Full-text indexes do not work after you rename your domain in Exchange Server 2003

Full-text indexes do not work after you rename your domain in Exchange 2003. Additionally, the following event may be logged in the Application log:

Event ID : 3036
Source : Microsoft Search
Category : Gatherer
Type : Warning
Description : The crawl seed \\.\BackOfficeStorage\servername.domain.com\Public Folders in project <ExchangeServer_MDB-STE3 pub82C3496A> cannot be accessed. Error: 80150804 – A description for this error could not be found.

When the content indexing service is started for the first time, the distinguished name of the database is stored in the registry. If you change the domain name, the distinguished name of the database changes. However, the registry value is not updated. Therefore, content indexing no longer works.

To resolve this issue, use the Exchange Server MSSearch Administration tool to search for full-text indexes, isolate the indexes that have problems, and then fix these indexes by programmatically modifying the registry key for the start page of the index searches.

To do this, follow these steps.

Step 1: Download and install the Exchange Server MSSearch Administration tool

1. Download the Exchange Server MSSearch Administration tool.
   
   The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
   
   Collapse this imageExpand this image

   
   Download the MSSearch_Admin.exe package now. (http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/8/1/781e44cb-e162-4690-9948-ec3f750973ca/mssearch_admin.exe)
2. Open the folder where you downloaded the MSSearch_Admin.exe file, and then double-click the MSSearch_Admin.exe file.
3. In the Choose Directory for Extracted files box, type C:\, and then click OK. An MSSearch_Admin folder is created under C:\. The extracted files are stored in this folder.

Step 2: Download and register the ads.dll file

To use the Exchange Server MSSearch Administration tool, you must register the ads.dll file. This file comes bundled with the files that are used for Variant Conversion Functions, namely the ArrayConvert.exe file.

1. Download the ArrayConvert.exe file.
   
   The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
   
   Collapse this imageExpand this image

   
   Download the arrayconvert.exe package now. (http://download.microsoft.com/download/exch55/sample/55/win98/en-us/arrayconvert.exe)
2. Open the folder where you downloaded the ArrayConvert.exe file, and then double-click the ArrayConvert.exe file.
3. In the Unzip to folder box, type C:\ArrayConvert, and then click Unzip.
4. Click OK, and then click Close.
5. Click Start, click Run, type regsvr32 C:\ArrayConvert\ads.dll, and then press ENTER.
6. Click OK.

Step 3: Identify the Exchange servers that have full-text indexes

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
2. Change to the folder where you installed the Exchange Server MSSearch Administration tool files.
3. Type mssearch_admin /action:list /outputfile:list.xml, and then press ENTER. This will create a file named list.xml in the current working folder.
4. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, open the list.xml file that you created in step 3c. You should see a list of all Exchange computers that have full-text indexes created on them. This list includes all Exchange computers in all administrative groups in the organization. Either keep this file open, or note the Exchange computers that are listed.

Step 4: Fix the non-working full-text indexes on the individual Exchange computers

1. At the command prompt, change to the folder where you installed the Exchange Server MSSearch Administration tool files.
2. Type mssearch_admin /action:status /exserver:Your_Exchange_Server_Name /outputfile:Your_Exchange_Server_Name_Status.xml, and then press ENTER.
   
   Note Your_Exchange_Server_Name is one of the computer names from the list.xml file.
3. Open the Your_Exchange_Server_Name_Status.xml output file in Internet Explorer. Header information appears under the Application Name: ExchangeServer Your_Server_Name heading. Find the Total Error Count row. If the value for this header is not zero, the full-text indexes that have errors are listed in red under the header information.
   
   If the value for the Total Error Count label is more than zero, go to step 4d. If the value for the Total Error Count label is equal to zero, go to step 4f.
4. At the command prompt, type mssearch_admin /action:fixup /exserver:Your_Exchange_Server_Name /outputfile:Your_Exchange_Server_Name_Fixup.xml, and then press ENTER.
   
   Note Your_Exchange_Server_Name is the name of the computer that you identified in step 4c as having index errors.
5. Open the Your_Exchange_Server_Name_Fixup.xml output file in Internet Explorer. Header information appears under the Application Name: ExchangeServer Your_Server_Name heading. Find the Total Error Count and Total Errors Fixed rows. The values of these two rows should be equal. The full-text indexes that were fixed are listed in green under the header information.
6. Repeat steps 4a through 4c for each Exchange computer that you noted in step 3.

Besides performing administrative tasks, the Exchange Server MSSearch Administration tool will detect and repair one or more of the following configurations that are incorrect for a full-text index:

• The full-text index location that is stored in Active Directory directory service is incorrect. This can occur if you move the full-text index from its default location.
• The original index start address for the full-text index is no longer correct. This can occur if either of the following occurs after the full-text index is created:
  • The domain is renamed.
  • The primary Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) address for the default recipient policy has changed.

For more information about how to create a full-text index, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about how to move the full-text index files, see the "Best Practices for Deploying Full-Text Indexing" white paper. To view the "Best Practices for Deploying Full-Text Indexing" white paper, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For information about renaming Active Directory domains in Exchange 2003, see the "Renaming domains in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1" Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. The "Renaming domains in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1" PowerPoint presentation is contained in the wc060804.exe self-extracting zip file.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
Download the wc060804.exe package now. (http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/5/f/05fd8f6e-35c8-425f-ba9d-6941b4b60850/wc060804.exe)

To fix Exchange attributes in Active Directory after you use the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 domain rename tool, you can use the Exchange Server Domain Rename tool (XDR-Fixup.exe).

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
Download the XDR-Fixup.exe package now. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=24B47D4A-C4B9-4031-B491-29839148A28C&amp;displaylang=en)

For more information about recipient policies, see the Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide and the Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Guide. To view the Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide, visit the following Microsoft Web site: To view the Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Guide, visit the following Microsoft Web site: