Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

  • You deploy some public folder databases in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 environment, and the environment contains multiple Active Directory sites.

  • A user’s mailbox is located on a Mailbox server that has no public folder databases.

  • The user tries to retrieve the public folder hierarchy or the public folder content.

  • The default public folder server is unavailable.

In this scenario, Exchange Server 2010 returns a random public folder server without considering network distance or network speed. However, you expect the Exchange server to return a public folder server that is either nearby or highly connected.

Cause

This issue occurs because the Exchange server randomly selects a public folder server from the same administrative group regardless of the connection cost or the network access speed.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, install the following update rollup:

2785908 Description of Update Rollup 5 version 2 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2

Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

More Information

For more information about public folders, go to the following Microsoft website:

General information about public foldersFor more information about how to manage public folders, go to the following Microsoft website:

Managing public folders For more information about a similar issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

2409597 You cannot open a public folder item when the server that holds the public folder database is stopped in an Exchange Server 2010 environment

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