"[0x2] Protocol Error" event error message is logged when you configure a public folder Connection Agreement in Exchange Server 2003

When you use the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Active Directory Connector (ADC) to create a public folder Connection Agreement between a Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 site and the Active Directory directory service, you may find that the public folder Connection Agreement unexpectedly stops. An event ID error message that is similar to the following is logged in the application event log:

Type: Error
Source: MSADC
Category: (1)
Event ID: 8146
Description: An operation on server 'ServerName' returned [0x2] Protocol Error.
The Connection Agreement Config CA_ServerName stopped.

This problem may occur in situations when the ADC tries to insert an empty msExchPfCreation attribute to the public folder object in Active Directory even though users are not mapped. This problem may occur if the following conditions are true:

• Certain users have permissions that permit the user to create top-level public folders, or certain users have permissions that do not permit the user to create top-level public folders in Exchange Server 5.5.
• A recipient Connection Agreement that replicates recipient directory objects from Exchange Server 5.5 to Active Directory does not exist.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To work around this problem, create a recipient Connection Agreement to replicate recipient directory objects from Exchange Server 5.5 to Active Directory.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was corrected in Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1.

For additional information about Connection Agreements in Exchange Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about ADC requirements and implications in an Exchange organization, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: