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Rapid growth in transaction logs, CPU use, and memory consumption in Exchange Server 2010 when a user syncs a mailbox by using an iOS 6.1 or 6.1.1-based device

Article ID: 2814847 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

When a user syncs a mailbox by using an iOS 6.1 or 6.1.1-based device, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server (CAS) and Mailbox (MBX) server resources are consumed, log growth becomes excessive, excessive growth in Recoverable Items may occur, and memory and CPU use may increase significantly. Server performance is affected.

Additionally, Office 365 Exchange Online users receive an error message that resembles the following on an iOS 6.1 or 6.1.1-based device:

Cannot Get Mail

The connection to the server failed.

The only option available to users is OK.

Additional Symptoms
The following additional symptoms can occur.

EAS Mailbox logging
When you review an Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) Mailbox log, you may see the following:

RequestHeader : 
POST /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync/default.eas?User=user1@contoso.com&DeviceId=ApplDMPFXZABDFHW&DeviceType=
iPad&Cmd=MeetingResponse HTTP/1.1
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 55
Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-sync.wbxml
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Accept-Language: en-us
Authorization: ********
Host: mail.contoso.com
User-Agent: Apple-iPad2C1/1002.141
X-MS-PolicyKey: 2429156470
MS-ASProtocolVersion: 14.1
 
RequestBody :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<MeetingResponse xmlns="MeetingResponse:">
      <Request>
            <UserResponse>1</UserResponse>
            <CollectionId>5</CollectionId>
            <RequestId>5:5</RequestId>
            <InstanceId>2013-02-06T22:00:00.000Z</InstanceId>
      </Request>
</MeetingResponse>
MeetingResponseCommand_OnExecute_Exception : 
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.WrongObjectTypeException: The object was bound to a wrong 
object type. ObjectClass = IPM.Schedule.Meeting.Request, Intended Type =
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.CalendarItem.
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.StoreObject.DownCastStoreObject[T]()
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ItemBuilder.ItemBind[T](StoreSession session, StoreId
storeId, Schema expectedSchema, MapiMessageCreator mapiMessageCreator, ItemBindOption
itemBindOption, ICollection`1 propertiesToLoad)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ItemBuilder.ItemBind[T](StoreSession session, StoreId id,
Schema expectedSchema, ICollection`1 propertiesToLoad)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.CalendarItem.Bind(StoreSession session, StoreId id)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.AirSync.MeetingResponseCommand.GetOccurenceId(StoreObjectId
mailboxRequestId, ExDateTime instanceId)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.AirSync.MeetingResponseCommand.ProcessCommand()
   at Microsoft.Exchange.AirSync.MeetingResponseCommand.OnExecute()
AccessState : 
Allowed
AccessStateReason : 
Global
ResponseHeader : 
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
MS-Server-ActiveSync: 14.2
ResponseBody : 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<MeetingResponse xmlns="MeetingResponse:">
      <Result>
            <RequestId></RequestId>
            <Status>4</Status>
      </Result>
</MeetingResponse>

IIS Logs
In Exchange Server on-premises installations only, the following text is continually repeated in the Internet Information Services (IIS) log files on the CAS.

2013-02-06 23:41:59 192.168.137.11 POST /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync/default.eas User=user1@contoso.com&
DeviceId=ApplDMPFXZABDFHW&DeviceType=iPad&Cmd=Sync&Log=[truncated] 443 user1@exchlab.com 192.168.137.246 
Apple-iPad2C1/1002.141 200 0 0 187
 
2013-02-06 23:41:59 192.168.137.11 POST /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync/default.eas User=user1@contoso.com&
DeviceId=ApplDMPFXZABDFHW&DeviceType=iPad&Cmd=MeetingResponse&Log=[... Error:WrongObjectTypeException …] 
443 user1@exchlab.com 192.168.137.246 Apple-iPad2C1/1002.141 200 0 0 140

Note: The Error:WrongObjectTypeException may not be present in all cases.

