Recently I created a custom receive connector for application use (printer, alerting, etc). After a server restart, the MSExchangeFrontEndTransport Service could not start. It hangs at “Starting” and then it crashes.
The error events was:
Event ID: 1019 – MSExchangeFrontEndTransport, error: Failed to start listening (Error: 10048). Binding: 0.0.0.0:25.
Event ID: 1018 – MSExchangeFrontEndTransport, error: The address is already in use. Binding: 0.0.0.0:25.
Event ID: 1036 – MSExchangeFrontEndTransport, error: Inbound direct trust authentication failed for certificate %1. The source IP address of the server that tried to authenticate to Microsoft Exchange is [%2]. Make sure EdgeSync is running properly.
The problem was that I created the custom receive connector with “Hub Transport” role and that causes the problem. I changed the receive connector role to “Frontend Transport” and the service started like a charm. The only way to change a receive connector’s role is using powershell:
#First run: Get-ReceiveConnector | select name,TransportRole #to see the name of the custom connectors that have "Hub Transport" role. #Be carefull to dont alter the default (pre-configured) connectors. Only change connectors that you have created. #Then run Set-ReceiveConenctor "connectorname" -TransportRole FrontendTransport #to change the connector's role to Frontend Transport role
Finally start and re-start (just to make sure) the MSExchangeFrontEndTransport Service
Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.
