Email problem when one of the Domain Controller is down

[ST]

I have 2 Win2k domain controllers, A & B.
A holds all the five FSMO roles and & Global Catalog Server.
DNS is AD integrated, so it's on A & B.
Users' DNS point to A.

When A is down & B is up, Outlook users has no problem.
When B is down & A is up, Outlook can't start. It will prompt for
user to enter username, domain & password. Then show error message:
"Uable to open your default email folders"

Any idea what's wrong? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Dave Shaw [MVP]]

What is the configuration of the Exchange server?

-ds

 

[Matjaz Ladava [MVP]]

Exchange Server talks constantly with Global Catalog server. So check, that
both servers hold Global Catalog server role. Users DNS settings must point
to Server A & B as DNS is needed for locating domain controllers. Without
DNS server your clients are deaf.

--
Regards

Matjaz Ladava, MCSE, MCSA, MVP
Microsoft MVP - Active Directory

(e-mail address removed)
http://ladava.com

 

[Lee Wrall]

I had this problem take a look at this MS article might help a little.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;317209&Product=exch2k

i am sure it will be something to do with your global catalouge.

Regards

Lee
I had this problem, took me aged to sort it out, the Key is GC and The
Global Address List,

 

[ST]

Exchange 5.5 is on another Server which runs NT 4.
It's DNS points to A.

 

[ST]

When I first discovered the problem, both A & B were GCS. So I
removed GCS role from B, hoping that when B is down, email client will
not be affected. But it still got affected.

 

[ST]

Thanks for your response.

I checked the GCS from Outlook clients using the method mentioned and
it shows my email server as the GCS, which is impossible as my email
server is running Exchange 5.5 on NT4.