New users taking an awfully long time to show up in the GAL 2

[Haleon]

Hey guys, I recently upgraded both the domain and the Exchange box to their respective 2003 versions. The domain still has a Windows 2000 domain controller in it as well.

My problem is when I add a new user, it takes an extremely long time for that user to show up in the Global Address List. It also takes a long time for changes to show up in the GAL. For instance, I checked the "hide from exchange address list" property for one user, and they didn't actually hide themselves until 2 or 3 days later. Can anybody give me any pointers to check?

 

[hkxuser]

Are you running your outlook clients in cached mode? If you are that's probably your problem. Clients running in cached mode receive the offline GAL once a day if I remember correctly. Change a client from cached to non cached mode, and see if the changes you make to your GAL are reflected immediately. Cached mode is pretty cool, but it's notoriously annoying when it comes to GAL changes.

-Rob

 

[markdmac]

The issue is not that the GAL isn't getting updated, it is that Cached Mode clients do not USE the GAL. Cached Mode clients use the OAB (Offline Address Book). Force a rebuild of the OAB.

Note that depending on the size of your organization and connectivity it can still take 24-48 hours for clients to get the updated OAB.

A client can force the download by choosing to downlaod the Address Book. This triggers a copy of the OAB.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[Haleon]

You guys are the best. I turned off Cached mode and the entries were right there. Thanks again for the help!!

 

[Fatboy0341]

Here is a pretty good article on some approaches to this issue:

http://www.petri.co.il/gal_problems_and_oab_automatic_updates_in_outlook_2003.htm

 

[markdmac]

Turning off Cached mode isn't the right answer because it is needed to provess the Junk Email filters. That just proves the point that we were making.

Rebuild the OAB by right clicking it and choosing Rebuild. Put your user back in Cached mode.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[Haleon]

Thanks, Mark, I'll do that. As far as our junkmail goes, we're actually using GFI MailEssentials at the server level for filtering, so I haven't really paid much attention to the Exchange/Outlook 2003 filtering features, but regardless, you make a good point. Thanks!