Connection problem: Outlook, PIX, Exchange server

[mlheureux]

Hello!

I was testing a firewall from Cisco and I notice that my Outlook loses connection with the Exchange server. From the Firewall perspective, Outlook is located in a more secure interface than the server Exchange.

When I said (lose connection) I mean I get a box with a telling me that outlook is trying to retrieve data from the server with a progress bar. Sometime it appears only fraction of a section, sometime 2-3 secondes.

I only notice that behaviour if the client Outlook is behind the firewall. We solved a similar problem (no firewall involved) by defining the WINS server. But here I have no idea were to look

Thanks

Christian Heroux

[mostiguy]

So outlook works fine, and then all of a sudden if loses the connection?

[mlheureux]

Hello!

Outlook never stop working it only hang for few secondes. I get a text box with a progress bar telling me that outlook is trying to retrieve data from the server.

I have learned that Outlook keep the session open with Exchange with RPC connection and transmit data over UDP netbios. One suggest that RPC might less tolerant to delay on the network... There are only few equipment going trought the firewall and cpu is less than 5% so I dout that the problem

Any other possibilities that i should look at

Ch

[mostiguy]

I would check the ethernet switch ports that the exchange server is plugged into, as well as the pix, to make sure there are no errors, or a duplex mismatch to rule out layer 2 ethernet problems.

Also keep open performance monitor on exchange, and track cpu usage, disk queue length, etc. Possibly it could be a resource problem that is delaying things

[lacamas]

Hello there.

I know this is an older post, however we get that message occasionally also. I figuerd out that the person just had way too much email in their inboxes and outlook was "trying to retreive data from the server". Hope this helps.

Travis.

[mlheureux]

Hello!

I have confirmed that disconnection problem with Remote desktop was the result of a connection timeout in the pix. We increased the time the connection last in the pix to 4 hours and it solved the Outlook problem also.

CH