Topic Last Modified: 2007-01-05

The Microsoft® Exchange Server Analyzer Tool queries the Active Directory® directory service to determine the value for the global settings delivContLength attribute located at:

CN=Configuration, CN=Services, CN=Microsoft Exchange, CN=OrganizationName, CN=Global Settings, CN=Message Delivery

If the Exchange Server Analyzer finds the value for the delivContLength attribute to be less than 1, an error is displayed.

This error indicates that a maximum incoming message size limit has not been set. Based on network bandwidth and user requirements in your organization, you may want to limit the message size. In Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2007, there is no default message size limit. In Exchange Server 2003, the default size limit for sending and receiving messages is 10,240 KB. This default size limit for Exchange Server 2003 applies to new installations and to upgrades from Exchange 2000 Server in which no message size limit was set.

You can conserve system resources by setting message size limits that prevents users from sending and receiving large e-mail messages. This will help limit network traffic, save disk space, and improve overall network performance. For Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003, you can use the Defaults tab in Message Delivery Properties of your Global Settings to specify message delivery restrictions for incoming and outgoing messages. To then set the maximum individual message size, select Maximum (KB), and then in the text box, type a maximum size, in kilobytes (KB). If you do not want to limit the size of messages, select No limit. Senders in your organization receive an NDR if they try to send a message to a user who goes beyond the specified size limit. Depending on the NDR settings that you configure in Internet Message Formats, external senders may not receive an NDR. 

For Exchange Server 2007, you can use the Exchange Management Shell to set the TransportConfig MaxReceiveSize parameter for the Exchange organization.

We recommend that you set the maximum message size limit to no more than 10 MB. However, if you need a larger message size limit for messages that have large attachments to be sent through the Exchange organization, you may want to increase the maximum incoming message size limit to 30 MB. Increasing the message size limit over 30 MB can slow down the network performance and even cause your system to be more vulnerable to security attacks.

To set message size limits for Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003

  1. In Exchange System Manager, expand Global Settings, right-click Message Delivery, and then click Properties.

  2. In the Message Delivery Properties dialog box, on the Defaults tab, select the Receiving message size limit option and type the size limit you want.

To set message size limits for Exchange Server 2007

  1. In Exchange Management Shell, run the following command where <size> is entered as the default of "unlimited" or the size in B (Bytes), KB (Kilobytes), or MB (Megabytes) in a range of 0 to 2147483647 bytes:

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Set-TransportConfig -MaxReceiveSize <size>

For example, to set the maximum message size that can be received by recipients in the Exchange Organization to 10 Megabytes you would enter:

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Set-TransportConfig -MaxReceiveSize 10MB

To set the maximum message size that can be received by recipients in the Exchange Organization to the default value of unlimited you would enter:

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Set-TransportConfig -MaxReceiveSize unlimited