Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Pete Miller — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 18:55:48 GMT

Thanks for explaining the reason why DirectPush doesn't work over WiFi, but does the sync that happens after the server responds to the cellular Ping with a Status of 2 occur over WiFi if it is available? If a device is in standby and ActiveSync is set to update every 1 hour it will wake the connection up at that hour and sync over WiFi so will the same occur when the device is set to sync whenever there is an update?

TenBrink Tech — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 20:16:09 GMT

Microsoft&rsquo;s Exchange Blog goes into detail this morning about the WM5/EX03SP2 direct push technology....

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Juan Soria — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 22:23:14 GMT

Excellent posting. This explains so much 'under the hood' aspects of AUTD and direct push. I will be sharing this with all my colleagues..

Jeffrey’s Ruminations - Networking Blog

Jeffrey’s Ruminations - Networking Blog — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 05:47:56 GMT

PingBack from http://www.networkblog.net/archives/2006/04/exchange-direct-push-configuration/

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Ralf — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 06:14:43 GMT

Hi Vanitha !
Suppose I have only a BE - lets say a Small Biz Server - and I can see the incoming PING from the Mobile Device (in the IIS Log or in a NETMON) - but apparently the BE Server does not respond - what I have to look for in a single server environment - what has the BE server to do - step by step, that the mobile device gets notified, when a Mail arrives at the backend ? (so I am not looking for the UDP notification to the FE - because my BE is the FE - but for something else.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Mark — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 07:55:34 GMT

I've not been very successful getting this to work. I have a Windows Mobile phone device with the feature pack (iMate JasJar). With PocketIE I can access owaserver.domainname.com.au/oma/. I can see this access on our ISA Server from the Windows Mobile device through the correct publishing rule.
When I try using Active Sync all I get is on the Mobile device "Synchronising Folders" until it times out. On the ISA Server I see an http connection initiated but then nothing after that until the connection times out. How else can I troubleshoot the problem?

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

François van Hemert — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:03:04 GMT

Vanitha,

great post, very well written, thanks for the in-dept discussion!

François

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Ben Stokes — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 12:38:19 GMT

Nice article, well explained. Now all we need is more AKU2 devices ...

Everything you wanted to know about Exchange Direct Push but was afraid to ask

Unified Communications and more about Microsoft — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 16:40:45 GMT

As well as taking a look at the posting on Jason Langridges blog I mentioned earlier,&nbsp; I would also...

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Leigh — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 18:30:02 GMT

In the SUBSCRIBE command in the IIS logs on the backend server I get an SC-Status code of 501. However, I can tick all the other boxes so to speak. 2883 is there listening on the FE. autdstate.xml is PUT into the mailbox...

Also my OMA doesn't work but I do get manual and scheduled ActiveSyncs. Plus Push kind of works in that it syncs at the end of every heartbeat. So I can remote wipe within 9 minutes. :-) I also can look up online in the GAL

Any help suggestions would be gratefully appreciated

Does OMA need to work in order to get push working.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Leigh — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 18:36:27 GMT

also...
in the crtllog on the wm5 device (\windows\activesync) what does this mean:
CPingEngine Ping status = 8

Thanks in advance
Leigh

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Darth — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 22:24:31 GMT

From what you describe, it isn't really direct push at all. The device has to send a heartbeat.
Unlike RIM devices, which ARE direct push.
So I don't understand why it is incorrectly called "Direct Push". But then, this is from the same people who said "XP is the most secure windows operating system."

At any rate, we have had issues with the heartbeat trashing the network stack, so that incoming calls are dropped, requiring constant reboots.

Wake me when Service Pack 3 is released.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Exchange — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 03:30:24 GMT

Darth,

A related question: did you have a support case with us regarding your problems with "heartbeat trashing the network stack"? I just want to make sure as - unless issues get brought to our attention and we can analyze them in detail - we might not fix them we might not have heard about it... Thanks!

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Vanitha — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 05:56:02 GMT

Pete,

Sync that is initiated by Direct Push will use GPRS.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Vanitha — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 06:02:35 GMT

Ralf,

In a single server environment you can still look for the SUBSCRIBE command in your IIS logs and also check the device logs.

Thanks.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Vanitha — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 06:16:27 GMT

Leigh,

Exchange ActiveSync and Direct Push do not depend on OMA. It looks like the SUBSCRIBE command is coming back with a "Not implemented" error. Typically this happens when the request doesn't get to Exchange. If you have multiple IPs/host headers make sure that the request is getting to the right website/IP.

Thanks

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Claes — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 09:49:13 GMT

First of all, great article!

Do you know if it's possible to extract information like when a specific device last issued a PING command, a list of currently active devices, and that sort of things? Is it stored somewhere (except for the IIS logs?)

