That is an interesting scenario they are experiencing. I don’t think it is an exchange or outlook issue though. I can connect to to both my outlook and OWA at the same time. They are connections to the same server, but I cannot see how connecting to a different server’s outlook web should affect a mapi connection to the other exchange server.

Thank you for your reply. Sorry for delay in replying.
I have since discovered that they can run both if they connect to customer email vial their web site.
The problem seems to arise when they VPN onto their server which they need to do to access various databases.
I will try and establish if it is associated with the VPN connection.

Well that would make sense. When they establish a VPN connection they are becoming a part of that network which would of course kick them off of their MAPI session to their internal Exchange server since at that point they are becoming a part of the other network. This is VPN working as designed actually.

There is a VPN function known as “split-tunneling” where a client can have access to two different networks at the same time. However, this is a risk to both organizations and must be considered with care. Running a virtual PC would permit the user to access both networks at the same time and traffic would not cross between barriers that way.

Check the networking properties on the end user vpn through network connections in control panel. Check the tcp/ip properties on the vpn connection click the advance tab, and then check the box use remote networks default gateway. You might also have to add the correct DNS address for the vpn. I believe the default setting on most vpns leaves this box unchecked, which if this is so it will not allow you to go to the internet which in turn will not allow you access to the other OWA. Hope this helps you out. It makes sense for security concerns to not allow access to the internet through the vpn.

Apologies for replying earlier.
I have gone into tcp/ip properties but cannot find a checkbox for “use remote networks default gateway”.

The PC is Windows XP Pro – Is this system you are referring to?

Jamie

Yes I’m talking about a vpn connection setup in Windows Xp, go into network connections, right click the vpn connection, then click properties, there should be a networking tab, make sure tcp/ip is highlighted and click properties, now click the advanced tab on this box and you should see a check box Use default gateway on remote network. This is considered a security hazard, because now your remote user can hit the web. I hope this helps you out.

Did any of our replies help you out?

I think I may have misled you by not stating it was Cisco VPN.
I had an engineer in doing other work on our server and he was able to ascertain it was due to a route being blocked..He was able to fix it.
Thanks all for your assistance