Exchange Active Directory Provider lost contact with all global catalog servers in the site

 

Topic Last Modified: 2006-12-18

The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) monitors the Windows Application log on computers that are running Exchange Server 2007 and generates this alert when the event or events specified in the following Details table are logged.

To learn more about this event, do one or more of the following:

  • Review the description of the event that includes the variables specific to your environment. From the MOM Operator Console, select this alert, and then click the Properties tab.

  • Review all events that have been logged that meet the criteria of this MOM alert. From the MOM Operator Console, click the Events tab, and then double-click the event in the list for which you want to review the event description.

Details

Product Name

Exchange

Product Version

8.0 (Exchange Server 2007)

Event ID

2085

Event Source

MSExchange ADAccess

Alert Type

Warning

MOM Rule Path

Microsoft Exchange Server/Exchange 2007/Common Components/Active Directory Access

MOM Rule Name

Exchange Active Directory Provider lost contact with all global catalog servers in the site. Make sure that at least one domain controller in the local site has been promoted to become a global catalog server.

Explanation

This event indicates that no suitable global catalog servers exist in the local site. DSAccess will use out-of-site global catalog servers, but they may respond slower. This can cause message queuing and network saturation. The loss of all global catalogs in a site is an unusual occurrence that must be investigated.

This event may be logged when the following conditions are true:

  • No domain controllers exist in the local site.

  • All in-site domain controllers are down.

  • Network problems prevent the Exchange server from contacting the domain controllers.

  • Permission problems exist.

  • Configuration errors exist.

User Action

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

  • Make sure that at least one domain controller in the local site has been promoted to become a global catalog server, and that enough time has passed to synchronize with other global catalog servers.

  • If a global catalog server is expected to be present, confirm it is running and reachable over the network from the Exchange server.

  • Use the nltest /dsgetdc: /site:<local site name> command to verify that a global catalog server can be located in the local site. Look for the global catalog server flag in the nltest output. The NLTest tool is installed with the Windows support tools.

  • Check the Application log for related events. The detail in other MSExchangeADAccess events and other events may help determine the root cause of this warning. Increase diagnostic logging for the MSExchangeADAccess\Topology category to Minimum or higher.

    • To review the current MSExchangeADAccess service diagnostic logging settings, in the Exchange Management Shell, type Get-EventLogLevel MSExchangeADAccess.

    • To change the logging level for the Topology category, in the Exchange Management Shell, type Set-EventlogLevel MSExchangeADAccess\Topology -Level Minimum.

  • If MSExchangeADAccess Event ID 2080 is logged, no suitable global catalogs may have been found when initial topology discovery completed. Review that event to determine which domain controllers have been contacted and if they are unsuitable for any reasons. Correct any problems as indicated by the event description. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 316300, Event ID 2080 from MSExchangeDSAccess.

  • If MSExchangeADAccess Event ID 2070 is logged, a global catalog may be down or is unreachable. Review the event for more information about why each domain controller has become unsuitable. ADAccess found no suitable global catalogs when initial topology discovery completed.

  • Use the Ping or PathPing command-line tools to test basic connectivity. Use Ping to isolate network hardware problems and incompatible configurations. Use PathPing to detect packet loss over multiple-hop trips. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 325487, How to troubleshoot network connectivity problems.

For more information about diagnostic logging commands, see Get-EventLogLevel and Set -EventLogLevel in the Exchange 2007 Help.

For More Information

To search the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles based on criteria that generated this alert, visit the Search the Support Knowledge Base (KB) Web site.

To review Exchange 2007 event message articles that may not be represented by Exchange 2007 MOM alerts, see the Events and Errors Message Center.

If you are not already doing so, consider running the tools that Microsoft Exchange offers to help administrators analyze and troubleshoot their Exchange environment. These tools can help you make sure that your configuration is in line with Microsoft best practices. They can also help you identify and resolve performance issues, improve mail flow, and better manage disaster recovery scenarios. Go to the Toolbox node of the Exchange Management Console to run these tools now. For more information about these tools, see Toolbox in the Exchange Server 2007 Help.