• Article

Mail submission is not keeping up with the work being presented by the changes to the locally mounted databases.

 

Applies to: Operations Manager Management Pack for Exchange 2010

Topic Last Modified: 2011-08-02

The Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager includes a performance data collection engine that is used to query performance counter objects on computers running Exchange 2010. For this Operations Manager rule, data is collected by using the performance counter specified in the Details table.

To review the value of the performance counter that generated this alert, in Operations Manager, double-click this alert, and then click the General tab. Review the description of the alert that includes the variables specific to your environment.

Details

Product Name

Exchange

Product Version

14.0 (Exchange 2010)

Object Name

MSExchange Assistants - Per Database

Counter Name

Average Event Processing Time in seconds

Instance Name

msexchangemailsubmission-total

Sample Interval

180

Server Role

Ex14. Mailbox

Warning Threshold

50

Rule Path

Microsoft Exchange Server/Exchange 2010/Mailbox/Mail Submission

Rule Name

Mail submission is not keeping up with the work being presented by the changes to the locally mounted databases.

Explanation

This event indicates that the Mail Submission Assistant (MSExchangeMailSubmission.exe) cannot handle the number of submission requests that are being made to the Exchange databases. This issue may occur if the mailbox server is under a heavy load. In this scenario, outbound messages may queue on the server.

The Assistants Infrastructure is part of the hosting application installation on servers that host the Mailbox server role. The Assistants Infrastructure is the component in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 that separates message processing business logic from the information store. The separation of business logic from the store has the advantage of reducing the load on the store and makes it easier to implement changes in business logic design and testing. This business logic includes the following features:

  • E-mail retention

  • Resource scheduling

  • Automated out-of-office messages

  • Automated calendaring features

To handle business logic processing, the Assistants Infrastructure makes use of event-based and time-based assistants known as Mailbox Assistants. To handle mail submission requests from the mailbox to the bridgehead, the Assistants Infrastructure uses an assistant known as the Mail Submission Assistant.

User Action

To resolve this problem, do one or more of the following:

  • Review the Application log and System log on your Exchange 2010 servers for related events. For example, events that occur immediately before and after this event may provide more information about the root cause of this error.

  • To review detailed information about the cause of this alert, use the Operations Console in Operations Manager. For more information, see the "Introduction" section in this topic.

  • Examine the event log entries for every Assistants Infrastructure and for each corresponding assistant.

  • Collect performance information for all the Assistants Infrastructure counters by using the MSExchange Assistants object. Also, collect performance data for the particular Mail Submission Assistant object.
    There is one instance for every hosting application per database on the server. The instance name contains the service name of the hosting application's service together with the database name. Additionally, there is a total instance for each hosting application. The "total" captures consolidated values for each counter for all assistants that are hosted by the application.

Note

If the Mailbox server hosts a public folder database, there will be a single instance for the database. This is because the Mail Submission Assistant must handle mail flow on any mail-enabled public folders in the database.

  • Use the Exchange Troubleshooting Resolution Assistant (ExTRA) to obtain Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) traces. For more information, see the Scotch's Blog article, Another Method of Obtaining ExTRA Traces.

    The content of each blog and its URL are subject to change without notice. The content within each blog is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. Use of included script samples or code is subject to the terms specified in the Microsoft Terms of Use.

  • Move some users to other mailbox servers.

  • Increase the number of Assistants Infrastructure threads for use with event-based assistant processing and time-based assistant processing. By default, the thread count for event-based processing is 12 per processor, and the default value for time-based processing is 16 threads per processor. To change the number of threads, create the following registry entries:

    HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeMailboxAssistants\Parameters
    Value name: EventDatabaseThrottle
    Value type: REG_DWORD

    Value data: 12 (default)

    Value name: TimeBasedDriverManagerThrottle
    Value type: REG_DWORD
    Value data: 16 (default)

  • Resolve your issue by using self-support options, assisted support options, and other resources. You can access these resources from the Exchange Server Solutions Center. From this page, click Self-Support Options in the navigation pane to use self-help options. Self-help options include searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base, posting a question at the Exchange Server forums, and other methods. Alternatively, in the navigation pane, you can click Assisted Support Options to contact a Microsoft support professional. Because your organization may have a specific procedure for directly contacting Microsoft Product Support Services, be sure to review your organization's guidelines first.

For More Information

If you are not already doing so, consider running the Exchange tools, which have been created to help you analyze and troubleshoot your Exchange environment. These tools can help make sure that your configuration aligns with Microsoft best practices. They can also help you identify and resolve performance issues and improve mail flow. To run these tools, go to the Toolbox node of the Exchange Management Console. To learn more about these tools, see Managing Tools in the Toolbox.