XCON: MTA Performance Monitor Counters Continue to Count When 0 Messages

When you use the Windows NT Performance counters for the MSExchangeMTA object with Oldest Message Queued counter and a specific instance, the counter may indicate a lapsed time for a queue that has no messages currently waiting.

The Microsoft Exchange message transfer agent (MTA) may not properly update the counter when the MTA is started, or after the last message has been deleted.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server version 5.5. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

Component: Message Transfer Agent (MTA)


The fix can be applied to computers running Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 2.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5, 5.5 Service Pack 1, and 5.5 Service Pack 2. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3.

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

1. Install Exchange Server 5.5, and send no messages.
2. Start Performance Monitor, and select the MSExchangeMTA Connections object, the Microsoft Private MDB instance, and Oldest Message Queued counter.

-or-

1. Start the MTA with a connector in which no messages are queued or to which no messages will be routed.
2. Start Performance Monitor, and select the MSExchangeMTA Connections object, the <connector in step 1> the connector instance, and Oldest Message Queued counter.

The server will show a time elapsing for every queue without a message that has not experienced any message flow since the MTA has started.