XFOR: IMC Might Lose Messages if Code Pages are not Installed

• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

Inbound messages might be accepted by the Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Connector (IMC), and recorded in the protocol log, and yet not successfully submitted to the Microsoft Exchange Information Store (IS). In this case, you will not find any mention of the inbound messages in the message tracking log, assuming you have message tracking turned on, or the saved in the exchsrvr\imcdata\in\archive directory.

CAUSE

An incoming MIME message might contain embedded messages using character sets that are not supported or correctly configured on the IMC server. This only happens under certain timing conditions. The message fails to convert due to the unsupported character sets, and the IMC performs an extra release of the message to the IS. The IS will then error on every subsequent attempt made by the IMC to submit messages to the IS, and the IMC will handle the failure by simply deleting the message.

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