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Churchill — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 15:51:56 GMT

Well It works perfect here FE, BE configuration. I do not really like people who always have something bad to say about M$. Their problem with the network being torn down could be anything.
I have one Question though, concerning the Heartbeat:(actually two)

1. How do I enable the device side logging? (WM 5)
2. I have played with the heartbit interval and Have made the following registry adjustments:
MinHeartbeatInterval - 60
MaxHeartbeatInterval - 2700
HbiSampleSize - 200
HbiAlertThreshold - 1800

Now when I startup the directpush on my device after the first sync the entry in the AutdState.xml for <HeartbeatInterval> is 480. then after some time aprox 10 minutes the entry has changed to 780 and then approx 15 minutes later to 1080. Then I have reset my device (soft reset) and when the machien made the initial connection the entry in the AutdState.xml for <HeartbeatInterval> is again 480. What I am looking for is increasing the heartbeat interval to save the battery life and to save on the data traffic, but I am not sure I am doing it right. As you can see from my reg entries I would like to have the heartbeat interval at 1800 which is 30 minutes. The reg entries I have changed on the FE server the BE server does not have those entries at all. PLease let me know what I am doing wrong...

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Dennis — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 22:34:18 GMT

Any idea when the much-vaunted Treo 700w will get MSFP?

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

thaumaturgan — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 04:41:14 GMT

looks like later this month for the Treo 700w.

http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/788-1.htm

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Darth — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 16:36:23 GMT

No, we did not open a support case. We had 5 test devices, and sent them all back to the vendor as unacceptable. We don't have the time or patience to be a "beta testers" for MS products. If they are not ready for prime time, they should not ship, but obviously the product managers think that shoddy software does something to enhance the reputation of the company.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

sonicdeth — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 20:18:30 GMT

Anyone know how the AKU2 update effects battery life? Will employing direct push over the current method increase battery life? (given a fairly conservative session timeout interval like 30 minutes).

thanks,!

From the Exchange Blog - Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Citrix, Microsoft, VMWare and Mobility integration from the front lines.... — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 00:15:55 GMT

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

DCSDave — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 01:39:34 GMT

Darth,

As long as software and hardware are MFD by imperfect beings just like yourself there are always going to be issues to be worked through. If you have the time to join this blog you have the time to send MS your input. Just remember though objective thinking is how problems are resolved. Besides you could always start your own company and market this kind of connectivity for Linux. Either way good luck in whatever venture you choose.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Leigh — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 15:36:25 GMT

Further to the 501 error I get both on the FE e2k3 box and 501 in the IIS logs on the backend.
On the backend I have two websites an OWA Virtual and the default. The ExchangeVDir reg setting is in place on the frontend to point it two a different virtual directory that lives under the OWA Virtual in this case.

So there is the background in brief but my question is if AS works manually and scheduled without any problems why would the push/subscribe fail?

Thanks again
Leigh

Weekend reading

subject: exchange — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 19:32:10 GMT

"The" weekly list, this time on schedule.

Microsoft Exchange Server Profile Analyzer Web Release 2.5...

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Leigh — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:11:47 GMT

I did it! I added a blank host header entry to the OWA Virtual Directory. Previously there was one entry that required connections to come from the external URL "mailgate.blah.tld"
What I think is happening is that the SUBSCRIBE command is a new connection that is established from the Front-end server to the back-end server on behalf of the client. Because I only had a single entry on the VDir that expected the source to come from the public URL the SUBSCRIBE command was failing (501 not implemented) The blank host header allowed the front end server to establish a connection and thus allowed the SUBSCRIBE command to succeed.

Push now works!
Thanks for all help/assistance.
Hope this might help others to. Please read all comments by me to get a full picture of the problem I was having.

Vlad Mazek’s IT Blog » Blog Archive » How Windows Mobile Push works

Vlad Mazek’s IT Blog » Blog Archive » How Windows Mobile Push works — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 02:50:23 GMT

PingBack from http://www.vladville.com/2006/04/how-windows-mobile-push-works.html

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Clark — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 19:27:17 GMT

Re "Unlike RIM devices, which ARE direct push. " RIM is actually a pull/push architecture. The BES server uses MAPI to contstantly poll the Exchange server looking to pull new messages. Not only is this pull, not push, it creates additional overhead on the Exchnage servers (see RIMs server overhead tech note at: http://www.blackberry.com/knowledgecenterpublic/livelink.exe/fetch/2000/7979/1181821/278286/278425/1181843/BlackBerry_Enterprise_Server_version_4.0_for_Microsoft_Exchange_Performance_Characteristics_White_Paper?nodeid=797690&vernum=0

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Marc Chénard — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:58:46 GMT

Can you expand on "However it is highly recommended that SP2 be installed on all Exchange Front End and back end servers."?

