A domain controller that is running Windows Server 2003 SP2 stops responding intermittently

A domain controller that is running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) stops responding intermittently.

Note You must restart the domain controller to recover from the issue.

When this issue occurs, the following events are logged in the Directory Service log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: NTDS ISAM Event Category: (14)
Event ID: 623
Description:
NTDS (412) NTDSA: The version store for this instance (0) has reached its maximum size of <number>. It is likely that a long-running transaction is preventing cleanup of the version store and causing it to build up in size. Updates will be rejected until the long-running transaction has been completely committed or rolled back.
Possible long-running transaction:
SessionId: <id>
Session-context: <context>
Session-context ThreadId: <id>
Cleanup: 1

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: NTDS General
Event Category: Internal Processing
Event ID: 1173
Description:
Internal event: Active Directory has encountered the following exception and associated parameters.
Exception: c0000005
Parameter: 0
Additional Data
Error value: <value>
Internal ID: <id>

Notes

• Event 1173 is logged only when diagnostic logging is increased to 4/5.
• Event 1173 and event 623 are not logged at the same time. Event 1173 is usually logged some time before event 623 is logged. The time interval can be several hours.

This issue occurs because Directory System Agent (DSA) (Ntdsa.dll) does not initialize a structure after the structure is allocated. When this uninitialized structure is accessed, an access violation exception occurs. The exception terminates the current thread and does not clean up the transactions. Therefore, these transactions accumulate in the version store. When the version store is full, the domain controller stops responding.

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 the problem described in this article. 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

To apply this hotfix, your computer must be running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Additionally, this computer must be a domain controller.

For more information about how to obtain a Windows Server 2003 service pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restart requirement

You may have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace a previously released hotfix.

File information

The English (United States) version of this hotfix installs files that have the attributes that are listed in the following tables. The dates and the times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The dates and the times for these files on your local computer are displayed in your local time together with your current daylight saving time (DST) bias. Additionally, the dates and the times may change when you perform certain operations on the files.

Windows Server 2003 file information notes

• In addition to the files that are listed in these tables, this hotfix also installs an associated security catalog file (KBnumber.cat) that is signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

For all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2)

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2)

For all supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2)

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

For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the data store, visit the following TechNet Web site: