Topic Last Modified: 2009-01-21

The Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer queries the Active Directory directory service to examine the attributes of the Microsoft System Attendant directory object. The Analyzer parses the available attributes to determine whether any of the following attributes for the Microsoft System Attendant object have missing values:

• proxyAddresses
  
  This attribute contains e-mail address information.
  
  
• Mail
  
  This attribute contains a value that corresponds to the primary Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) proxy address for the object.
  
  
• textEncodedORAddress
  
  This attribute contains a value that corresponds to the primary X.400 proxy address for the object.
  
  

The Microsoft System Attendant object is used when Collaborative Data Objects or Outlook Web Access pushes Free/Busy information to the information store. Also, the Microsoft System Attendant mailbox is required during mailbox move operations.

If the Analyzer finds that any of the three attributes have missing values, an error is displayed. This error indicates that reliability problems may exist with Exchange. These reliability problems include the following:

• Free/Busy information is not published in Outlook Web Access.
  
  
• Mailbox move operations fail, and events 9175, 9167, and 1008 are logged in the Application log.
  
  

To use the ADSI Edit tool to view the Microsoft System Attendant attributes

1. Start the ADSI Edit tool. To do this, click Start, click Run, type adsiedit.msc, and then click OK.

2. On the Action menu, click Connect to.

3. Click Select a well known Naming Context, click Configuration in the Select a well known Naming Context list, and then click OK.

4. Expand the following path:

   • Configuration [<domainController>.contoso.com]
     
     
   • CN=Configuration,DC=contoso,DC=com
     
     
   • CN=Services
     
     
   • CN=Microsoft Exchange
     
     
   • CN=<organizationName>
     
     
   • CN=Administrative Groups
     
     
   • CN=Exchange Administrative Group (<ID>)
     
     
   • CN=Servers
     
     
   • CN=<ExchangeServerName>
     
     

5. In the details pane, right-click CN=Microsoft System Attendant, and then click Properties.

6. In the Attributes list, click proxyAddresses. The proxyAddresses attribute should contain a value such as SMTP:<ExchangeMailboxServerName>-SA@contoso.com.

7. In the Attributes list, click mail. The mail attribute should contain a value such as <ExchangeMailboxServerName>-SA@contoso.com.

8. In the Attributes list, click textEncodedORAddress. By default, this value is <not set>.

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