Unity 4.0.3 with Exchange2k Offbox Questions

[dtran]

Hello all,

I am running Unity 4.0.3 with Exchange2k offbox. I ran into an issue with the Exchange server and Unity was running without the message store for a few days. During the Exchange server outage I noticed some strange functionality issues on Unity, and since I have never ran Unity without the message store before so I don't know if these are normal behaviors when the message store is offline. Below is a list of issues that I encountered when the Exchange server is offline.

1) Message Waiting Light was "stuck" in position it was in when outage occurred

2) Users could not change outgoing greeting

3) Users could not change forwarding set prior to outage within Unity

4) Users could not send messages from their Unity mailbox to other users or Public Distribution Lists from their mailboxes.

5) Users could not delete messages in their mailboxes

6) We could not change passwords, set up new users, lock users from accessing their mailboxes (Administrative areas).

Any advice/inputs is highly appreciated !!!

Thanks very much !!!

Danny

[Ginger Dillon]

Hi Danny -

When Exchange is offline, Unity operates in UMR mode (offline repository) - and stores new voice messages on its own disk - default is Commserver\UnityMTA directory. Subscribers can only access these new messages. Since Exchange is not online and Unity services read the inbox to check for new voice messages, Unity also cannot send the MWI instruction to the PBX for the phones. Once Exchange comes back online, Unity moves the voice messages from its storage to the appropriate Exchange inboxes. You can resynch MWI at this point by selecting the integration in UTIM and selecting Resynch Now or by stopping/restarting the AvMsgStoreMonitorSvr service. If the Exchange server that was down also happened to be the Unity server's DC/GC, I could see where you had problems setting up new users, changing passwords etc.

Ginger

[dtran]

Hello Ginger,

Thanks for your well explained response !!!

Yes, the Exchange server is also the Unity server's DC/GC. So it sounded like all of the above issues that I mentioned are normal in this scenario correct ?

Thanks again !!! really appreciate your response !!!

Danny

[Ginger Dillon]

Hi Danny -

The version of Unity you are running, 4.0(3) did not have the option to point to a different DC/GC, meaning it was coded in the server's registry. In version 4.0(4) forward, I believe that's when it happened, the DC/GC Reconnect tool in Unity Tools Depot allowed the selection of a new DC/GC. While the behavior of Unity without its DC/GC/Exchange is not "normal", you are correct in the problems you observed.

Regards, Ginger