Hi - this won't be an Exchange issue. Sounds like you've got a more general
networking problem. Try posting in microsoft.public.windows.dns for more
help, and perhaps provide more description of your setup.

Hello Eli,

This is Robbin again.

From your description, I understand you have encountered a problem when
using Outlook to resolve the domain user's account when checking name. You
can use DC for resolution but not Exchange server itself.

If I have misunderstood your concerns please feel free to let me know.

I agree with Lanwench that it's actually a network communication issue
between your Exchange server and the Global Catalog server .

At this time, I would like to explain that if the global catalog(GC) server
and the Exchange Server computer are in the same site as the Outlook client
the normal referral mechanism will provides the best performance. If there
is any communication issue between the Exchange server and the GC server,
this issue will occur because Outlook ask for Exchange for domain name
resolution and GAB and Exchange will query GC server for the result using
LDAP protocol because these information are stored in AD and not in
Exchange server actually.

That's the why you encountered the issue in our another post that Outlook
user cannot connect to the Global Catalog server to open Global Address
Book even if it can connect to the Exchange server. However, your Outlook
can resolve the GC server directly to check name. So the problem is that
the Exchange server referral has problems to communicate with GC server to
response for your Outlook request.

Based on the situation, please try following steps:

Step 1:  Restart the Exchange System Attendance service for service
Recovery.
When MSExchangeSA(Exchange System Attendance service) is stopped, the
Directory Service Referral Interface is also stopped, then Exchange will
not give the right response to redirect the client to the GC server for
referral.

On the Exchange server, go to System Service and find Exchange System
Attendance service. Double click to open its properties, on the Recovery
tab, select the "Restart the service" when "First Failure". Then restart
this service.

Step 2: Configure Outlook to a specific global catalog server for name
resolution.

How to configure Outlook to a specific global catalog server or to the
closest global catalog server
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319206/en-us

By the way, make sure the all server's DNS records are correct on the DNS
server.

If we cannot resolve the issue after we perform the above steps, please
help me collect some information for further investigation:

Information Need
==============
Collect Exchange MPS report£º

1. Please download a tool from the following link:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/b/1/bb139fcb-4aac-4fe5-a579-30b0bd9
15706/MPSRPT_Exchange.EXE

2. Double-click the downloaded EXE file to collect the MPS report.
3. Please send the generated CAB file to me at:
v-robmen@mssupport.microsoft.com

More Information:
==============
A MAPI program may not obtain a referral server when the global catalog
server to which the MAPI program points is shut down
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929439/en-us

Hope this helps. Also, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not
hesitate to let me know.

Thank you for your time and cooperation.

Best regards,

Robbin Meng(MSFT)

Microsoft CSS Online Newsgroup Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

=====================================================

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Can you ping the exchange server name?  Is the DNS on your client pointed to
your AD domain controller?