We currently use Exchange 2013 running on Server 2012 R2 and have around 30 users that access their e-mail from iPhones. However, we've recently run into a strange issue with three users that get the error "The connection to the server failed" on their iPhones. These users can access their Exchange mail using a local Outlook client or OWA with no issues.
When running the Exchange Connectivity test for ActiveSync for any of these users, it fails with the error shown below:
No MSExchangeActiveSync events are being logged in the Application log in Event Viewer when these users are trying to connect on their iPhone. We have one mobile device policy setup in Exchange and this allows mobile devices to connect without administrator intervention.
The only 'fix' I've found online for this issue is to ensure that the "Inherit Permissions from Parent Object" tickbox is ticked for the users in AD but this is already the case. These users have been able to access Exchange from their iPhones in the past and their permissions in AD are exactly the same as other users who are having no issues.
In the ActiveSync logs I'm getting the following exception appear:
Exception type: Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADObjectAlreadyExistsException
Exception message: Active Directory operation failed on DC. The object 'CN=ExchangeActiveSyncDevices,CN=... already exists
If I use ADSI Edit to delete the current ExchangeActiveSyncDevices container for one of the affected users I then get a different error:
Exception message: A null value was received for the NTSD security descriptor of container CN=ExchangeActiveSyncDevices,CN=...
I've got to the point now where the only way I can see of resolving this is to export the affected users mailboxes as pst files and recreate their AD accounts. However, this would be a last resort and I'm hoping someone out there may have some pointers about what the problem could be.
Thanks for your help in advance.