E-mail messages that are sent to certain domains are retried until they expire in an Exchange Server 2003 organization or in an Exchange 2000 Server organization

You may experience the following symptoms in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 organization or in a Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server organization::

• When you send e-mail messages to certain domains, the e-mail messages are retried until they expire.
• The recipients of the e-mail messages may receive multiple copies of an e-mail message when the e-mail messages are retried.

This problem may occur if the target server generates a multiline response to the DATA command that is issued by the Microsoft Exchange server. The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service on the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 server on which Microsoft Exchange is installed does not handle multiline responses. This problem is more likely to occur when there is a delay introduced between the first line and the last line of the multiline response that is made to the DATA command.

The following is a sample of a multiline response:Note The "-" symbol is used instead of a space in multiline messages.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 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.

Hotfix installation information

You must install the hotfix on the Windows Server 2003 computer that is running Microsoft Exchange.

Prerequisites

You must install Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) before you install the hotfix.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply the 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 item in Control Panel.x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based SystemsWindows Server 2003

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

The problem that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section can also occur when you are using SMTP in Windows Server 2003 without Exchange installed.

For more information about Microsoft software updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the naming schema for Exchange Server software updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: