When you modify the membership of a Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 distribution list, changes may be lost

When you modify the membership of a Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 distribution list that has hidden members, those membership changes may be lost. For example, if you remove members or add members, those changes may be lost.

Additionally, you experience the following symptoms in the Active Directory directory service:

• The distribution group that corresponds to this Exchange Server 5.5 distribution list has the msExchALObjectVersion attribute incremented very frequently.
  
  Note This attribute may be incremented up to one time every minute.
• If you stop the Recipient Update Service for the domain where you experience this problem, you no longer experience these symptoms

This problem occurs if all the following conditions are true:

• You have a parent domain such as parent.com.
• You have a child domain for that parent domain, such as child.parent.com.
• Exchange Server 5.5 is running on a computer in the child domain.
• You install the Active Directory Connector in the child domain to replicate distribution list information to the parent domain and to replicate distribution group information from the parent domain to Exchange Server 5.5.
• You install Exchange Server 2003 in the child domain, and then you create a new Recipient Update Service that points to the parent domain.
  
  Note This Recipient Update Service stamps distribution groups that are created in the parent domain.
• You add users to an Exchange Server 5.5 distribution list that has hidden members, or you remove users from such a distribution list.

In this scenario, the Recipient Update Service repeatedly stamps distribution groups that contain hidden members. This causes the msExchALObjectVersion attribute to be updated very frequently. In this scenario, new membership modifications to a distribution list in Exchange Server 5.5 may be overwritten by previous membership information from the corresponding distribution group in Active Directory. This behavior occurs when the Active Directory Connector connection agreement replicates this information to Exchange Server 5.5.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

Because of file dependencies, you must be running Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) to install this hotfix. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section of this article. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

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