XADM: MBI Cache Needs to Expire Earlier When ecWrongServer Is Returned for a User

Users may not be able to gain access to some mailboxes immediately after a move. This problem occurs in the following circumstances:

• After a move to another message store on the same server.
• After mailboxes on a cluster are moved from one information store to another information store in the same storage group.

In certain circumstances, a user may need to wait up to two hours before the user can gain access to the mailbox again. Some mailboxes work correctly after the move, and some mailboxes work after a certain amount of time has passed (up to two hours). However, in all cases the mailboxes worked after two days (one weekend) had passed.

This problem occurs because the original Messaging Database (MDB) name is saved by the information store in a cache that is called the MBI cache. This cache expires in two hours by default (you can adjust this cache expiration time in the registry). If the directory service takes a long time to replicate a user's new server name (the home MDB attribute), the user might receive incorrect server data when the user tries to log on to the new information store. After this failure, the cache has the incorrect MDB name, and continues to use the incorrect MDB name until the MDB name expires two hours later.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server. 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: Information Store

To work around this problem, only perform moves during the night or on weekends, when it does not create a problem if a user cannot gain access to a mailbox for several hours.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 1.