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Exchange 2003: IIS Config error 4275 on a cluster

Originally published Last updated 26 comments

My Exchange 2003 cluster had been down for weeks. It used an active/passive configuration, but only one server had been running for months. The second virtual machine node had been shut down to save resources.

When I could no longer access my Exchange 2003 mailbox, I reviewed Event Viewer and Services on the active node. The system logs contained around one hundred errors with event ID 4275 in the IIS Config catalog category.

Error parsing XML file. Reason: An invalid character was found in the content. Incorrect XML.

IIS Config Errors and Event ID 4275 Exchange 2003

I filtered Event Viewer for Event ID 4275 to see when these errors started. The first event was on 12 December 2007.

IIS Config Errors and Event ID 4275 Exchange 2003

I tried starting the IIS Admin service manually and rebooting the server, but the IIS services still would not start. The server's IIS metabase had not been changed manually.

Restore the IIS metabase

I opened C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv and renamed Metabase.xml to Metabase.xml1. IIS uses this XML file to store its configuration database.

IIS Config Errors and Event ID 4275 Exchange 2003

Previous XML metabase files are stored in C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv\History.

IIS Config Errors and Event ID 4275 Exchange 2003

  1. I copied a metabase file from the History folder, dated just before the errors began, into C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv.
  2. I renamed the file to MetaDatabase.old.
  3. I opened the Services MMC console and started the IIS Admin and WWW services. Both started successfully.

Once the IIS services were running, I opened Cluster Administrator and brought the Exchange group online.

IIS Config Errors and Event ID 4275 Exchange 2003

After weeks of downtime, my Exchange 2003 cluster was finally working as configured. The second node was brought online and included in the cluster.

IIS Config Errors and Event ID 4275 Exchange 2003

Why did this happen?

The only explanation I could find was that a power outage had corrupted the IIS Metadatabase.xml file. I hope this article helps with similar issues. My problem involved Exchange 2003, but the same problem could affect another application that depends on IIS.

Update: 5 October 2011

Today (5 October 2011), I updated this post, mainly for the new website format and to correct the grammar. I am happy to see readers finding a solution here on my personal blog. Writing and maintaining the site takes personal time and effort. If you would like me to continue, please consider visiting the sponsor in the upper-right corner. Thanks again for being here.

26 comments

Comments from the original WordPress site, kept read-only.

  2. Nerdcentric

    Also solved my problem with a SBS2003 server. Exact same symptoms with the 4275 errors in the event log, but mine started with a bad sector on a hard drive. Thanks for the info!

  3. Dann Schuler

    I have to thank you for posting this. We had some corruption on a SBS2003 box and thought we were in for a long day. Most other posts i have found over the net were saying you need to uninstall and reinstall IIS to repair the metabase.

    Thanks again!!

  4. Lloyd

    We had this same problem after an abrupt power failure. My co-worker and I have been trying to figure out this problem for almost a week. We thought we may have to re-install IIS and
    Exchange. We didn't think it would be this easy to fix.
    Thank you very much for the post.

  5. Cesar

    Thx a Lot.

    This really work for my. And help me save a lot of time.

    Yesterday we have a problems with a log of Exchange 2007. Today with this one. Sound like something is wrong with server.

    Thanks again!!!

  6. Asad

    Thanks sooo much!!! I had applied Windows SBS updates and after the reboot I got this error! Followed your instructions and got IIS up and running within 15 minutes!

  9. Robert Berger

    Genial. Habe zuvor stundenlang versucht das Problem alleine zu beheben und mit dieser Anleitung war's in 10 Minuten erledigt.
    Vielen Dank!!

  10. Rowan

    Thanks, Works a treat. I install Backup Exec 12.5 which killed the metabase. Bloody Symantec

  13. Crille

    Thank you, this saved me from a non working Windows Homeserver Console connection (aswell as a nonworking IIS :) ).

  20. Sandy

    Thanks for posting and publishing this solution. It also helped me fix an 2003SBS exchange outage.

    One quick note and a typo I suspect. The rename of the history database copied into the Windows\System32\inetsrv was to Metabase.xml even though the solution you showed 'MetaDatabase.xml'. I assumed it needed to be the same as the old production name that I renamed using your first step in that same directory.

    After that and restarting the services all worked very well again.

    Thanks again!,
    Sandy

  22. Trent

    I was working on a major upgrade to our company software everything went pretty smooth but at the end of the day email would not work. This tip saved me from working over the weekend. It appears that the file was corrupted during a spontaneous reboot of the server, thanks.

  23. Charles C. Hocker

    Thank you very much. I had a SBS 2003 server that hung on shutdown and had to be manually shutdown. Following your instructions allow me to correct the MetaBase.XML and restart the STMP/IIS and Exchange services properly.

  26. Mike

    Thank you! Didn't have to rename it .old. Just took the history of file and renamed it to MetaBase