6
61shevy
OK, here's my setup. Remote office with a direct T-1 connection to the
Internet. Users using Microsoft VPN client to connect to Exchange 2000 server
on our internal network. VPN tunnels are established with no problem, can
access network resources. Outlook clients (both Outlook 2000 and 2003) can
actually connect to the Exchange server, and work for a short while. After a
couple of e-mails have been sent, the Outlook 2000 clients begin to display a
"Network problems are preventing connection to the Exchange server" error
message when trying to send. Outlook 2003 in cached mode dies while trying to
Update the inbox and simply won't connect. Outlook 2003 not in cached mode
seems to run a little better, but still has problems contacting the Exchange.
The office is a temporary setup in leased space, so I'm at the mercy of the
administrator there in regards to the Internet connection. The setup is NATed
private addresses to public addresses, connection goes through a Cisco router
which allows all outbound traffic (except TCP 137), no timeouts are set on
the router and there is no hardware firewall. All traffic should be going
through the VPN tunnel, so once that's established, the actual settings on
the router shouldn't matter. Monitoring the connection on the router, there
is plenty of bandwidth available on the T-1. VPN tunnels stay up and
connected for hours, and when Outlook dies, I can still access the network,
ping the Exchange server, etc. across the VPN. This is a fairly simple setup,
which works everywhere else I have it in place, but not here. I have tried
switching out hardware (PCs), patch cables, etc, uninstalling and
reinstalling Outlook (and even upgrading to Outlook 2003 to try cached mode)
to no avail. Can ping the Exchange server across the VPN by address and by
name, so name resolution doesn't appear to be the problem. Any suggestions
anyone could give me would be hugely appreciated since I have been banished
out here to the hinterlands where this new office is located until this is
all working properly. Thanks again for your help.
Internet. Users using Microsoft VPN client to connect to Exchange 2000 server
on our internal network. VPN tunnels are established with no problem, can
access network resources. Outlook clients (both Outlook 2000 and 2003) can
actually connect to the Exchange server, and work for a short while. After a
couple of e-mails have been sent, the Outlook 2000 clients begin to display a
"Network problems are preventing connection to the Exchange server" error
message when trying to send. Outlook 2003 in cached mode dies while trying to
Update the inbox and simply won't connect. Outlook 2003 not in cached mode
seems to run a little better, but still has problems contacting the Exchange.
The office is a temporary setup in leased space, so I'm at the mercy of the
administrator there in regards to the Internet connection. The setup is NATed
private addresses to public addresses, connection goes through a Cisco router
which allows all outbound traffic (except TCP 137), no timeouts are set on
the router and there is no hardware firewall. All traffic should be going
through the VPN tunnel, so once that's established, the actual settings on
the router shouldn't matter. Monitoring the connection on the router, there
is plenty of bandwidth available on the T-1. VPN tunnels stay up and
connected for hours, and when Outlook dies, I can still access the network,
ping the Exchange server, etc. across the VPN. This is a fairly simple setup,
which works everywhere else I have it in place, but not here. I have tried
switching out hardware (PCs), patch cables, etc, uninstalling and
reinstalling Outlook (and even upgrading to Outlook 2003 to try cached mode)
to no avail. Can ping the Exchange server across the VPN by address and by
name, so name resolution doesn't appear to be the problem. Any suggestions
anyone could give me would be hugely appreciated since I have been banished
out here to the hinterlands where this new office is located until this is
all working properly. Thanks again for your help.