XADM: Exchange/cc:Mail Dirsync Results in CRs with Corrupted Proxy Addresses

When a cc:Mail administrator moves a cc:Mail user between cc:Mail post offices, and Exchange Server performs a directory synchronization on this change from the CCMC connector post office, the moved user is created as a custom recipient (CR) in the Exchange Server directory, but the proxy addresses generated for the user may be corrupted (appended with a number).

When comparing the CCMC connector's post office with the Exchange Server CR list, "adds" are processed before "deletes." Because the desired proxy addresses are already in use, new proxies for the adds are generated (typically as corrupted versions of the desired address).

To work around this problem, manually modify a moved cc:Mail user's proxy addresses in Exchange Server to match what was previously generated or established for the user.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.0. This problem has been corrected in the latest U.S. Service Pack for Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.0. For information on obtaining the Service Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

The algorithm for processing the CCMC connector post office's global list compares the cc:Mail connector post office's global list with the Exchange Server CR list, adding any cc:Mail addresses that weren't present in the Exchange CR container. Any Exchange Server CRs that don't have a match in the cc:Mail global list are subsequently deleted. This is efficient because it requires only one comparison between lists.

However, users in cc:Mail may be deleted and re-created or moved to different cc:Mail post offices. This usually results in the cc:Mail address on cc:Mail connector postoffice as having the same name, but different post office specifics. Because Exchange Server processes new cc:Mail addresses as "adds" first, this new name ends up with corrupted proxy addresses in Exchange Server, which invalidates the old X.400, SMTP and other addresses that foreign e-mail users may have previously cached for this cc:Mail user.

With the fix applied, the algorithm compares the Exchange Server CR list against the cc:Mail global list on the CCMC connector post office, first removing any Exchange Server CR that doesn't have a match in the cc:Mail list, thus freeing up previously assigned proxy addresses for re-use. Afterwards, the cc:Mail list is compared against the Exchange CR list, adding entries that exist on the cc:Mail post office that don't exist in the Exchange CR list. Users whose post office details have changed can have their previous proxies regenerated for their new address. Because two comparisons are now made, this algorithm is somewhat less efficient, but has proved to perform adequately with reasonable hardware.

NOTE: Exchange CCMC dirsync does not integrate into the cc:Mail dirsync process. It simply compares its CR list with the global list on the cc:Mail post office as it exists at the time dirsync runs.

In the case of maintaining proxy addresses, it is presumed that only one cc:Mail address will exist at any time for a given user on the CCMC connector post office. If two addresses exist for a user at the time the dirsync between Exchange and CCMC runs, the new address will have corrupted proxies generated.

Also, if a cc:Mail mailbox is deleted, and then, at a later time a new user is created in cc:Mail that has the same mailbox name as the former mailbox, Exchange will generate proxies based on this mailbox name. These proxies may match a former cc:Mail mailbox address; thus users of foreign mail systems, who previously e-mailed to the former address, may inadvertently send mail to the new mailbox.