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Q175982: XFOR: Outbound SMTP Mail Never Leaves Microsoft Exchange Server

Article: Q175982
Product(s): Microsoft Exchange
Version(s): 5.0,5.5
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 13-MAR-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 5.0, 5.5 
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SYMPTOMS
========

Messages are not sent out over the Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail
Service (IMS), they remain in the queue. It may look like the IMS is not
functioning and restarting it will resolve this problem.

If you dump the status of the TCP connections to the Microsoft Exchange Server
using the NETSTAT command, you will see several connections that are in the
established state. You may also notice that these connections have been
established for a long time.

CAUSE
=====

Once a TCP connection is established, the IMS will timeout (5 minutes is the
default time period) waiting for the banner to be sent. If the Banner doesn't
arrive during this time, the IMS should terminate the connection and clean up
the Socket. In this case, the connection count against the destination domain is
being leaked and as a result, the IMS never terminates the connection and cleans
up the socket.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server
version 5.0. This problem has been corrected in the latest U.S. Service Pack for
Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.0. For information on obtaining the Service
Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the
spaces):

  S E R V P A C K


Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version
5.5. This problem has been corrected in the latest U.S. Service Pack for
Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5. For information on obtaining the Service
Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the
spaces):

  S E R V P A C K

Additional query words: IMS Urgent OOD
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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbExchangeSearch kbExchange500 kbExchange550 kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : 5.0,5.5
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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