No outgoing mail flow on a server that is running Exchange Server

On a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• There is no outgoing mail flow.
• In some scenarios, there may be no incoming mail flow.
• If you use port 25 to telnet to the server, you cannot find any of the extended SMTP verbs such as x-Exch50 after EHLO.

This issue may occur because of one of the following:

• Internet Information Services (IIS) was uninstalled, and the Exchange server was not reinstalled.
• IIS Metabase corruption that is caused typically by�file-level antivirus software that is scanning the metabase.

To resolve this issue, you must remove IIS, reinstall IIS, and then reinstall the Exchange server.

Note This article assumes that there are no websites on the server or that the server is not a cluster. If the server is a cluster, make sure that when you remove IIS that you do not remove the "common files." If you do remove the "common files," the cluster will break. If there are websites on the server, make sure that you back up the websites and that you back up any certificates that may be on the server.

Remove IIS

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add or Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components, and then click to clear the Internet Information Services (IIS) check box. Follow the prompts, and complete the wizard.
   
   Note In Windows Server 2003, the Internet Information Services (IIS) check box is located under Application Server.
3. Verify that the Metabase.xml file in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or the Metabase.bin file in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server is removed from the server.
   
   To do this, locate the following directory:
   
   Windows Server 2003
   drive:\windows\system32\inetsrv
   
   Windows 2000 Server
   drive:\winnt\system32\inetsrv
   
   Important If the Metabase.xml file or the Metabase.bin file exists, delete it.
4. Restart the server.

Reinstall IIS

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add or Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components, and then click to select the Internet Information Services (IIS) check box.
3. Click to select the ASP check box.
4. Click Details.
5. Click to select the following check boxes, and then follow the prompts to complete the wizard:
   • SMTP
   • NNTP
   • World Wide Web Server
6. Update the server by installing all available service packs and post-service pack hotfixes.
7. Restart the server if you are prompted to do this.
8. Restore any websites and certificates as appropriate on the server.

Reinstall Exchange Server

1. Insert the Exchange server installation CD, and then start the Setup program.
2. Click Reinstall.
   
   Note�A reinstallation overwrites the current Exchange server core files. But reinstallation does not modify or replace the Exchange databases. You will also not lose any configuration information. The configuration information is held in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), and this configuration is automatically brought down in a DS2MB process.
3. Click Yes to overwrite the current files.
4. After the reinstallation finishes, install all available Exchange server service packs.
5. Send test messages to make sure outgoing mail flow is successful.

Note�If incoming email messages are received before Exchange server is reinstalled, you must add the ResetMessageStatus DWORD value to the registry for re-categorization of mail that is sitting in the pre-routing queue. For more information about how to add the ResetMessageStatus DWORD value, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To re-create the registry key for the Metabase update service, also known as the directory service/metabase synchronization process, or DS2MB, follow these steps:

1. Open a Command Prompt window.
2. Change to the following directory:
   c:\inetpub\adminscripts
3. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
   Cscript Adsutil.vbs delete DS2MB
4. Restart the System Attendant service.

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: