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Q179837: XCON: NDR from Malformed Message Not Received

Article: Q179837
Product(s): Microsoft Exchange
Version(s): 5.5
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 04-MAR-2002

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When you send a message to an X.400 recipient, or reply to a message sent from
an X.400 recipient, the message might not be successfully delivered and you
might not receive a Non-Delivery Report (NDR). This can occur if an organization
has a second X.400 connector with an overlapping address space and if the
message cannot be converted to X.400 successfully. The Windows NT Event Viewer
Application log on the Exchange Server with the X.400 Connector will have events
logged such as:

  Event 210: X.400 Service Event, severity 14
  (MTA DISP:FANOUT(12) Proc 112) 01-23-98 10:24:31am
  Content conversion failed
  Object at fault     0600002D
  Conversion error    258
  MTS Identifier      C=US;A= ;P=LAB;L=LAB_RED-980123152503Z-601
  Old content type    2A864886F7140501
  New content type    56010A01
  PDU dump reference  2

  Event 62: X.400 Service Event, severity 12
  (MTA DISP:FANOUT(12) Proc 112) 01-23-98 10:24:31am
  Delivery failure
  X.400 reason code     unable-to-transfer
  X.400 diagnostic code content-syntax-error
  Internal qualifier    0
  MTS Identifier C=US;A= ;P=LAB;L=LAB_RED-980123152503Z-601

  Event 287: X.400 Service Event, severity 12
  (MTA DISP:RESULT(17) Proc 436) 01-23-98 10:24:31am
  Successful rerouting
  MTS Identifier    C=US;A= ;P=LAB;L=LAB_RED-980123152503Z-601
  New Connector
/O=LAB/OU=GREEN2/CN=CONFIGURATION/CN=CONNECTIONS/CN=SITE CONNECTOR (RED)
  New Target entity
/O=LAB/OU=RED/CN=CONFIGURATION/CN=SERVERS/CN=LAB_RED/CN=MICROSOFT MTA
  Old Connector
/O=LAB/OU=GREEN2/CN=CONFIGURATION/CN=CONNECTIONS/CN=X400 TO BECTOGO
  Old Target entity
/O=LAB/OU=GREEN2/CN=CONFIGURATION/CN=CONNECTIONS/CN=X400 TO BECTOGO

Note: The connector names and target entity names will be different for servers.

The Event 287 shows the message is being re-routed to another server that also
has an X.400 connector on it. Further events will show the message is
successfully transfered to the server with the second X.400 connector. At this
point the message is corrupted by the unsuccessful conversion attempt. The
second server cannot process it, so it logs an event and prevents further
processing of the message. The event you will see on the second server is:

  Event 200: X.400 Service Event, severity 14
  (MTA XFER-IN(12) Proc 98) 01-21-98 02:32:39pm
  Transfer-In failure, error in received APDU
  Syntax server error code mandatory absent
  Error detected at offset 892
  Internal qualifier       2913
  Node label               1msgt
  PDU dump reference       3

From looking at the Protocol Data Units (PDUs) saved in the BF*.log files, (in
this case PDU reference 3), you will notice that the data is cut off at offset
892. The sending server's PDU is exactly the same. This is the message after it
has been corrupted by an unsuccessful conversion attempt.

CAUSE
=====

The initial message is mal-formed, causing the content conversion failure. The
Exchange Server doing the content conversion then realizes it has a second X.400
connector available, and routes the message to it. The message routed is the
data that failed the conversion, and is no longer a valid message.

WORKAROUND
==========

One possible workaround is to remove the second X.400 connector from your
organization.

STATUS
======

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:

======================================================================
Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbExchangeSearch kbExchange550 kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : :5.5
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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