E-mail messages remain in the local delivery queue, Outlook Web Access does not respond, or the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service stops responding in Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2

You try to move high-volume mailboxes from a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). When you do this, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• E-mail messages remain in the local delivery queue.
• Outlook Web Access does not respond.
• The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service stops responding.

This problem occurs when the message transfer agent (MTA) service is disabled on the Exchange Server 2003 SP2-based server.

This problem occurs because the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service registers a flush in the transit mail task for each mailbox that you try to move. The flush in the transit mail task uses the MTA. If the MTA is disabled, the flush task takes 150 minutes to time out.

During that time, there are fewer tasks available in the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service. Eventually, this condition might lead to task thread exhaustion. Task thread exhaustion affects other functions, such as the local delivery function.

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 have Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 installed to apply this hotfix.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix. However, the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, the Microsoft Search service, the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Admin service, and all dependent services are restarted when you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfix.

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.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

When you disable the MTA service on an Exchange 2003 SP2-based server, you might refer to the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
In this article, you are instructed to set the "Gateway Out Thread" value to 0 (zero). This is a sign of a disabled MTA. After you apply this hotfix, Exchange Server 2003 recognizes this sign, and does not register the flush in the transit mail task for each mailbox.
For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: