What is POLL in my IIS log?

[Milo145]

I know this is off topic but I can't seam to find any info on it anywhere so I figured someone on the list would know. I was checking my IIS/OWA log this morning and I noticed that an XP user is generating the following lines in the log.

2003-01-29 01:56:39 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx 80 POLL /Service/username/Inbox - 401 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+6.0;+Windows+NT+5.1;+Q312461)

What is generating POLL, and what is it polling for? I asked the user if they're having any problems and they said no, everything is working fine, no error pages while viewing mail.

Thanx, Milo

[sugarkane]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld Milo

I've not come across this before, but as far as I can see POLL is a Microsoft-specific method that's used to check OWA / Exchange Server for new Instant Messages and the like - basically a synchronisation method.

As your server's returning a 401 status (Access Denied) for these requests, it looks like this feature is unavailable - maybe as a result of running 'IIS lock down' to secure your server?

Hopefully someone with more IIS knowledge can confirm this...

[Milo145]

Sugarkane:

I was logging into OWA and checking the log and I think your 100% right, it's just polling for info.

Thanx