Exchange 2007 OWA Borked

[sky-knight]

Had a storm last night, a client's exchange server go a little funny so I gave it a reboot.

The Outlook Web Access configuration settings could not be read or updated. Virtual directory: "owa". Web site: "OWA".
Error message:
"Outlook Web Access was unable to access the Active Directory configuration settings for virtual directory "owa" under Web site "OWA"."


Now I get that in the event viewer, OWA just resets itself every 10 min. I've been all over the bit storm and back again with no real resolution. Anyone seen this that might be able to throw me a crumb?

[mdh]

Was that a box that was upgraded from Exchange 2003 to 2007? Might be remnants of days gone by that a glitch caused to rise from the grave.

[sky-knight]

Nope, fresh install. Server 2003 x64 with Exchange on it. It is the same client that crapped an array and made me rebuild it.

I'm applying some over due security updates. I seem to remember going through this before and one of the update rollups just magically fixed it.

[mrunkel]

i seem to recall that the exchange management console can detect and fix most of these errors..

That whole setup (owa/iis/exchange) is a black box of voodoo to me though. I haven't (thank goodness) needed to learn how it works exactly as my random bit fiddling has always fixed the issues.

I would delete the owa directory and have exchange re-create it.

[PCS]

Update rollups are notorious for screwing up OWA. Just do a search on update rollup and owa. I had a 2007 Exchange that had OWA break going from UR2 to UR3. I uninstalled UR3 and waited until I think 6 or 7 before trying again and it worked. I am now due to install SP2 for the integrated VSS backup for Exchange. I am not looking forward to it.

[sky-knight]

Yeah I ran into the same problem, but in this case I tossed in update roll-up 9 and hoped it would fix it... which it didn't.

[PCS]

Usually I am not so cautious on MS updates, but with Exchange 2007 I get paranoid. I usually make sure I have 2 backups. I then pull the mirrored drive and boot on a broken mirror. I do all of the updates and test. If all is well, I reinstall the pulled drive and sync the mirror.

[sky-knight]

Well I found the answer...

As with anything Microsoft, when it breaks "reinstall it"

But with OWA as a component the process is a bit more complicated but very simple.

Open the Exchange Management Shell

1.)Get-OwaVirtualDirectory

That command will list the virtual directories configured in IIS to work with exchange. The important thing is to note the name. Default is owa (Default Web Site)

2.)Remove-OwaVirtualDirectory "owa (Default Web Site)"

Obviously, if you've renamed your site you need to compensate in the command. The text is very literal and case sensitive, so type it in exactly how the Get-OwaVirtualDirectory command spit it out. This will yank out your OWA installation.

3.)New-OwaVirtualDirectory -OwaVersion "Exchange2007" -Name "owa (Default Web Site)"

Again type the name in exactly as you did in step two. The structure of this sequence makes me thing Exchange2010 will do the same thing... so I'm going to commit this to memory.

4.) Go into the Exchange Management Console and hit the properties of OWA and reconfigure. You need to restore your URL configuration as well as any changes you made to authentication.

5.) In a standard command shell, iisreset /restart to reset IIS

When it's done, OWA has been reinstalled from scratch... so next time it breaks screw dorking with setting it up... just let exchange rebuild it for you.

Many many thanks to the author of the following blog.

http://exchangeshare.wordpress.com/2...exchange-2007/

[jzero]

Never had a smilar issue, even after applying URs.
Now I know where to look for when necessary.

[sky-knight]

Stupid question, are you sure all MS Exchange Services are running?
In my case after a UR, 1 or 2 Automatic Service does not load at startup, I had to load it manually.

That was the first thing I checked... the server went down when a power spike knocked it's mirror out. The information store is notorious for simply not starting after a dirty shutdown.

Anyway it's online again... NEXT!