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How I got my MPx200 to sync with my Exchange 2003 server


Guest neovader

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Guest neovader

It was kind of a pain in the but to get going at first. You must set up your Exchange 2003 Server (or have your IT dept. do it) to allow OMA "Outlook Mobile Access". Then you need to set up your email account and activesync on the phone to point to the server.

To set up Exchange 2003 all I had to do was open System Manager, Go under "Global Settings" and then right click on "Mobile Settings" and choose properties. Then Towards the bottom of the window I checked all the boxes on this page.

Next you need to disable certificate checking on your phone if your Exchange server doens't have a certificate from one of the major certificate authorities like Verisign.

Here is the link to the "Disable Certificate Verification" Tool for Exchange 2003.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&DisplayLang=en

To use it, connect your phone to your computer and make sure activesync has found and recognized your phone. Then download this file and expand it to a folder you can easily access from the command line. Then open up a command prompt window and go to the folder you extracted to and then type the following:

CERTCHK query

Then hit enter and it will tell you the status of Certificate Verification on your phone. It should say it is ON. So then type this:

CERTCHK off

Then hit enter and it should have turned Certificate Verification on your phone off. Now you are free to set up your Exchange account on your phone, and assuming you have correctly configured Exchange 2003 to allow OMA (Outlook Mobile Access) then you will be able to sync you phone with Exchange.

One more thing that confused me at first, when setting up your exchange account on your phone, when it asks for server put in the web address to your server not the actual name. This confused me because normally when setting up an Outlook client with Exchange you type in the name of the server on the inside but on the phone I had to change it to the website that I use to get to Outlook Web Access, that is "www.someplace.com" not "www.someplace.com/exchange" or just "SOMEPLACE".

Hope this helps, it worked for me.

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One thing to add..

Disable Forms based authenication on under the http protocol server in exchange system manager. :)

There is a work round which Paul_MVP is working on.

:(

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  • 7 months later...

Can i just reiterate something regarding the server name you use, as it's a little unclear at the top:

Ensure it's either the IP address of the server, or a fqdn which points to the server, also port 443 needs to be opened if you want to sync while not connected to the pc.

Eg,

Local IP is 192.168.16.2, external IP is 1.2.3.4 or you have a fqdn of lounge.domain.com - these are all valid server names - just specifying the server name doesn't work (ie, lounge )

As far as my mpx200 goes, i didn't need to disable form based authentication, but the decert is a must...

Just my ha'penny...

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest fahlis

I also had a battle with this one, right up until I entered the external IP adress for my domain instead of the domain name in serversettings both on the phone and my laptop, after this it has worked like charm to activesync by air to my exchange 2003 server.

I have it set to "when new items arrive" at peak hours, and to "every 2 hours" off peak hours,never failed thus far.

I have forms based... disabled and also did the decert thingy.

But both of these options I did prior to changing to the external IP adress,so I´m not sure they matter. Here´s a rundown on all the settings.

Qtek8080:

Activesync-menu-options-mobile schedule:

Peak time Sync:

"when new items arrive"

Off-peak time sync:

"every 2 hours"

Roaming Sync:

Use mobile settings

Sync outgoing items as they are sent is activated

Activesync-menu-options-server settings-connection:

User Name:

"mydomainusername"

Password:

"mydomainpassword"

Domain:

"MYDOMAIN"

Servername:

"mydomains external IP adress" (this was the key to my success)

this server uses an SSL connection is ticked

Adress device using:

"Service Provider"

Device SMS adress:

"my mailadress"

Service Provider Name:

"mydomainname without any .com.org.nu etc"

Devie Phone Number:

"mymobilnr of corse"

On my laptop same settings are applied in

activesync-tools-options-configure-connection submenus.

All in all, now I really luw my Qtek8080 :D.

Oh, and many thx to Will at modaco who helped me soret this all out :D

thx / fahlis

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Guest Dr_StrangeTrick

Hi Fahlis, could I ask you to help with a couple of questions.

