Activesync drains battery

Question asked by Kelli Sterley - 8/19/2015 at 8:53 AM

Unanswered

I have had two users switch from iphones to androids lately. Since they have moved platforms their activesync (using exchange on the phones) has constantly been checking for mail. The progress bar never stops.

It is only happening to these two users, I have others using iphones and androids but no one else is having this issue. Is it a bug when switching platforms? Last resort if deleting the user and recreating them but I don't want to try that unless it's the last resort.

thanks for any help -

Kelli

14 Replies

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Employee Replied

8/19/2015 at 8:56 AM

Employee Post

Kelli, what version of SmarterMail are you using?

Kelli Sterley Replied

8/19/2015 at 9:00 AM

We are using 12.1.5224

Bruce Barnes Replied

8/19/2015 at 9:06 AM

Do you have IMAP IDLE turned on?

If not, then the phones are constantly polling the server and using precious battery resources.

With IMAP IDLE turned on, the SmarterMail server pushes new messages out to the phone as they are received.

For more information on the benefits of using IMAP IDLE, see: http://www.isode.com/whitepapers/imap-idle.html

Bruce Barnes ChicagoNetTech Inc brucecnt@comcast.net Phonr: (773) 491-9019 Phone: (224) 444-0169 E-Mail and DNS Security Specialist Network Security Specialist Customer Service Portal: https://portal.chicagonettech.com Website: https://www.ChicagoNetTech.com Security Blog: http://networkbastion.blogspot.com/ Web and E-Mail Hosting, E-Mail Security and Consulting

Employee Replied

8/19/2015 at 9:45 AM

Employee Post

Kelli, if you have Upgrade Protection, I would recommend upgrading to SM 13.x or 14.x. There were fixes made to the Exchange ActiveSync protocol. Specifically, if these Android devices are Samsung, Samsung has a known issue where they are sending malformed ActiveSync requests. SM was responding with a "bad command" response, but the Samsung devices would constantly resend the bad command. There is code in the latest versions of SM to workaround this specific Samsung bug. Additionally, as I said, there have been other ActiveSync-related improvements and bug fixes.

Employee Replied

8/19/2015 at 9:47 AM

Employee Post

Bruce, IMAP IDLE does not have influence Exchange ActiveSync. EAS sends the server a Ping request with a specified about of seconds to wait before the server responds with any changes to the devices. This Ping value is device-specific.

Kelli Sterley Replied

8/20/2015 at 11:27 AM

I will be doing the upgrade however I still wonder why I have only two phones that are experiencing this issue.

User 1:

Had an iPhone (5S) and upgraded to an Android (Samsung Galaxy S6), the active sync is constantly running.

User 2:

Had an iPhone (5S) and upgraded to an Android (Samsung Galaxy S6), the active sync is constantly running.

User 3:

Had an iPhone (5S) and upgraded to an Android (Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge), the active sync is running just fine.

I took user 1 and created a new email account for him, forwarded all his incoming mail to this new address and there have been no issues with the active sync for the new account. I guess my work around is to remove the bad email and recreate it?

Employee Replied

8/20/2015 at 11:55 AM

Employee Post

Kelli, are there any errors in the ActiveSync logs? (Make sure they are set to Detailed).

Kelli Sterley Replied

8/20/2015 at 12:28 PM

Is there anything specific I should be looking for?

Employee Replied

8/20/2015 at 1:12 PM

Employee Post

Any Exceptions or you can also look for <SyncKey>0</SyncKey> within a <FolderSync>. If there are multiple instances of this for the same email address and device, then the device is constantly trying to resync.

Kelli Sterley Replied

8/24/2015 at 6:25 AM

This was after I removed the user and re-added them to the smartermail user's. So the issue is still occurring.

Here is a handful of lines from my logs. I don't see any exceptions that pop out at me.. but this user is syncing every second it seems.

