XADM: Slow Information Store Startup Because of Unnecessary Cleanup of Public Folder Restrictions

The Microsoft Exchange Server Information Store service may take a considerable amount of time to start (under certain conditions, up to several hours).

This issue can occur if the information store shutdown process places an inconsistent flag on the database, regardless of whether the database is shut down cleanly or not. This causes any restrictions or views in the database that are based on read/unread counts to be deleted. If enough restrictions or views have built up in the database, this deletion process can take a considerable amount of time

The deletion process is required because read/unread counts for the public information store are cached. If the information store does not shut down cleanly, the read/unread counts in the database may be out of synchronization with the cached restrictions, which can cause errors and instability.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server 5.5. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Exchange Server 5.5. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 4.