Maximum recipient limit is high

Topic Last Modified: 2005-11-18

The Microsoft® Exchange Server Analyzer Tool queries the Active Directory® directory service to determine whether the msExchRecipLimit value for messages exceeds 7500. If the Exchange Server Analyzer finds that the value of the msExchRecipLimit attribute is more than 7500, the Exchange Server Analyzer displays a warning.

The msExchRecipLimit attribute stores the value for the global maximum number of recipients for each e-mail message. The value limits the number of recipients for a single e-mail message. The value also affects system messages and non-system messages. System messages include public folder replication messages. By default, the value of the msExchRecipLimit attribute is 5000.

If the value of the msExchRecipLimit attribute exceeds 7500, the risk of problems that are caused by messages with many recipients increases.

Note:
You can also set recipient limits on a per-user basis by using Active Directory Users and Computers. The per-user setting has precedence over the global setting and will override the global setting. By default, the per-user recipient limit is set to use the global maximum recipient limit.

Note:
On a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) virtual server, you can set a limit on the number of recipients per message for messages that are received from Internet users. This limit differs from the global maximum recipient limit and from the per-user recipient limit. The global maximum recipient limit and the per-user recipient limit both limit the number of recipients to which an Exchange user can send a message.

Note:

On a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) virtual server, you can set a limit on the number of recipients per message for messages that are received from Internet users. This limit differs from the global maximum recipient limit and from the per-user recipient limit. The global maximum recipient limit and the per-user recipient limit both limit the number of recipients to which an Exchange user can send a message.

To change the global maximum recipient limit to its default value

Start Exchange System Manager.
In the left pane, expand Global Settings.
Right-click Message Delivery, and then click Properties.
On the Defaults tab, under Recipient Limits, click Maximum Recipients, and then type 5000.
Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.

For more information about setting recipient limits and configuring Microsoft Office Outlook® Web Access clients, see "Outlook Web Access S/MIME Control-Related Settings" in the Exchange Server 2003 Message Security Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=47574).

For more information about the history of the global maximum recipient limit, see the Exchange weblog article, "Me Too!" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=41848).