Mailboxes from Remote Servers Displayed for Manual/Scheduled Scans and May Cause Scan Failures

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Issue/Introduction

When configuring a manual/scheduled scan, mailboxes from remote Exchange servers are displayed in the Mailbox list. 

Symptoms

• If Symantec Mail Security for Exchange (SMSMSE) does not attempt to scan the remote mailboxes then the statistics for the "total number of mailboxes" and the "total number of mailboxes processed" may be different.
• If SMSMSE does attempt to scan the remote mailboxes there may be scan failures.
  
  The following error event will show up in the Windows Application Event log:
  
  Event Log: Application
  Event Type: Error
  Source: Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
  Category: Manual and Scheduled Scanning
  Event ID: 394
  ComputerName: SYMANTECSRV01
  Date/Time 9/11/2010 10:14:02 AM
  Message: Scan Failed: Weekly Scan. 

Conditions

• There are multiple Exchange 2007 mailbox servers each hosting separate mailboxes.
• The mailbox list for the Scheduled/Manual scan contains mailboxes from remote servers.

The way to determine this is to compare the master.mb file from both servers.  If the files list any of the same mailboxes then this condition is met.

The default location for this file is:

C:\Program Files(x86)\Symantec\SMSMSE\<version>\Server\Config\master.mb

• Selecting only mailboxes local to the server allows the scan to complete successfully.

1. Log into the Symantec Mail Security for Exchange (SMSMSE) adminstration console.
2. Click on the Scans tab.
3. Perform the following steps to configure a manual scan:

a. Click on Views|Manual Scan.
b. Click on Tasks|Edit manual Scan...
c. Click the Next button.
d. Select only mailboxes local to the server in the Mailboxes section of the dialog box.
e. Configure the remainder of the scan options.

4. Perform the following steps to configure a scheduled scan:

a. Click on Views|Scheduled Scans.
b. Click on either Tasks|New scan... or Tasks|Edit Scan....
c. Enter a name for the scan if appropriate then click the Next button.
d. Select only mailboxes local to the server in the Mailboxes section of the dialog box.
e. Configure the remainder of the scan options.
 

5. The scan runs successfully.

 

Cause

SMSMSE obtains the full list of mailboxes from Exchange.  The list is not filtered by SMSMSE to only mailboxes hosted on the local Exchange server.

Resolution

This issue is fixed in SMSMSE 6.5.5, upgrade to SMSMSE 6.5.5 to resolve this problem

Workaround

Use one of the following workarounds.

• Select only local mailboxes when configuring the scheduled/manual scan.

NOTE:  This workaround requires that the scan is reconfigured each time a new mailbox is added to the server.

 

1. Log into the Symantec Mail Security for Exchange (SMSMSE) adminstration console.
2. Click on the Scans tab.
3. Perform the following steps to configure a manual scan:

a. Click on Views|Manual Scan.
b. Click on Tasks|Edit manual Scan...
c. Click the Next button.
d. Select only mailboxes local to the server in the Mailboxes section of the dialog box.
e. Configure the remainder of the scan options.

4. Perform the following steps to configure a scheduled scan:

 

a. Click on Views|Scheduled Scans.
b. Click on either Tasks|New scan... or Tasks|Edit Scan....
c. Enter a name for the scan if appropriate then click the Next button.
d. Select only mailboxes local to the server in the Mailboxes section of the dialog box.
e. Configure the remainder of the scan options.
 

• Use background scanning instead of manual/scheduled scanning.  See the following article for a discussion of differences between manual/scheduled scans and background scans: Information Store scanning options within Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange.

 

Applies To

Exchange 2007