Q162384: XCON: How to Troubleshoot MTA Starting Failures
Article: Q162384
Product(s): Microsoft Exchange
Version(s): 4.0
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s):
Last Modified: 20-FEB-2002
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Exchange Server, version 4.0
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SYMPTOMS
========
This article is intended to be an aide in determining the root cause of failure
when the Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent [MTA] fails to start. This
article assumes that the other core Microsoft Exchange Services are operational;
for example, the System Attendant (SA), Directory service (DS) and Information
Store (IS).
Steps
-----
1. Verify that there is at least 10 megabytes of FREE disk space on the hard
disk drive that contains the Exchsrvr\mtadata directory. Inspect the Windows
NT Event log for an error similar to the following:
3/10/9710:08:43 AMMSExchangeMTAErrorField Engineering
9411N/ALAUREL The MTA is terminating because the disk where MTADATA is
located has less then 10MB of space, or an error occurred while trying
to check for free space on the disk. If disk space is low, free up some
disk space and restart the MTA. NT Error code returned: 0 (non-zero
indicates an error while checking for free space) [BASE IL MAIN BASE 1]
(16) 3
2. Verify that the files in the MTADATA directory are not read only. To do
this:
a. Start the Windows NT File Manager.
b. From the View menu, select All File Details. The attribute field is last.
The only attribute that should appear is 'A', the archive bit. Inspect the
Windows NT Event log for an error similar to the following:
3/10/9711:41:39 AMMSExchangeMTAErrorField Engineering
9405N/ALAURELAn unexpected error has occurred which may cause the MTA to
terminate. Error: Unable to create file EV0.LOG, return code 110.
[BASE MAIN BASE 1] (16)
3. Verify that the Windows NT User Account used to start each Microsoft Exchange
service is correct. To do this:
a. Start the Microsoft Exchange Administration program.
b. Highlight the Configuration object.
c. From the File menu, select Properties.
d. Select the Service Account Tab and record the Account name.
e. From Control Panel - Services, select one of operational services.
f. Click the Startup button and check the NT User Account used to start the
service. This should match the entry recorded in step d.
g. Select the Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent.
h. Click the Startup button and check the NT User Account used to start the
service. This account should match the entry recorded in step d.
This should not be the system account. If there is any doubt or Discrepancy,
enter the correct service account and enter the password in the required
dialog boxes.
4. Ensure that the registry entries corresponding to the MTA are set correctly.
a. Verify and record the Directory Name of the Organization, Site, and Server
by selecting the appropriate object in the Microsoft Exchange
Administrator and from the 'File' menu, selecting 'Properties'.
b. Start Regedt32.exe for Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0 or Regedit.exe for Windows
NT 4.0.
c. Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM, CurrentControlSet, Services,
MSExchangeMTA, and Parameters.
d. Select X500 DN VALUE.
e. Verify that the X500 DN value:
o=<organization_name>/ou=<site_name>/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers
/cn=<server_name>/cn=Microsoft MTA
is an exact match with the Organization, Site, and Server object Directory
Name as displayed in Microsoft Exchange Administrator.
f. Verify that the value for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM,
CurrentControlSet, Services, MSExchangeMTA, Parameters, MTA Database path
corresponds to the drive location where the DAT files are located;
typically Exchsrvr\mtadata\.
g. Verify that the value for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM,
CurrentControlSet, Services, MSExchangeMTA, Parameters, MTA Run Directory
corresponds to drive location where the MTA core support Files are
located. These files have the following extensions; aat, buf, cat, cfg,
env, inp, log, mta, out, sch, tpl, and xv2. These files are typically
located in the same exchsrvr\mtadata\ directory where the DAT files are
located. The following is an example of a typical Mtadata directory.
