Forum Discussion

Devlin_T_149357's avatar
Devlin_T_149357
Jul 11, 2014

Outlook 2003 UDP Notifications

Hello all

 

We are currently testing a solution and have hit a snag. We are deploying Exchange 2010 but need to support clients that use Outlook 2003. I am no expert in MS Exchange, however, one of the server guys has said that UDP notifications from server to client are failing. as I understand it the client and server will agree initially that the server will notify the client of any new email using a particular port and this is done via UDP.

 

Now, in terms of our F5 config, it's pretty standard. We used the EX2010 iApp and client > server flows are all good. We have not, however, catered for these server>client notifications. Clearly, if the server is sending the UDP messages to the client, it hits the F5, which understandably drops it as it does not know where to send the packet.

 

I am hoping in the long history of Microsoft Exchange, F5 load balancing etc. that this situation has been encountered. If so, can anyone shed some light on a possible solution?

 

Many thanks

 

application delivery
deployment
exchange
LTM
outlook
performance

3 Replies

Sort By
  • nathe's avatar
    nathe
    Icon for Cirrocumulus rankCirrocumulus
    Jul 11, 2014

    not sure about whether this has been encountered before, it seems it's not been included in the iApp at all.

     

    To fix you will need to add a forwarding (IP) virtual server for the client network. You can restrict it to a certain subnet if you can, and/or ingress VLAN and UDP as the protocol....if you don't want all traffic sent to the bigip being forwarded of course.

     

    N

     

  • Devlin_T_149357's avatar
    Devlin_T_149357
    Jul 11, 2014

    Thanks Nathan

     

    Admittedly at this moment in time I'm struggling to understand how the IP forwarding VS will help me here. Are you able to expand on this and describe please?

     

    Thank you

     

    • nathe's avatar
      nathe
      Icon for Cirrocumulus rankCirrocumulus
      Jul 11, 2014
      I wondered whether any server - client initiated udp was sent to the client via the f5 then unless you've got a VS of some description then the bigip is a default deny. this forwarding vs will just take the packet and forward it onto the destination, which i presume the client. Of course this might not fit your exact circumstances.... N