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Q247148: XADM: Slow Response When Searching on Custom Attributes

Article: Q247148
Product(s): Microsoft Exchange
Version(s): winnt:5.5
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): exc55kbfaq
Last Modified: 19-JUL-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

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

When you perform a search, either by using the Exchange Server Administrator
program or by clicking Find on the Tools menu of the Address Book in Microsoft
Outlook, searches against custom attributes may be very slow. These searches may
be especially slow in large organizations when you search against the global
address list.

CAUSE
=====

This issue can occur because custom attributes are not indexed in the Exchange
Server directory by default, which causes a search for custom attributes to run
very slowly compared to a search against built-in searchable attributes.

RESOLUTION
==========

To resolve this issue, index the custom attribute that you want to search
against by using the Exchange Server Administrator program in raw mode:

WARNING: Using the raw mode of the Exchange Server Administrator program (admin
/r) incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall
Microsoft Windows NT Server and/or Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft cannot
guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of raw mode can be
solved. Use raw mode at your own risk.

1. Start the Microsoft Exchange Server Administrator program in raw mode by
  typing the following at a command prompt:

  "c:\exchsrvr\bin\admin /r" (without the quotation marks)

2. On the View menu, click Raw Directory. This adds the Schema container in the
  left pane.

3. Double-click the Schema object, and then press the F5 key to refresh the
  display.

4. Find the custom attribute in the list, and then open the custom attribute's
  properties, either by double-clicking the attribute or by clicking the
  attribute and then clicking Properties on the File menu.

5. When a message box is displayed, click Yes to view the raw properties of the
  object.

6. From the "Object attributes" list, click the Search-Flags attribute.

7. In the "Edit value" box, type a value of either "1" (without the quotation
  marks) or "2" (without the quotation marks) (as applicable), and then click
  Set. If you set the value to 1, the attribute is indexed, which makes the
  attribute more readily available to a query and therefore much faster to
  query against. If you set the value to 2, the attribute is indexed and made
  available for use in Ambiguous Name Resolution (ANR). For a detailed
  explanation of ANR, refer to the "More Information" section of this article.

8. Click OK to close the properties.

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

The Search-Flags object attribute can be set to one of the following values:

- 0 (No index)

- 1 (Index)

- 2 (ANR and index)

Explanation of Ambiguous Name Resolution
----------------------------------------

ANR is an efficient search algorithm that is associated with Lightweight
Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) clients that allows for objects to be bound
without complex search filters. ANR is useful when you want to locate objects
and attributes that have full names that you do not know. In this case, you can
present a search for partial matches. For example, in a situation in which the
requesting client knows a building name but not the associated number for the
building, a client can query on just the building name. A full list of all of
the buildings that have that building name are displayed, and the client can
choose the appropriate building name and number at that point. For example, the
client may see a list of the following buildings: Campus1, Campus2, and
Campus3.

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q151198 XADM: How to Set Up a Search for a Custom Attribute

  Q146024 XCLN: Ambiguous Name Resolution Methods

Additional query words:

======================================================================
Keywords          : exc55 kbfaq
Technology        : kbExchangeSearch kbExchange550 kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : winnt:5.5
Hardware          : ALPHA MIPS PPC x86
Issue type        : kbprb

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