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How to change the default behavior when an ambiguous recipient exists in Exchange Server 2010

Article ID: 2812505 - View products that this article applies to.

Summary

In Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, a non-delivery report (NDR) may be generated. By default, the NDR includes a 5.1.7 status code when a message is sent to an ambiguous recipient. However, the default behavior when a message is sent to an ambiguous recipient in Exchange Server 2010 is to generate a 4.2.2 error and to hold the message in the Submission queue until the message times out.

This article describes how to change the default behavior in Exchange Server 2010 so that an NDR that includes a 5.1.7 status code is generated when a message is sent to an ambiguous recipient.

More information

To change the default behavior in Exchange Server 2010 so that an NDR that includes a 5.1.7 status code is generated when a message is sent to an ambiguous recipient, add the following line to the Edgetransport.exe.config file:

Note After you add this line to the Exchange Server 2010 Edgetransport.exe.config file, the new default behavior is to generate an NDR instead of deferring the message to the Submission queue.

<add key="NdrForAmbiguousRecipients" value="true" />

You can configure the Exchange Server 2010 deferral time in minutes when an ambiguous recipient exists. To configure the deferral time in minutes, set the following value:

private TimeSpan deferralTimeForAmbiguousRecipients