Mail sent between two Exchange servers is being delivered with Blank message body
We have been running exchange 2003 for several years with no issues. Recently our information store has reached a level where i want to divide it up. Given that we have Exchange standard i have opted to add a second server licence and divide the mailboxes between the two servers. I have installed the second server but now have an issue where mail sent from the new server to the existing seems to be stripping out the body of the message. I have tested the basic scenarios belowExchange1 - Existing ServerExchange2 - New Servermsg from Exchange2 mailbox to Exchange1 mailbox- Message arrives with blank body, but msg in sent box on Exchange2 has bodymsg from Exchange1 mailbox to Exchange2 mailbox - no problemsmsg from Exchange2 mailbox to Internet Mail through Exchange1 smtp - no problemsmsg from Internet address to Exchange2 mailbox throught Exchange1 smtp - no problems.Both servers are in the same administrative group on the same subnet.
April 17th, 2009 3:06pm

one more scenario:msg from Exchange2 mailbox to Exchange2 mailbox - no problem
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April 17th, 2009 3:08pm

Jrad4729,Nice!!! When things go wrong they always pick the best way.Just to clarify, is this on plain text, rich text or HTML? or is it all three?
April 17th, 2009 3:46pm

seems to be all, our mail is html by default
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April 17th, 2009 3:58pm

also some more information. I moved the mailbox back to exchange1 and it is working fine again from the old exchange server. Outlook does not seem to be in play here because the issues happened from the same outlook client. all that was change was moving the mailbox between servers.
April 17th, 2009 4:02pm

Are there any smart hosts being used? A/V software? RGC between the two servers? What is mail routing like? It is odd that it would strip the message body.What about the subject line? Have you looked at the Message Header info to see how it is traveling between the two servers? Any filtering setup on 03?BP
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April 17th, 2009 6:20pm

Here is the header from the e-mail, AV is Trend Micro, but that has been installed all along, and is not installed on new server yet. it is being routed through SMTP between the servers. Microsoft Mail Internet Headers Version 2.0Received: from Exchange2.xxx.local ([192.168.1.44]) by Exchange1.xxx.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:01:48 -0400From: To: Message-ID: <E9C19EB2F6F0824D80EFDB77ABB3C1325FE0@exchange2.norrisinc.local>X-Connecting-IP: 192.168.1.44Subject: testDate: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:01:48 -0400MIME-Version: 1.0Content-Type: application/ms-tnef;name="winmail.dat"Content-Transfer-Encoding: binaryX-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: <E9C19EB2F6F0824D80EFDB77ABB3C1325FE0@exchange2.norrisinc.local>Thread-Topic: testContent-class: urn:content-classes:messageX-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5.6944.0Thread-Index: Acm+rKXQh0A8CKF4STmRMOZuGCJ1zg==Return-Path: xxx@mail.xxx.comX-OriginalArrivalTime: 16 Apr 2009 16:01:48.0276 (UTC) FILETIME=[A5D71B40:01C9BEAC]X-Spamicity: No, spamicity=0.000000
April 17th, 2009 6:50pm

Have you checked to see what happens when you go into OWA and access the mailbox of a user who has a stripped message? Is it still stripped?What happens if you disable trend on the Exchange Server?Perform a telnet test on port 25 between the exchange servers with a subject line and a body, what happens?BP
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April 17th, 2009 6:59pm

Mail is still missing the content of the message when viewed in OWA, but a message sent via telnet from exchange2 to exchange1 is received with the body intact. I'm not sure what you are referencing by disabling trend, if you can elaborate i'll give it a shot.
April 17th, 2009 8:43pm

Is there a smart host configured on Exchange2? Since it was received by Exchange1 when doing the telnet test I would suspect something on the Exchange2 routing is the problem. These two servers are in the same exchange org correct? And they have the same smtp address assigned to them correct?Incoming mail from the internet goes to Exchange 1 and then to Exchange 2? Do you have the Exchange IMF enabled? http://www.petri.co.il/block_spam_with_exchange2003_imf.htmBP
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April 17th, 2009 9:20pm

