This event indicates that the Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 transport component failed a scheduled availability check.

The MSExchange Transport ServerAlive check is designed to verify that no problems are affecting the general availability of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) connectors or the transport server.

The ServerAlive performance counter has the following possible values:

• 100: The WorkerProcessManager sets the ServerAlive value to 100 when it detects that a worker starts running. WorkerProcessManager uses the OnWorkerContacted event to determine whether a worker has started running.
  
  
• 0: The WorkerProcessManager sets the ServerAlive value to 0 (zero) when it detects that a worker stops running. WorkerProcessManager uses the OnWorkerExited event to determine whether a worker has stopped running.
  
  

System Center Operations Manager examines the ServerAlive performance counter value every five minutes. An alert is triggered when the average value of the counter is less than 50 over a five-minute period.

This alert indicates that an availability issue is causing the transport server to stop responding. For example, the server might be out of hard disk space.

For more information, see Understanding Transport Pipeline.

To resolve this problem, do one or more of the following:

• Review the Application log and System log on your Exchange 2010 servers for related events. For example, events that occur immediately before and after this event may provide more information about the root cause of this error.
  
  
• Review the Operations Console in Operations Manager for detailed information about the cause of this problem. For more information, see the "Introduction" section in this article.
  
  
• Examine the System log to determine whether the server is out of hard disk space.
  
  
• You may have to increase diagnostics logging to log the component startup sequence during the startup process of the Microsoft Exchange Transport service. To increase diagnostics logging for the Transport component, follow these steps:
  
  
  1. In Registry Editor, locate the following registry subkey:
     
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Current Control set\Services\MSExchangeTransport\diagnostics
     
     
  2. Set the following REG_DWORD values to 7:
     
     
  • Smtpreceive
    
    
  • Smtpsend
    
    
  • DSN
    
    
  • Components
    
    
  • Remote Delivery
    
    
  • Categorizer
    
    
• Examine the MSExchange Transport ServerAlive performance counter by using Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor.
  
  
• Resolve your issue by using self-support options, assisted support options, and other resources. You can access these resources from the Exchange Server Solutions Center. From this page, click Self-Support Options in the navigation pane to use self-help options. Self-help options include searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base, posting a question at the Exchange Server forums, and others. Alternatively, in the navigation pane, you can click Assisted Support Options to contact a Microsoft support professional. Because your organization may have a specific procedure for directly contacting Microsoft Technical Support, be sure to review your organization's guidelines first.
  
  

If you are not already doing so, consider running the Exchange tools created to help you analyze and troubleshoot your Exchange environment. These tools can help make sure that your configuration aligns with Microsoft best practices. They can also help you identify and resolve performance issues, improve mail flow, and better manage disaster recovery scenarios. To run these tools, go to the Toolbox node of the Exchange Management Console. To learn more about these tools, see Managing Tools in the Toolbox.