Broke EAC after SSL certificate installation

Question

Broke EAC after SSL certificate installation

Wendell Jones 21

Hello,

I am hoping to get some insight on a problem. I am working with a new installation of exchange 2016. The system was up and running perfectly, autodiscover, web access for owa and EAC. I added an SSL for web access and everything looked like it worked. While OWA works fine, EAC will not load. The website attempts to load until it times out.

I can still access the command line to do tasks that I normally can do on the web access, but the EAC just will not load on web page.

Can I use the command line to reapply the certificate? Or is something else going on?

Thank you in advance.

Wendell Jones

Accepted answer

3 additional answers

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Answer 1

Hi @Wendell Jones

Anyway, glad to know this project is completed. : )
And thanks for your feedback above which shared more information.
Since our forum has the policy that The question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others, and according to the scenario introduced here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/support/self-answering

I will make a summary of this case so that other forum members could easily find useful information here:

Issue Symptom:
The EAC doesn’t work after added an SSL for web access. OWA works fine.

Solution:
Reboot all mail servers.

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Aaron Xue-MSFT 2,596 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-03-03T09:14:36.177+00:00

Hi @Wendell Jones ,

I'm just writing to check how's everything going? If you have any questions or needed further help on this issue, please feel free to post back.

If the issue has been resolved, please mark the helpful replies as answers, this will make answer searching in the forum easier and be beneficial to other community members as well.

Thanks. : )

Answer 2

Aaron Xue-MSFT 2,596 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @Wendell Jones ,

If the issue still persits.

I think the issue may occur with the virtual directory.

You could follow below to recreate the ECP virtrual directory.

1.Get the ECP virtual directory information

Get-EcpVirtualDirectory -Server "Servername" | Format-List Server, Name, InternalUrl, ExternalUrl, Identity

2.Remove the ECP virtual directory

Remove-EcpVirtualDirectory -Identity "EX2016\ecp (Default Web Site)" -Confirm:$false

3.Create a new ECP virtual directory

new-EcpVirtualDirectory -Server "EX2016"

If the ECP virtual directory has the internal and external url, you need to run below command to create it.

New-EcpVirtualDirectory -Server "Servername -InternalUrl "https://test.contoso.com/ecp" -ExternalUrl "https://test.contoso.com/ecp"

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Wendell Jones 21 Reputation points

2022-02-04T20:48:42.003+00:00

Ok.. I have more details now. I deleted and re-added the virtual directories. The problem did not go away, but I was able to get me details.

In IE after about 45 minutes

This page can’t be displayed

•Make sure the web address https://xxx.xxx.xxx is correct.
•Look for the page with your search engine.

In chrome
Server Error

404 - File or directory not found.
The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

This site can’t be reachedThe webpage at https://xxx.xxx.xxx/ecp/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
ERR_HTTP2_PROTOCOL_ERROR

BTW, I can access OWA with the local host.

lIn IE using local host to acces EAC

Local Host

Server Error in '/' Application.

Configuration Error
Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: An error occurred loading a configuration file: Failed to start monitoring changes to 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\web.config' because access is denied.

Source Error:

[No relevant source lines]

Source File: C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\web.config Line: 0

Click here to show additional error information:

Thank you in advance.
Aaron Xue-MSFT 2,596 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-02-08T08:03:09.767+00:00

Hi @Wendell Jones ,
According to this error

Parser Error Message: An error occurred loading a configuration file: Failed to start monitoring changes to 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\web.config' because access is denied.

Please check if the ECP virtual directory exists in AD. Open ADSIEDIT and navigate to:
configuration\cn=configuration,DC=domainname,DC=com\CN=services\CN=Microsoft Exchange\CN=domain\CN=ADministrative Groups\CN=Exchange Administrative Group\CN=Servers\CN=servername\CN=Protocols\CN=HTTP\CN=ECP (Default Web Site)

You could also try to replace web.config file in C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\ecp\web.config" from the lab or worked exchange 2016 server.
Wendell Jones 21 Reputation points

2022-02-08T16:34:58.28+00:00

AAaron,

Thank you for the information. I checked the adsi-edit containers and everything is there. There is even information on the container. However, when I go to the location on the sever the web.config is missing. The only document in the folder is sharedwebconfig.config. I am unaware of how to copy the file from lab. Any help would be appreciated. I see that notation on a few places, but no one explains how to do it.

Thanks in advance. I appreciate you taking time out of your day to help.

Wendell Jones

Answer 3

Aaron Xue-MSFT 2,596 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @Wendell Jones ,

“ However, when I go to the location on the sever the web.config is missing.”

I mean could you find the file in below path?
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\ecp\web.config
Not the C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess

If you have another lab that include Exchange server. You could directly copy the file and paste into you server.
Here’s also a similar case for you reference, you could follow lucasliu’s steps to try fixing the iisue.
Remember: Do not to forget back up the original file.

