ADC overwrites Active Directory object CN attribute with Exchange Server 5.5 display name

When the Active Directory Connector (ADC) matches a Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 mailbox to a user account in the Microsoft Active Directory directory service, the user account becomes a mailbox-enabled user account. After the mailbox and user are matched, if any attribute is modified on the Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 mailbox, the ADC updates the active user. It automatically overwrites the CN of the Active Directory user with the Exchange Server 5.5 display name.

The CN attribute is also known as "Full Name." This attribute appears on the General tab on the properties of a user object within the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console snap-in.

If you do not want the ADC to overwrite the Windows 2000 CN with the Exchange Server 5.5 display name, you can change this behavior. This change is made at the Connection Agreement level to individual recipient Connection Agreements. Do not make this change to configuration Connection Agreements or to the default ADC policy.

To disable object renaming in Active Directory, the attribute msExchServer1Flags on the Connection Agreement must be set to a value of 2.

To set this value, follow these steps:

Warning If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, or both Windows and Exchange. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.

1. Start ADSI Edit. (ADSI Edit is included in the Microsoft Windows 2000 support tools on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM.)
2. Expand Configuration Container, CN=Configuration, CN=Services, CN=Microsoft Exchange, CN=Active Directory Connections.
3. Right-click the Connection Agreement you want to modify, and then click Properties.
4. Ensure Select which properties to view is set to Optional.
5. In the Select a property to view box, click the down arrow, and then click msExchServer1Flags.
6. In the Edit Attribute box, type 2.
7. Click Set, and then click OK.

This also forces a replication of that Connection Agreement when you change the attribute. If your CN and display name in Active Directory are different, the names do not change to the Exchange Server 5.5 display name after the ADC matches up the mailbox.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server.

By default, this attribute should not be set, nor is there a user interface for changing this attribute, so it should appear as an empty value. By setting msExchServer1Flags to a value of 2, this affects the behavior of any new objects. Any existing objects that were renamed do not change back. Avoid making any change to the msExchServer1Flags value on a configuration Connection Agreement. A configuration Connection Agreement relies on a specific set of flags that are configured for correct operation. Only change this value on recipient Connection Agreements.