Error. MBXBackup Fatal: Failed to configure message service

Error message

MBXBackup Fatal: Failed to Configure Message Service. Networking error
Check server name:EXCHANGED : MAPI_E_NETWORK ERROR

Error description

The error indicates that Microsoft Exchange Server services do not register to listen on ports in IPv6 stack, but only in IPv4 stack.

Steps to diagnose

First check VSS. For this, open Command Prompt on the Microsoft Exchange server, and run VSSadmin list writers.

If you get an empty list, it is a different problem. Continue with troubleshooting your VSS writer issues.

You must disable VSS for the mailbox-level backups.

Also check if MAPI needs to be updated.

Next, check the Application Logs on the server. Look for a message like:

Information 5/18/2011 4:00:00 AM MSExchangeIS Public Store General 1074136261. The database "First Storage Group\Public Folder Store (SEL-BES)" has 0 megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated."

This means the Public Store is out of space.

Next, right-click the client and select client properties. Click the Diagnostics tab and run the command systeminfo without the quotes. This will return information about the exchange server. Make note of the host name of the system, then run the command ping hostname, where hostname is the information gathered from the previous command, and without the quotes. This should return an IP address.

If the IP address it returns is IPv4 (for example, 127.0.0.1), there is no issue. If it returns an IPv6 address (for example, fe80::227:eff:fe23:e25), follow the instructions to disable IPv6.

Steps to resolve

If possible, clear space from the Public Store.

Increase space available for store

Use the following instructions to increase the space available for the store:

Please carefully consider these instructions. If you choose to use the instructions, please be cautious with every step.

If the store is made too large, it can also cause problems. 16 GB is the default and 75 GB is the maximum.

1. Install Microsoft Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2.

2. Open Registry Editor.

3. Find the HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/MSExchangeIS/<yourservername> key.

4. Under the server name, right-click the private entry, click New, and then click DWORD VALUE.

5. Name it Database Size Limit in GB (mind the case sensitivity).

6. Double-click this new value, change its type to decimal, and enter any number up to 75. This is the size in GB that you want it to be.

7. Repeat steps from 4 to 6 for the public entry.

8. Restart Exchange Information Store Service.

Disable IPv6

This only applies if the Microsoft Exchange Server host is not also a domain controller.

1. In Control Panel, go to Network Connections.

2. Right-click a network connection, and then click Properties.

3. Clear IPv6 from the list of protocols used for this connection.

4. Repeat for other network connections.

After disabling IPv6, you will need to modify the system hosts file to exclude the IPv6 address.

1. Open Notepad as administrator.

2. Go to File, and then click Open.

3. Find and select C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts, and then click Open.

4. Comment the line with localhost.

5. Add the following two lines:

   <IPv4 address> <hostname of the computer>
   <IPv4 address> <FQDN of the computer>
   

   For example:

   # 127.0.0.1 localhost
   127.0.0.1 exchange-server
   127.0.0.1 exchange-server.your-domain.com
   

6. Save the file and close it.

After that, you should be able to run the ping command on the Diagnostics tab, and it should return the IPv4 address for the local host of 127.0.0.1.