Entourage 2004 and Exchange Server Issues

[RCS]

Hello everybody,

My company conducted a Outlook migration to new servers recently. All employees (about 20,000 employees nation wide) email was switched to the new servers. Unfortunately for me and one of my co-workers, we use Macs in an otherwise PC heavy company and the migration was kind to me or my co-worker. I have not had dependable email in about a month and a half. My Entourage sporadically, unpredictably connects and disconnects from the server. My co-worker has not been able to connect at all since the migration.

I've contacted our technical support department on the east coast about 8 times about this issue and I am basically told each time that " we don't know anything about Macs" by the computer techs. They did email instructions on how to update Entourage but my connectivity issues persist.

All the PC's in our office can send and receive email just fine but they are using Outlook. Our company also has a website with web based Outlook email for the employees but there's server connectivity issues there too because it typically takes me about seven to ten login attempts to connect the the web based email and then it usually kicks me off as soon as I click on an email message.

My email did function properly before the migration and on the first day of the migration. My Entourage is v. 11.4.0

This sound familiar to anyone?

Thank you.
Ric

 

[Bill Bryson]

If you were migrated to Exchange 2007 then we've experienced connectivity
loss when the user has used a friendly email alias in the e-mail address
field of the Account settings in Entourage. For example, my mailbox account
has an Exchange mailbox name of wb99 but I have set up a friendly name like
"bill". I can be emailed to either - (e-mail address removed) or (e-mail address removed).

If I put in "(e-mail address removed)", Entourage appears to use the e-mail address
field to attempt to look for the mailbox and can not find a "bill" mailbox.
Putting "(e-mail address removed)" in the e-mail address field re-establishes the
connection.

As an alternative, you can enter in the Exchange server field an address
such as:

server.somewhere.domain/exchange/[email protected]

This seems to be the documented process at several universities.

My question is why is Microsoft using the e-mail address field at all? The
Account ID makes more sense to find the mailbox. Or better yet, could not
they look using the email address and if there is a failure then try the
account ID?

We would require no changes on our part if we did not allow users to have a
friendly e-mail address.

Bill

 

[Adam Bailey]

If you were migrated to Exchange 2007 then we've experienced connectivity
loss when the user has used a friendly email alias in the e-mail address
field of the Account settings in Entourage. For example, my mailbox account
has an Exchange mailbox name of wb99 but I have set up a friendly name like
"bill". I can be emailed to either - (e-mail address removed) or (e-mail address removed).

I am not experiencing this problem but I am using Exchange 2003 (or
whatever). I presume you mean this problem started when you upgraded to
2007?

Are you using the OWA address in Entourage, or the actual server address?
Does it make a difference if you do the opposite?

 

[RCS]

Yes, the problem started with the change. I'm using the server address to connect (very similar to the OWA address.

I found out that I can more or less rely on my email when accessing it through the OWA using Fire Fox. Safari drops me regularly. Big clue, yes?

I still don't have the answer although this Fire Fox revelation says a lot.

As stated earlier, being on a Mac apparently is death when it came to this migration eventhough IT did not foresee this being an issue.

The following is some of the info we were given a few weeks ago:

"--- This Trilogie email message has also been distributed to: All Associates ---

Beginning Tuesday, December 18, 2007, the IT department will start migrating
associates to the Wolseley DS exchange environment. With over 23,000 FEI
associates, this process will occur over several weeks with only a few
associates being moved at one time in a batch process.

Here are a few things to note:

* This change WILL NOT affect your individual email address or Trilogie
email.
* Associates will be notified via email prior to their individual
migration.

* This is a two step process for the migration:
Step 1: When an associate is being migrated, Outlook email will be
unavailable from 10:00pm - 7:00am EST while it is being moved to
the new server. Associates will be UNABLE to send or receive email
during this time so please log out of Outlook prior to leaving for
the day.

Step 2: Beginning after 7:00am EST, associates will need to reboot
their PC. Once you log back into windows, follow the prompts to
complete the migration process which should take approximately 5-10
minutes.

* Associates that have been migrated should use the new link, Outlook Web
Access (Migrated Users), on the Pipleline to access OWA.
* Those associates with a company issued handheld device (Goodlink, Treo
Blackberry, etc.) will receive separate communication with specific
instructions for handling those devices.

What to expect AFTER the move?

During this transition period, a few features of Outlook will temporarily not
function properly; however, once everyones email accounts have been migrated
over to the new Wolseley DS exchange environment, the features will function
as normal. Please make a note of these potential issues:

* Out of office notifications: Out of office notifications will only work if the sender and receiver both reside on the same email environment. If the
sender/recipient resides on different environments, out of office
notifications are unable to be delivered between the two.

* Shared email functions (i.e. calendar, inbox, etc): If you are currently sharing an email feature such as a calendar, inbox, etc, this functionality
will be affected. Those associates whose email is in the existing environment
will not work with an associate whose email is in the new Wolseley DS
environment and in vice versa. I.T. will make every attempt to move
mailboxes with their dependencies; however, there may be some instances where
this conflict is unavoidable.
Note: Associates who have shared folders with customers or vendors should
double-check the set-up and re-establish if necessary. If you rely on
this for orders, please call your customers to verify everything is
working properly.

* Distribution lists in the Global Address Book: Current distribution lists, as well as any requests for new distribution lists, will be set up in the
Wolseley DS environment using the new format. If an associate is in the
existing environment, they will not be able to view the distribution list
within the global address book; however, you will be able to send emails
using the old distribution list provided you manually type in the
distribution list name. F

 

[RCS]

This is the remainder that didn't show up in my previous post

"... Ferguson distribution groups in the Wolseley DS
environment will be prefixed with #FEI-.

This is the next step in unifying and leveraging all Wolseley operating
companies under one Global Address List (GAL). We appreciate your patience
and cooperation during this transition period.

For questions, please consult the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the
intranet under the Find Fast Section of the Information Technology page or
contact the Support Center.

IT Support"

 

[Adam Bailey]

Yes, the problem started with the change. I'm using the server address to
connect (very similar to the OWA address.

Well, try the OWA address and see if that helps.