When you run Microsoft Exchange Server over a network that is either slow
or bursty, the Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent (MTA) might crash
with the following error message in the Windows NT Application Event Log.:
Event ID = 9405:
An unexpected error has occurred which may cause the MTA to terminate.
Error:
Exception e0020002 occurred at Address 77f3cbcd. [BASE TCP/IP DRVR 10]
(16)
Event ID = 9405:
An unexpected error has occurred which may cause the MTA to terminate.
Error:
Exception c0000005 occurred at Address 761f62ab.
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These problems are due to heap corruption when two or more threads in the
MTA try to access the same data structures without proper synchronization.
This problem has been particularly noted in networks in which there are a
large number of associations being opened and closed between MTA's.
Frequently, these MTA failures are associated with slow and unreliable
links. For example, an ICMP Ping might return only one out of eight ping
attempts.
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Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server
version 4.0. A supported fix is now available, but has not been fully
regression-tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this
specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific
problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that
contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Product Support Services for more
information.
These issues have been fixed in a post SP2 build of the MTA, 994.2.
Customers with either 4.0 or SP1 servers will first need to update these to
SP2 before applying the patch.
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Before the crash occurs, you might see the following events in the Windows
NT Application log:
A sockets error 10060 on a connect() call was detected. The MTA will
attempt to recover the sockets connection. Control block index: 12.
[BASE IL TCP/IP DRVR 54 274] (12)
Event ID 9215A sockets error 10051 on a connect() call was detected. The
MTA will attempt to recover the sockets connection. Control block index:
7. [BASE IL TCP/IP DRVR 10 274] (12)
Event ID 9224
A sockets error 10054 on a send() call was detected. The MTA will
attempt to recover the sockets connection. Control block index: 8. [BASE
IL TCP/IP DRVR 54 272] (12)
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