MS Exchange Question.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - MS Exchange Question.

Posted: 6/16/2009 12:59:41 PM EDT

Hey all, I have a customer that is having an email issue and thought I might look into it for them.

They have Windows server 2003 Small Business Server and are running Exchange on that.

The problem is that two new users can't receive external email. They can send to anyone just fine and receive internal email just fine but can't receive external emails.

Seems like it would be just a setting on each of those accounts since everyone else is working fine.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:08:11 PM EDT

[#1]

Did you check their accounts in ADUC to make sure they have a correct/valid SMTP address? Have you tried a Telnet test to see if you get any errors? Do people sending them emails get bounce-backs that list an error?

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:19:26 PM EDT

[#2]

Have you tried sending mail to them by hand? You can do this from a UNIX system or from an older Microsoft system that had the better TCP/IP stack before the idiots at Microsoft ignorantly decided to delete their telnet program:

telnet yourSMTPserver.com
HELO senderdomain.com
MAIL FROM: <[email protected]>
RCPT TO: <[email protected]>
DATA
Type some text here
.

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:31:51 PM EDT

[#3]

I haven't checked anything yet, I'm probably going to go there tomorrow to take a look but was hoping to have a few things to try which I have none after spending about an hour searching online and that's why I posted here.

I don't know anything about exchange so this may be an issue but again, it seems like it has something to do with the accounts since the rest are working ok.

The people sending the emails are getting errors bounced back but I'm not sure what they are at this time.

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:36:38 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
I haven't checked anything yet, I'm probably going to go there tomorrow to take a look but was hoping to have a few things to try which I have none after spending about an hour searching online and that's why I posted here.

I don't know anything about exchange so this may be an issue but again, it seems like it has something to do with the accounts since the rest are working ok.

The people sending the emails are getting errors bounced back but I'm not sure what they are at this time.

If you know what their email addresses are supposed to be, send them one so you get the bounce-back message. It will probably contain some helpful info to assist you in troubleshooting this.

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:52:28 PM EDT

[#5]

Here it is:

Recipient address rejected: User unknown in relay recipient table

Does that help?

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:54:16 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Here it is:

Recipient address rejected: User unknown in relay recipient table

Does that help?

In this case I am wondering if they have a spam filter in front of their Exchange Server that doesn't know all of the recipients.

Do an nslookup for the MX record of the domain. Telnet to that system on port 25 and see if it identifies itself as an Exchange server.

Edit - Correcting port number to 25 for SMTP

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:57:56 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Here it is:

Recipient address rejected: User unknown in relay recipient table

Does that help?

In this case I am wondering if they have a spam filter in front of their Exchange Server that doesn't know all of the recipients.

Do an nslookup for the MX record of the domain. Telnet to that system on port 22 and see if it identifies itself as an Exchange server.

Did you mean port 25? I agree with you that this could be a spam filter problem.

OP: Did you create these accounts? If, after you've checked out the suggestions above, everything looks right, you might want to try removing the exchange attributes from them, re-adding the exchange attributes, then reconnecting them with their mailboxes....

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:03:17 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Here it is:

Recipient address rejected: User unknown in relay recipient table

Does that help?

In this case I am wondering if they have a spam filter in front of their Exchange Server that doesn't know all of the recipients.

Do an nslookup for the MX record of the domain. Telnet to that system on port 22 and see if it identifies itself as an Exchange server.

Did you mean port 25? I agree with you that this could be a spam filter problem.

OP: Did you create these accounts? If, after you've checked out the suggestions above, everything looks right, you might want to try removing the exchange attributes from them, re-adding the exchange attributes, then reconnecting them with their mailboxes....

I did create the accounts for the domain. This is a new customer that I took over but again, I don't know exchange so I'm clueless on what you're saying..

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:04:54 PM EDT

[#9]

sounds like they are using 3rd party spam ( postini ) and the users haven't been setup on postini yet. you can find out for sure by looking at the MX record for the domain. if it points to an IP that IS NOT the server, then that's your problem.

to find mx record open a command prompt.

type:
nslookup (enter)
set type=mx (enter)
domain.com (enter) NOT mail.domain.com

it should point to mail.yourcompany.com or that ip. if not ( postini) you need to get their account info PM me if any questions.

edit: this is really common with new clients.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:05:37 PM EDT

[#10]

Did their SMTP address get generated properly?

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:05:52 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Here it is:

Recipient address rejected: User unknown in relay recipient table

Does that help?

In this case I am wondering if they have a spam filter in front of their Exchange Server that doesn't know all of the recipients.

Do an nslookup for the MX record of the domain. Telnet to that system on port 22 and see if it identifies itself as an Exchange server.

Did you mean port 25? I agree with you that this could be a spam filter problem.

OP: Did you create these accounts? If, after you've checked out the suggestions above, everything looks right, you might want to try removing the exchange attributes from them, re-adding the exchange attributes, then reconnecting them with their mailboxes....

I did create the accounts for the domain. This is a new customer that I took over but again, I don't know exchange so I'm clueless on what you're saying..

I'll send you a bill for consulting to do it remotely.