We have an issue with deploying SP2 on our Backend server, and are currently wokring with PSS on a work around or a DCR, in either case it will probably not ne resolved for 5-6 months. So we plan on deploying SP2 to the Front End server soon and finish the deployement once the issue is resolved on for the Back End.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Vanitha — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 01:20:10 GMT

Claes,

You can parse the IIS logs to get Direct Push usage information. You can check out the blog on EAS reporting here.

http://blogs.technet.com/exchange/archive/2006/02/14/419562.aspx

Thanks
Vanitha.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Vanitha — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 01:31:04 GMT

Churchill,

To enable device logging, goto ActiveSync, Menu, Configure Server, Next, Advanced and turn up Event logging to Verbose. The logs will be saved in the Windows\ActiveSync folder.

The device will dynamically converge to the highest heartbeat interval for your network topology. If the average heartbeat interval is below the threshold you will see Event 3033 in your application log. It basically tells you to check your firewall timeout settings.

Thanks

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Vanitha — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 01:43:40 GMT

Sonicdeth,

A heartbeat interval around 30 mins should provide you good battery life. With scheduled sync, you would sync regardless of whether there are new items. You avoid a lot of those empty syncs with direct push. But if you get tons of email you are going to be syncing a lot. So it really depends on your usage.

Thanks

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Vanitha — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 01:45:07 GMT

Leigh, glad to know that you got Direct Push working.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Vanitha — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 01:54:15 GMT

Marc,

For Direct Push, we only require that the FE be upgraded to SP2. It is a general recommendation to upgrade both FE and BE. In your case, you should be able to use Direct Push by just upgrading the FE. You can upgrade the BE once your deployment issue gets sorted out.

Thanks

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

emckenna — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 13:09:01 GMT

Hi,

I'm still a bit confused. If the Direct Push technology uses an active sync Ping/Heathbeat to poll the Exchange server, dose this mean the Mobile device will have to maintain a constant GPRS connection onto the carriers network. Could this not possibly lead to higher GPRS costs.

Maybe the new phones are different but I was always under the opinion that you could not receive/make voice calls once a GPRS call is establised.

The AUTD feature sounds like a better solution as a GPRS call is only established and maintain when a SMS message is received. Then the GPRS connection is torn down.

Emckenna

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Dave Caddick — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 18:03:14 GMT

Hi Vanitha,

Great detail, thanks for this as it confirms for me how things work. If anyone is interested in getting this working with Client Authentication via Certificates and ISA 2006 OR get it working with a Checkpoint Firewall you might want to review my notes here - http://geekswithblogs.net/wallabyfan/archive/2006/04/07/74591.aspx

Cheers,
Dave

Patrick Stuart.com » Blog Archive » Great Article on Push Email with Exchange

Patrick Stuart.com » Blog Archive » Great Article on Push Email with Exchange — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 03:16:45 GMT

PingBack from http://www.patrickstuart.com/archives/2006/04/23/great-article-on-push-email-with-exchange/

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Alex — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 05:54:17 GMT

" From what you describe, it isn't really direct push at all. The device has to send a heartbeat.
Unlike RIM devices, which ARE direct push.
So I don't understand why it is incorrectly called "Direct Push". "

How is this not "true push"?? The heartbeat thing only serves to keep the data connection from timing out, correct? When a new mail arrives, it immediately pushes it down the pipe to the device. From my experience it's every bit as fast as RIM.

Push Email con Exchange en Microsoft

Celularis — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 06:12:39 GMT

Vanitha Prabhakaran, parte del equipo que desarrolla Exchange en Microsoft acaba de publicar una excelente nota técnica sobre Push Mail con servers Exchange para móviles. Una lectura recomendada para todo aquel que le interese saber como trabaja

The Mobile Minute 138

Nino.Mobile — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 06:23:51 GMT

&nbsp;&nbsp;Here’s TMM 138 – TMM back in all its glory.. :)&nbsp;
Software / Hardware&nbsp;

PhoneScoop.com...

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Jack — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:30:01 GMT

"MSFP is included with AKU2.2."

But I have seen AKU 2.0.0 updates that inlcudes MSFT. Why do you say AKU 2.2?

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

kgs — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:28:02 GMT

1) If I get a user switch on logging on the client (i.e. in verbose mode) is there any way of retrieving/viewing those logs from a central point (without third party software, bringing the devices in or cradling them?).

2) Any way to switch on notifications for emails that arrive in subfolders?

3) Any way to stop users setting a 'hint' for their password that gives away what the password is?

