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Q176148: XCON: No NDR on Malformed X.400 Addresses

Article: Q176148
Product(s): Microsoft Exchange
Version(s): WINDOWS:5.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbusage
Last Modified: 14-MAR-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When a message is sent to an invalid originator/recipient (O/R) address, a
non-delivery report (NDR) is generated, as expected. However, the NDR is never
delivered to the originator of the message.

CAUSE
=====

When a message is sent to an invalid, manually entered X.400 O/R address
(referred to as an one-off routing address), the store uses Address.dll to
normalize the O/R address. The normalizing process consists of ordering the
attributes in the O/R address which is in the form of a string. This ordering is
important so that the address can be resolved to a DN (just like for a X400
proxy). The message is submitted to the MTA. During message submission to the
MTA, the store checks the syntax but not the "routability" of the message.

As expected this message will cause the remote MTA to generate an NDR. As this
NDR reaches the sender's store the same code path is taken for entryid
generation for the actual recipient name. The store now proceeds to parse the
NDR and encounters the attributes that refer to the actual recipient of the
original message. It fails to parse these and proceeds to drop the NDR.

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



Additional query words: OR

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbusage 
Technology        : kbExchangeSearch kbExchange500 kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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