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Wendell Jones 21 Reputation points

2022-02-09T18:22:33.827+00:00

Aaron,

Thanks for your assistance with this issue. I found the web.config in the ecp directory. I was in the wrong place. I have performed the tasks suggested and still EAC will not load, but OWA will. The web page, just sits and waits until the "cannot display page" error comes up.

I am going to regroup and check each of these tasks and try them in order to see if that makes a difference. I will let you know tomorrow.

Again, that you for all of your help.

Wendell Jones
Aaron Xue-MSFT 2,596 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-02-14T09:14:55.217+00:00

Hi @Wendell Jones ,

You could create a new test lab and Install the same version of Exchange server.

After it is complete, copy and paste the web.config file to your Exchange server. Then check if the issue has been solved.
Aaron Xue-MSFT 2,596 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-02-17T09:39:39.08+00:00

Hi @Wendell Jones ,

I'm just writing to check how's everything going?

If the issue has been resolved, please mark the helpful replies as answers, this will make answer searching in the forum easier and be beneficial to other community members as well.

Thanks for your understanding.
Wendell Jones 21 Reputation points

2022-02-17T18:32:16.14+00:00

Aaron,

Thank you for responding. I am still seeing this cannot display error. I am hoping to create the "test-lab" exchange site in the next few days to see if I can copy a working web.config file. That will have to wait until next week. It is very baffling how ecp is failing, but owa is not. If this fails, I will probably do the same thing everyone is is doing, rebuild the exchange server.

Have a great weekend.

Wendell Jones
Aaron Xue-MSFT 2,596 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-02-18T02:26:19.713+00:00

Hi @Wendell Jones ,

Yep. If the SSL certificate has really messed up your environment.

I think OWA will also fail to connect. I still think the problem is related to the ecp’s virtual directories.

I'll wait for your updates.

Have a nice weekend. : )
Aaron Xue-MSFT 2,596 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-02-24T09:23:12.12+00:00

Hi @Wendell Jones ,

It has been a long time since the last reply, did these suggestions help you?

If the above suggestion helps, please click “Accept as answer” to mark helpful reply as an answer. Your action would be helpful to other users who encounter the same issue and read this thread.

Thanks for your understand.
Wendell Jones 21 Reputation points

2022-02-24T17:28:36.197+00:00

Aaron,
Thank you for checking in. I have had very little luck with this project. Finding a lab environment for creating a fresh installation has been an issue. Hopefully I can get one available soon.

In the meanwhile:
*I have gone back to my broken exchange server and updated it to the latest CU 19 with security update Exchange2016-KB5008631
Reboot
Problem persists
*Removed the virtual directory for ECP and installed it again
Reboot
Problem persists

Through it all, OWA still works. I will hopefully have a machine next week with which to create the lab.

Have a great week.

Wendell Jones
Aaron Xue-MSFT 2,596 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-02-25T02:41:03.88+00:00

Hi @Wendell Jones ,

I’ve met the similar issue in another case.

Autodiscover not working after exchange server 2019 cumulative update 11 - Microsoft Q&A

In this case, I also told the OP to re-build the ECP virtual directory, but it doesn’t work.

After the OP copied&pasted the file from the other test-lab, then his lab works fine.

.It’s really weird that re-build the virtual directory doesn’t work, but copy&paste the file works fine.

I'll be here waiting for your update ：）
Wendell Jones 21 Reputation points

2022-02-26T03:32:33.96+00:00

Aaron,

Thank you for you insight and your patience. Everything is working. There are two mail servers working on my network. One I am replacing and the one I just built. There was some wok being done on my old mail server tonight forcing it to need rebooting.

We do not use EAC on that server for admin purposes so I was not aware it was not working either. After rebooting the old mail server it seems to have cleared up something and now ecp is working on the new mail server.

I am puzzled yet pleased by the outcome. So, the short answer is "reboot all mail servers".

Thanks again.

Wendell

Answer 4

Hi @Wendell Jones ,

the EAC just will not load on web page.

Did you get some error messages when the EAC doesn't load?

Have you tried to use other browsers to log on EAC?

Generally, I will try to use another browser to check if could access the EAC. Just make sure the issue doesn't occur with the browser.

If the issue still persist, try to use the EMS to create a new Exchange self-signed certificate.

Here's a document for you reference.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/architecture/client-access/create-self-signed-certificates?view=exchserver-2019

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Wendell Jones 21 Reputation points

2022-02-04T02:43:51.867+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I have tried IE as well as chrome. Both web browsers will spin for hours trying to connect and finally time out. I can get the exact error tomorrow as it does take a long time for the system to give up. I will also try using the self-signed certificate and see how it goes.

Again, thank you.

Wendell Jones

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Broke EAC after SSL certificate installation

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