Topic Last Modified: 2005-11-18

The Microsoft® Exchange Server Analyzer Tool queries the Win32_PerfRawData_SMTPSVC_SMTPServer Microsoft Windows® Management Instrumentation (WMI) class to determine the value for the BadmailedMessagesGeneralFailure key. The value of this key represents the number of messages sent to the Badmail directory for reasons not associated with a specific counter. The Badmail directory is used to store undeliverable messages. For information about some of the other Badmail WMI counters, see the following Exchange Server Analyzer articles:

There are counters that increment when a message is sent to the Badmail directory for other reasons, as well, including a bad pickup file, no recipients, and triggered via event.

The Exchange Server Analyzer also queries the Win32_PerfRawData_PerfOS_System WMI key to determine the value for SystemUpTime.

If the Exchange Server Analyzer determines the value for the SystemUpTime key is greater than 0 and that the result of the value for BadmailedMessagesGeneralFailure divided by the value for SystemUpTime is greater than 1000, a warning is displayed.

This warning indicates that an average of 1,000 or more messages per day are marked as non-deliverable and stored in the Badmail directory. Messages in the Badmail directory must be manually deleted. It is recommended that review and deletion of messages in the Badmail directory be part of regular Exchange Server maintenance. Allowing the Badmail directory to grow without restrictions could consume all available disk space, and in turn cause Exchange databases to dismount.

To correct this warning

  1. Examine the messages in the Badmail directory to determine whether the source of the message is internal or external. Messages in the Badmail directory are stored in ASCII format, and can be opened and viewed in Notepad or another text editor.

    • If the messages appear to be generated internally, you can examine the message headers to determine their origin.

    • If the messages appear to be generated externally, it may indicate that your Exchange Server is being used as a mail relay.

For information about how to control and configure relay options, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

For more information about database dismounts because of insufficient free disk space, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 321825, "Databases Become Dismounted Because of Lack of Disk Space" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=3052&kbid=321825).