I am running Exchange 2010 and all of my client systems are running Office 2010. When anyone tries to setup an Out of Office (Automatic Replies) an error message comes up that says: "Your automatic reply settings cannot be displayed because the server is currently unavailable. Try again later. " I can still send and receive email, and I can setup automatic replies via OWA, but I can't do it via Outlook. Can anyone offer any insights into this issue? Thanks!

Yes its because your webservices are not working. Run your test at https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/ and run the Synchronization, Notification, Availability, and Automatic Replies (OOF) test.James Chong MCITP | EA | EMA; MCSE | M+, S+ Security+, Project+, ITIL msexchangetips.blogspot.com

Thanks! I'll do that when I get to work on Monday! I am also having an issue iniating shared calendrs in Outlook. I can setup the shared calendars in OWA, then they appear in outlook, I just can't initiate the share calendars in Outlook. Could this be a result of the webservices not working?

Hi, If it is a internal Outlook client that encounter this issue, I'd suggest you run Test Email AutoConfiguration instead of the online test. refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397225(EXCHG.80).aspx. Let me know what error message is returned. Fiona

Thanks James and Fiona! Here are the results from the Test Exchange Connectivity site. I only ran the the Synchronization, Notification, Availability, and Automatic Replies (OOF) test. A little background on our infrastructure, our Exchange server is currently off site in a data center. All of our client systems are not a member of domain (yes, its lame). As a result the auto discovery feature in Outlook 2007/2010 doesn't work. I have to configure the Exchange settings manually. I've tried setting the DNS server address on one of the client systems to our Exchange server in hopes that the auto discovery feature would work, but it didn't. Could the reason why the auto discovery feature isn't working, the OOF, and shared calendars aren't working be a result of the fact that we're not a member of a domain? Thanks!

If the clients are not domain members, they cannot access the service connection point (SCP) in your Active Directory and will attempt to use your external Autodiscover. If there is no working Autodiscover, these features won't work in Outlook 2007 / 2010: * Of-Off-Office * Availability (free /busy) in the calendars * Download of the Offline Address Book * Personal Archives Even worse, you might notice that your Outlook clients freeze and crash. Exchange Autodiscover (Part 1) http://www.msexchange.org/articles_tutorials/exchange-server-2010/management-administration/exchange-autodiscover.html Exchange Autodiscover (Part 2) http://www.msexchange.org/articles_tutorials/exchange-server-2010/management-administration/exchange-autodiscover-part2.htmlMCTS: Messaging | MCSE: S+M

Thanks James and Fiona! Here are the results from the Test Exchange Connectivity site. I only ran the the Synchronization, Notification, Availability, and Automatic Replies (OOF) test. A little background on our infrastructure, our Exchange server is currently off site in a data center. All of our client systems are not a member of domain (yes, its lame). As a result the auto discovery feature in Outlook 2007/2010 doesn't work. I have to configure the Exchange settings manually. I've tried setting the DNS server address on one of the client systems to our Exchange server in hopes that the auto discovery feature would work, but it didn't. Could the reason why the auto discovery feature isn't working, the OOF, and shared calendars aren't working be a result of the fact that we're not a member of a domain? Thanks! No, the reason is that the Autodiscover service is not available, but not a member of a domain. Like Jon-Alfred Smith says, a non-domain-joined machine will still try to contact Autodiscover service from the external Autodiscover URL. To make sure it works, please verify the following settings: 1. Your DNS configuration: make sure there is a record that is poingting to your CAS server for the URL of https://yourSMTPdomain/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml or https://autodiscover.yourSMTPdomain/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml. 2. You have run the cmdlet “Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory -externalurl” and configured the Exchange Web Services external URL. Please refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb201695.aspx?ppud=4. 3. On the client machine, make sure the urls below are available in IE (the expected result is error code 600 for autodiscover webpage): https://yourSMTPdomain/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml or https://autodiscover.yourSMTPdomain/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml. https://yourExternalURL/ews/exchange.asmx 4. the authentication configuration is setup correctly. See http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/09/23/3411146.aspx. If the issue continues, please run a “Test Email AutoConfiguration” on the problematic client when the issue occurs. And then, run “Test-OutlookWebServices” on the Exchange server and poste the result. Regarding the test result you posted, it means nothing because you selected the “Microsoft Exchange Web Services Connectivity Tests” instead of Outlook Connectivity test; besides, you use “Mydomain.com” instead of your real domain name. As I mentioned before, it is useless if it is an internal Outlook client that is connected in your office, regardless if it is domain-joined machine or not. Your understanding would be appreciated. Fiona

Thanks everyone for all of your input, I deeply appreciate it. My deepest apologies for being so uninformed about Exchange. I am new to it and I have a lot to learn. The auto discovery really isn't that big of a deal, we are a small company of about 50 people. The OOF and shared calendars are larger issues. I am going to contact the data center and find out if they offer site-to-site VPN support. I am also going to check out the http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/09/23/3411146.aspx link that Fiona posted. Here are the results of the Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP) test Here are the results of the Outlook Autodiscover test I changed the name of my domain name to mydomain because of security concerns. I didn't want my name, email address, or domain name out on the internet for anyone to find.