Issue description: Messages from one server to another server has been removed the message body Notes: The issue can happen because of the following factors: Email Virus scanner on the AV software, Message Conversion issues Check info: 1. Which type of the mail account do users use, exchange account, POP3 or IMAP4? 2. The issue is permanent, and occurs to all users on the exchange2, right? 3. What happens if you disable the Trend on the exchange1, does the issue still occur? 4. Please reproduce the issue and check if theres any related event in the application log on both exchange servers 5. Please try to send the test mail from exchange2 to exchange1 via OWA Troubleshooting: 1. Please send test mail from exchange2 to exchange1 to isolate the cause: a. On the exchange2, freeze the queue to exchange1 via ESM (KB 314157) b. Send a test mail with message body from a mailbox on the exchange2 c. Refresh to Queue in the ESM, after test mail stuck in the queue, retrieve it by using MAPI Editor with exchange admin account from SMTP mailbox(For exchange account), or directly from Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1\Queue (For POP/IMAP account) d. Open the test mail to check the message body by using notepad e. On the exchange1, freeze the Local delivery queue via ESM f. Repeat step b g. Refresh to Queue in the ESM, after test mail stuck in the queue, retrieve the message directly from Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1\Queue h. Open the test mail to check the message body by using notepad Notes: In this method, we can isolate the cause to one server, please dont forget to unfreeze the queue after the test 2. After isolated the cause to one server, we can increase the diagnostic logging level on MsExchange Transport via ESM on that server. please refer to this article
April 20th, 2009 10:58am

Hows the issue now? Did the problem been solved?
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April 23rd, 2009 5:26am

Thanks for the follow up James, i have been out of town and will be digging back into it today, the issue still is not resolved.
April 23rd, 2009 3:34pm

OK :)
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April 24th, 2009 5:04am

Check info: 1. Which type of the mail account do users use, exchange account, POP3 or IMAP4?All user connect through outlook using the exchange server functionality. The connection between both servers is smtp2. The issue is permanent, and occurs to all users on the exchange2, right? Yes, i have created new users as well as moved mailboxes and it happens for both.3. What happens if you disable the Trend on the exchange1, does the issue still occur?No Change 4. Please reproduce the issue and check if theres any related event in the application log on both exchange serversNo Error related, there was one with the MTA stack not being started on Exchange 2, i manually started the service and it made no difference. 5. Please try to send the test mail from exchange2 to exchange1 via OWAthe OWA web address on Exchange2, http://exchange2/exchange redirects to the primary Exchange OWA Troubleshooting: 1. Please send test mail from exchange2 to exchange1 to isolate the cause: a. On the exchange2, freeze the queue to exchange1 via ESM (KB 314157) b. Send a test mail with message body from a mailbox on the exchange2 c. Refresh to Queue in the ESM, after test mail stuck in the queue, retrieve it by using MAPI Editor with exchange admin account from SMTP mailbox(For exchange account), or directly from Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1\Queue (For POP/IMAP account) At this step i am unable to find the message, the Queue folder is empty on the server. d. Open the test mail to check the message body by using notepad e. On the exchange1, freeze the Local delivery queue via ESM f. Repeat step b g. Refresh to Queue in the ESM, after test mail stuck in the queue, retrieve the message directly from Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1\Queue h. Open the test mail to check the message body by using notepad Notes: In this method, we can isolate the cause to one server, please dont forget to unfreeze the queue after the test 2. After isolated the cause to one server, we can increase the diagnostic logging level on MsExchange Transport via ESM on that server. please refer to this article
April 28th, 2009 4:01pm

On the exchange2, freeze Remote delivery queue (The name is the FQDN of exchange1 or the name of the RGC that connects to the exchange1) and send the test mail from the mailbox on exchange 2 to the mailbox on exchange 1, see if we can capture the test message in the queue On the exchange1, freeze Local delivery queue and send the test mail from the mailbox on exchange 2 to the mailbox on exchange 1, see if we can capture the test message in the queue Please check the message body on two test mails Resources: How to use Queue Viewer to troubleshoot mail flow issues in Exchange Server 2003 Exchange Server 2003 Mailflow
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April 29th, 2009 5:44am

I have been able to freeze the queue on exchange 2, and can see the message send in the queue but am unable to find it on the server or open it to check the message content. I will try again.
April 29th, 2009 4:16pm

