Exchange Server RFC and standards compliance

The information contained in this article represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information that is presented in this article after the date of publication.

This article is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT.

This article is intended to be a reference for the Requests for Comments (RFC) and other standards that are supported in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. While every effort has been made to verify this information, omission of an RFC from this list does not necessarily mean that Exchange does not at least partially comply with the RFC. RFCs are guidelines, but often contain two types of information: required and optional. Microsoft and other vendors may or may not choose to implement optional requirements or may interpret portions of RFCs differently.

However, if you do have an issue where you feel that Exchange is not compliant with a particular RFC and this is causing a problem, please open a support incident with Microsoft Product Support Services.

Please visit the following non-Microsoft Web sites for additional information:

All document references are listed in the following format: Not all document references may contain all fields that are shown in the sample format. In some cases, the information has been consolidated. Refer to the document source for the latest information.

Document: CCITT-ITU Recommendations X.400-X.420
Title: Data Communication Networks Message Handling Systems - 1988 & 1984 standards
Exchange 5.5 specific: Conformant & US/UK GOSIP certified. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Compatible with X.400 systems

Document: W3C HTML32
Title: Hyper-Text Markup Language v3.2
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Compliant

Document: ECMA-262
Title: ECMAscript
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not applicable
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Compliant

RFC: 791
Title: Internet Protocol (IP)
Replaces: 760
Exchange 5.5 specific: Windows operating system
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 operating system


RFC: 793
Title: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
Replaces: 761
Exchange 5.5 specific: Windows operating system
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 operating system

RFC: 977
Title: NNTP - (Network News Transfer Protocol)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant.
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 operating system (NNTP Service)

RFC: 1006
Title: OSI session over TCP/IP
Replaces: 983
Exchange 5.5 specific: Conformant & certified. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: TCP/IP is the only X.400 stack available

RFC: 1036
Title: Standard for Interchange of Usenet Messages
Replaces: 850
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 NNTP Service

RFC: 1123
Title: Internet Hosts Requirements
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant; see online help
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 operating system

RFC: 1459
Title: Internet Relay Chat Protocol
Exchange 5.5 specific: Requires Chat Server installation
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Requires Chat Server component, not available in Exchange Server 2003

RFC: 1510
Title: The Kerberos Network Authentication Service (V5)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 operating system

RFC: 1652
Title: SMTP Service Extension for 8bit-MIMEtransport
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 operating system (SMTP Service)

RFC: 1731
Title: IMAP4 Authentication Mechanisms
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant; see Exchange Internet Protocols White paper
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows Integrated (NTLM, SPA)

RFC: 1734
Title: POP3 AUTHentication Command
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant; see Exchange Internet Protocols White paper
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows Integrated (NTLM, SPA)

RFC: 1769
Title: Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Windows NT 4.0; Windows 2000 Operating System For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System

RFC: 1777
Title: LDAP v2 -(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant; see Exchange Internet Protocols White paper
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (Active Directory)

RFC: 1823
Title: The LDAP Application Program Interface (API)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Directory Service
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (Active Directory)

RFC: 1870
Title: SMTP SIZEDeclaration
Exchange 5.5 specific: Online Help
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service)

RFC: 1939
Title: POP3 - (Post Office Protocol 3)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant; see Exchange Internet Protocols White paper
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Exchange 2000 POP3 Service

RFC: 1985
Title: SMTP Service Extension - ETRN
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant; see online help
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service) & Exchange SMTP Connector

RFC: 2034
Title: SMTP Enhanced Error Codes
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service) - fully compliant; Exchange 2000 Store - not fully compliant until Service Pack 2

RFC: 2045, 2046, 2047, 2048, 2049
Title: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)
Updates: 822
Obsoletes: 1521, 1522, 1590
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Compliant

RFC: 2088
Title: IMAP4 non-synchronizing literals
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant; see Exchange Internet Protocols White paper
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Exchange 2000 IMAP4 Service

RFC: 2131
Title: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
Exchange 5.5 specific: Windows NT 4.0 (DHCP Service)
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (DHCP Service)

RFC: 2136
Title: Dynamic Updates in the Domain Name System (DDNS)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not directly available in Windows NT 4.0
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Supported by Windows 2000 DNS Service Required by Windows 2000 Active Directory & Exchange 2000 Directory Services Access

RFC: 2156
Title: MIME Internet X.400 Enhanced Relay (MIXER)
Replaces: 987, 1026, 1138, 1148, 1327, 1495
Updates: 822
Exchange 5.5 specific: Requires at least Exchange 5.5 SP3
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Not available in Exchange 2000

RFC: 2157
Title: Mapping between X.400 and RFC-822/MIME Message Bodies
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not compliant
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Not compliant

RFC: 2163
Title: Using the Internet DNS to Distribute MIXER Conformant Global Address Mapping (MCGAM)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Not available in Exchange 2000

RFC: 2177
Title: IMAP4 IDLE command
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Information Store
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Exchange 2000 IMAP4 Service

RFC: 2181
Title: Clarifications to the DNS Specification
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not applicable
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Supported by Windows 2000 DNS Service. Required by Windows 2000 Active Directory

RFC: 2193
Title: IMAP4 Mailbox Referrals
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Information Store
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Exchange 2000 IMAP4 Service

RFC: 2221
Title: IMAP4 Login Referrals
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Information Store
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Exchange 2000 IMAP4 Service

