XADM: You May Be Unable to Send Mail to Distribution Lists After You Remove Exchange Server 5.5 from Exchange 2000 Server

After you remove the last server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 from Exchange 2000 Server, you may be unable to send e-mail messages to some distribution lists (DLs). You may receive a non-delivery report (NDR) that resembles one of the following messages:

This behavior can occur if the expansion server had been changed from the "any server in site" default to a specific server that is running Exchange Server 5.5. The expansion server had been set to the server that had just been removed (the server that is running Exchange Server 5.5), and the msExchExpansionServerName attribute still exists in Active Directory that points to the server that is running Exchange Server 5.5.

Because Exchange Server 5.5 has been removed, to resolve this behavior, you must manually change the msExchExpansionServerName attribute by using the ADSI Edit utility (located in Windows 2000 Support Tools).

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 Exchange 2000 Server, or both. 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.

By using ADSI Edit:

1. Expand your domain name, and then expand the folder for your domain (for example, dc=microsoft,dc=com).
2. Locate the organizational unit that contains the problem DL.
3. Click the DL, right-click the DL, and then click Properties.
4. On the Attributes tab, in the Select which properties to view section, click Both.
5. In the Select a property to view section, click msExchExpansionServerName.
6. Examine the attribute values: The attribute still points to the server that is running Exchange Server 5.5, which had been removed.
7. Click Clear to remove the server that is running Exchange Server 5.5.
8. Click Set, click Apply, and then click OK.
9. By default, the value for the msExchExpansionServerName attribute is supposed to be "not set".
10. After the replication process, verify the mail flow to the DL.

If you get an LDP dump of the problem DL, you may notice that the msExchExpansionServerName attribute has a value that points to the server that is running Exchange Server 5.5 that had been removed. Because this attribute, which is related to the problem DLs and to Exchange Server 5.5 that had been removed, is still in Active Directory, you may receive an NDR when you attempt to send mail to the DLs.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: