Hi all, I'm having a weekly problem with my Exchange 2003 server. Win2003 Std. all Updates. Exchange2003 Std. all Updates. Server is also DC and DNS server. Every week, at some point over the weekend, the server starts failing, for want of a better word. The first sign I get, is that all mobile devices can no longer connect to the server. This also means OWA isn't available, nor is the intranet sites on that server. DNS is correct and working fine. DCDIAG returns an LDAP error 58: Win32 Error 58 - Machine could not be contacted due to bad net response. NETDIAG returns a couple of errors about Out of Memory, tho the machine has about a gig and a bit still free, NP etc all looks ok too. When trying to use ESM I get: Code: The server is not operational. Facility: Win32 ID No: 8007203a Exchange System Manager Usually its so urgent that I just restart the server and all seems fine and then try to investigate, but that never shows any relevant errors in the logs or any indication of anything being wrong. So this time I am leaving it in its reduced state to try and troubleshoot. Any ideas what to look at, as I am completely stumped now on what to do next?

During the failure condition, I wonder if any services have stopped. Can you attempt to verify this? Also, is the timing exactly one week every time? If so, it makes me think it coincides with a scheduled event of some sort - perhaps an antivirus routine. Finally if there REALLY is nothing in the event log indicating a problem (I struggle to believe this) you can increase the logging output of Exchange. Instructions for this here.

Services all say they are running, but I have now found that I cannot get into ADUC ("Network path cannot be found"). Its never exactly one week, but it has happened the past 6 weekends, between about 4am Saturday morning and 12pm Monday afternoon. I have found some error 8026 in the event log, but that ties in with the system not being able to see itself, so to speak. I have also tried out the KB's related to this error but no joy. I'm starting to think its more of a problem with Windows itself, rather than Exchange

please run dcdiag and netdiag from the box and post any errors found.

Run ipconfig/all and see if your Exchange server is not pointing to any external DNS Ip address. It should only point to internal address. Vinod |CCNA|MCSE 2003 +Messaging|MCTS|ITIL V3|

ipconfig was one of the first things i checked and no external DNS are present anywhere on the network. Ran dcdiag and netdiag at the start, DCDIAG returns an LDAP error 58: Win32 Error 58 - Machine could not be contacted due to bad net response. NETDIAG returns a couple of errors about Out of Memory, tho the machine has about a gig and a bit still free, NP etc all looks ok too.

I guess you need pay more attention n DCDIAG make sure Exchange is not trying to catch up any Ghost DC/GC and also make sure all GC/DC are in synch. clear all errors related to DCDIAGVinod |CCNA|MCSE 2003 +Messaging|MCTS|ITIL V3|

Try to set the /3GB Switch, since Exchange and DC on same machine there could be some Virtual Memory or RAM bottel necks due to heavy load, also change the Virtual Memory settings and monitor the serverfor few days.... By default, Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows Server 2003 allocate 2 GB of virtual address space to user mode processes such as Store.exe. If a server has 1 GB or more of physical memory, set the /3GB switch in the Boot.ini file to increase virtual address space. You should only set the /3GB switch on servers that meet the following criteria: The server hosts Exchange 2003 mailboxes or public folders. The server has 1 GB or more of physical memory. It is not recommended that you set this switch on Exchange servers that do not contain public folder or mailbox stores. For more information about the /3GB switch, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 266096, "XGEN: Exchange 2000 Requires /3GB Switch with More Than 1 Gigabyte of Physical RAM" ( http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=3052&kbid=266096). Important: The /3GB switch is designed for Windows 2000 Advanced Server and all editions of Windows Server 2003. Do not set the /3GB switch in Windows 2000 Standard Edition. Paging File size must be 1.5 times of the physical RAM

/3GB is set along with the other recommend switches. Paging file is set to to 1.5 times RAM

Well, just now i came across a Article Problems with Exchange 2003 Installed on Domain Controllers The server must NOT be a cluster. Exchange 2003 clusters co-existing on Active Directory servers is not supported by Microsoft.Installing Exchange 2003 and Active Directory on the same server has a significant performance impact.The server must be a Global Catalog server (not just a DC). DSAccess/DSProxy/Cat will not load-balance or fail-over to another DC/GC.Avoid the use of the /3GB switch, otherwise the Exchange cache might monopolize system memory. Additionally, the number of user connections should be very low, therefore the /3GB switch should not be required. All services run under LocalSystem so there is a greater risk of exposure should a security bug be found (e.g. a bug in AD which allows an attacker to access the AD will also allow them to access Exchange, and vice-versa) If Exchange administrators will be able to logon to the local server. Because they have physical console access to a DC, potentially they can elevate their permissions in the AD. It may take approximately 10 minutes for the server to shutdown. This is because the AD service (LSASS.EXE) shuts down before the Exchange services, and DSAccess will go through several timeouts before shutting down. The workaround for this issue is to manually stop the Exchange services (specifically the Store) before initiating a system shutdown or restart. Referece:http://www.petri.co.il/problems_with_exchange_2003_installed_on_domain_controllers.htmSo as per this article try removing /3GB switch and parallely send the reports which were asked by friends on the previous posts..

Server is a GC. Had /3Gb turned off to start with and switched it on in an attempt to fix this issue. With it off I had NP pool errors iirc. Currently running a memory performance check on paged/nonpaged to see if there is a problem there.

After disabling /3Gb swith restart the server...

Information...* If Terminal Services is installed on Windows 2000, Paged Pool is lowered down to 160 MB unless a registry change is made to the server to set the Paged Pool Size to its maximum value (see below). Windows 2003 SP1 System RAM NonPaged Max Paged Max 512 MB 125 MB 184 MB 1024 MB 202 MB 168 MB 1536 MB 254 MB 352 MB 2048 MB 252 MB 352MB On Windows 2003 systems, Terminal Services are enabled by default. On both Windows 2000 and Windows 2003, the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Management\Memory Management\PagedPoolSize value can be set to 0xFFFFFFFF (or resetting the value to 0) to ensure that the Virtual Address Space used for Paged Pool is maximized. * depends on whether or not /3GB is enabled