Blog Post: Error encountered when creating Routing Group Connectors between Exchange 2010 and 2003: Active Directory operation failed. The name reference is invalid.

SYMPTOM

 

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You run the following cmdlet and it failed to complete.

 

CMDLET\>New-RoutingGroupConnector -SourceTransportServers "Server01","Server02" -TargetTransportServers

 

"Eexch01","Eexch02" -BiDirectional $true -name TW2003-2010 -debug -verbose

 

Active Directory operation failed on dc.domain.com. This error is not retriable. Additional information: T

 

he name reference is invalid.

 

This may be caused by replication latency between Active Directory domain controllers.

 

Active directory response: 000020B5: AtrErr: DSID-03152392, #1:

 

0: 000020B5: DSID-03152392, problem 1005 (CONSTRAINT_ATT_TYPE), data 0, Att 78e030df (msExchSourceBridgeheadServers

 

DN)

 

+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (0:Int32) [New-RoutingGroupConnector], ADConstraintViolationException

 

+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : 6C3EB645,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.SystemConfigurationTasks.NewRoutingGroupConnector

 

VERBOSE: [10:22:19.103 GMT] New-RoutingGroupConnector : Ending processing &

 

ANALYSIS

 

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From the following output, you can see that the object DN of Default SMTP Virtual server is the same on all servers except one.

 

CN=2,CN=SMTP,CN=Protocols,CN=SERVER02,CN=Servers,…

 

CN=1,CN=SMTP,CN=Protocols,CN=SERVER01,CN=Servers,…

 

CN=1,CN=SMTP,CN=Protocols,CN=EEXCH02,CN=Servers,…

 

CN=1,CN=SMTP,CN=Protocols,CN=EEXCH01,CN=Servers,…

 

CAUSE

 

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This is a known issue with Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010

 

Here is a workaround for Exchange 2003 server (it only apply if the Exchange server is not Exchange cluster server)

 

1. Close Exchange system manager

 

2. Install windows support tools

 

3. Open ADSIEDIT.MSC

 

4. Locate on <Configuration>\services\Microsoft Exchange\<Org Name>\Administrative Groups\<Exchange 2003 AG name>\Servers\<Exchange 2003 servername>\Protocol\SMTP

 

5. On “CN=2” folder, Right click it and select “Rename”, type “1”

 

6. Force DC replication and restart SMTP service on the Exchange server

 

After that , you can add the Exchange 2003 server as source or target of the RGC by below powershell.

 

Set-routinggroupconnector –identity <name of RGC> -sourceTransportServers < all source transport servers’ FQDN> -TargetTransportServers < all target transport servers’ FQDN>

 

Note:

 

1. You need to do for two RGC, because RGC is two ways.

 

2. You need to retype server’s FQDN on sourcetransporservers or targetTransportServers even though they are added.

 

WORKAROUND

 

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Since your server is a cluster server, we cannot modify the DN to workaround the issue.

 

?????? Cmdlet ???? SERVER02 ???????

 

New-RoutingGroupConnector -Name TW2010-2003 -SourceTransportServers SERVER01,SERVER02 -TargetTransportServers EEXCH01,EEXCH02 -BiDirectional $true

 

 

Aubrey ODay Drew Barrymore Marley Shelton Thalía Brooke Burke