I have been trying to get this working but without much luck,

Adress device using:  

"Service Provider"  

Device SMS adress:  

"my mailadress"  

Devie Phone Number:  

"mymobilnr of corse"  

If you don't mind sparing me a few mins about the above, are you on Orange? if so do you have Orange as your service provider? or have you used something else??

Your SMS address, I have a domain email account and an orange email account, I assume you have something similar? which mail address have you used here??

Last question for your phone number have you used just 0797..... or have you used +44797....?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

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Guest fahlis

Sure I´ll try :D

First I´m not on orange.

As service provider I have my domain name,and that is set automatically when I first synced.

One thing to mention say my domain name is "mydomain", in servoce provider it says "my domain" with the space,dunno why but that´s what it says.

For SMS adress I have my domain emailadress.Not sure what to put there really :D but it works.

For my phonenumber I have just 07... no countrycode there at all.

Anyway the key to my success was to put in the external domain IP adress instead of the domainname.

Hope any of this helps,good luck.

/fahlis

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
Guest mitton

As you need to use the external host name for ActiveSync to work over GPRS when you connect with your USB cable to a computer on your inside network, the phone wont be able to connect to the server.

You can get around this issues in a number of ways

1. Setup on an internal DNS server the same external host name but point it to the internal address of the exchange server. This will resolve the problem for your entire network.

or

2. Modify your local host file c:windowssystem32driversetchosts on the computer you are connecting your phone with so that it includes the same name as the external host name but point it to the inside address of the Exchange server. Only resolves the problem on the workstaton you add the entry to.

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  • 1 month later...
Guest stephen_oliver

This is interesting stuff.

Server name: I always used to use the external IP address of the Exchange server (I use 2 net cards with the ADSL router one with a fixed IP address). I've recently discovered that my ISP has registered my mail server as "mailgate.domainname" and that works too.

Push technology: I don't know about Orange - just come back to Mother Orange after 9 disasterous months with O2 (I hate them, I hate them, I hate them). With 02, the device address is the long phone number (no leading +44) @ mmail.co.uk. Still didn't worked reliably though and quite expensive (about 30p per notification). If anyone knows the settings AND COSTS for server push on Orange I'd be interested.

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  • 4 months later...
Guest lambretta

I would like to do this, but I'm a little confused as to what I would have to do at he server end. My server obviously sits behind a firewall for security and I dont know how I could set this up to allow a mobile phone to access it.

There must be a way as surely Orange and Microsoft couldn't expect businesses to have exchange servers on the wrong side of a firewall...

Am I being stupid here or something? Tried searching Oranges site, no joy, tried calling Orange, after an hour I got someone who said he could transfer me to someone who could answer the question, I then got cut off (not at all frustrating :x ).

Anyone on here know what I'm on about? The phone in quesiton is a C500 but I dont think it matters which model SPV I use.

Cheers folks, cracking forum :lol:

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest kit2000

Go to: Activesync -> Options -> (Server) Configure... -> Connection... -> Server Name

If this field is set to a numerical ip address ie 192.168.xxx.xxx or a local fqdn ie yourserver.yourlocaldomain (you cannot just put in the name of your server without the domain suffix as the phone will not resolve it) then you must disable the Certificate Verification by using the certchk tool mentioned in the first post.

If the field is set to an externally resolvable fqdn ie www.yourregistereddomain.com you will only sync with the server if you have either disabled the certchk or you have purchased a certificate from a trusted root CA such as Verisign or Thawte.

Disabling Certificate Verification is not a recommended secure practice especially if you use your mobile device for browsing other sites. So how do you get round this I hear you cry?

Get yourself a xxx.dyndns.org account and point it at your network. Type in yourdomain.dyndns.org in the server field and hey presto! Exchange Server sync works over SSL *without* disabling Certificate Verification. I've tested it with dyndns but it *should* work with any dynamic domain name service just as long as they have purchased a certificate for the root domain.

If you still have problems connecting using SSL try this:

Exchange ActiveSync and Outlook Mobile Access errors occur when SSL or forms-based authentication is required for Exchange Server 2003

Hope this helps :D

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Guest lambretta
Go to: Activesync -> Options -> (Server) Configure... -> Connection... -> Server Name

If this field  is set to a numerical ip address ie 192.168.xxx.xxx or a local fqdn ie yourserver.yourlocaldomain (you cannot just put in the name of your server without the domain suffix as the phone will not resolve it) then you must disable the Certificate Verification by using the certchk tool mentioned in the first post.