4)I can kind of understand why you are saying push doesn't work over WiFi (although I'm not convinced this wasn't just to keep operators happy :-) ) but why won't it work over cradle though? Is it because it relies on UDP?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Churchill — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:24:20 GMT

Vanitha!

Thanx I have turned it on the device...
now I also see that there is an entry in that log that saysKeepAwake Off

what does that mean ??

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

BillC — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 19:18:09 GMT

Excellent paper Vanitha. and i have a small set of 8 MSFP devices working perfectly on palm 700s.

My users are seeing a high number of junkmail items getting pushed to their device. this has to be on the exchange side. got any ideas?

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Doug — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 06:12:36 GMT

This is a great article. I'm pretty new to this, but I'm not having any luck with a 700w. It seems to be working, but the direct push happens at random, sometimes 30 minutes later. When it does connect, it will download the new message, then reconnect and say downloading email 0/1. Then disconnect, and redo that three times. Then it gives up. What on earth could cause that??

Thanks in advance,

Doug

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Chris — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 19:00:15 GMT

Vanitha,

Thanks for the great article. One question, if we already have OWA implmented using a certificate (owa.domain.com/exchange), do we piggyback direct push (the Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync virtual directory) on top of the OWA cert? Or is there a way of implementing separate certs (one for OWA and one for DirectPush)?

Can get the former to work, but not the latter...

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

James — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 04:12:16 GMT

Is there a scalability doc for Exchange 2003 SP2/Windows Mobile 5 AKU2.2? Pointing to this out of date Exchange 2003/Windows Mobile 2003 is like saying an apple is an orange, constant and persistent connections versus the infrequent and short lived connections of the past version tells a customer nothing of the impact on their production environment.

As for the comment about Blackberry being a pull/push architecture, that's total bunk. The Exchange BES uses MAPI notifications find out about changes but does a backup poll on a less frequent basis since MAPI notifications aren't 100% reliable.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

David Searles — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:53:41 GMT

Hello, thanks for the indepth article, its a big help. However, I seem to be having some problems when I get to Exchange ActivSync working... I get the following error?

Result:
Your account in Microsoft Exchange Server does not have permission to syncronise with your current settings. Contact your Exchnage Server administrator

Support code: 0x85010004

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Michael — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:11:49 GMT

David,

Do you have Direct push enabled and the "User initiated Sync" enabled for your account?

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Paul — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 17:13:41 GMT

Does anyone know of a way to revert a WM5 device to use the AUTD via SMTP/SMS instead of the direct push. I cannot have the server changed since I am on a hosted exchange server. I need to find a client side way to cause my WM5 PPC phone to utilize the older (WM2003se) version of Exchange Activesync versus the direct push version. This is due to being in a fringe 1X/EVDO area. (During direct push in a 1X area all phone calls goto voicemail).

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Kds157 — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 21:06:23 GMT

I have confirmed the events listed in the Direct Push Initilization section of this article. I have a single Exchange 2k3 SP2 server with a virtual directory set up specifically for OMA per MS article 817379 using method #2 mentioned in it. We a have a pilot user who has a Treo 700W with the latest firmware (1.10) from Palm, the latest Activesync software, and version 5.1.195 (Build 14929.2.2.1) of the Windows Mobile OS.
The user receives emails only when his Treo syncs with the server at specified intervals (currently about every 10 minutes). He fails to receive new emails as soon as they arrive at the server. It appears that for some reason the server never sends the notification to the Treo to sync with it immediately upon email arrival. What steps can I take to determine the point of failure? Or, if someone knows the cause and the cure, please let me know.
Thanks.

May 2006 - Technical Rollup

Garry — Mon, 01 May 2006 12:33:23 GMT

Security
&nbsp;

News
&nbsp;
Are Smart Cards the New Way of Life? - Solving the...

May 2006 - Technical Rollup

Garry — Mon, 01 May 2006 12:34:24 GMT

Security
&nbsp;

News
&nbsp;
Are Smart Cards the New Way of Life? - Solving the...

Direct Push mail to your mobile - how to get it

Eileen Brown's WebLog — Thu, 04 May 2006 16:36:27 GMT

I was asked several times at the roadshow the other day about how to get direct push mails down to your...

andreas04: close to attraction

andreas04: close to attraction — Fri, 05 May 2006 05:19:17 GMT

PingBack from http://solsie.com/?p=103

re: Direct Push is just a heartbeat away

Mark — Mon, 08 May 2006 15:58:52 GMT

Thank you for your artical, it clarified a few things (WiFi), but we got this all working anyway on our O2 XDA exec's no problem. We've been waiting for this feature, it seems that Microsoft have now consumed the niche that RIM held and have a broad platform with significant momentum to bring many benifits.