Exchange 2007, Local Emails delayed in Queue
In my environment I am running 2 Exchange 2007 servers with Mailbox, CA, and Hub Transport Roles, and a single Exchange 2007 with Edge Transport. (The 2 mailbox servers are running on Server 2003, and the Tranport is Server 2008.)
One of the Mailbox servers (ServerA) is all of a sudden delaying the messages that are sent to itself. From that same server I can send a message to an external domain and it will process through the queue immediately. I can send that same message to myself locally, and it will sit in the queue for at least 3 or 4 minutes before it's delivered. Several times messages have stayed in the queue for 30 minutes. At that point I can restart the server, or the Transport service, and most (if not all) of the messages will be sent through. After a minute or two, new messages will again begin to pile up.
Messages that are sent to ServerA from ServerB, or an external domain are having the same result.
Currently there are no errors found that have anything to do with the queue. When I open the queue up there are also no error messages there and the queue shows to be Active. I've also tried the Mail Flow Troubleshooter and it reports that everything is fine.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
On a side note, my worst case scenario is to go ahead and upgrade to Exchange 2010. Since there is no in place upgrade option, I was thinking about converting the current server into a VM using Microsoft's Virtual Machine Manager and doing the upgrade over to the existing hardware. Sounds a little scary to me... Any thoughts?
One of the Mailbox servers (ServerA) is all of a sudden delaying the messages that are sent to itself. From that same server I can send a message to an external domain and it will process through the queue immediately. I can send that same message to myself locally, and it will sit in the queue for at least 3 or 4 minutes before it's delivered. Several times messages have stayed in the queue for 30 minutes. At that point I can restart the server, or the Transport service, and most (if not all) of the messages will be sent through. After a minute or two, new messages will again begin to pile up.
Messages that are sent to ServerA from ServerB, or an external domain are having the same result.
Currently there are no errors found that have anything to do with the queue. When I open the queue up there are also no error messages there and the queue shows to be Active. I've also tried the Mail Flow Troubleshooter and it reports that everything is fine.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
On a side note, my worst case scenario is to go ahead and upgrade to Exchange 2010. Since there is no in place upgrade option, I was thinking about converting the current server into a VM using Microsoft's Virtual Machine Manager and doing the upgrade over to the existing hardware. Sounds a little scary to me... Any thoughts?
askurat1
DO you run anything such as ScanMail?
ASKER
I'm running MS Forefront for Exchange. I disabled it as part of my troubleshooting process and it didn't change anything. I'm running a disk check now and it seems to have found some issues. Hopefully it fixes them and the queue issue as well.
Yea I have seen this issue with forefront as well but hopefully the check disk works. Just let me know.
This could happen because of N/W trafic as well. Check the header of the message and find where it is getiing delayed..
To narrow down this use the pickup directory to send mail and check.
To narrow down this use the pickup directory to send mail and check.
ASKER
Ashok, what do you mean by N/W and pickup directory? I've checked the headers, and there's no indication of where the messages are getting delayed. However, I can look at the Exchange queue and see the messages piling up.
The disk check completed and stated that it fixed some issues, but unfortunately not the main issue at hand. I've re-created my Edge subscription as well.
Any suggestions before I try the wrong way to upgrade this thing?!?
The disk check completed and stated that it fixed some issues, but unfortunately not the main issue at hand. I've re-created my Edge subscription as well.
Any suggestions before I try the wrong way to upgrade this thing?!?
Ok ill make it clear.
N/W - Network-- check with your N/W team for any N/W lattency in your environment.
Pickup directory -- This one exist in Exchange HT server. and you can use this to send mail.
The default path for the Pickup directory is -- \Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\TransportRoles --
see the below link to have a better understanding of the pickup directory
http://www.msexchange.org/articles_tutorials/exchange-server-2007/management-administration/exchange-pickup-folder.html
Use this command to check the mail flow...
Test-Mailflow Mailbox1 -TargetMailboxServer Mailbox2
Test-Mailflow Mailbox1 -TargetEmailAddress john@contoso.com
also paste the message header here. we happy to assist you..
N/W - Network-- check with your N/W team for any N/W lattency in your environment.
Pickup directory -- This one exist in Exchange HT server. and you can use this to send mail.
The default path for the Pickup directory is -- \Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\TransportRoles --
see the below link to have a better understanding of the pickup directory
http://www.msexchange.org/articles_tutorials/exchange-server-2007/management-administration/exchange-pickup-folder.html
Use this command to check the mail flow...
Test-Mailflow Mailbox1 -TargetMailboxServer Mailbox2
Test-Mailflow Mailbox1 -TargetEmailAddress john@contoso.com
also paste the message header here. we happy to assist you..
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ASKER
I hate to grade my own answer as an A, especially since I can't be 100% sure that the drive errors was actually the issue. I didn't see another way to close the question though...