Topic Last Modified: 2005-11-18

The Microsoft® Exchange Server Analyzer Tool reads the following registry entries to determine whether the Name Service Provider Interface target server (NSPI target server) service has been manually overridden:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeSA\Parameters\NSPI Target Server

If the Exchange Server Analyzer finds NSPI Target Server to be present and configured, a non-default configuration message is displayed.

Different types of clients use domain controllers and global catalog servers differently to obtain access to the global address list (GAL). Exchange clients earlier than Microsoft Outlook® 2000 Service Release 2 (SR-2) expect to find a directory service on the Exchange server. Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003 use a mechanism named Directory Service Proxy (DSProxy) to establish a connection to the nearest global catalog server on the client's behalf and proxy communications between Outlook and the global catalog server. Depending on your deployment requirements, you may explicitly specify a particular global catalog server that should be used to handle DSProxy requests. You can do this by hard coding the NSPI Target Server entry in the registry on the Exchange server.

Important:
This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to restore the registry, view the "Restore the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or Regedt32.exe.

To manually specify an NSPI Server

  1. Open a registry editor, such as Regedit.exe or Regedt32.exe.

  2. Navigate to: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeSA\Parameters

  3. Create a new REG_MULTISZ value called NSPI Target Server.

  4. Configure the NSPI Target Server value with the fully qualified domain name for the servers you want to specify.

To disable a static setting for the NSPI server, remove the fully qualified domain name entry for the server you want removed. If there is only one NSPI target server entered, delete the NSPI Target Server registry value.

Before you edit the registry, and for information about how to edit the registry, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 256986, "Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=3052&kbid=256986).

For more information about how Outlook 2000 SR-2 and newer clients interact with the Active Directory® directory service, see the following Knowledge Base articles: