KB155840 - XCON: How the Use of '&' in Organization Name Affects Exchange

Article ID: 155840

Article Last Modified on 10/28/2006

Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q155840

SUMMARY

If an ampersand (&) is included as part of a Microsoft Exchange Organization name, it will not cause any routing or addressing problems. The Distinguished Name (DN) will show the Organization name exactly as it was typed. However, the X.400 addresses that are generated will have a question mark (?) substituted for the ampersand and the name will be truncated to 16 characters (per the X.400 specifications).

MORE INFORMATION

X.400 does not allow an ampersand in addresses, so the question mark is substituted. The fact that the DN shows a different literal string for the Organization name compared to the X.400 Address suggests, at first glance, that this might be a source of problems. However, this is not true. The X.400 Address and the DN are used for totally different processes. No attempt to make these two items look the same should be made. This is by design.

When you one-off address a message to another user (to test a site/X.400 connector, for example), the X.400 address should be typed just as it appears on the Email Addresses property page for that recipient in the Microsoft Exchange Administrator program.

For additional information about the printable character set, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

108732 X400: Address Syntax

This is the character set that is allowed in messaging systems that conform to the X.400 series of specifications. This information can also be found in the X.409 Specification, which is contained in the CCITT (The International Telegraph & Telephone Consultative Committee) Red Book volume VIII-fascicle VIII.7.

Keywords: kbusage KB155840