Entourage 2008 cannot connect to Exchange 2007

[JennyM]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Email Client: Exchange

Recently our company has started to migrate to Exchange 2007. The server was set up & all employees were given a test e-mail account in order to test the configuration.
We have one employee that is using Entourage 2008 on Mac OSX 10.5.7 on both a laptop & a desktop. He has successfully connected to our Exchange server on the laptop but cannot get a connection from his desktop.
We have tried all the most common suggestions as far as the server information goes. That includes appending his e-mail address to the end of the server name. We have also compared the settings from his laptop to his desktop to make sure they are exactly the same & he still cannot connect. As soon as he is finished entering all pertinent information & clicks 'OK', Entourage starts to connect & then locks up.
We thought, perhaps, it was a processor issue but he left it sit overnight once with no success. Can anyone tell me why he would be able to connect from his laptop & not from his desktop using the same configuration settings? All help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

We have tried all the most common suggestions as far as the server
information goes. That includes appending his e-mail address to the end
of the server name. We have also compared the settings from his laptop
to his desktop to make sure they are exactly the same & he still cannot
connect. As soon as he is finished entering all pertinent information &
clicks 'OK', Entourage starts to connect & then locks up.

Did you check the network settings?? DO you have a WINS setup or search
domain that might be different??
Can he get it to work on the desktop using the identity from the
laptop??

Corentin

 

[JennyM]

Not sure what you mean by WINS or search domain. If it makes a difference, the server that Exchange is installed on is only hosting Exchange; nothing else.
We have tried using the exact same settings on the laptop when setting up the desktop & still no luck. Tries to connect then freezes up after about 5 seconds. He has to do a forced quit in order to get it running again.
Thanks for the quick response, please let me know if you need any more information.

Jen

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi Jen,

Not sure what you mean by WINS or search domain. If it makes a
difference, the server that Exchange is installed on is only hosting
Exchange; nothing else.

Well these settings relate to the network and might affect how the name
of the server entered in the account settings properly redirect to the
right computer hosting the Excahgne server.
I'm just worried that the Mac simply fails to find the server.

Can you connect to webmail using the same server address?

We have tried using the exact same settings on the laptop when setting
up the desktop & still no luck. Tries to connect then freezes up after
about 5 seconds. He has to do a forced quit in order to get it running
again.

Same Entourage settings, but did you check if it was the same entwork
settings?

Corentin

 

[JennyM]

With the help of the person that is having the problem, I saw that you asked if it would work using the same identity. He tried that today & it didn't work.
I also have some updated information on the connection issue.
First, I think it's noteworthy to mention that, when we first set up the server there were some ssl certificate issues. I thought they had been straightened out because we stopped getting the error message. Unfortunately, our Mac user has continued to get the message. The error reads "Unable to establish connection to 'server' because the server name or IP address does not match the name or IP address on the server's certificate." When he clicks ok, connection proceeds as normal (presumably). This message, of course, is received when using Entourage on his laptop. I mention the certificate error because I'm not sure if it could be the cause of the connectivity issue on the desk top.
I also found out today that his desk top instance of Entourage appears to be connecting but is having some kind of communication error. After setting up the new identity & clicking ok, set up indicates that it is Now updating 'identity', then will move on to Now updating Calendar, then sometimes it freezes but sometimes it moves on to Now updating Deleted then freezes. In either case, it never gets past Now updating deleted. This leads me to believe that a connection is being established but, again, there is some kind of communication error.
Also possibly of note, is the fact that the laptop was upgraded to 2008 from 2004 but the desktop was a clean install.
Answers to your questions:

Same Entourage settings, but did you check if it was the same network

settings?
I'm not sure what network settings need to be checked on a Mac or why different settings would be of consequence.

Can you connect to webmail using the same server address?

Yes, none of our users has any trouble connecting this way.
Thanks for your help,
Jen

 

[holmess001]

Regarding the network settings, I think the DNS Server settings and the Search Domains are the ones most likely to be causing a connection problem. Go into System Preferences | Network make sure the DNS Server and Search Domains are exactly the same on both machines. Also, check the Entourage version on the laptop and desktop. Are they the same?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

"Unable to establish connection to 'server' because the server
name or IP address does not match the name or IP address on the server's
certificate."

That's never good... It'd probably be wise to have the certificate
corrected to avoid this issue,


Corentin