Can see free/busy info, but takes too long

[cchelm]

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

I work in a small department full of Macs (in a large post-secondary institution of mostly PC's) running Leopard and Office 2008. We connect to an exchange server with Entourage. That server was recently upgraded from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007. Since then, we have had a singular problem:
- When adding invitees to a meeting, the Scheduling tab will take at least 3 minutes (usually longer) to retrieve "free/busy" information from the exchange/public folder.

I think I've read almost every post here regarding similar scheduling issues, but none of them say they are getting the free/busy info eventually: they just refer to the information not being accessible at all.

So, because we're eventually getting the information, we believe that our public server Exchange settings are correct. It just takes a frustratingly long time.

When using Outlook Web Access through Safari we are able to get free/busy info instantly. So, we've been keeping both Entourage and OWA running as a work around.

Help. We would like to resolve this issue and have instant (or relatively instant) access to free/busy info when setting meetings.

FYI:
Exchange server: 'servername'.co.ca/exchange/[email protected]
DAV service SSL unchecked
Not overriding port 80
Public folder: 'servername'.co.ca/public

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I work in a small department full of Macs (in a large post-secondary
institution of mostly PC's) running Leopard and Office 2008. We
connect to an exchange server with Entourage. That server was
recently upgraded from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007. Since then, we
have had a singular problem: - When adding invitees to a meeting, the
Scheduling tab will take at least 3 minutes (usually longer) to
retrieve "free/busy" information from the exchange/public folder.

When things work but don't work well then I usually suspect DNS
problems. Has your Public folders server changed too or are you using
the same server? This is the server responsible for free/busy information.

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[cchelm]

When things work but don't work well then I usually suspect DNS
problems. Has your Public folders server changed too or are you using
the same server? This is the server responsible for free/busy information.

--

bill

Entourage Help Page
Entourage Help Blog
YouTalk
Twitter: follow

The Public folder did indeed change when the organization switched from Exchange 2003 to 2007. Any information you could provide me with about the suspected "DNS problems" that you think I should take to my IT folks would be greatly appreciated.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

The Public folder did indeed change when the organization switched
from Exchange 2003 to 2007. Any information you could provide me with
about the suspected "DNS problems" that you think I should take to my
IT folks would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, that's about the best I'll be able to do without having
access to your network.

DNS problems occur because of stale records on the servers or your own
DNS server may be having a hard time finding the correct IP address.
Usually, a delay occurs when your Mac consults its DNS server and that
DNS server is having difficulty finding the Exchange servers. It tries
and tries, times out and then consults a more authoritative DNS server
that does return the correct information.

Or maybe, you have a couple of DNS servers available but one was retired
during the transition. It may have been your primary server but you're
spinning your wheels just trying to find it. Check your own DNS server
settings in the Network System Preferences.

On your Mac, flush your DNS cache so that it's forced to consult DNS:

dscacheutil -flushcache (for Leopard)
lookupd -flushcache (for Tiger)

Then use the Network Utility found in /Applications/Utilities to look up
your public folders server. How is the response? keep in mind too that
the problem could be between servers and not your Mac and the DNS server.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>