HTTP over RPC works, but doesn't work. Exchange 2003.
Being at the end of my tether trying to resolve this, hopefully you guys can help me. Running Windows Server 2003 Std R2 with Exchange 2003 SP2 installed. This is also a DC with AD and GC configured. HTTP over RPC has been working perfectly until a few weeks back when a bunch of Microsoft Updates were installed. One of the updates had hung (cannot remember which one, but I'm sure it was for Exchange) and I'd assumed because it couldn't stop the IMAP service. Anyway, after a reboot I installed this update successfully manually. Since then, HTTC over RPC is kind of working... but it's not.... I have checked all registry/IIS/Exchange settings and as far as I can see they are all correct. Clients are running Outlook 2003 (with some on 2010). HTTP configured clients Outlook will prompt for authentication, then connect using HTTP over RPC (RPC Diag shows it working ok). It will then lose connectivity and state 'trying to connect', then it will connect again. Upon attempting to send mail, it will sit at trying to send. Closing down Outlook and reopening it does actually send the mail. Having tried the Remote Exchange Connectivity Analyser, it showed a few errors, relating to not being able to ping the endpoint 6001. Telnetting to those ports was successful however. Having re-entered the 'validports' registry entry, the Remote Exchange Connectivity Analyser now completes successfully.... but HTTP is still not working. A restart is on the cards for this server but will need to be done out of hours, so I'm hoping that's going to sort it. Any other ideas though? UPDATE: After just trying the Remote Exchange Connectivity Analyser again....hours after the last attempt that worked.... it now fails on: Testing the Name Service Provider Interface (NSPI) on the Exchange Mailbox server. An error occurred while testing the NSPI RPC endpoint. Test Steps Attempting to ping RPC endpoint 6004 (NSPI Proxy Interface) on server srv1-st.acute.local. The attempt to ping the endpoint failed. Additional Details An RPC error was thrown by the RPC Runtime process. Error 1818 1818
April 18th, 2011 8:24am

It could be a patch issue. But honestly reboot the thing first to see if that fixes your issue. If not in ESM remove it as an RPC over HTTP server and then re-apply. Looking in my Change Control process i've seen this has fixed the above issue for me. Oliver Moazzezi | Exchange MVP, MCSA:M, MCITP:Exchange 2010, BA (Hons) Anim | http://www.exchange2010.com | http://www.cobweb.com | http://twitter.com/OliverMoazzezi
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April 19th, 2011 5:40am

Thanks for your reply Oliver. I will do a restart sometime this week and let you know the results. Failing that, I will try your suggestion of removing and re-adding. If that doesn't work then my last option was going to be to completely remove everything to do with HTTP over RPC and then re-install it. Cheers, Dale.
April 19th, 2011 5:48am

Hi Dale, Do you have F5 Hardware Load balancer? Does ROH work inside of your company? Thanks, Simon
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April 20th, 2011 1:29am

No load balancing hardware. Again no, RPC Over HTTP doesn't work inside or outside of the company. Thanks, Dale.
April 20th, 2011 4:34am

Hi Dale, You can try accessing the RPC VD in IE to check by: https://ProxyServerName//rpc/rpcproxy.dll If it cannot be accessed, go ahead to rebuild the RPC VD and components to reset all the settings. If we can acces via IE successfully, then use the PRCPing command to ping the ROH proxy server and the mailbox server to narrow down the causes: How to use the RPC Ping utility to troubleshoot connectivity issues http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831051 Thanks, Simon
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April 21st, 2011 10:45pm

Hi Dale, Is there any update on this issue? Thanks, Simon
April 29th, 2011 3:17am

Hi Simon, Apologies for the delay in getting back to you, had all the bank holidays and what not! Haven't had chance to try a server restart yet, hopefully this week.... I'm hoping. I can browse to the rpcproxy.dll fine. Once I've tried a restart, I'll start the troubleshooting again if it's not been resolved. Cheers, Dale.
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May 3rd, 2011 3:49am

Simon, I've managed to reboot this server now, however, it has not resolved the issue. Using RPCPing, I get the following error: Error 12007 : The server name or address could not be resolved returned in WinHttpSendRequest Ping failed I have also used Portqry and indeed all necessary ports 25, 443, 80, etc are listening. Remote Connectivity Analyser now states the following error: Testing the Name Service Provider Interface (NSPI) on the Exchange Mailbox server. An error occurred while testing the NSPI RPC endpoint. Test Steps Attempting to ping RPC endpoint 6004 (NSPI Proxy Interface) on server srv1-st.acute.local. The attempt to ping the endpoint failed. Additional Details An RPC error was thrown by the RPC Runtime process. Error 1818 1818 Any thoughts? Dale.
May 3rd, 2011 8:12am

Simon, I've managed to reboot this server now, however, it has not resolved the issue. Using RPCPing, I get the following error: Error 12007 : The server name or address could not be resolved returned in WinHttpSendRequest Ping failed I have also used Portqry and indeed all necessary ports 25, 443, 80, etc are listening. Remote Connectivity Analyser now states the following error: Testing the Name Service Provider Interface (NSPI) on the Exchange Mailbox server. An error occurred while testing the NSPI RPC endpoint. Test Steps Attempting to ping RPC endpoint 6004 (NSPI Proxy Interface) on server srv1-st.acute.local. The attempt to ping the endpoint failed. Additional Details An RPC error was thrown by the RPC Runtime process. Error 1818 1818 After forcing Outlook to use HTTP over RPC again, it stays connected and rpcdiag shows HTTPS connected. However upon sending/receiving mail, mail just sits in the outbox whilst Outllok states trying to send/receive. After a number of connection lost/connection restored, it eventually stays on 'trying to connect'. Any thoughts? Dale.
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May 3rd, 2011 8:12am

Double check the configuration of RPC over HTTP(S) so it's still valid and haven't been changed by the updates http://www.petri.co.il/how-can-i-configure-rpc-over-https-on-exchange-2003-single-server-scenario.htm http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/implementing-rpc-over-https-single-exchange-server-2003-environment.html http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833401 Jonas Andersson | Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog | Follow me on twitter: jonand82
May 4th, 2011 4:25am

An update for you guys.... Completely removed RPC over HTTP, re-installed it and reconfigured it..... Still no luck :-( Remote Exchange Connectivity Analyser now fails on a slightly different point: Testing the Name Service Provider Interface (NSPI) on the Exchange Mailbox server. An error occurred while testing the NSPI RPC endpoint. Test Steps Attempting to ping RPC endpoint 6004 (NSPI Proxy Interface) on server srv1-st.acute.local. The endpoint was pinged successfully. Additional Details RPC Status Ok (0) returned in 259 ms. Testing NSPI "Check Name" for user dale@domain.co.uk against server srv1-st.domain.local. An error occurred while attempting to resolve the name. Additional Details An RPC error was thrown by the RPC Runtime process. Error 1726 CallFailed Any other ideas? Cheers, Dale.
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May 17th, 2011 8:29am

Well..... this seems to now be resolved! (He says whilst touching as much wood as possible!). Although everything I've tried previously has had no affect what so ever. Due to our SSL cert expiring soon, yesterday I ran through the SSL Wizard in IIS - only went in to the wizard.... didn't actually change anything. Come today, HTTP over RPC appears to be working. SSL certificate has been working fine with no issues, so going in to the wizard seems to have triggered something....... Thanks for your assistance. Dale.
June 10th, 2011 10:36am

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