If the field is set to an externally resolvable fqdn ie www.yourregistereddomain.com you will only sync with the server if you have either disabled the certchk or you have purchased a certificate from a trusted root CA such as Verisign or Thawte.

Disabling Certificate Verification is not a recommended secure practice especially if you use your mobile device for browsing other sites. So how do you get round this I hear you cry?

Get yourself a xxx.dyndns.org account and point it at your network. Type in yourdomain.dyndns.org in the server field and hey presto! Exchange Server sync works over SSL *without* disabling Certificate Verification. I've tested it with dyndns but it *should* work with any dynamic domain name service just as long as they have purchased a certificate for the root domain.

If you still have problems connecting using SSL try this:

Exchange ActiveSync and Outlook Mobile Access errors occur when SSL or forms-based authentication is required for Exchange Server 2003

Hope this helps  :D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thanks for that, will have a go tomorrow and let you know how i get on

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest stamford

Thanks to this very helpful forum I have nearly managed to sort out my SPV C500 wirefree sync with server.

I have disable the certificate checker as recommended. However, I am getting the following error message after it says it is comparing device with server:

"Synchronisation failed because of a server error. Try again

Error code: HTTP_500

ActiveSync failed to configure your account to sync as new items arrive. Contact your Microsoft Exchange administrator."

As our adminstrator is not really very knowledgable about this stuff I would be grateful if there is any advice that you can give me to help sort the issue out.

Edited by stamford
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Thanks to this very helpful forum I have nearly managed to sort out my SPV C500 wirefree sync with server.

I have disable the certificate checker as recommended. However, I am getting the following error message after it says it is comparing device with server:

"Synchronisation failed because of a server error.  Try again

Error code: HTTP_500

ActiveSync failed to configure your account to sync as new items arrive.  Contact your Microsoft Exchange administrator."

As our adminstrator is not really very knowledgable about this stuff I would be grateful if there is any advice that you can give me to help sort the issue out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

HTTP_500 is an internal server error - something to do with the application not working?

Can you actually login to https://yourserver/oma and view the list of messages? (you'll have to enter your username as domain\username in the box that pops up)

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I would like to do this, but I'm a little confused as to what I would have to do at he server end.  My server obviously sits behind a firewall for security and I dont know how I could set this up to allow a mobile phone to access it.

There must be a way as surely Orange and Microsoft couldn't expect businesses to have exchange servers on the wrong side of a firewall...

Am I being stupid here or something?  Tried searching Oranges site, no joy, tried calling Orange, after an hour I got someone who said he could transfer me to someone who could answer the question, I then got cut off (not at all frustrating :x ).

Anyone on here know what I'm on about?  The phone in quesiton is a C500 but I dont think it matters which model SPV I use.

Cheers folks, cracking forum  :D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You have to allow port 443 (https) through your firewall, if it's a router based firewall you'd probably have to set it up as a virtual application or service port, which allows incoming port 443 to your internal server ip address.

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Guest stamford
HTTP_500 is an internal server error - something to do with the application not working?

Can you actually login to https://yourserver/oma and view the list of messages? (you'll have to enter your username as domain\username in the box that pops up)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, tried the above (using http though without the s) and got this message "The device type you are using is not supported. Press Ok to continue."

After pressing OK was able to see list of items

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  • 1 month later...
Guest t001z
I have disable the certificate checker as recommended. However, I am getting the following error message after it says it is comparing device with server:

"Synchronisation failed because of a server error.  Try again

Error code: HTTP_500

ActiveSync failed to configure your account to sync as new items arrive.  Contact your Microsoft Exchange administrator."

I am a IT Manager (who is also lucky enough to be in charge of the Exchange Servers) and I just got the mpx220 last month and finally got around to setting it up to work correctly. I was getting this same error message and was brought to this forum to solve it. The only thing that worked was to shut off the Forms Based Authentication.

