Tuesday 20 October 2009

iPhone and Exchange 2003 (SBS2003) Configuration Problem

I'm not used to writing blogs. But after my recent adventures with iPhone <-> SBS2003 integration I decided to share my experience with other people who have problems getting iPhone talking to their servers.

Basically, the issue was as follows - iPhone 3GS did not want to accept MS Exchange account.
Email configuration would simply fail - we were getting 'account verification failed' error.

We had the following setup:

  • Small Business Server 2003
  • iPhone 3GS
  • Draytek Vigor 2820 router

Summary of the problem below:

  • The iPhone did not want to connect to the Exchange when using 3G or Wifi network.
  • The settings we were providing during email configuration were identical to those of OWA (Outlook Web Access) settings, ex. server address: mail.domainname.com (which was simply forwarded to the public IP address of the server)
  • We were able to access OWA interface without any problems using any browser and even Safari browser on the iPhone.
  • After a few tests we realised that we were able to configure the iPhone when it was connected to the network using local WiFi and we provided local name of the Exchange (local name of the computer) but not when using the external address of the server.
  • All relevant ports on the router were forwarded to the server properly.

How we approached the problem:

  • After a few unsuccesfull attempts we decided to test the iPhone first. With that in mind we configured an email account from a different server which we knew was working fine. We had no problems getting that account working. At that stage we knew that the iPhone itself was not a problem.
  • We have double, and triple-checked all router settings. Couldn't find the problem.
  • Because we knew the iPhone worked when connected directly to the server using the server's local name we thought that the problem must have been the router or some other settings related to the internet connection. Based on that we have: upgraded the router firmware (nothing changed) and then even brought a different router which we were sure worked well - nothing changed.

We have also verified server certificates etc. Everything seemed to be fine.

What the hell is the problem? And then... Eureka! I have realised that, some time ago, somewhere, I had read that iPhones use ActiveSync to synchronise with the MS Exchange.

From there it was easy path. I realised that ActiveSync together with Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) NOT Outlook Web Access (OWA) is used to synchronise MS Exchange with Windows Mobile devices. And... the same is true for iPhones!

I went back to the server, re-run Configure Internet and E-mail and Internet Connection wizard and - Voila! I found out that Outlook Mobile Access was NOT enabled on our SBS2003 server.

After enabling Outlook Mobile Access the iPhone (and few other ones that were waiting in the queue) started working like a dream!

All posts I had seen regarding iPhone and Exchange configuration suggested that the only settings required to configure the iPhone communication were Outlook Web Access settings. But, as you can see from the above, that's not entirely true!

Obviously is some instances you (or your network admin) may have configured OWA and OMA using the same settings and even the same server address, however, that's not necessarily the rule. Therefore, if you do experience any problems getting your iPhone talking to the SBS2003 make sure that the Outlook Mobile Access is enabled on the server to start with.

Hope this chaotic blog will help at least some of you guys.

All the best!

K.Z.

It's done! IT Support

It's done! Smart Home

11 comments:

  1. Hi,
    I am having a problem.
    I am able to access mails through owa via safari on my iphone. but not thru activesync. When i configure it says account verification failed.

    When our IT people called the customer support of hutch mail (we use hutch mail server) they said that they dont support iphone.
    On their website it is shown that they support windows mobile and other smart phones.

    Is it possible that they can specificaly disable iphone on the server?

    Does Iphone require anything different than a windows mobile for activesync?

    And do I have to install any type of certificate on my iphone?

    please mail me on vickrampurswani@gmail.com I am really frustrated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vickram,

    Sorry for late reply.
    As far as I know iPhone works exactly the same way as other SmartPhones using ActiveSync.
    You do not need to install any certificates etc.
    I would advise that you check the correct address of the server as per my post above.
    Make sure your IT guys gave you the correct one - it might be the same as for your Outlook Web Access but in same cases it is different.

    Regards

    Krystian

    ReplyDelete
  3. make sure Outlook Mobile Access is on the on server then setup exchange account on iphone, you will get verification error just hit next again and press save. then go to settings mail, press the account the press account info and turn off ssl, now your mail should work

    ReplyDelete
  4. Had a similar problem. Kept getting verification failed on iPhone. If you have ISA installed on your sbs2003 server as well, the wizard will also set up the necessary rules int he ISA firewall, as well as all the other settings. so yourself you have to do very little.

    ReplyDelete
  5. thanks, it worked perfectly for me. i've been puuling my hair out checking ports until now.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi

    I'm having a different but related problem. My Windows Mobile phone will sync if I manually select the send/receive option (or Sync Now in ActiveSync), but push email isn't working. It used to work but stopped when we had a bit of a network upgrade: we dumped the ancient ISA server and installed a new Draytek router and a third party certificate (new Windows 7 clients didn't seem to like the old self-issued certificate for some reason).

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like to work with other tools, but sometimes I had awful problems. Once day I had unusual issue with my MS Exchange and couldn't make anything. I was lucky and soon a friend suggested me the fine solution, which would help in this trouble - recovering exchange from .ost files.

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  8. Still helping 4 years later, it worked for me on one of our clients old SBS 2003 machines. I thought as all the boxes were ticked under Mobile Services, services and ports were fine it would have worked. Running the Internet Connection Wizard solved it !! :)

    ReplyDelete
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