XADM: Slow Performance When Opening Unread Item from Public Folder with Many Restrictions

• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5

SYMPTOMS

All users attempting to open any unread message item in a particular public folder experience a long delay before the message is opened.

CAUSE

The public folder has many server-side restriction tables (views) associated with it. Whenever a change is made to a message in a folder, or a new message created or deleted, the message must be evaluated against all the server-side restrictions so that they can be updated. Opening an unread message changes the state of the MSGFLAG_READ bit of the PR_MESSAGE_FLAGS MAPI property. Normally, each restriction is represented by a table in the database, and this table must be opened to be updated/evaluated. It is possible, however, for the information store to avoid opening the table if the client operation is simply changing the read/unread state of a message, because the server can tell (without opening the table) if the restriction involves the MSGFLAG_READ bit.

RESOLUTION

Code was added to the information store to check if the restriction involves the read/unread message flags and if not, it can avoid opening the restriction table (which improves performance).

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

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.

Additional query words:

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