How to set a limit on the number of SMTP messages in queues

Article ID: 258748 - View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q258748
Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure that you back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/ )
Description of the Microsoft Windows registry
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INTRODUCTION

If you want to limit the number of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) messages that may be queued on a server that is running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or Microsoft Windows 2000 SMTP Server, you can use the
MaxMessageObjects
registry key. If the limit is reached, no additional incoming messages are accepted by SMTP.

MORE INFORMATION

If Microsoft Exchange is not installed on the computer, you can install the SMTP protocol in Internet Information Services (IIS). To have us install the SMTP protocol in Internet Information Services (IIS), go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you’d rather create these values yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To install the SMTP protocol in Internet Information Services (IIS) automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Fix it 50317


Note this wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

The SMTP protocol should now be enabled.

Note By default, the SMTP service is installed with Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000.

To install the SMTP protocol in IIS yourself, follow these steps.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
  1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Click Add or Remove Programs, and then click Add/Remove Windows Components.
  3. Click Internet Information Services (IIS), and then click Details.
  4. Click to select the SMTP Service check box, and then click OK.
  5. Click Next, and then click Finish.
To set a limit on the number of SMTP messages that can be queued, create the
MailMsg
key and set the
MaxMessageObjects
DWORD value. To have us create these values for you, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you’d rather create these values yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To update the registry automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Fix it 50318


Note this wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Check if the limit has been set.

Let me fix it myself

To create these values yourself, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
  2. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand Software, expand Microsoft, and then expand Exchange.
  3. Right-click the Exchange key, and then click New Key.
  4. Type MailMsg.
  5. Right-click this new key, and then click New DWORD Value.
  6. Right-click the new value, click Rename, and then type MaxMessageObjects.
  7. Right-click the value, click Modify, and then set the value to the maximum number of messages that you want to be in queues at any time. The default (if the key is not present) is 100,000, which is the suggested limit.
The
MaxMessageObjects
key refers to the maximum number of mail messages that the system can allocate. When that number of messages is in a queue on the server, additional incoming messages that come in through the SMTP protocol are refused with a 4xx (temporary) error.

The actual number of mail messages that is allocated is 90 percent of
MaxMessageObjects
, up to a limit of 90,000.

To increase the number of objects greater than 90,000, set the
MessageObjectsInboundCutoffCount
registry key to the value that you want. Do not set the
MessageObjectsInboundCutoffCount
value for more than 90 percent of the
MaxMessageObjects
key because additional messages are created during message processing for DSN generation and content conversion.

Properties

Article ID: 258748 - Last Review: September 10, 2011 - Revision: 8.0
APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86), when used with:
    • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
    • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, when used with:
    • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
    • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
    • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Standard Edition
    • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server
  • Microsoft Internet Information Services 6.0, when used with:
    • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
    • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
    • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
    • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
    • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
Keywords: 
kbmsifixme kbfixme kbinfo KB258748
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