This is definately not ideal as forms based authentication is much more secure, but it works.

To shut off Forms Based Authentication, have your Admin log into Exchange Server, then open System Manager-->Administrative Groups-->(Group Name)-->Servers-->(Server Name)-->Protocols-->HTTP-->Exchange Virtual Server (Properties via Right Click)-->Settings Tab-->Uncheck "Enable Forms Based Authentication"

I am sure there is another way, but this worked for me and I am definately not stopping here. I will find the better way.

I know there is a Virtual Directory Called Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync under the Virtual Server folder, I am going to play with that a little bit to see if I can re-enable my forms authentication and I will repost my findings. Until then, this will at least allow you to get your active sync set with the server for the time being.

Good Luck!

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Guest stamford
I am a IT Manager (who is also lucky enough to be in charge of the Exchange Servers) and I just got the mpx220 last month and finally got around to setting it up to work correctly.  I was getting this same error message and was brought to this forum to solve it.  The only thing that worked was to shut off the Forms Based Authentication.

This is definately not ideal as forms based authentication is much more secure, but it works.

To shut off Forms Based Authentication, have your Admin log into Exchange Server, then open System Manager-->Administrative Groups-->(Group Name)-->Servers-->(Server Name)-->Protocols-->HTTP-->Exchange Virtual Server (Properties via Right Click)-->Settings Tab-->Uncheck "Enable Forms Based Authentication"

I am sure there is another way, but this worked for me and I am definately not stopping here.  I will find the better way.

I know there is a Virtual Directory Called Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync under the Virtual Server folder, I am going to play with that a little bit to see if I can re-enable my forms authentication and I will repost my findings.  Until then, this will at least allow you to get your active sync set with the server for the time being.

Good Luck!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the reply - sounds a little dodgy in terms of security but will pass on the message to our administrator. What annoys me is that orange sold me the spv but forgot to tell me they can't help set up the e-mail facility properly and referred me to microsoft who seem unable to deal with anything specific like this - kind of wish I had bought a blackberry!

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Guest t001z

Well, I am from the States and do not deal with Orange, but from what I have read here and on other forums, it sounds like they are about as good as our carriers here.

I use Cingular Wireless and it took me almost a full month to get a call back from someone in their corporate office whose only job (apparently) is to sell their Xpress Mail service which is a pretty much worthless Enterprise product for $1,500. In order to allow this guy a little bit of dignity I will not spell his name out, thanks for nothing Anthony Ru***.

Basically, if you have Exchange 2003, some of their added features of the Out of Box (OOB) product, you don't need their program. Of course they neither know this nor have the ability to tell you what their product does for me that the OOB product does not.

Boy if only this guy would have called me back 10 days ago, I would have still been able to return all the phones and not been stuck with their service. (kinda makes you think it was well thought out ahead, don't you)!

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Guest C500mad

This is an issue that I am hearing more about that Orange should be the ones that are able to set up the sync facility for exchange 2003. But what are IT departments for - Are they not meant to be know their own products that they run?? When I set up my sync with exchange 2000 with MMIS my IT department had a download which did all the settings for me - Is this not how it should always be??

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Guest t001z
This is an issue that I am hearing more about that Orange should be the ones that are able to set up the sync facility for exchange 2003.  But what are IT departments for - Are they not meant to be know their own products that they run??  When I set up my sync with exchange 2000 with MMIS my IT department had a download which did all the settings for me - Is this not how it should always be??

:shock:

You are probably right, we as an IT department have to be able to figure this stuff out, and I think we have -- as much as we can. The basics of any networking/communcations require that the data has to pass over some transmission media (this is owned by the telcom). In my case I MUST BUY a particular phone to work on their network and then they cannot even tell me how to use the features of that phone. That my friend is a problem.

When this is what they deal with on a daily basis and they do not know about it, that is a problem. I am not at all trying to say they should know my system, but they should be able to tell me what the benefits of buying their product is over just Exchange (which by the way is a "minimum requirement" to use their product). :roll:

One last thing, if your IT staff could point me to that download you speak of, that would probably solve lots of problems. By the way, they probably got that download from your provider.

Edited by t001z
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