Brand new Exchange 2007 setup and mailbox problem

Are you installing Exchange on a domain controller?
Is this the first Exchange server in the domain/forest (any type - E2000, E2003 or E2007)?

Simon.

Not it is not on the domain controller.   It it the first and only exchange server (2007)

We noticed if we checked the Services, the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service was stopped.  It appears to stop randomly; more often than not it is stopped after restarting the server.  After starting the service, the issue did not re-occur.  If anyone has any suggestions, it would be appreciated.

Ah.
I have had reports of that before - but no fix. I haven't seen it myself, but it has been reported here. I don't know of a fix as yet.

Simon.

I will prod Microsoft as there have been a few references to the System Attendant just stopping for no reason in the news groups as well - so it might be something they know of.

Simon.

This appears to have peaked someone's interest at Microsoft.
Is there anything in the event logs? I presume that you have restarted the service now, can you monitor it and see if it fails again?

Simon.

I will do it and let you know.

I did not see anything at this time.

Apparently the System Attendant failure can be triggered if the server loses contact with the domain controller.
Dave Goldman at Microsoft blogged on something similar last year: http://blogs.msdn.com/dgoldman/archive/2006/01/26/518038.aspx

From a logging point of view, if you have logging enabled on MSExchangeAL, MSExchangeSA and DSAccessTopology then it might throw up something, but it depends on whether it happens often enough to make logging worthwhile. If it doesn't happen again (for example) then you might not get anything.

Simon.

I too have this problem. It only fails to start. Here is the error that occurs at startup. When I start the service manually, after boot up, everything seems ok. Very strange.

I did an upgrade from Exchange 2000 / Windows 2000 to Win2k3R264bit / Exchange 2007. We still have the Exchange 2000 running and two of the 4 DC's are Win2k. We have two Win2k3R2 DC's. One is the Exchange server one is a seperate, physical server. The two Win2k3 DC's are GC's and the Exchange 2007 server is holding all the FSMO roles for the time being.

MSExchange System Att
Category: General
Event ID: 4001

A transient failure has occurred. The problem may resolve itself in a while. The service will retry in 56 seconds. Diagnostic information:

Cannot open mailbox /o=name/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=MAIL1/cn=Microsoft System Attendant.
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionFailedTransientException: Cannot open mailbox /o=name/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=MAIL1/cn=Microsoft System Attendant. ---> Microsoft.Mapi.MapiExceptionNetworkError: MapiExceptionNetworkError: Unable to make connection to the server. (hr=0x80040115, ec=-2147221227)
Diagnostic context:
    ......
    Lid: 10648   dwParam: 0x6D9      Msg: EEInfo: Generating component: 2
    Lid: 14744   dwParam: 0x6D9      Msg: EEInfo: Status: 1753
    Lid: 9624    dwParam: 0x6D9      Msg: EEInfo: Detection location: 501
    Lid: 13720   dwParam: 0x6D9      Msg: EEInfo: Flags: 0
    Lid: 11672   dwParam: 0x6D9      Msg: EEInfo: NumberOfParameters: 4
    Lid: 8856    dwParam: 0x6D9      Msg: EEInfo: prm[0]: Unicode string: ncacn_ip_tcp
    Lid: 8856    dwParam: 0x6D9      Msg: EEInfo: prm[1]: Unicode string: mail1.apextechgroup.com
    Lid: 12952   dwParam: 0x6D9      Msg: EEInfo: prm[2]: Long val: -1527653632
    Lid: 15000   dwParam: 0x6D9      Msg: EEInfo: prm[3]: Pointer val: 0x0x02cd3b20 (UnknownPtag)
    Lid: 19778  
    Lid: 27970   StoreEc: 0x80040115
    Lid: 17730  
    Lid: 25922   StoreEc: 0x80040115
   at Microsoft.Mapi.MapiExceptionHelper.ThrowIfError(String message, Int32 hresult, Int32 ec, DiagnosticContext diagCtx)
   at Microsoft.Mapi.ExRpcConnection.Create(ConnectionCache connectionCache, ExRpcConnectionCreateFlag createFlags, ConnectFlag connectFlags, String serverDn, String userDn, String user, String domain, String password, String httpProxyServerName, Int32 ulConMod, Int32 lcidString, Int32 lcidSort, Int32 cpid, Int32 cReconnectIntervalInMins, Int32 cbRpcBufferSize, Int32 cbAuxBufferSize)
   at Microsoft.Mapi.ConnectionCache.OpenMapiStore(String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, ClientIdentityInfo clientIdentity, String userDnAs, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlags, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String applicationId)
   at Microsoft.Mapi.ConnectionCache.OpenMailbox(String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, WindowsIdentity windowsIdentityAs, String userDnAs, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlags, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String applicationId)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionCachePool.OpenMailbox(String serverDn, String userDn, String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, Object identity, ConnectFlag connectFlag, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlag, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString, Boolean secondTry)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionCachePool.OpenMailbox(String serverDn, String userDn, String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, Object identity, ConnectFlag connectFlag, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlag, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString, Boolean secondTry)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionCachePool.OpenMailbox(String serverDn, String userDn, String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, Object identity, ConnectFlag connectFlag, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlag, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString, Boolean secondTry)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionCachePool.OpenMailbox(String serverDn, String userDn, String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, Object identity, ConnectFlag connectFlag, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlag, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.MailboxSession.Initialize(LogonType logonType, ExchangePrincipal owner, ADOrgPerson delegateUser, Object identity, OpenMailboxSessionFlags flags)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.MailboxSession.CreateMailboxSession(LogonType logonType, ExchangePrincipal owner, ADOrgPerson delegateUser, Object identity, OpenMailboxSessionFlags flags, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.MailboxSession.OpenAsAdmin(ExchangePrincipal mailboxOwner, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Servicelets.SystemAttendantMailbox.Servicelet.Work()

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Are you saying that you have Exchange 2007 on a domain controller?

If so I draw your attention to the part of requirements about installing E2007 on to DCs:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/1e80857c-b870-4a6d-a0f4-ff7b3a7be037.aspx
Specifically the section headed "Installing Exchange 2007 on Directory Servers"

Simon.

We have a very small environ and strongly discouraged is a mile from not supported. I have another 2k3GC in the environ now so I will move all FSMO roles to that server and retry. I will also try to change the servers that the Exchange 2007 is using for GC / DC. I noticed that it is using itself, which may be the issue. I'll update everyone after I make the changes. If someone has the commands to change the GC / DC's in Exchange 2007 I'd appreciate a link. Thanks.

I don't think anyone has mentioned it not being supported. It just causes a lot of problems - as it did with Exchange 2003.
I fully expect that you will have the same issues that you had with Exchange 2003 - in that if you install Exchange 2007 on to a DC then that DC must also be a GC and Exchange will only use itself for domain lookups. The control over the DCs has gone as Exchange now uses sites and services within the domain for a lot of that information.

For small sites I don't see the point in going to E2007 - there is no compelling features apart from the new OWA and UM. The Windows Mobile features are no different until Windows Mobile 6.0 hits the streets in a couple of months. For the smaller sites I am continuing to recommend the tried and tested SBS 2003.

Simon.

The Services only starts when I manually start it (after the reboot)

The problem still exists after moving roles, adding GC's and such. THe issue that I had with creating mailboxes was a result of an IP policy on the SMTP engine. I wasn't allowing my Exchange 2007 server to connect to my Exchange 2000's server's Default SMTP service. I added the IP address to the Exchange 2000's servers list of allowed SMTP hosts and I can create / move mailboxes at will.

Has anyone found a work around to manually having to restart the Attendant every time I reboot.