Outbound public folder replication cannot work from a particular Exchange Server 2000 computer

In your organization, a Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server computer stops performing outbound public folder replication. However, inbound public folder replication still occurs on the server and no Error events or Warning events are logged in the Application log.

This problem occurs if Exchange 2000 incorrectly interprets a valid Exchange 2000 Server Messaging Database (MDB) GUID to be the distinguished name of a Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 MDB.

The Exchange Server 5.5 format for an MDB in the replication state table is a compressed server legacy distinguished name. The site part of the compressed distinguished name is stored in a lookup table. In this compressed distinguished name, this site part is replaced by an index to the lookup table where the site part of the distinguished name is stored. The rest of the server name, including the terminating NULL character, appears after this index to the lookup table. Therefore, the Exchange Server 5.5 MDB in the replication state table may appear similar to the following: When the problem that is described in the "Symptoms" section occurs, it occurs because the computer name has 13 characters. If the computer name has 13 characters, the whole Exchange Server 5.5 MDB entry in the replication state table has 16 bytes. Therefore, if the computer name has 13 characters, the whole entry is the same length as a GUID. An Exchange Server 5.5 compressed distinguished name and an Exchange 2000 GUID are both stored in the same column of the replication state table. When Exchange 2000 loads this table, Exchange 2000 must determine whether the data object is an Exchange 2000 GUID or an Exchange Server 5.5 compressed distinguished name.

Exchange 2000 first determines this data to be a directory service GUID and searches for this object in the Active Directory directory service. If this object does not appear in Active Directory, Exchange 2000 performs a test to determine whether this object is an Exchange Server 5.5 compressed DN. To test this, Exchange 2000 does the following:

• Exchange 2000 verifies whether the binary large object is equal to or more than 5 bytes.
• Exchange 2000 verifies whether the binary large object has a single zero byte.
• Exchange 2000 verifies whether the single zero byte is the last byte of the binary large object.

If all these conditions are true, Exchange 2000 determines the object to be an Exchange Server 5.5 compressed DN.

Consider the following scenario:

• You have a valid directory service GUID for an Exchange 2000 database.
• This GUID is longer than 5 bytes.
• This GUID has a single zero byte at the end of the binary large object.
• This GUID is no longer present in Active Directory.

In this scenario, Exchange 2000 incorrectly determines this GUID to be an Exchange Server 5.5 compressed distinguished name. Therefore, the replication engine does not initialize when the database is mounted.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

Because of file dependencies, this update requires the following:

• Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3). For additional information about Exchange service packs, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  301378  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301378/ ) How to obtain the latest Exchange 2000 Server service pack
• The update that is described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
  870540  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/870540/ ) Availability of the August 2004 Exchange 2000 Server Post-Service Pack 3 Update Rollup
• Mdbmsg.dll version 6617.15.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart your computer after you apply this hotfix. However, many Exchange-related services may be automatically stopped and then restarted when you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.