Microsoft KB Archive/241186

= XADM: Directory Replication Bridgehead Servers Generate Notifications for Downstream Servers Even If There Are No Changes =

Article ID: 241186

Article Last Modified on 10/26/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q241186





SYMPTOMS
Directory replication may take several hours on a large Exchange Server site that has many servers if this site also has a directory bridgehead server with many downstream sites attached to it.

At each replication interval, the bridgehead server can receive updates to (2 X number of sites) directory contexts, which it has to pass on to the other servers within its own site. These intrasite remote procedure call (RPC) updates are serialized and queued. If there are n downstream sites and the bridgehead has y servers in its own site, the bridgehead has up to (n X y X 2) directory replication updates to send to its local site. The issue is that the bridgehead always sends a change notification for all contexts to all servers in its site even if there have been no directory changes in the remote sites. When you multiply the number of updates by the replication pause interval between each update, the whole process can take some time (several hours in extreme cases).



CAUSE
The speed of directory replication can be affected by many factors; however, in this particular case, the issue is caused by the fact that the notification mechanism on the directory replication bridgehead servers generates notifications for downstream naming contexts regardless of whether there are changes or not. On large Exchange Server systems, this behavior can cause valid directory changes to be queued behind a large number of notifications containing no real information.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server 5.5. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

191014 XGEN: How to Obtain the latest Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 4.

Keywords: kbbug kbexchange550presp4fix kbexchange550sp4fix kbfix kbqfe KB241186

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