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Q181948: XCON: Message Size Grows When Re-routing on Same Server

Article: Q181948
Product(s): Microsoft Exchange
Version(s): WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,5.5
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbusagekbfixlist
Last Modified: 02-APR-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 4.0, 5.0, Japanese version 
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SYMPTOMS
========

If there exist two or more possible routes between two Microsoft Exchange Server
computers, and one of those servers goes down, messages will attempt to reroute
between all the possible connections until their hop count is exceeded.

It is possible that before the hop count is exceeded, the server with the
rerouting message may run out of disk space. This is caused by the successive
rerouting process, which causes the header of the routed messages to grow in
size.

When the disk space becomes low, the Exchange Administrator may see the following
errors generated in the Windows NT Application log:

  Event ID: 9411
  Source:   MSExchangeMTA
  Type:     Error
  Category: Field Engineering
  Description:
  The MTA is terminating because the disk where MTADATA is located has
  less than 10 MB 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 TIMER 3](16)

  Event ID: 9406
  Source: MSExchangeMTA
  Category: Resource
  There is not enough Performance Monitor memory to display the MTA
  Connections information. Stop attached Performance Monitors and
  re-start the MTA. [BASE TIMER 3] (14)

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server
versions 4.0 and 5.0. This problem has been corrected in Microsoft Exchange
Server version 5.5.

MORE INFORMATION
================

If two Exchange Server computers are connected with two or more connections and
one of those servers goes down, messages (addressed to the server that is down)
on the server that is up will cycle through all possible routes between them.

A problem exists in Exchange versions 4.0 and 5.0 when, as the message passes
through each turn at a connector, the P1 header grows in size to reflect the
turn. This header, over time, can become quite large at the hop count for each
connector is 512. So if there are two connectors between the two servers, the P1
header information will grow in size about 1,024 times.

This additional information is not needed for reroutes on a single server, So, in
Exchange Server version 5.5, the additional header information is not added, and
the message size remains the same.

Note that reroutes that span separate Exchange Server computers cause the P1
header to grow, because this is required when hopping between separate message
transfer agents (MTAs).

Additional query words: p1 large disk full

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Keywords          : kbusage kbfixlist
Technology        : kbHLangJapanese kbExchangeSearch kbExchange500 kbExchange400 kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,5.5
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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