Apple says fix for iOS 6.1 Exchange syncing bug coming soon

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
In an update to its support webpage on Wednesday, Apple said that a problem causing iOS 6.1 devices to see syncing issues with Microsoft's Exchange Server has been identified and a fix will be made available in an forthcoming update.

Exchange


While the change to Apple's Support Page, first spotted by ZDNet, does not offer a specific timeframe for the patch release, it is a promising sign for those affected by the bug that causes excess log growth when a device running iOS 6.1 attempts to sync to an Exchange server.

From Apple's Support Page:
Apple has identified a fix and will make it available in an upcoming software update. In the meantime, you can avoid this bug by not responding to an exception to a recurring event on your iOS device.
The issue presents itself when a device, such as an iPad or iPhone, running the recently released iOS 6.1 attempts to make calendar, mail, or other syncing changes with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. After a sync has been made, excessive log growth causes significant increases in CPU and memory, thereby affecting the performance of the server. Users of Microsoft's Office 365 Online Exchange were also hit by the bug, and began receiving error messages reading "Cannot Get Mail" and "The connection to the server failed" when attempting to access the online service.

After being made aware of the bug, Microsoft on Tuesday responded by suggesting server administrators throttle or ban iOS 6.1 devices until a solution was found.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20


    "In an update to it's support webpage on Wednesday . . ."


     


    And THIS from a supposedly professional writer.


     


    IT'S = IT IS!  The correct pronoun above is "its," not it's!


     


    How hard can this BE?  Rocket science?


  • Reply 2 of 20
    This seems like something Apple will want to quash quickly. iOS 6.1.2?

    vinitaboy wrote: »
    "In an update to it's support webpage on Wednesday . . ."

    And THIS from a supposedly professional writer.

    IT'S = IT IS! The correct pronoun above is "its," not it's!

    How hard can this BE? Rocket science?

    You word your comment as if the writer doesn't understand the difference, as opposed to it simply being a case not proofreading as well as they should.

    I don't think we need to point out typos in a business model who's revenue is had by reporting the tech news as quickly as possible, not by how perfect be hte grammer.

    So long as the context is clear (which it is) then I think it's best to look past it.

    [VIDEO]
    (link)
  • Reply 3 of 20


    If Apple is going to plug the IOS 6 jailbreak, this is the one to do it with.

  • Reply 4 of 20


    But...but... jragosta promised me this was Microsoft's problem, not Apple's; I'm so confused.

  • Reply 5 of 20
    mazda 3smazda 3s Posts: 1,613member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by thataveragejoe View Post


    But...but... jragosta promised me this was Microsoft's problem, not Apple's; I'm so confused.



     


    Some people need to just keep their mouths shut and let the facts present themselves before making broad claims.

  • Reply 6 of 20
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    This is why I wait a few weeks to upgrade.
  • Reply 7 of 20
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    But...but... jragosta promised me this was Microsoft's problem, not Apple's; I'm so confused.

    You're confused because you prefer to imagine things rather than face reality.

    I said that it appeared to be a bug in iOS, but that the Exchange servers should not be collapsing due to heavy loads. That is a true statement.
  • Reply 8 of 20
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    You're confused because you prefer to imagine things rather than face reality.



    I said that it appeared to be a bug in iOS, but that the Exchange servers should not be collapsing due to heavy loads. That is a true statement.


    what you actually said was:


    Now, it's hard to imagine how a client bug would cause excessive log growth OR server performance. Clearly, this is an Exchange bug.


    So it's bad for Apple that Microsoft has a bug in their server hardware. Amazing."

  • Reply 9 of 20
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member


    I wish they'd fix the fact that you can no longer sync Outlook with iOS if you use iCloud for synching (and you're not using Exchange Server).    Now when I get Outlook meeting invites on the Mac that then go into Outlook calendar, I have to manually add them to Cal so they show up on my phone (and vice-versa).     

  • Reply 10 of 20
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    what you actually said was:
    " <span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18.1875px;">Now, it's hard to imagine how a client bug would cause excessive log growth OR server performance. Clearly, this is an Exchange bug.</span>

    <span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18.1875px;">So it's bad for Apple that Microsoft has a bug in their server hardware. Amazing."</span>

    While the Apple bug did cause excessive log growth, my statement about performance is correct. It should NOT affect server performance if the server were properly designed.
  • Reply 11 of 20

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    You're confused because you prefer to imagine things rather than face reality.



    I said that it appeared to be a bug in iOS, but that the Exchange servers should not be collapsing due to heavy loads. That is a true statement.




    I don't understand your logic.  Exchange environments are sized based on expected load, growth, and SOME unexpected load.  Otherwise, you are paying too much for the environment.  When a few hundred, or even a few thousand, clients start dramatically increasing the load, you require that the servers are supposed to somehow infinitely scale their disk space, CPU's, and network throughput?


     


    Whiskey Tango Foxtrot do you work that this sort of scalability is a reality?  I gotta get me some of that.

