XFOR: Malformed Dir-Sync Transactions Cause DXA to Stop

• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When the Directory Synchronization service (DXA) is processing incoming directory synchronization (dir-sync) transactions and is acting as either a Dir-Sync Server or Dir-Sync Requester, the DXA stops.

CAUSE

This is due to malformed addresses in the incoming transaction file. X.400 addresses must use either a semicolon (;) or a forward slash mark (/) as separators. For example:

A valid address:

   A Good, GuyX400:/c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=TEST/pn=Guy.Good

   A Bad, OneX400:C=US'A=ATTMAIL;O=ATTMAIL;S=Bad

WORKAROUND

When the DXA stops while processing incoming transactions the first troubleshooting step should be to verify that incoming transactions are not malformed and do not contain invalid characters. Cleaning up the illegal addresses on the Microsoft Mail postoffices will correct this problem.

Microsoft now has a fix available that will prevent the DXA from stopping when it encounters these malformed transactions in the dir-sync process. These addresses are thrown away rather than processed.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 4.0. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Exchange Service Pack. For information on obtaining the Service Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

   S E R V P A C K