XADM: Event ID 1088 and Error 1276 Occur Even After Reinstalling with the Distinguished Name Listed in the Event 1088

When you attempt to start the Exchange Server Information Store service, the service may not start, you may receive Jet Error 1276 (ecDomainError), and Event ID 1088 may be logged. Typically, to troubleshoot this type of error you need to reinstall Exchange Server and use the organization and site name that are displayed in the event ID 1088 error message. However, after you reinstall Exchange Server the information store may still be unable to start and may log the same events, but in the description of this event ID 1088 the Distinguished Name (DN) of the directory and the message database are reversed.

This issue can occur if the Priv.edb and the Pub.edb databases have different DNs. This typically occurs if you install Exchange Server with an organization or site name that does not match the information stores that you are restoring, and you only restore either the Priv.edb or the Pub.edb database. When you try to start the restored Priv.edb or Pub.edb database, the restored database DN does not match the DN of the directory and the restored database logs the following event: Note that only one of the .edb files is restored, and that the other .edb file has the correct DN associated to the current directory. This issue occurs because to troubleshoot this type of problem, you typically need to back up the Mdbdata directory, remove Exchange Server, and then reinstall Exchange Server with the organization and site name of the DN value that the event ID 1088 error message contains. When you install Exchange Server with a new organization and site name, the DN of the directory matches the .edb file that you originally restored, but the other .edb file DN is incorrect. When you attempt to start the information store, it logs an event ID 1088 error message in which the directory DN and the message database DN have switched from the previous event ID 1088 error message.

To resolve this issue:

1. Note the source of the event ID 1005 error message. For example:
   Event ID: 1005
   Source: MSExchangeIS Public
   Type: Error
   Category: General
   Description:
   Unable to start the Microsoft Exchange Information Store. Error 0x4fc.
   When you attempt to start the information store, the information store starts the private information store first. Therefore, if the source of event ID 1005 error message is MSExchangeIS Private, the DN in the directory is not working on the Priv.edb database. Note that the Information Store service stops processing at this point, so the Pub.edb database DN may not match the directory either (make sure that the DN in the directory is correct). If the source of the event ID 1005 error message is MSExchangeIS Public, the DN of the Priv.edb database is correct and the DN of the Pub.edb database is incorrect.
2. Make sure that you restore both the Priv.edb and the Pub.edb database files from the same backup set (or that the Priv.edb and the Pub.edb database files at least have DNs that match) and that you reinstall Exchange Server with the DN that matches the .edb files.

For additional information about Event ID 1088, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: