely (which I'd rather
> not do for obvious reasons).
>
> When I do connect from my laptop, and hold ctrl and right-click the
> Outlook icon in the systray, and click connection status, there are
> four entries in the following screen, all of which say TCP/IP under
> the 'conn' column - should those be HTTPS?
>
> While going through the troubleshooting steps found in the technet
> article, I've also found that I can't get the right results when
> be displayed (regardless of whether or not the Windows firewall is
> enabled). I've triple checked that the Default Website (under which
> the RPC directory sits) has the default configuration (and wasn't
> really mentioned in the technet article aside from specifying where to
> find the RPC virtual directory).
>
> Any ideas about what's going on here? Why do I have a sinking feeling
> that the two boxes I got to successfully connect to the server aren't
> using RPC over HTTP or SSL at all? Why doesn't IIS seem to be
> responding to HTTPS traffice at all?
On the computer that connects, start your OL by doing "Start", "Run"
and type "Outlook.exe /rpcdiag". This will bring up a RPC windows and
you can confirm if you are indeed connecting over https for your
session.