Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Message Tracking Logs ‘And/Or’ Error

The following message appears in the Exchange Server 2003 message tracking logs:

The object 'and/or' in the message tracking logs can't be found in the directory.  The object may have been deleted.  The tracking history may be incorrect.

This is an error that can be ignored as it does not mean that the email message that you are tracking has not been delivered (discounting other errors that is).

This error occurs in the Exchange Server 2003 tracking logs because the logs store the name of the recipients server, and if the recipients server is determined to be ‘and/or’ then that is what the log will read.

I have noticed that this error occurs when Exchange Server 2003 talks to Exim 4.69 servers with the following welcome message:

220-server.fqdn ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 date time
220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited,
220 and/or bulk e-mail.

This welcome message is spread across three lines and the last line reads “220 and/or bulk e-mail”. Exchange uses the first word following 220<space> (and not 220<dash>) as the server name.

For example, the following is the welcome banner displayed by Postini/Google, which is a single line:

220 Postini ESMTP 108 y6_19_2c0 ready.  CA Business and Professions Code Section 17538.45 forbids use of this system for unsolicited electronic mail advertisements.

Therefore Exchange will identify this server in the message tracking logs as “Postini”.

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