XADM: "$" in DDA Value Migrated Incorrectly in X.400 PAB Entry (159292)

SYMPTOMS

After you migrate an X.400 Microsoft Mail Personal Address Book (PAB) entry that contains a dollar sign ($)in the DDA value field and then try to send a message to this address in the Microsoft Exchange client, the message may not be delivered. Something similar to the following is returned to the originator:

From: System Administrator
Sent: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 12:16 PM
Subject: Undeliverable: test using migrated PAB address

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject:test using migrated PAB address
Sent:11/5/96 12:16:08 PM

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

'X.400' on 11/5/96 12:16:12 PM
The message was undelivered because the specified recipient postal address was incorrect
MSEXCH:MSExchangeIS:SITE:SERVER

CAUSE

A dollar sign, which was used in Microsoft Mail to signify that the preceding character should not be treated as a delimiter, is not a valid character to be used in a DDA value, according to the CCITT (ITU) X.400 specifications (see More Information for more details). The preliminary check of the address by the Microsoft Exchange Information Store correctly uncovers the invalid character and returns the message to the originator as undeliverable.

MORE INFORMATION

During the migration process, when the dollar sign is encountered it is replaced with a forward slash mark or solidus (/). For example, an address that had the following format in Microsoft Mail

   /c=us/admd=attmail/dda.type=id/dda.value=fax(b)7135466286($/User One)

is migrated as follows into the Microsoft Exchange client PAB:

   /c=us/admd=attmail/dda.type=id/dda.value=fax(b)7135466286(//Pete Petree)

NOTE: The Microsoft Exchange Information Store treats a single forward slash mark in a DDA value as delimiter; therefore, a double forward slash needs to be used to send the message. Please see the following for more information:

159291 XADM: Single Forward Slash Treated as Delimiter in DDA Value

The CCITT (ITU) 1988 Blue Book X.208, Table 5 defines the Printable Character set as follows:

   Capital letters A, .. Z
   Small letters a, .. z
   Digits 0, .. 9
   Space
   Apostrophe '
   Left paren(
   Right paren )
   Plus sign+
   Comma ,
   Hyphen -
   Full stop .
   Solidus / 
   Colon :
   Equal sign =
   Question mark ?

A DDA value field can only contain a printable string.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Exchange 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):