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Connect Win 2000 box to Exchange5.5

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by mackem 3 views

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Hello Friends
I have a problem with a new 2000 box with SP2. I am trying to get Outlook 97 to work on this machine but when I set the users mail profile I get this Message. "The name could not be resolved. The Microsoft Exchange Address Book was unable to logon to the Exchange Server computer. Contact .....
I have also tried outlook 98 with the same result. We don't have Outlook 2000 yet. The same user can log on to the exchange server from his NT box. Other profiles on this box have the same results. We are running Exchange 5.5 on an NT4.0 Server with SP6a. We have no problems anywhere on our network, only with this 2000 box, so we are obviously missing something simple.
Can anyone out there help.

11 replies

by highorbit

Have had a problem like this before, mine however had a rather odd reason. For some reason the user in question had an entry in the hosts file that pointed to a different IP for the server name.

I'd check you can ping the mailserver by name, if that works there's always the event log, which could help.

In my opinion the first step would be to check the IP based communications to the mail server.

by mackem

Thanks for your comments, but this was one of the first things that I tried. However I have a feeling that it will be something just as simple that I have forgotten to do.

by jb007

Name resolution can be a problem and can be checked with.

a) pinging machine by name and seeing if there is a response
b) pinging machine by ip

you can enter an ip address in the profile box to try and resolve to.

Also a great test is to try and telnet to port 25 on the exchange server to just test connectivity.

Otherwise is your server possibly over some kind of link? is it in another subnet? could your machine be having routing issues getting to the server?

Trying a "tracert exchangeserver" can tell you whether or not your actually getting to your destination and how long its taking.

An idea is to display the network connection on the toolbar whilst your trying to connect so you can physically see if there is traffic leaving and coming into the machine when you are trying to resolve the profile name.

Try these generally they will at least point you in the right direction.

good luck.

jb

by mackem

Thanks for your comments, I had already tried these ideas. The machine logs on to the network ok. Logon script runs on exchange server so it can see the server for everything except email.

by vagab0nd

Damn, had the same issue a couple of days ago. After several hours digging technet found an article (sorry, don't remember number) stated that TCP/IP is initialized incorrectly.
The solution is to uninstall TCP/IP from PC and install it again. But there's one trick.
In my case when I tried to access LAN Connetion properties to uninstall TCP/IP explorer generated an error and dropped me back to clear desktop so I had to remove NIC from the system (I mean from Device Manager, not from PC itself), than let W2K find and install it again, than uninstalled TCP/IP and installed it back.
That solved the issue so now I have no problems.
This should help. If you need step-by-step guide - mail me to Ivan.Erekhinsky@JT-Int.com

Regards,
Ivan

by vagab0nd

I couldn't find the root of the problem but here are some things I've discovered:

1. Although it's a TCP/IP issue you still can successfully ping or tracert MSX server or whatever you want.
2. The problem is directly with Address Book - when youcreate a profile for Outlook MAPI on the client side must resolve your mailbox name on designated server through Global Address Book - and its here the problem. If you take a closer look you'll find out that although Outlook adds Address Book service to profile there are no entries in this book - so its just has nothing to compare with when resolving your mailbox name. You can remove and add Address Book service but it doesn't help.
3. Considering all above I guess that while trying to match amailbox Outlook communicates with Exchange through some special TCP port with number higher than 1024 that is closed or stealth to server with TCP/IP initialized incorrectly on your side. If its right it may explain why other standart services (ICMP, Telnet, etc.) are not affected.

This one is interesting problem and although I solved it I want to know why it happend and how it works. If you have your own idea - mail me.

by mackem

Thanks for your help. Your answer was right on the money. Uninstalled all protocols then reinstalled after reboot, now Outlook can see ex server.
Thanks again.

by stillatit

Note that this is NOT a "Cannot locate server" message, it just cannot log on.

1. When using NT authenitcation (the default), the username and password used on the W2K box must exactly match the username and password on the domain or on the Exchange server. If you are logging in as you, but trying to set up the user as themself, this is not going to work.

2. Try changing the profile to NOT use NT authentication, and see if you can log in when you specify a username, password and domain name.

3. The fact that is the Address Book which cannot log in is wierd. Try deleting the address book from the profile and then logging on. When you re-add it, check for a strange address. It may be trying to attach a network file as a local address book file.

Good luck.

by mackem

Thanks for your comments. I have tried setting up various profiles while logged on as the user, with the same results.

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