User: user@domain.com, Version: v14_0, Command: FolderSync, Device: ID (SAMSUNGSMG920V)
23:59:56 [32141304] Request:
23:59:56 [32141304] <FolderSync xmlns="FolderHierarchy">
23:59:56 [32141304] <SyncKey>8049dbaedde4406eb95fa39ffea11f11</SyncKey>
23:59:56 [32141304] </FolderSync>
23:59:56 [32141304] Response (Code: 200)(took 0ms):
23:59:56 [32141304] <FolderSync xmlns="FolderHierarchy">
23:59:56 [32141304] <Status>1</Status>
23:59:56 [32141304] <SyncKey>8049dbaedde4406eb95fa39ffea11f11</SyncKey>
23:59:56 [32141304] <Changes>
23:59:56 [32141304] <Count>0</Count>
23:59:56 [32141304] </Changes>
23:59:56 [32141304] </FolderSync>
23:59:57 [50491745] User: user@domain.com, Version: v14_0, Command: Sync, Device: ID (SAMSUNGSMG920V)
23:59:57 [50491745] Request:
23:59:57 [50491745] <Sync xmlns="AirSync">
23:59:57 [50491745] <Collections>
23:59:57 [50491745] <Collection>
23:59:57 [50491745] <SyncKey>3fdcd0581fcf42f39cfd418f0dd27111</SyncKey>
23:59:57 [50491745] <CollectionId>dd153c2c9ca64947b245e735d1591853</CollectionId>
23:59:57 [50491745] <DeletesAsMoves />
23:59:57 [50491745] <GetChanges />
23:59:57 [50491745] <WindowSize>5</WindowSize>
23:59:57 [50491745] <Options>
23:59:57 [50491745] <BodyPreference xmlns="AirSyncBase">
23:59:57 [50491745] <Type>1</Type>
23:59:57 [50491745] <TruncationSize>400000</TruncationSize>
23:59:57 [50491745] </BodyPreference>
23:59:57 [50491745] </Options>
23:59:57 [50491745] </Collection>
23:59:57 [50491745] </Collections>
23:59:57 [50491745] </Sync>
23:59:57 [50491745] Response (Code: 200)(took 0ms):
23:59:57 [50491745] <Sync xmlns="AirSync">
23:59:57 [50491745] <Collections>
23:59:57 [50491745] <Collection>
23:59:57 [50491745] <SyncKey>3fdcd0581fcf42f39cfd418f0dd27111</SyncKey>
23:59:57 [50491745] <CollectionId>dd153c2c9ca64947b245e735d1591853</CollectionId>
23:59:57 [50491745] <Status>1</Status>
23:59:57 [50491745] </Collection>
23:59:57 [50491745] </Collections>
23:59:57 [50491745] </Sync>
23:59:57 [14772043] User: user@domain.com, Version: v14_0, Command: Sync, Device: ID (SAMSUNGSMG920V)
23:59:57 [14772043] Request:
23:59:57 [14772043] <Sync xmlns="AirSync">
23:59:57 [14772043] <Collections>
23:59:57 [14772043] <Collection>
23:59:57 [14772043] <SyncKey>0</SyncKey>
23:59:57 [14772043] <CollectionId>
23:59:57 [14772043] </CollectionId>
23:59:57 [14772043] </Collection>
23:59:57 [14772043] </Collections>
23:59:57 [14772043] </Sync>
23:59:57 [14772043] Response (Code: 200)(took 0ms):
23:59:57 [14772043] <Sync xmlns="AirSync">
23:59:57 [14772043] <Collections>
23:59:57 [14772043] <Collection>
23:59:57 [14772043] <SyncKey>0</SyncKey>
23:59:57 [14772043] <CollectionId />
23:59:57 [14772043] <Status>8</Status>
23:59:57 [14772043] </Collection>
23:59:57 [14772043] </Collections>
23:59:57 [14772043] </Sync>
23:59:57 [28747969] User: user@domain.com, Version: v14_0, Command: Sync, Device: ID (SAMSUNGSMG920V)
23:59:57 [28747969] Request:
23:59:57 [28747969] <Sync xmlns="AirSync">
23:59:57 [28747969] <Collections>
23:59:57 [28747969] <Collection>
23:59:57 [28747969] <SyncKey>c6bc80ae18cb49c2840b789f5c02528f</SyncKey>
23:59:57 [28747969] <CollectionId>966f41ea911742e89e0dc8f553f702f5</CollectionId>
23:59:57 [28747969] <DeletesAsMoves />
23:59:57 [28747969] <GetChanges />
23:59:57 [28747969] <WindowSize>5</WindowSize>
23:59:57 [28747969] <Options>
23:59:57 [28747969] <BodyPreference xmlns="AirSyncBase">
23:59:57 [28747969] <Type>1</Type>
23:59:57 [28747969] <TruncationSize>400000</TruncationSize>
23:59:57 [28747969] </BodyPreference>
23:59:57 [28747969] </Options>
23:59:57 [28747969] </Collection>
23:59:57 [28747969] </Collections>
23:59:57 [28747969] </Sync>
23:59:57 [28747969] Response (Code: 200)(took 0ms):
23:59:57 [28747969] <Sync xmlns="AirSync">
23:59:57 [28747969] <Collections>
23:59:57 [28747969] <Collection>
23:59:57 [28747969] <SyncKey>c6bc80ae18cb49c2840b789f5c02528f</SyncKey>
23:59:57 [28747969] <CollectionId>966f41ea911742e89e0dc8f553f702f5</CollectionId>
23:59:57 [28747969] <Status>1</Status>
23:59:57 [28747969] </Collection>
23:59:57 [28747969] </Collections>
23:59:57 [28747969] </Sync>
23:59:57 [58911402] User: user@domain.com, Version: v14_0, Command: Sync, Device: ID (SAMSUNGSMG920V)
23:59:57 [58911402] Request:
23:59:57 [58911402] <Sync xmlns="AirSync">
23:59:57 [58911402] <Collections>
23:59:57 [58911402] <Collection>
23:59:57 [58911402] <SyncKey>7e9be49fee8d4afcbf87881aba28090b</SyncKey>
23:59:57 [58911402] <CollectionId>370e3a329a65474ebb97f2b03c3b6bcc</CollectionId>
23:59:57 [58911402] <DeletesAsMoves>1</DeletesAsMoves>
23:59:57 [58911402] <GetChanges />
23:59:57 [58911402] <WindowSize>50</WindowSize>
23:59:57 [58911402] <Options>
23:59:57 [58911402] <FilterType>3</FilterType>
23:59:57 [58911402] <BodyPreference xmlns="AirSyncBase">
23:59:57 [58911402] <Type>2</Type>
23:59:57 [58911402] <TruncationSize>51200</TruncationSize>
23:59:57 [58911402] </BodyPreference>
23:59:57 [58911402] <BodyPreference xmlns="AirSyncBase">
23:59:57 [58911402] <Type>4</Type>
23:59:57 [58911402] </BodyPreference>
23:59:57 [58911402] </Options>
23:59:57 [58911402] </Collection>
23:59:57 [58911402] </Collections>
23:59:57 [58911402] </Sync>
23:59:57 [58911402] Response (Code: 200)(took 0ms):
23:59:57 [58911402] <Sync xmlns="AirSync">
23:59:57 [58911402] <Collections>
23:59:57 [58911402] <Collection>
23:59:57 [58911402] <SyncKey>7e9be49fee8d4afcbf87881aba28090b</SyncKey>
23:59:57 [58911402] <CollectionId>370e3a329a65474ebb97f2b03c3b6bcc</CollectionId>
23:59:57 [58911402] <Status>1</Status>
23:59:57 [58911402] </Collection>
23:59:57 [58911402] </Collections>
23:59:57 [58911402] </Sync>

