Microsoft KB Archive/919091

= Outgoing e-mail to other internal Exchange servers is queued, and you receive an error message in Exchange Server 2003 =

Article ID: 919091

Article Last Modified on 10/25/2007

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APPLIES TO


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

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SYMPTOMS
Outgoing e-mail to other internal servers that are running Microsoft Exchange is queued and retried in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. Additionally, you receive the following error message in the Additional queue information area:

Semaphore timeout period has expired.

The following event may be logged in the Application log: Event Type: Warning

Event Source: MSExchangeTransport

Event Category: Connection Manager

Event ID: 4006

Date: Date

Time: Time

User:

Computer: Server_Name

Description: The connection was dropped by the remote host,  ; the semaphore timeout period has expired.



CAUSE
This problem may be caused by one or more reasons. Some of the most common causes are as follows.

Cause 1
The Norton Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.x client is installed in the organization. The problem that is described in the &quot;Symptoms&quot; section is caused by the Internet E-mail Auto-Protect scanner feature that is included in the Norton Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.x client.

Cause 2
Other e-mail systems do not recognize the Summary Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format (STNEF) formatting that is used in Exchange Server 2003.

Cause 3
Heuristics scanning is enabled in the Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange program. Heuristics scanning alters a message. This causes the terminating period to appear at the end of the message text. Therefore, the message is prevented from being terminated.

Cause 4
The remote server does not respond with an SMTP banner.

Cause 5
The IP INSPECT NAME  SMTP statement is enabled in the firewall feature set on a Cisco firewall.

Cause 6
The metabase is corrupted.



RESOLUTION
Because there may be several causes of this problem, use one or more of the following resolutions as appropriate for your situation.

Resolution 1
The Norton Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.x Internet E-mail Auto-Protect scanner feature should not be enabled. To remove this feature, follow the steps that are described in Symantec document ID 2004061009504348. To view this document, visit the following Symantec Web site:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/docid/2004061009504348?Open&src=w

Resolution 2
E-mail systems such as Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 do not recognize STNEF formatting. If you have to work with such e-mail systems, you must force the store driver in Exchange Server 2003 to use Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format (TNEF). To do this, you must configure several registry entries on the Exchange Server 2003 server. For more information about how to do this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

254089 Required registry setting when using SMTP connector as a site connector to Exchange Server 5.5

Resolution 3
You must disable heuristics scanning in the Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange program. To do this, refer to the program's Help files. Alternatively, contact Symantec for help.

Resolution 4
To verify this cause, you can telnet to the remote server. For example, to telnet to a server that is named, follow these steps:
 * 1) Open a command prompt.
 * 2) At the command prompt, type telnet server.domain.com 25, and then press ENTER.

You must receive a response that resembles the following:

220 hostname.domain.com Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service, Version: 5.0.2195.1600 ready at Thu, 30 Nov 2000 18:09:43 -0600

If you do not receive a similar response, edit the metabase to configure an SMTP banner. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

281224 How to modify the SMTP banner

Resolution 5
Disable the IP INSPECT NAME  SMTP statement on the Cisco firewall. For more information about how to do this, refer to the product's manual. Alternatively, contact Cisco for help.

Resolution 6
If the other causes do not apply, the metabase may be corrupted. To replace a corrupted metabase, follow the steps in the &quot;The IIS metabase is corrupted&quot; section of the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

304166 Exchange databases are not mounted and event logs contain error messages



MORE INFORMATION
For information about how to contact software vendors, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and software vendor contact information, A-K

60781 Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P

60782 Hardware and software vendor contact information, Q-Z

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Additional query words: XADM

Keywords: kbtshoot KB919091

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