Directory of C:\exchsrvr\MTADATA
07/15/96 12:30a 41,043 ACSE.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 35,707 ACSE.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 5,894 ADMIN.XV2
03/10/97 11:36a 0 AP0.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 0 AP1.LOG
03/10/97 11:39a 0 APD.LOG
07/15/96 12:30a 2,219 BASEFILE.OUT
03/10/97 11:36a 0 BF0.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 0 BF1.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 0 BFD.LOG
07/15/96 12:30a 7,574 BIND.TPL
03/10/97 11:39a 21,953 CALLS.OUT
07/15/96 12:30a 4,500 COMMON.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 4,415 COMMON.XV2
02/26/97 11:22a 8,192 DB000001.DAT
03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB000002.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000003.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000004.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000005.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000006.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000007.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000008.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000009.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00000A.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB00000B.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00000C.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB00000D.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00000E.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00000F.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000010.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000011.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000012.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000013.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000014.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000015.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000016.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000017.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000018.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000019.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001A.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001B.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001C.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB00001D.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001E.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001F.DAT
03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB000020.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000021.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000022.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000023.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000024.DAT
03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB000025.DAT
03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB000026.DAT
03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB00002B.DAT
03/10/97 11:39a 66,048 DBBITMP.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 10,438 DBFILE.OUT
07/15/96 12:30a 46,865 DBSERVER.SCH
07/15/96 12:30a 160,146 DCPRODS.CAT
07/15/96 12:30a 364 DCTERMF.DAT
07/15/96 12:30a 15,606 DIRECTRY.AAT
07/15/96 12:30a 7,245 DIRECTRY.BUF
07/15/96 12:30a 559 DIRECTRY.OUT
07/15/96 12:30a 88,436 DSADAP.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 91,573 EAI.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 32,862 EDI.XV2
03/10/97 11:39a 348 EV0.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 0 EV1.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 0 EV2.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 0 EVD.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 193 GWART0.MTA
03/10/97 11:27a 193 GWART1.MTA
07/15/96 12:30a 23,188 INFO4LOG.cfg
07/15/96 12:30a 53,872 INFOBLOG.cfg
07/15/96 12:30a 84,661 INFODLOG.cfg
07/15/96 12:30a 63,093 INFOILOG.cfg
07/15/96 12:30a 91,598 INFOLLOG.cfg
07/15/96 12:30a 129,059 INFOPLOG.cfg
07/15/96 12:30a 16,858 INFORLOG.cfg
07/15/96 12:30a 236,899 INFOTLOG.cfg
07/15/96 12:30a 80,828 INFOXLOG.cfg
03/06/97 11:56a 329 MORFTRAC.OUT
07/15/96 12:30a 18,785 MSGFILE
03/10/97 11:42a <DIR> MTACHECK.OUT
03/10/97 03:01p 0 mtadata.txt
07/15/96 12:30a 33,864 MTAFILE.OUT
07/15/96 12:30a 65,365 OXZBOOT.env
07/15/96 12:30a 18,814 P1.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 19,100 P1.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 36,294 P2.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 48,444 P2.xv2
07/15/96 12:30a 24,020 P3.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 27,161 P3.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 45,751 P7.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 55,958 P7.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 37,895 P772.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 8,872 P772.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 2,043 P7EDI.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 13,841 P7IM.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 24,761 PLATFILE.OUT
07/15/96 12:30a 6,310 POP4FILE.OUT
03/10/97 11:36a 262,158 RAMDUMP0.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 262,158 RAMDUMP1.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 262,158 RAMDUMP2.LOG
03/10/97 11:36a 262,158 RAMDUMP3.LOG
07/15/96 12:30a 1,732 RANDFILE.OUT
07/15/96 12:30a 23,230 RDI.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 22,937 RDI.XV2
03/10/97 02:34p 31,744 REPLAY.exe
07/15/96 12:30a 10,808 ROSE.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 5,193 ROSE.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 1,760 RTSE.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 3,960 SCT.INP
03/10/97 11:36a 53,413 TERM.LOG
07/15/96 12:30a 7,176 TRCEFILE
07/15/96 12:30a 9,256 TRCEFILE.cfg
07/15/96 12:30a 24,525 WIRE.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 24,124 X400COM.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 28,815 X400COM.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 2,143 X500.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 4,100 X500.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 12,164 X500ATTR.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 7,336 X500AUTH.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 7,470 X500AUTH.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 7,263 X500BDCP.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 31,462 X500DAP.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 3,525 X500DSP.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 7,383 X500DSP.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 22,339 X500DSP2.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 2,705 X500INFO.TPL
07/15/96 12:30a 9,673 X500INFO.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 956 X500LCLP.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 2,419 X500MDUP.XV2
07/15/96 12:30a 22,965 XAPIFILE
07/15/96 12:30a 19,185 XAPIFILE.OUT
07/15/96 12:30a 16,875 XV2FILE.OUT
5. If the previous steps do not reveal the error, check for possible corruption
in the core support files required to start the Microsoft Exchange MTA
Services.
a. Copy new core support files to the MTADATA directory by selecting the core
support files from the Microsoft Exchange Server compact disk or Microsoft
Exchange Server installation point. From the Microsoft Exchange Server
compact disk or installation point, copy all the files except the DAT
files from the \setup\<processor type>\mtadata directory to the
<drive>\exchsrvr\mtadata directory for the production Server.
6. If the problem persists, the core DAT files may be corrupt or missing. Locate
the directory that contains the DAT files. By default, it is the same
directory as your directory which has the core support files;
exchsrvr\mtadata\. The location may vary depending on the locations selected
if and when the Microsoft Exchange Performance Optimizer was executed. View
the contents of the MTADATA directory and verify that Db000001.dat through
Db000026.dat files exist.
- If these files are present, run the MTACHECK utility. For information on
how to run this utility, refer the the following article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
Q149017 XCON: MTACHECK Event IDs and Command Line Syntax
If this does not resolve the problem, proceed to step 7.
7. If the MTA fails to start after completing all the above steps, contact
Microsoft Technical Support for assistance.
CAUSE
=====
The Microsoft Exchange MTA checks the registry, static files, and DAT files
located in the MTADATA directory during initialization and start up.
MORE INFORMATION
================
For more troubleshooting about the MTA not starting, please refer to the
following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q147704 XCON: Troubleshooting Tips for Exchange MTA Not Starting
Additional query words:
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Keywords :
Technology : kbExchangeSearch kbExchange400 kbZNotKeyword2
Version : :4.0
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