If you are retiring one Exchange server and replacing it with another, beware of some pitfalls that are not obvious at first. One common problem comes up when a new Exchange server receives the IP address for the old server. Even if the old server has been decommissioned or turned off, this can produce an error #9405 (with the undescriptive name "Unexpected error") from the Message Transfer Agent.
The IP address for an Exchange server generally doesn't change very often, and so to speed operations it is not read each and every time Exchange Server is started. Whenever the IP address changes, the first thing to do is to delete any references to the old IP address, which are usually held as part of Exchange's internal routing information.
The primary Exchange Server also functions as the routing calculation server, which maintains the site's GWART (or Gateway Address Routing Table). This needs to be assigned to a new server before the old server is decommissioned, so problems like this can come up even if the old server is shut off.
To reassign the IP address and re-calculate routing:
- Start the Exchange Administrator in raw mode. This allows you to remove objects at a much lower level than normally, but should not be done casually. Using raw mode with Exchange Administrator is a little like editing the Registry, in that you can create more problems than you solve if you're not careful:
To start Exchange Administrator in raw mode, launch the program with the /R switch (for instance, C:EXCHSRVRBINADMIN /R).
- Open the Connections container and locate the XAPI connector—Internet Mail Service, cc:Mail, Notes, etc.—that is causing the problem. If you have more than one XAPI connector in Connections, you might need to remove them all.
- From the Edit menu, select "Delete Raw Object." You'll get a warning message, to which you should answer Yes. (If you get the warning "Extension xxx could not be loaded," simply click Ignore and proceed.)
- Open the Site object and select Configuration | Site Addressing.
- Under the Routing tab, click Recalculate Routing. The new routing table may take several minutes to propagate through your organization.
- Close and reopen the Administrator program, and recreate the troublesome XAPI connector.
- Stop and restart the Exchange service.
Serdar Yegulalp is the editor of the Windows 2000 Power Users Newsletter.
Check out his Windows 2000 blog for his latest advice and musings on the world of Windows network administrators -- please share your thoughts as well!
