DOCUMENT:Q217155  30-SEP-1999  [exchange]
TITLE   :XADM: Missing MIME Boundary Causes Bad MIME Prolog
PRODUCT :Microsoft Exchange
PROD/VER:winnt:5.5
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:exc55 EXC55SP3Fix

======================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SYMPTOMS
========

When Microsoft Internet Mail Service receives a MIME-encoded message that has a
large MIME prolog and the message is relayed, an endless loop in content
conversion may result in a temporary file with an .stf extension that grows
until all the disk space is consumed or the Internet Mail Service is shut down.
The .stf file can also grow as a result of a POP3 or IMAP4 client downloading
mail from the server.

CAUSE
=====

This problem is typically because of a missing boundary before a body part
causing the body part to be interpreted as part of the prolog. If the prolog is
big enough to be within approximately 76 bytes of the current available buffer
space, the prolog is emitted but leaving no room for the boundary to fit in.
This results in an endless loop of emitting the same prolog over and over again
while the temporary file grows in size.

A typical example would be:

   Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----
   _=_NextPart_001_01BE4633.82DAE140"
   Content-Type: text/plain

A missing boundary here makes the all of this portion to be prolog:

   ===========================================
   AAAAAAA AA AAAAAAA AAAAAAA AA AAA AAAA AAAAA AAAA  AAAA AAAAAAA.

   AAA AA AA AAAA AAAAAAAA AAAAAA AAAA AAAAAAAA AA AAA AAA AAAAAAAA?

   BBBBBBB BBBBBBB, BBBBBB, BBBBBBBB B, BBBB, BBBBBB B BBBBBB
   CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

   CCC CCCC CCCC CCCCCCC DD DDD DD DD DDDDDDD, DD DD D DDDDDDDDDD
   DDDDDDDDD. DDDD DD DDD DD DD DDDDD DDD DDD DDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDD DD DDDD
   DDDD DDDDDDDDDD DD DDDDDD DDD DDD DDDDDDD DDDDDDD, DDDDDDDDDDDD
   DDDDDDD DDDD DDD DDDD DDDD DDD DDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDD.
   DDDDDD DDDD DDDDDDD, DDDDDDDD DDDD DDDDDDD DDD DDDDDD DD DDDDDDD DDDDD'D
   EEE EEEEEEEEEE EEEE EEEEEEE EEEEEE EEEEE EEEEEE EEE EEEEEEEE
   EEEEEE, EEEE EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE.

   EEEEEEEEE EEEEEEE EEEEEEE: EEEEEEE, EEEEEE EEEEEEE, EEEEEEEE,
   EEEEEE EEEEEEE EEEEEEEEE EE EEE

   EEEE EEEEEEE
   FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
   ============================================
     <<FFFFFFF_FFFFF_FFFF_FFFFFFFFFFFFFF>>
   Prolog Ends here
   ------_=_NextPart_001_01BE4633.82DAE140

RESOLUTION
==========

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server
version 5.5. For additional information, please see the following article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Q191014 XGEN: How to Obtain the Latest Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or
later:

Component: Information Store

+-------------------------+
| File name  | Version    | 
+-------------------------+
| Gapi32.dll | 5.5.2558.0 | 
+-------------------------+
| Mdbmsg.dll | 5.5.2558.0 | 
+-------------------------+
| Store.exe  | 5.5.2558.0 | 
+-------------------------+


STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server
version 5.5. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service
Pack 3.

Additional query words: mdbdata large STF .STF files grow

======================================================================
Keywords          : exc55 EXC55SP3Fix 
Technology        : kbExchangeSearch kbExchange550 kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : winnt:5.5
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

=============================================================================

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