Bruce Barnes Replied

8/24/2015 at 7:41 AM

Did you update your installation to 14.2.5711, released Thursday last?

It resolves several ActiveSync issues:

Fixed: Performing an Exchange ActiveSync search now searches all mailbox folders if a CollectionId is not specified.
Fixed: Adding and modifying a message in the same sync command in Exchange Web Services no longer adds the message twice.
Fixed: An event deletion now properly syncs using Exchange Web Services in the scenario that the user receives an event cancellation message and then deletes the event in webmail.
Fixed: The ItemNotFound response from Exchange Web Services now includes all required fields.
Fixed: The type of a calendar invite message is now properly passed to the client when using Exchange Web Services.

Kelli Sterley Replied

9/8/2015 at 11:16 AM

I was able to install 14.2.5711 and the two phones STILL continue to check constantly for mail when set to push. So the update did not fix my issue. I'm at a loss for what to try next. They are using the Samsung Galaxy S6 thru Verizon

I have:
deleted the user and recreated them - didn't fix
turned off activesync and back on - didn't fix
updated to the latest version - didn't fix

I have two other phones that are identical and they are not experiencing these issues. I am going to add the user to my personal phone (also a Samsung Galaxy S4 thru Sprint).

Employee Replied

9/8/2015 at 11:55 AM

Employee Post

Kelli,

One thing that you may want to try is to completely remove the ActiveSync account from the phones. Once that is accomplished, remove those phones from the users' synchronized devices through the web interface (Settings | My Settings | Synchronized Devices). Now re-add the ActiveSync accounts to the phones.

If this fails to fix the issue at hand, I would recommend you open a support ticket.

Kelli Sterley Replied

9/15/2015 at 5:49 AM

I have done this as well and reformated the phone and it is still doing it. I guess I need to open a case.

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