A memory leak may occur in the Inetinfo.exe process in Exchange 2003

In a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 front-end and back-end environment, the Inetinfo.exe process on the front-end servers consumes a large amount of memory. Eventually, the Inetinfo.exe process stops responding. Therefore, IMAP4 users and Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access users cannot access their mailboxes. Or, it takes a long time to access the mailboxes.

This problem occurs because of a memory leak. When a front-end server tries to authenticate with back-end public folder servers, a failure occurs in the authentication process. When many IMAP4 clients frequently try to access the public folders, the memory leak affects the clients quickly.

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. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

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, contact 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

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) must be installed before you apply this hotfix.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix. However, the IIS Admin Service and all dependent services are restarted when you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace a previously released hotfix.

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 item in Control Panel.

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

For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: