XCON: EDK Gateway Gets Directory Name Instead of E-mail Address

A gateway developed for Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 may extract a message from a computer running Microsoft Exchange Server that contains a directory name (DN) instead of an e-mail address. This problem occurs if the computer running Microsoft Exchange Server receives a message from another computer running Microsoft Exchange Server that is connected over a 1988 X.400 link.

In the X.400 P1 header information fields, there is information about the recipients and originator of an e-mail message. These fields contain the X.400 addresses, and may contain the directory names of the recipients and originator. According to the X.400 Blue Book specification, a directory name is a valid optional field.

When a message arrives at the gateway's MTS-OUT folder and the originator or reciepient address is a directory name in the form of "EX:/O=Org/OU=Site...," the gateway developer should use the IABContainer::ResolveNames and IAdrBook::PrepareRecips methods to resolve the directory name to an address that is meaningful to the gateway. To perform this, the gateway must have access to an address book.

This may not be possible in certain cases. For example, it is not possible when sending over the following route: The gateway has an address space for X.400 defined. If there is no replication between the two Microsoft Exchange Server sites and organizations, there is no way for the gateway to query an address book. It may not be possible to resolve the recipient or originator address to a meaningful e-mail address, and message delivery will fail.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server versions 4.0 and 5.0. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 and 5.0 U.S. Service Packs. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):