Topic Last Modified: 2006-07-14

The Microsoft® Exchange Server Analyzer Tool examines the Exchange Function Call Log (FCL), the Store.fcl file, for events that indicate ongoing cross-component calls from the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service (Store.exe) to the Active Directory® directory service.

Ongoing calls are requests from the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service (Store.exe) to other components that have not received a response at the time the Exchange FCL data is written to the Store.fcl file.

Active Directory provides all mailbox information, address list services, and other recipient-related information. Most Exchange Server 2003 configuration information is also stored in Active Directory.

Exchange Server services access information that is stored in Active Directory and writes information to Active Directory.

If the Exchange Server Analyzer finds events in the Store.fcl logging file that reflect ongoing calls from the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service (Store.exe) to Active Directory, the Exchange Server Analyzer displays a warning.

This warning indicates that performance may become an issue for this server. Occasional ongoing calls do not necessarily indicate a problem, but repeated ongoing calls to the same area might.

When cross-component calls from the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service (Store.exe) wait for a response, remote procedure call (RPC) threads can back up behind these requests and lead to Exchange Server performance issues such as delays in server responses to clients.

Ongoing calls from the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service to the Active Directory can be caused by the following conditions:

Network latency between the Exchange server and the Domain Controller.
Static or otherwise incorrect configuration of DSAccess.
An overloaded domain controller and global catalog.
An incorrectly designed Active Directory topology.

To address this warning, take the following steps:

Run the Exchange Server Analyzer for an additional analysis of server issues. You can download the Exchange Server Analyzer at "Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool v2.7" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=34705).
Check the performance of the Active Directory Domain Controller servers.
Review the articles in the For More Information section of this document.

For More Information

For more information about Exchange performance and DSAccess, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 250570, "Directory service server detection and DSAccess usage" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3052&kbid=250570).

For more information about Exchange Server performance, see the "Performance and Scalability Guide for Exchange Server 2003" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=47576).

For more information about how to troubleshoot Exchange Server performance issues, see "Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server Performance" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=47588).

For more information about how to troubleshoot information store performance, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 257725, "XADM: How to Collect Diagnostic Data for Information Store Troubleshooting" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3052&kbid=257725).

For more information about Domain Controller performance, see the following Windows Server resources:

"Planning Domain Controller Capacity" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=70191).
"Active Directory Monitoring of Domain Controllers" in the Windows 2000 Server Active Directory Planning and Deployment Guides (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=70193).