What is a Offline Address book ? For Users where Outlook is in Cache mode, They got to have their Outlook Address book Updated ,when they can access the latest Address book while they go offline. If Outlook is left running constantly in Cached Exchange Mode, it updates the Offline Address Book automatically about once a day, depending on Address Book updates on the server running Exchange. To initiate these updates manually, do the following: So that they can use their updated address book when they are offline. Earlier Exchange 2010 Version. Outlook Connects to the Client Access Server for MAPI Connectivity. But From Exchange 2013 Outlook Connects to the Client Access Server And the requests are proxied to the Mailbox Server Lets See what is happening in the Background In my Case all Roles are installed on the Same Server Offline Address book Generation Server will be a Mailbox Server. You can find a OAB Virtual Directory in IIS – in the Client Access Server
The Request to the Client Access (OAB Virtual Directory) Proxies the request to the “Exchange Back End” (OAB Virtual Directory) which is a Mailbox Server Containing OAB Files where client downloads the OAB Files Offline Address Book Storage Location Offline Address book Stores its files to a “System Mailbox” Which is called as “Organizational Mailbox” Where if the database fails the Organization Mailbox can failover using Database availability Group. where the request from the Client doesn’t fail . It looks the database which owns the Organization Mailbox and OAB files are copied over to the Disk in the appropriate Mailbox Server and it has been to the Client. Where OAB is no more a single point failure in Exchange 2013 To See which Organizational Mailbox is storing OAB files – You can see – “OrganizationCapabilityOABGen” Then Its Copied over to the disk in the Form of LZX files Default Location: (Differs if you install Exchange on a Different Drive)
They will be copied to the disk in the Form of LZX files How to find the Offline Address book url , which is used for OAB Downloads From Outlook 2007 ,Outlook 2010 and So on , Outlook Downloads Offline Address book using the OAB Url Web-Based (IIS) You got to Specify the External Url if you are going to use Outlook Anywhere To Find which OAB a User Downloads Go to a Client Machine Hold your Ctrl Key and Right Click on the Outlook icon – Click on Test Email AutoConfiguraion Now Using AutoDiscover , You can see the Offline Address book URL as listed below with the Correct Guid Value To Find the GUID Value of the Offline address book Client will Download their Own OAB depends upon their “Client Settings in Database Properties” If its not specified – By Default they will download the “Default Offline address book” If they have address book policies applied They would Download their own OAB respective to the Policy How Often Offline Address book Updates itself
** This Updates the Items only on the Mailbox Server – Stores in the “Organization Mailbox” as explained earlier Now Depends on the Update Time “Organization Mailbox” will get updated on the Mailbox Server. **Offline Address book data are saved first only on the Organization Mailbox** Then Once its got Updated it Serves the latest data to the Clients How to Force update the Offline Address book **Property Last Touched Time Gets updated** Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Assistant Service As that’s the service does all the job in the background Type of Distribution used in Exchange 2013 Exchange 2013 Uses only One Type of Distribution –Web-Based Distribution 2. Public Folder distribution (Removed in Exchange 2013) Earlier Version Like Outlook 2003, Offline address book are Downloaded via Public Folders, Offline Address Book Version In Exchange 2013 For Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007 clients it uses OAB version 4 You Learnt How Offline Address book works in Exchange 2013
Applies to: Exchange Server 2013, Project Server 2013 The OAB.Proxy health set monitors the availability of the offline address book (OAB) proxy infrastructure on the Client Access server (CAS). If you receive an alert that specifies that the OAB.Proxy is unhealthy, this indicates an issue that may prevent you from using the OAB. The OAB service is monitored by using the following probes and monitors.Proxy Active Directory OABProxyTestMonitor For more information about probes and monitors, see Server health and performance. This probe may fail for any of the following common reasons: The application pool that’s hosted on the monitored CAS is not working correctly. The monitoring account credentials are incorrect. The Domain Controllers are not responding. It's possible that the service recovered after it issued the alert. Therefore, when you receive an alert that specifies that the health set is unhealthy, first verify that the issue still exists. If the issue does exist, perform the appropriate recovery actions outlined in the following sections.
Identify the health set name and the server name in the alert. The message details provide information about the exact cause of the alert. In most cases, the message details provide sufficient troubleshooting information to identify the root cause. If the message details are not clear, do the following: Open the Exchange Management Shell, and then run the following command to retrieve the details of the health set that issued the alert: For example, to retrieve the OAB., run the following command: Review the command output to determine which monitor reported the error. The AlertValue value for the monitor that issued the alert will be Unhealthy. Rerun the associated probe for the monitor that is in an unhealthy state. Refer to the table in the Explanation section to find the associated probe. To do this, run the following command: For example, assume that the failing monitor is OABProxyTestMonitor. The probe associated with that monitor is OABProxyTestProbe. In the command output, review the Result value of the probe.
If the value is Succeeded, the issue was a transient error, and it no longer exists. Otherwise, refer to the recovery steps outlined in the following sections. When you receive an alert from a health set, the email message contains the following information: Name of the CAS that sent the alert Full exception trace of the last error, including diagnostic data and specific HTTP header information Note You can use the information in the full exception trace to help troubleshoot the issue. Time and date when the issue occurred To troubleshoot this issue, follow these steps: Review the protocol logs on CAS. Protocol logs are located in the \Logging\HttpProxy\ folder on the CAS. Create a test user account, and then log on to the CAS by using the test user account. For example, log on by using: https:// /owa. Start IIS Manager, and then connect to the server that’s reporting the issue to determine whether the MSExchangeOABAppPool application pool is running on the CAS.
Click Application Pools, and then recycle the MSExchangeOABAppPool application pool by running the following command from the Shell: Rerun the associated probe as shown in step 2c in the Verifying the issue still exists section. If the issue still exists, recycle the IIS service by using the IISReset utility. Rerun the associated probe as shown in step 2c in the Verifying the issue still exists section. If the issue still exists, restart the server. After the server restarts, rerun the associated probe as shown in step 2c in the Verifying the issue still exists section. If the probe continues to fail, you may need assistance to resolve this issue. Contact a Microsoft Support professional to resolve this issue. To contact a Microsoft Support professional, visit the Exchange Server Solutions Center. In the navigation pane, click Support options and resources and use one of the options listed under Get technical support to contact a Microsoft Support professional. Because your organization may have a specific procedure for directly contacting Microsoft Product Support Services, be sure to review your organization's guidelines first.