RFC: 2246
Title: TLS Protocol v1.0
Exchange 5.5 specific: Internet Mail Service (SMTP: See RFC 2487)
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP: See RFC 2487)

RFC: 2247
Title: Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 Distinguished Names
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not applicable
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (Active Directory)

RFC: 2251
Title: LDAP v3
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Directory Service
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (Active Directory)

RFC: 2252
Title: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Attribute Syntax Definitions
Exchange 5.5 specific: Some portions may not be applicable
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Some portions may not be applicable

RFC: 2254
Title: The String Representation of LDAP Search Filters
Obsoletes: 1558, 1960
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Directory Service
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (Active Directory)

RFC: 2256
Title: Summary of the X.500 User Schema (LDAPv3)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not applicable
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Some portions may not be applicable

RFC: 2279
Title: UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646
Exchange 5.5 specific: Available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service) and Exchange 2000 Information Store

RFC: 2311
Title: S/MIME Version 2 Message Specification
Exchange 5.5 specific: Requires Outlook 98 or later or S/MIME client
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Requires Outlook 98 or later or S/MIME client

RFC: 2312
Title: S/MIME Version 2 Certificate Handling
Exchange 5.5 specific: Requires Outlook 98 or later or S/MIME client
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Requires Outlook 98 or later or S/MIME client

RFC: 2342
Title: IMAP4 Namespace
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Information Store
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Exchange 2000 IMAP4 Service

RFC: 2359
Title: IMAP4 UIDPLUS extension
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Exchange 2000 IMAP4 Service

RFC: 2421
Title: Voice Profile for Internet Mail - version 2
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Compliant.

RFC: 2426
Title: vCard MIME Directory Profile
Exchange 5.5 specific: Requires Outlook 98 or later client
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Requires Outlook 98 or later client
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

RFC: 2449
Title: POP3 Extension Mechanism
Updates: 1939
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not compliant
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Exchange 2000 POP3 Service

RFC: 2518
Title: HTTP Extensions for Distributed Authoring - WEBDAV
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not applicable
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System, Exchange Web Store, IE5, Outlook Express (using HTTP access), Web Folders - Office 2000, IE5, and Windows 2000 NOTE: OWA when accessed through "Rich Clients" IE 5.0 or greater will also make use of the SEARCH verb which is based on an expired Internet draft

RFC: 2554
Title: SMTP Service Extension for Authentication
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Internet Mail Service
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service)

RFC: 2616
Title: Hypertext Transfer Protocol - HTTP v1.1
Updates: 1945
Exchange 5.5 specific: Internet Information Server
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (World Wide Web Publishing Service)

RFC: 2632
Title: S/MIME Version 3 Certificate Handling
Exchange 5.5 specific: N/A
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: When used in conjunction with an S/MIME client

RFC: 2633
Title: S/MIME Version 3 Message Specification
Exchange 5.5 specific: N/A
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: When used in conjunction with an S/MIME client

RFC: 2645
Title: Authenticated TURN (ATRN)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not supported
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Not fully compliant

RFC: 2445
Title: Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar)
Exchange 5.5 specific: Requires supporting client, must use MS-TNEF format
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Compliant

RFC: 2782
Title: A DNS RR for specifying the location of services (DNS SRV)
Updates: 1035, 1183
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Windows NT 4.0
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Supported by Windows 2000 DNS Service Required by Windows 2000 Active Directory & Exchange 2000 Instant Messenger

RFC: 2789
Title: Mail Monitoring MIB (SNMP)
Obsoletes: 1566, 2249
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant; see the following:
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: uses Windows 2000 Operating System WMI

RFC: 2821
Title: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
Updates: 1123
Replaces: 821, 974, 1869, 788, 780, 772, 1651
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Internet Mail Service
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 operating system (SMTP Service)

RFC: 2822
Title: Internet Message Format
Replaces: 822, 733
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Internet Mail Service and Information Store
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service) and Exchange 2000 Information Store

RFC: 2930
Title: Secret Key Establishment for DNS (TKEY RR)
Obsoletes: 1854, 2197, 2920
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System

RFC: 3030
Obsoletes: 1830
Title: SMTP Service Extensions for Transmission of Large and Binary MIME Messages
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service)

RFC: 3207
Title: SMTP Service Extension for Secure SMTP over Transport Layer Security
Obsoletes: 2487
Exchange 5.5 specific: Exchange 5.5 Internet Mail Service
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service)

RFC: 3461
Title: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Service Extension for Delivery Status Notifications (DSNs)
Obsoletes: 1891
Exchange 5.5 specific: Online Help
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service)
For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

RFC: 3462
Title: Multipart format for report messages (MIME)
Obsoletes: 1892
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service)

RFC: 3463
Title: Enhanced Mail System Status Codes (SMTP)
Obsoletes: 1893
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Windows 2000 Operating System (SMTP Service)
For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

RFC: 3464
Title: An Extensible Message Format for Delivery Status Notifications
Obsoletes: 1894
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available in Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Compliant

RFC: 3501
Title:(Internet Message Access Protocol 4)
Obsoletes: 1730, 2060
Exchange 5.5 specific: Compliant; see Exchange Internet Protocols white paper
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Exchange 2000 IMAP4 Service

RFC: 3834
Title: Recommendations for Automatic Responses to Electronic Mail
Exchange 5.5 specific: Not available
Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 specific: Compliant