Ok, here is what i am finding...If i freeze the queue on Exchange2, there is nothing in the folder c:\program files\exchsrv\mailroot\vs 1\Queue, infact there are no .eml files anywhere on the server. If i freeze the local delivery queue on Exchange1 i can see the message in the queue folder on Exchange1 and the message body is already blank.
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April 29th, 2009 4:43pm

Quote: If i freeze the local delivery queue on Exchange1 i can see the message in the queue folder on Exchange1 and the message body is already blank So, now we narrow down the issue between exchange2 to the Local delivery queue on exchange1. Does exchange1 and exchange2 belong to same routing group? Quote: I have been able to freeze the queue on exchange 2, and can see the message send in the queue but am unable to find it on the server or open it to check the message content The reason we cant see the message in the Queue is that the test mail is sent from MAPI client. Please use MAPI Editor to retrieve the message from SMTP mailbox Please see the How can I log onto the SMTP mailbox section in this article Also, can you send me the network trace between exchange2 and exchange1? a. Please start Network Monitor on both exchange servers to capture the network trace b. Send test mail again c. After test mail is being received on the mailbox of exchange1, and the message body is being removed, please stop Network Monitor on both exchange servers and send the trace files to me Notes: Please define the name for all relevant stuff in the trace package, like machine name, IP address and etc Resources: How to capture network traffic with Network Monitor
April 30th, 2009 6:11am

I just e-mailed you the captures from both servers. Thanks for the help!
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May 4th, 2009 6:52pm

I have received the mail, will update at here if I find any further info
May 5th, 2009 6:42am

I found that the message body does exist under HTML format in the both network traces ======== On the exchange 2: <p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>Test body<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> On the exchange 1: <p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>Test body<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> ======== Check info: 1. Do two servers stay in same routing group? 2. Whether exchange organization run in native mode or mixed mode (KB 270143) Troubleshooting: 1. I suspect that Winmail.dat file in the test message got corrupted, please try to read that test mail from outlook express for user "Joshua Delano", and see if the message body still blank 2. Please compare the size of the test mail in test users Sent Items folder and the size in Joshuas Inbox folder, are they same size?
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May 5th, 2009 9:04am

Check info: 1. Do two servers stay in same routing group? Yes2. Whether exchange organization run in native mode or mixed mode (KB 270143)MIxedTroubleshooting: 1. I suspect that Winmail.dat file in the test message got corrupted, please try to read that test mail from outlook express for user "Joshua Delano", and see if the message body still blank 2. Please compare the size of the test mail in test users Sent Items folder and the size in Joshuas Inbox folder, are they same size?Different sizes, i sent a new message with more test, it sent at 25kb and was recieved at 5kb.
May 5th, 2009 3:24pm

Please send me three test mails by using the following method: a. As we did before, please freeze the queue on exchange1 b. Compose three test mails with different Message Format (HTML, Plain-text and Rich-text), different subject (HTML, Plain-text and Rich-text) and message body on the exchange2, and then send to exchange1 Notes: Please still use mailbox "test user" and "Joshua Delano" for this test Notes: Please change the Message Format when you compose the test mail, not from Tool menu c. Capture the three test mails from Queue folder on exchange1 Notes: Please also check the mail size before and after sending at this point This test can tell a lot of clues about the cause of the issue
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May 6th, 2009 5:32am

James,Thank you for your help in troubleshooting this, in determining that the problems was on Exchange 1 i began digging deeper into other applications on that server and found the problem in our SPAM managment system, Praetor. Here is the final resolution given by their technical support. Praetor inserts an event sink into the Microsoft IIS SMTP Virtual Server that allows it to view and copy messages and make changes to them when they come it. Microsoft Exchange also uses an SMTP connector to exchange data between servers. Unfortunately it doesn't use RFC compliant SMTP, and does not conform to the standard 128 characters per line of the body. The end result is that when Praetor checks an incoming message it finishes by making the message RFC compliant, which breaks Microsofts format. There is a workaround. The most certain way to do this is to install Praetor to a seperate machine (without Exchange) to receive all incoming mail and allow it to relay to one of your Exchange servers. If the machine has multiple IP addresses, such as internal and external, it may be possible to force the SMTP virtual server to only catch traffic from the external IP, however that doesn't appear to work at all the site's we've tried it.Thanks again for all of your help.
May 6th, 2009 3:06pm

Glad you solved the issue, and thanks for sharing it at here :)
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May 7th, 2009 4:12am

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