Microsoft KB Archive/899328

= The synchronization of mailbox rules may be delayed when you move mailboxes from an Exchange 2000 Server server to an Exchange Server 2003 server =

Article ID: 899328

Article Last Modified on 10/25/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition

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Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry



SYMPTOMS
When you move several mailboxes from a Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server server to a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 server, the synchronization of the rules for the mailboxes may be delayed. Therefore, the rules may appear not to work for some time after the mailboxes are move.



Hotfix information
A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem, submit a request to Microsoft Online Customer Services to obtain the hotfix. To submit an online request to obtain the hotfix, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6294451

Note If additional issues occur or any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. To create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Prerequisites
Because of file dependencies, this hotfix requires Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1).

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

836993 How to obtain the latest service packs for Exchange Server 2003

Restart requirement
You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this software update.

Hotfix replacement information
This hotfix does not replace any other software updates.

File information
The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.   Date         Time   Version         Size       File name -  08-Jul-2005  01:55  6.5.7233.36     3,270,144  Mdbmsg.dll 04-Jun-2005 01:56                      3,304  Redir.asp 08-Jul-2005 02:29  6.5.7233.36     5,177,856  Store.exe



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section.



MORE INFORMATION
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

When you move the mailboxes from an Exchange 2000 Server server to an Exchange Server 2003 server, the rules are moved in a server-independent format. Eventually, the rules are converted to rule messages that appropriate for the new target server.

The synchronization of the rules occurs in a background process that fires periodically. A single mailbox is synchronized every time that the background process fires. This behavior occurs even if the following conditions are true:
 * There are several mailboxes that have successfully completed the move.
 * There are mailboxes that are ready to be synchronized.

After you install this hotfix, the synchronization of the rules for all mailboxes that have completed a move is faster.

By default, mailbox rules are synchronized every hour after you install this hotfix. However, you can modify the following registry subkey to change the synchronization time:

The value for this registry subkey is in seconds. The minimum value that you can use is 60 seconds (1 minute). The maximum value that you can use is 2,592,000 seconds (30 days).

Warning If you set the value to 1 minute to try to achieve the fastest possible synchronization time, you may actually cause the synchronization process to take longer. This behavior occurs because the average sized mailbox takes 2 to 3 minutes to move. Additionally, only those mailboxes that have completed the move can be synchronized.

If you find that the synchronization process is too aggressive after you install this hotfix, you can limit the number of mailboxes that are synchronized at a time. You can modify the following registry subkey to set a limit for the number of mailboxes that are synchronized at a time:

The values of this registry subkey are based on the number of mailboxes that you want to synchronize at a time. For example, the value of 1 means that you want one mailbox synchronized every time that the synchronization process occurs. Additionally, the value of 0xFFFFFFFF is a special value that means that you want all the mailboxes synchronized during the synchronization process.

If the synchronization process does not work, you can modify the following registry subkey to set the number of times that the synchronization process is retried for a mailbox:

If the synchronization process does not work, the following event is logged if the diagnostic level for rules is set to medium or to maximum. However, this behavior only occurs if the reason for synchronization not working is that the mailbox move is still in progress. Event ID: 1151 Source: MSExchangeIS Mailbox Description: A rule synchronization error (1144) has occurred on Mailbox Store &quot;database name&quot;. The mailbox folder is Top of Information Store\Inbox. The distinguished name of the owning mailbox is /O=organization/OU=organizational unit/CN=Recipients/CN=s140605. There are 24 of 24 retries remaining. If the synchronization is successful, you receive the following Information event when you set diagnostic level for rules to maximum: Event ID: 1154 Source: MSExchangeIS Mailbox Description: Rule synchronization has successfully completed. The mailbox folder is Top of Information Store\Inbox on database &quot;database name&quot;. The distinguished name of the owning mailbox is /O=organization/OU=organizational unit/CN=Recipients/CN=s140605. Note This hotfix resolution is only for the Exchange Server 2003. Therefore, you can only use this hotfix for migration scenarios where the target or destination server is an Exchange Server 2003 server.

Keywords: kbqfe kbhotfixserver kbtshoot kbfix kbbug kbexchange2003presp2fix kbpubtypekc KB899328

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