  • Reply 12 of 20
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    runbuh wrote: »

    I don't understand your logic.  Exchange environments are sized based on expected load, growth, and SOME unexpected load.  Otherwise, you are paying too much for the environment.  When a few hundred, or even a few thousand, clients start dramatically increasing the load, you require that the servers are supposed to somehow infinitely scale their disk space, CPU's, and network throughput?

    Whiskey Tango Foxtrot do you work that this sort of scalability is a reality?  I gotta get me some of that.

    Look up denial of service. If the bug has been accurately described, it's much like a denial of service attack - which the server should be able to deal with.

    In addition, the reports sound like the log growth is causing the server to slow down - which is not acceptable.
  • Reply 13 of 20

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    You're confused because you prefer to imagine things rather than face reality.

     


     


    Gator beat me to it. "Clearly this is an Exchange bug." Ironically, that could not be any clearer.


     


    Nevermind you reminded the other day that every prior iOS release did not cause the problem. Perhaps you should heed your own advice in this case. 

  • Reply 14 of 20
    runbuhrunbuh Posts: 315member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    Look up denial of service. If the bug has been accurately described, it's much like a denial of service attack - which the server should be able to deal with.



    In addition, the reports sound like the log growth is causing the server to slow down - which is not acceptable.




    Actually - the logging behavior is PRECISELY what you want to have happen.  You can be alerted to the performance degradation via monitoring tools, but the logging data is how you find out what happened.  And that's exactly what was done to help identify the problem in this case.

  • Reply 15 of 20

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by runbuh View Post




    Actually - the logging behavior is PRECISELY what you want to have happen.  You can be alerted to the performance degradation via monitoring tools, but the logging data is how you find out what happened.  And that's exactly what was done to help identify the problem in this case.



     


    Exactly, without this information it would would have been harder to point the finger at iOS 6.1. Thus making it Microsoft's fault that all the servers started having issues.

  • Reply 16 of 20
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    runbuh wrote: »

    Actually - the logging behavior is PRECISELY what you want to have happen.  You can be alerted to the performance degradation via monitoring tools, but the logging data is how you find out what happened.  And that's exactly what was done to help identify the problem in this case.

    I didn't say that the system shouldn't have logged the hits. But a system that fails because it's getting lots of hits has a problem.
  • Reply 17 of 20
    kdarlingkdarling Posts: 1,640member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post



    I didn't say that the system shouldn't have logged the hits. But a system that fails because it's getting lots of hits has a problem.


     


    Any server being hit outside its expected limits can have a problem.


     


    Servers are often sized to meet the expected needs.  For Exchange, that would likely be related to how many devices your employees use, with normal communication expectations.


     


    Going over the expected amount is going outside of the parameters of the server, and of course you should expect trouble.


     


    It's as if you set up your laptop to serve photos to your relatives, and all was well.  Then one day your URL gets posted to half the world, and everyone clicks on it.   Does the fact that your system can't serve all of them at the same time mean it has a problem?  No.


     


    These servers weren't failing, btw.  Some were slowing down.  That would be expected.  So Microsoft recommended throttling iOS 6 users.

  • Reply 18 of 20
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    kdarling wrote: »
    Any server being hit outside its expected limits can have a problem.

    <span style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.231;">Servers are often sized to meet the expected needs.  For Exchange, that would likely be related to how many devices your employees use, with normal communication expectations.</span>


    Going over the expected amount is going outside of the parameters of the server, and of course you should expect trouble.

    It's as if you set up your laptop to serve photos to your relatives, and all was well.  Then one day your URL gets posted to half the world, and everyone clicks on it.   Does the fact that your system can't serve all of them at the same time mean it has a problem?  No.

    These servers weren't failing, btw.  Some were slowing down.  That would be expected.  So Microsoft recommended throttling iOS 6 users.

    My laptop is not set up to act as an Enterprise level server.

    Any reasonable server can deal with a DoS attack without crumbling.
  • Reply 19 of 20
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post



    Any reasonable server can deal with a DoS attack without crumbling.


    Absolutely.  That's why DoS attacks aren't effective, a total waste of effort.


     


    /s

  • Reply 20 of 20
    kdarlingkdarling Posts: 1,640member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    My laptop is not set up to act as an Enterprise level server.



    Any reasonable server can deal with a DoS attack without crumbling.


     


    The servers didn't "crumble".  They slowed down and had to deny extra requests.  This is normal.


     


    No server on the planet can serve more requests than it was sized for.   Once they hit that point, they either have to ignore requests (on purpose or because of overload), or you have to buy more servers. 


     


    In this case, no one wants to buy more servers because it is an unusual situation.


     


    It's not much different than when iOS 3.0 (?) came out with a nasty WCDMA bug that caused cell towers to ramp up the power level until it knocked off all the users on the cell fringes.   No one set up more towers.  They fixed the bug instead.

Sign In or Register to comment.