Hi thereI have an issue with the offline address book OAB which has been present since we started using our new Exchange 2007 infrastructure.When I make changes to the AD such as add new users or remove old users these changes are not replicated to the OAB even after several days on cached exchange mode clients on Outlook 2007. Stranger still if I attempt to force a download of the address book it completes succsessfully but the changes are still not evident. This is the case even if in the EMC I right click on the OAB and force it to update.I checked the URL of the OAB and it was set to default asHTTP://servername.local/OABas opposed to HTTPS://I can access the OAB XML file by visiting the URL so that doesnt appear to be an issue either.This is a brand new AD/Exchange installation so I am abit stumped. Suffice to say that you can see the correct GAL when you access via realtime connection and via OWA.Stumped! Does anyone have any places for me to start looking?Does anyone have any recommendations?

Hi, What kind of setup do you have and which version of Windows are you using (single server, cluster,...; Windows 2003/2008)? Dou you have any warnings or errors related to OAB in Event Viewer? Best regards

Simple 1 AD site with 2 DCs, 1 Exchange server with Hub, CAS, and Mailbox roles with the hub also performing Internet email routing. No errors or warnings in the event log at all apart from one early each morning stating that there was a schedule overlap - which I don't think applies to this case. One interesting point - when I use IE7 to access the URL of the oab.xml file it prompts for username and password - should it not accept authenticated users? Also when attempting to perform a full address book download it takes around 4 minutes after which it does say success...even though it has not actually reflected the changes. OWA and 'live' Outlook connections show the correct GAL. Thanks!

sorry - on a Server 2008 server/domain / forest functional level.

Hi, This IE7 prompt is related to it's security settings (check settings for zone you use)... Before going deeper into this problem.... Can you please create new Outlook profile and check whether changes are reflected in GAL? Best regards

Right interesting. If I create a new Outlook profile within an existing user profilethen it does not update the GAL. However, if I use a new desktop profile (as in login as a new user on my laptop) then create a new Outlook profile it does show the changes required from the GAL. From this I take it we can assume that the main OABis updating correctly from theGAL - it just isnt replicating changes to Outlook2007 clients. I can confirm that the OAB has web based and public folder distribution enabled from within the EMC. Can you think of anything else that could be causing this? Thanks!

One more strange addition! In Outlook 2007 Address Book the new user shows under the heading All Users but does not show up in the Global Address List in cached mode.

I think I have worked out the issue/cause. The service Microsoft Exchange File Distribution Service was set to automatic but for some reason had not started. I started this service, forced an address book download and bang! Done! I will check it out over following days but I would imagine that with the polling set correctly all client OABs should now update. The OAB is reliant on this service for distribution so it would appear that it was a simple case of getting that running. Thanks for your assistance.

I'm glad that you solved your problem! Best regards

I'm having the same issue , GAL not updating ....I have an exchange server2008 , no error on event view...but it show fine if you go to owa. I tried updating address book at the server configuration but not luck...;The Microsoft Exchange File Distribution Service is started and set to automatic. I restarted by the way...but same result. Not sure how to use the shell to update GAL manually ....Update-GlobalAddressList -Identity <GlobalAddressListIdParameter> -DomainController, I think this is the command but I'm getting errors since I don't know what it goes on the global address List parameter.. Any help will be appreciated.Cesar.

To use the Exchange Management Console to update an offline address book in Exchange 2007 1. Start the ExchangeManagement Console. 2. In the console tree, expand Organization Configuration, and then click Mailbox. 3. In the result pane, click the Offline Address Book tab, and then click the OAB that you want to update. 4. In the action pane, click Update. 5. Read the warning box, and then click Yes to continue. 6. On the client - In Outlook click on the down arrow next to Send/Receive to open the menu. Click Download Address Book - OK. Make sure that the Download changes since last Send/Receive check box is selected.