Free / Busy Issues in Exchange 2003
Hi!We have an Exchange server topology consisting of two sites: Chicago and London. Each is running Exchange 2003. We've had issues in the past where some of our users and conference rooms display "no free/busy information could be retrieved." So we log in as the user / room in question, run "Outlook /cleanfreebusy" and the problem is fixed. This has worked perfectly with users / rooms in Chicago.The problem is, this fix doesn't seem to work for anything on the London side. We have run "Outlook /cleanfreebusy" for several London users, but the free/busy information still isn't available. We have tried running this from machines both in Chicago and London, but no dice. We also have verified that the permissions on the calendars are correct - the default on each is set to Author, which grants full access over free/busy information. The Schedule+ Free Busy public folder appears to be replicating just fine in both directions.We have also tried running "Outlook /cleanschedplus" for the heck of it, but this throws an error message about an invalid command.This problem occurs both with Outlook 2003 and 2007 clients, and we have yet to figure out how to fix it. Any ideas? Thanks for the input!
August 10th, 2007 12:42am

I assume you are using the auto accept agent? for resource mailboxes.I have had to remove a mailbox being monitored and then add it back to clear upsuch issues before. I would also change the default config for the auto accept agent to publish the free busy out as possible. I think I have mine set to 2 years in 2003. Haveyou tried moving a mailbox to Chicago and seeing if it cleared up the issue for that mailbox? Is Chicago and London in the same Exchange org? if not then what tool are you using to sync the free busy?
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August 10th, 2007 1:24am

We have each resource set to auto-accept all meeting requests; we have set this by logging in as the resource user account, then opening Outlook and setting the option there. Is that what you mean, or is there another way to do this?Both Chicago and London are part of the same Exchange org.I will try moving a London resource mailbox over to Chicago to see what happens. In the meantime, do you have anything else I can check for? Thanks for the reply!
August 10th, 2007 5:01pm

He was talking about the auto accept agent. Check out this page. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3D0884E6-C603-491D-BF57-ACF03E046BFE&displaylang=en
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August 10th, 2007 7:05pm

The method you are using will not work. When you set outlook to auto accept appoints it only operates when outlook is logged onto the mailbox. That is why it is fixing the issue when you log on with outlook. It is auto accepting the appointments and placing them on the calandar. The auto accept agent is what does this for you without having to maintain a constant or periodic connection to the mailbox. It runs as service and fires up when it recieve a event driven notice such a meeting request. Implementing the auto accept agent will fix you up.
August 10th, 2007 8:24pm

You guys just made my day. =)I will look into setting this up. I have a feeling this is going to resolve our issue. Thanks much!
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August 10th, 2007 10:21pm

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