You cannot view a list of public folders in an Exchange organization that has Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 mailbox databases

You cannot view a list of public folders in an Exchange organization from the Exchange 2007 Management Console (EMC) or Exchange 2007 Management Shell (EMS) if the organization hosts Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 mailbox databases.

Consider the following scenarios.

Scenario 1

You receive an error message that resembles the following when you try to view a list of public folders by using the EMS in Exchange Server 2007:

Scenario 2

When you try to view a list of public folders by using the Public Folder Management Console (PFMC) in Exchange Server 2007, no folders are displayed.

Additionally, you receive an error message that resembles the following when you try to create a public folder:

This issue can occur if Exchange Server 2007 mailbox databases and Exchange Server 2010 mailbox databases exist in the organization.

To work around this issue, use one of the following to manage public folders:

• Exchange Server 2010 Management Shell
• Exchange Server 2010 Public Folder Management Console
• The Exfolders.exe tool

In Exchange Server 2010, databases are not linked to a mailbox server object. Therefore, the LegacyExchangeDN attribute does not specify the mailbox server where the database is hosted.

In Exchange Server 2010, mailbox databases are linked to a Client Access server (CAS). A CAS does not have a System Attendant object unless the Mailbox Server role is also installed. This issue that is described in the "Symptoms" section occurs if the System Attendant object does not exist.

A System Attendant mailbox is required to retrieve a list of public folders. Exchange Server 2007 follows these steps to select a System Attendant mailbox:

1. Exchange Server 2007 selects a mailbox database.
2. Exchange Server 2007 obtains the LegacyExchangeDN attribute of the selected mailbox database. For example, Exchange Server 2007 obtains the following LegacyExchangeDN attribute value:
   
   /o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (group_name)/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=E14HUBCAS/cn=Microsoft Private MDB
3. Exchange Server 2007 removes the "CN=Mailbox Database" part of the address. The address then resembles the following:
   
   /o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (group_name)/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=E14HUBCAS
4. Exchange Server 2007 adds "CN=Microsoft System Attendant" to the LegacyExchangeDN value. After the value is appended, the LegacyExchangeDN attribute value resembles the following:
   
   /o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (group_name)/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=E14HUBCAS/CN=Microsoft System Attendant
5. Exchange Server 2007 tries to log on to the public store by using the value in step 4.
6. The store then tries to locate the System Attendant object.

This process works correctly in Exchange Server 2007, and a list of public folders is returned. However, the process fails if an Exchange Server 2010 database is selected in step 1 because the LegacyExchangeDN attribute value does not specify where the mailbox database is hosted.

For more information about the ExFolders tool, visit the following TechNet website: