Why can't some users see new items in Global Address List while others can?

Question

This is my issue:

We are using Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2007. Last week we added a new conference room in Exchange. When I look up the conference room in the Global Address List, it doesn't show up. However, if I delete my .oab files (Offline Address Book) then I can see the new conference room in the Global Address List. When I download the Offline Address Book again, the problem returns. To make this more confusing, some users are able to see the conference room in the Global Address List without removing their offline address book. Is Outlook ignoring their OAB and getting a live copy of the GAL? All users are in cached mode. I am definitely no Outlook/Exchange expert. Am I missing something obvious here? Your help is greatly appreciated.

Solution

We figured it out! So as I understood from our Sys Admin, the oab files are generated on one server, and rely on the file replication service on the global catalog servers (we have 2 of them) to copy the oab files to each of the servers. The service was not started on one of the servers and therefore some users were getting old oab's while other users were getting fresh copies. Moral of the story... if you're having this issue, make sure the file replication service is started. Or restart it...

Comments

[Alex Zapata]

Done. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it did not produce any errors. The odd thing is that we have some users that can see it and some that can't, it seems to be about 50/50 right now.

[Alex Zapata]

rebooted the Global Catalog servers.... still seeing the same problem. I suspect that this has something to do with the client-side settings. I still haven't figured it out

[Alex Zapata]

All users are in cached mode. After downloading the address book, still not seeing the new room. I have user's with and without the problem on the same DC.

[Hraefn]

On Exchange 2010 the command appears to be: > set-eventloglevel -identity "MSExchangeSA\OAL Generator" -level High