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Exchange Server 2007 Encounters Leap Year-Related Error

A Microsoft blog post states that "some" Exchange 2007 administrators experienced an error processing the February 29 date.

According to a post on Microsoft's Exchange blogs Friday, some Exchange 2007 administrators experienced an error relating to how the program processed the Feb. 29 date.

The error appeared for some customers when trying to do certain configurations, the post read, including creating or enabling a mailbox. Others had problems setting up a new Exchange 2007 server.

The error reads, "The Exchange server address list service failed to respond. This could be because of an address list or email address policy configuration error."

According to the post, the problem occurred only if an administrator "started or restarted the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service between 12:00AM UTC, Feb 29, 2008 and 12:00AM UTC, Mar 1, 2008."

Microsoft said it is working on a fix. In the meantime, the company said, customers can restart the server now that Feb. 29 has passed; the error should not occur.

According to comments under the post, several IT pros had a frustrating day Friday.

"New Exchange 2007 install yesterday," commented one under the post. "Built the servers, all working fantastic during the week. Took them to site Friday, 11 a.m. tried to add users -- failed. Spent 8 hours trying to fix it, removed Exchange, in and out of adsiedit, stripped it all clean and reinstalled. Same problem. Left site tired, depressed and confused with a plan to reload the infrastructure on Monday...Tried to add a user at 9 a.m. this morning, March 1st and worked like a dream. Speechless."

"Just spent the best part of 9 hours searching the Web and trying to work out what happened. An earlier warning would have been much appreciated," commented another IT pro. "Thanks for finding out the problem though...I might be able to salvage the weekend.

Another commented: "Now you have four years time for the hotfix. Should be enough."

About the Author

Becky Nagel is the vice president of Web & Digital Strategy for 1105's Enterprise Computing and Education Groups, where she oversees the front-end Web team and deals with all aspects of digital strategy for the groups. She also serves as executive editor the ECG Web sites, and you'll even find her byline on PureAI.com, the ECG group's newest site for enterprise developers working with AI. She recently gave a talk at a leading technical publishers conference about how changes in Web technology may impact publishers' bottom lines. Follow her on twitter @beckynagel.