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Resolution

Apple has posted the following article to address the issue.

iOS 6.1: Excess Exchange activity after accepting an exception to recurring calendar event

(http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4532)

Apple has also announced the availability of iOS 6.1.2

(http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1639)

to address this issue.

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Workaround

To work around this issue for devices that are not updated, do not process Calendar items such as meeting requests on iOS 6.1 or 6.1.1-devices. Also, immediately restart the device.

If the problem continues, use one of the following methods to work around the issue.

Note: The workarounds below have been modified from the original recommendations. Specifically, the recreation of the partnership and the suggested throttling settings for Exchange ActiveSync have been removed. Analysis found they were insufficient to preserve server performance. The current methods reflect the best options.

Method 1: Use URL Rewrite to block Cmd=MeetingResponse

A workaround has been identified that will allow administrators to block the repeating MeetingResponse attempt using either a perimeter device rule or the URL Rewrite Module 2.0

(http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7435)

for Internet Information Server 7 and 7.5, for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. See the following article from the TechNet Wiki online.

Using URL Rewrite to block certain clients from Exchange

(http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15997.using-url-rewrite-to-block-certain-clients-from-exchange.aspx)

Warning: This solution may not work in some scenarios where a perimeter device, such as some network load balancers, are in use. You should contact the vendor to verify that the solution cannot be implemented on the perimeter device prior to modifying IIS.

Once the URL rewrite is implemented, iOS6.1 and 6.1.1-based devices can sync and receive updates. However, responses to meeting items from the device are rejected by the server. We recommend that users respond to meetings via Outlook Web App (OWA), Microsoft Outlook, or a non-iOS 6.1 or 6.1.1-device.

Method 2: Block iOS 6.1 or 6.1.1 users

You can block iOS 6.1 and 6.1.1 users by using the Exchange Server 2010 Allow/Block/Quarantine feature. For more information about this feature, see the following Exchange Team blog post:

Controlling Exchange ActiveSync device access using the Allow/Block/Quarantine list

(http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/11/15/3411539.aspx)

Also, for updated information about how to use Exchange Management Shell for Allow/Block/Quarantine, see the following Microsoft website:

New-ActiveSyncDeviceAccessRule

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876923.aspx)

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More information

To identify this issue in your organization, use one of the methods in this section. Office365 Exchange Online users can use only the EAS Mailbox logging option and look for repeated instances of the Status 4 response that is noted in the "Symptoms" section.

Method 1: Obtain EAS Mailbox logging for a user

To obtain EAS Mailbox logs, follow the steps in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

2461792

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2461792)

How to collect ActiveSync device logs to troubleshoot sync issues between mobile devices and Exchange Online

Method 2: Collect and parse IIS logs

Check for the recurrence pattern of Cmd=Sync and Cmd=MeetingResponse, possibly paired with Error:WrongObjectTypeException, for the iOS 6.1 or 6.1.1 devices. A continuous pattern will indicate that the device user is processing Meeting Requests from the device and encountering the device bug.

You can also use Log Parser Studio

(http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/03/07/introducing-log-parser-studio.aspx)

to parse by using the following query:

SELECT COUNT(*),MyDeviceId AS DeviceId,TheUserId AS UserId,MajAgent,MinAgent
USING
   EXTRACT_VALUE(cs-uri-query,'DeviceId') AS MyDeviceId,
EXTRACT_VALUE(cs-uri-query,'User') AS TheUserId,
TO_INT(SUBSTR(SUBSTR(cs(User-Agent),INDEX_OF (cs(User-Agent), '.'),4),1,3)) AS MinAgent,
TO_INT(SUBSTR(SUBSTR(cs(User-Agent),INDEX_OF (cs(User-Agent), '/'),5),1,4)) AS MajAgent
FROM '[LOGFILEPATH]' WHERE cs-uri-query LIKE '%MeetingResponse%' AND (MajAgent=1002 AND MinAgent<146)
GROUP BY DeviceId,UserId,MajAgent,MinAgent
ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC

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