We are having a replication problem between an older Exchange 2003 server and a new Exchange 2003 server. A new server was brought up a couple months ago but replication of the system and public folders has never worked. After increasing the diagnostic reporting, I saw the following 7004 and 7010 Event errors reported in the Application logs on the respective server EXBE-01 and EXBE-02 Event Type: Error Event Source: MSExchangeTransport Event Category: SMTP Protocol Event ID: 7004 Date: 4/5/2011 Time: 8:22:01 AM User: N/A Computer: EXBE-01 Description: This is an SMTP protocol error log for virtual server ID 1, connection #2. The remote host "10.192.x.2", responded to the SMTP command "xexch50" with "504 Need to authenticate first ". The full command sent was "XEXCH50 1084 2 ". This will probably cause the connection to fail. And on the EXBE-02 server we see: Event Type: Error Event Source: MSExchangeTransport Event Category: SMTP Protocol Event ID: 7010 Date: 4/5/2011 Time: 8:22:01 AM User: N/A Computer: EXBE-02 Description: This is an SMTP protocol log for virtual server ID 1, connection #1. The client at "10.192.x.1" sent a "xexch50" command, and the SMTP server responded with "504 Need to authenticate first ". The full command sent was "xexch50 1084 2". This will probably cause the connection to fail. If I look at the message tracking, I can see the replication message being sent from the first server, and the second server recieves the message, processes it, but then the last line is "SMTP:Message queued for local delivery". It never seems to finish being processed to the correct queue. Any thoughts on how to resolve this? I am not an Exchange Admin, but I was asked to look at it to see if I can discover the source of the problem. If you can help, please explain in detail as I am new to Exchange Administration. I appreciate any help you fine folks can provide!

Thank you for replying, but I wonder if you can provide some further information. As I mentioned in my original post, I can track messages being delivered from EXBE-01 to EXBE-02, but the tracking shows "SMTP:Message queued for local delivery" as the last line on EXBE-02. It never seems to be processed, but I don't know where it goes. I thought the error messages might be a clue, but you indicate they aren't relevant? How do I go about verifying the internal mailflow between the servers are working fine? Thanks for your help!

Send email from User A's Mailbox (Exchange 2003) to User B (Exchange 2010) and Vis a Versa Post the result..Gulab | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2010 | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2007 | MCC 2011 | Skype: Gulab.Mallah

Well, the issue is between 2 2003 servers, and the problem I am focusing on is the replication of System and Public folders between the old 2003 server and the new 2003 server. Our goal is to decomission the old server, then eventually upgrade the new server to a newer Exchange version. I'm not sure how to specifically send an e-mail from one public store mailbox to the other server. I can look in the Message Tracking and find Status Request, Backfill Request and Hierarchy messages sent from EXBE-01 to EXBE-02. If I look at a Status Request, I see the message submitted from store moved to advanced queueing, Categorized and Queued for Routing, and message transferred to exbe-02 through SMTP. When I click on the EXBE-02 location, I see the following: 4/11/2011 12:01pm SMTP:Message Submitted to Advanced Queuing 4/11/2011 12:01pm SMTP: Started Message submission to Advanced Queue 4/11/2011 12:01pm SMTP: Message Submitted to Categorizer 4/11/2011 12:01pm SMTP: Message Categorized and Queued for Routing 4/11/2011 12:01pm SMTP: Message Queued for Local Delivery ------------------------------------------------------ And nothing else listed. The same for the Hierarchy request. The same for Backfill request. When I use Message Tracking on the EXBE-02 server, there is nothing being sent from imr-exbe-02-is to imt-exbe-01-is . My guess is that replication wasn't configured properly to being with? Thanks!

I never said you need to send email from Public folder to User mailbox.. Public Folder replication works on mailflow, if the mail flow is not working between the servers than replication will not work Send email from User A's Mailbox (Exchange 2003) to User B (Exchange 2010) and Vis a VersaGulab | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2010 | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2007 | MCC 2011 | Skype: Gulab.Mallah

I sent a message from User A whose mailbox is on the Exhange 2003 EXBE-01 server, to User B whose mailbox is on the Exchange 2003 EXBE-02 server. The message was sent successfully. User B replied back and the message was delivered successfully. I looked in Message Tracking and confirmed in each case the "SMTP Store Driver: Message Delivered Locally to Store to "User A". What should I look at next? Thanks!