QMM EX: Error 0xe1000005. Internal DSA error

Directory Synchronization Agent, DSA is part of Quest Migration Manager for Exchange. Sometimes, DSA produces an error which is not really self-explanatory: Error 0xe1000005. Internal DSA error.

This article will show you what sources the error could have and how you solve this problem.

Internal DSA Error – Possible causes

During my latest customer deployment, the error always had the same reason: an empty X500 or SMTP address.

The error log filled up quickly with entries. Unfortunately, it has never been one of the logged user accounts that created the problem. They were just in the same block with the one user account that caused the problem.

How could we find out, that we were dealing with an empty address?
The hint was in a log file entry like this one:

Checking for empty X500 or SMTP addresses

It is quite usual to get about 100 Internal DSA Error entries while using QMM for Exchange. These entries however, do not have any connection to the error. That’s why it is recommendable to run a quick check for empty X500 or SMTP addresses. It is most easily done via “Active Directory Users and Computers” or via Powershell with the following LDAP filter:

Check up via “Users and Computers“

Check up via Powershell

Afterwards you can delete the empty addresses e.g. with the ADSI Editor.