Free/Busy: Replication and rebuild?
Greetings,I'm having some troubles managing Free/Busy data on my Exchange 2007 servers.Currently I have two servers, being one the CAS and the other essentially a store.I had public folders on the store server, but I was unable to access them via OWA (resource unavailabel when accessing https://casserver.domain.com/public). So, I tried to replicate the free/busy folder to my CAS.The problem is that it never replicates. I have 20 itens on the PF (when I consult the properties on the store server), but 0 itens on the CAS.Also, I was too stupid and remove all the servers for replication, loosing all free/busy data.So, my questions are:- How can I setup public folder replication for free/busy data so that the folder becomes available through the OWA and both servers?- How can I rebuild free/busy data, now that it is gone?Thanks in advance,Ricardo
November 29th, 2008 6:05pm

Issue description: Free/Busy [FB] data cant be viewed on CAS Explanation: In exchange 2007, Outlook 2007 retrieve others Free/Busy information by querying the others calendar folder directly through Availability Service. Outlook 2003 retrieve others Free/Busy by querying the information from the Free/Busy system folder in the Public Folder store. Check info: 1. Please describe the topology more detailed, which server role do you install on the servers? 2. Since you said that you had tried to replicate FB folder to CAS, I assume that CAS also have MBX role on the box, right? 3. And as outlook 2007 retrieves FB data directly from others mailboxes, I assume that you have outlook 2003 users in the environment so you need the public folder for FB, right? 4. You knew that you cant access public folder directly via URL in the exchange 2007, right? 5. Whats the current encountered impact and symptom for users? Troubleshooting: 1. Please check if you set the replication based on this article 2. Please rise the diagnose level to maximum in order to monitor the replication process among problematic public server and the normal based on this article Procedure to rise the diagnose level: Use Set-EventLogLevel to set "MSExchangeIS\9001 Public\Replication Incoming Messages" and "MSExchangeIS\9001 Public\Replication Outgoing Messages" to Expert level in EMS Notes: Make sure that you set logging back to its original level after troubleshooting 3. This article provides the method that reset the system folder, in this way, we delete existing system folder and create new one against AG. it shall ONLY be used when free/busy data have severe issue, or against specific OAB if it has severe issue References: How to Use Outlook Web Access Web Parts Managing Public Folder Replication
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December 2nd, 2008 7:05am

Thanks for your answer. Here are the answers to your questions: 1 and 2. The topology is the following: Two Windows 2003 R2 as Global Catalogs Two Windows 2003 R2 with Exchange 2007: one is the CAS servers with a Mailbox role and transport. The other is just a mailstore. Both have a public folder database. 3. Currently I only have Oulook 2003 and other third party application. Both require FB to be accessible via public folders. 4. I can access public folder through the CAS as long as I have a public folder database on the CAS itself. It didn't work when the public folder db was only present at the mailbox server. Replication failed between both servers for the SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY folder, given that the server that did not had a replica in the first place kept having just 0 items/0kb. 5. Most of the user don't have free busy information accessible. They just get "cannot retrieve FB information..." on their Outlook scheduling assistant. As for the troubleshooting, I will try it tomorrow given that I am out of office currently. As far as I remember, I am not able to set replication to the base SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY. I can only set it for the subfolders of it. Do you think that could be the problem? Best regards, Ricardo
December 2nd, 2008 9:13pm

You said FB message data has 20 items on MBX before, do you mean that all users FB messages exist under subfolder of SCHEDULE + FREE BUSY folder on that box? Please use MFCMAPI to confirm these FB messages owners a. Launch MFCMAPI on your client b. Session menu->choose Logon and Display Store Table->choose profile in jumped window c. On the top-pane, double-click public folder and go to next window d. Expand Public Root->NON_IPM_SUBTREE folder->SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY folder->Its subtree e. Check the messages' subjects Check the default public store you set for users, since only MBX has FB data in the public store, make sure that default public store set as MBX on all mailbox databases by using EMC [Here], and also confirm the setting with MFCMAPI a. Launch MFCMAPI on users client b. Session menu->choose Logon and Display Store Table->choose users profile in jumped window c. Double-click Public Folder->single-click Public Root in next window->search for PR_REPLICA_SERVER property, itll show the name of default server that outlook is using to access
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December 3rd, 2008 6:48am

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