Basically what he is saying by removing the Exchange attributes is that you can make an account no longer be an exchange user. Then you add it back in and it is kind of like defibrillating somebody. But, you need to be careful so that you don't delete their mailbox too.

If you want, you can IM me one of the eMail addresses and I can dig into this.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:10:58 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Basically what he is saying by removing the Exchange attributes is that you can make an account no longer be an exchange user. Then you add it back in and it is kind of like defibrillating somebody. But, you need to be careful so that you don't delete their mailbox too.

That one is good for clearing up lots of problems.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:13:14 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
sounds like they are using 3rd party spam ( postini ) and the users haven't been setup on postini yet. you can find out for sure by looking at the MX record for the domain. if it points to an IP that IS NOT the server, then that's your problem.

to find mx record open a command prompt.

type:
nslookup (enter)
set type=mx (enter)
domain.com (enter) NOT mail.domain.com

it should point to mail.yourcompany.com or that ip. if not ( postini) you need to get their account info PM me if any questions.

edit: this is really common with new clients.

responsible mail address = hostmaster.no-ip.com

So I need to add these users accounts to noip.com some how I'm guessing?

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:18:23 PM EDT

[#14]

There is a No-IP.com utility on the server that I ran and forced an update but still get the same bounce back message when trying to send to an email address.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:21:25 PM EDT

[#15]

when you type in the server name into nslookup it gives you a few addresses. you want the one with the lowest number (10)

this is for google.com

google.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = smtp4.google.com
google.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = smtp1.google.com
google.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = smtp2.google.com
google.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = smtp3.google.com

usually there is a 10, a 20, 30 they are tried in that order with 10 being first.

if no-ip really is MX preference = 10 then it sounds like mail is managed/filtered at no-ip. if you give them a call they will help you in the right direction.

pacificom.biz for any further help. i'm JD@

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:23:52 PM EDT

[#16]

In looking at no-ip's services I'm really guessing they are a front end for mail? or a spam filter? something like that. mail is going through them to your client. ( not the best scenario, more links in the chain )

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:41:51 PM EDT

[#17]

Open AD Users and Computers on the machine with Exchange installed. Make sure they have the Exchange specific property pages in their user accounts (their Exchange related AD information). It should list email addresses and other information. If not, right click the User and select Exchange Tasks to setup a mailbox. If they do have Exchange property pages, do a telnet to port 25 and do a manual test. Then try a manual test to whatever their external SMTP server is and see what the result is.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:50:11 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
sounds like they are using 3rd party spam ( postini ) and the users haven't been setup on postini yet. you can find out for sure by looking at the MX record for the domain. if it points to an IP that IS NOT the server, then that's your problem.

to find mx record open a command prompt.

type:
nslookup (enter)
set type=mx (enter)
domain.com (enter) NOT mail.domain.com

it should point to mail.yourcompany.com or that ip. if not ( postini) you need to get their account info PM me if any questions.

edit: this is really common with new clients.

Did I want to do this from their server or off of their network?

when off of the network I get my ISP's info but under the name I looked up is where I get the ns2.no-ip.com etc. which I'm assuming is the main part of the info needed?

Should I call No-ip?

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:51:17 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
Did their SMTP address get generated properly?

I'm assuming so, when I check these two user accounts against the rest that work, everything looks the same, especially under the exchange tabs.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:54:02 PM EDT

[#20]

I get a connection failed when I try to telnet to mail.domainname.com 25

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:58:19 PM EDT

[#21]

no-ip.com is a dynamic DNS site, so it sounds like their mail server is taking delivery of internet email directly. Check and see that the no-ip address you are getting for the MX record matches the external IP address of the mail server, or more likely, router.

Try connecting with telnet to 25 to the no-ip address from outside their network and sending a test email.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:59:15 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:

Quoted:
sounds like they are using 3rd party spam ( postini ) and the users haven't been setup on postini yet. you can find out for sure by looking at the MX record for the domain. if it points to an IP that IS NOT the server, then that's your problem.

to find mx record open a command prompt.

type:
nslookup (enter)
set type=mx (enter)
domain.com (enter) NOT mail.domain.com

it should point to mail.yourcompany.com or that ip. if not ( postini) you need to get their account info PM me if any questions.

edit: this is really common with new clients.

Did I want to do this from their server or off of their network?

when off of the network I get my ISP's info but under the name I looked up is where I get the ns2.no-ip.com etc. which I'm assuming is the main part of the info needed?

Should I call No-ip?

You would want to do it from outside this network. do it from another client. this will tell you what the whole internet sees, which is what you want. you could also just type:

server 4.2.2.2 (enter) after you set type=mx . this makes nslookup ask 4.2.2.2 what it knows. ( 4.2.2.2 is a verizon dns server i think )

Posted: 6/16/2009 3:38:58 PM EDT

[#23]

pseudojd,

log out of arfcom and log back in please.

Also, I called no-ip and those user accounts just needed to be added over there under the companies account. I did that and tested it and didn't get anything bounced back and when looking at the exchange server manager it looks like the emails showed up in their mailboxes so I should be good to go.

Thanks so much for your help.

A huge thanks to everyone else for all of the suggestions and help, I really appreciate it.

You guys kick ass.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - MS Exchange Question.

General » General Discussion

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us