XFOR: Delivery Receipts, OV/VM (PROFS) Connector and the Internet (SMTP)

ID: Q216474

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5

SYMPTOMS

When OfficeVision/VM (OV/VM) users send to the Internet by means of the OV/VM (PROFS) and Internet Mail Service connector, they will receive delivery receipt mail even though none was explicitly asked for.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server version 5.5. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q191014 XGEN: How to Obtain the latest Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

Component: PROFS Connector

File name	Version
Exconmsg.dll	5.5.2592.0
Lsvmhc.dll	5.5.2592.0

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3.

MORE INFORMATION

By default, all mail from the OV/VM environment is sent to Exchange Server with the Delivery Receipt flag turned on. The OV/VM (PROFS) connector will pass this to Exchange Server, and a delivery receipt is sent back. The OV/VM (PROFS) connector converts the delivery receipt to a format recognized by the host as a delivery receipt before delivering it to OV/VM. The mail manager in OV/VM will then determine if the original user actually requested a delivery receipt (by an .AK command). If the user did not ask for the receipt, the mail manager will delete the message.

Taking advantage of Exchange Server's Internet Mail Service, host users are now able to send and receive SMTP mail by means of the Internet Mail Service and OV/VM Connector. However, a drawback to this feature is the handling of delivery receipts. Because all messages originating from the host include the delivery receipt tag, external SMTP mail servers that recognize this tag send a delivery receipt back. However, by the time this receipt has traversed all the way back to the OV/VM connector, it will be treated as a regular piece of mail. This results in OV/VM users receiving a delivery receipt when sending to Internet recipients.

Now we can change the behavior by adding the following INI parameter in the Exchconn.ini file under [LME-PROFS] section:

AlwaysReturnACK = Yes

If the INI parameter is set to No or not present, the PROFS connector will behave as it does now. If the INI parameter is set to Yes, then the following will be true:

The connector ALWAYS responds with a ZIP A packet to host.

The connector will turn off any delivery receipt requests in the header of the message if the sender does not request one.

The connector will transmit the delivery receipt request if the sender does request one.

Additional query words:

Keywords : exc55 EXC55SP3Fix
Version : winnt:5.5
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug