Hi all,Did a search and couldn't find anyone with a similar problem.On Exchange running on Windows Server 2003, I followed this guide -http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=281926To set up forwarding email from a users account to an external email address.Everything looks ok, I've been through the settings several times to check, but no emails are forwarded to the external email (a blackberry webmail account and tried a GMail account, using the SMTP option).Seems to have worked for others, not really sure why it won't work for me, anyone know why, is there a security setting somewhere I need to change?TIA

You probably haven't configured Exchange 2003 to allow forwards to the Internet. The article below is for Exchange 2000 but the same thing applies to Exchange 2003. Check out Figure 11.3 for the "allow automatic forward" option. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722507.aspx

Hi Jim, It should work without enabling Allow Automatic Forward in Internet Message Format of Global Setting. Did you check in Message Tracking what it shows? How to Override Blocked Auto-Forwarding for Select Usershttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/317652

Thanks for the reply Neil, unfortunately automatic forward is already enabled, should have mentioned that in my initial post.Another thing I've been looking into is Exchange MTA stacks, the service is disabled by default on 2003. I've read that the service is no longer required post-2000, but could this be the cause?Kinda clutching at straws here!

Yes, sorry about that. I was just having a chat with Amit and he's right - it should work without that setting when you use a contact. As Amit also says, what does message tracking reveal?

Hi Amit, thanks for your reply.I hadn't checked Message Tracking, but I just did. Last email I tested, delivered to the internal account but then -SMTP: Started Outbound Transfer of MessageSMTP: Non-Delivered Report (NDR) GeneratedWhere would that NDR go? Didn't go back to the external account the test email was sent from, but NDRs are set to be sent to the originator.

Hello Jim, Are you able to send directly to contact which you created? Checkout the queues for NDR which has generated.

Hi Amit,No, cannot send to the contact, get an NDR internally but nothing externally.There are no messages in the queues.Thanks for your help.

There you go... What does NDR say when you send a mail directly to contact? Once you solve that issue and able to send mail to contact then you can set forwarding address. BTW, is smtp addressof contact is correct and without any space at beginning or at end? Instead of slecting contact while sending mail directly you can give the email address of external recipient and check if it is contact issue or some issue with external recipient. Also check by sending a mail from your personal id (yahoo/gmail...) to that external recipient if it is sucessful.

I think this NDR is just becuase you may not configured the SMTP Connector. By default in Exchange2003 you can receive the emails internally but to receive externally you gotta configure the SMTP connector. Create a new connector and use * (for all external).I hope this will help you.

Amit, sorry I may have misunderstood.Emails to the external contacts (user.name@gmail.com or username@mobileemail.vodafone.net) get through fine if sent directly to those addresses.SMTP address has no spaces at the beginning or the end.

Ok. As you said "get an NDR internally but nothing externally" while sending mail to contact, can you post NDR here?

Hi Amit,I thought you meant to send to the contact I'd created in ADUC, the NDR that came back obviously said user doesn't exist, as it's a contact!Could it be a relay problem with the SMTP server we use? I remember we had some problems a while back where it was refusing to relay messages.I didn't set up this server and I'm by no means an expert, I'm wondering if it's the way it's been set up and there's a configuration somewhere else that needs changing.Adnan: The SMTP connector is configured correctly. Thanks though.

Just got it to work:When I set up the contact it created 4 SMTP entries - user.name@gmail.comJExt@domain.co.ukJExt@domain.localJExt@mail.domain.comWhen I sent to JExt@mail.domain.com it forwarded on fine to the GMail address.Is this normal behaviour, should those other 3 have been created and if I remove them will it just forward on to the user.name@gmail.com address?Thanks all for your help so far.

Well I think I'm going to have to be beaten.If I remove the other SMTP email addresses and just leave the gmail one, nothing gets forwarded.If I send an email internally to JExt@mail.domain.com it gets forwarded to the gmail account.If I send an email externally to JExt@mail.domain.com nothing goes through and no NDR.Tried setting JExt@mail.domain.com to primary in the email address but nothing gets forwarded from the emails to user@domain.com.Thanks all for your input though!

Ok, I've made some progress.I swapped over to a different SMTP server that I can get better support from and they've been pretty helpful as far as why the emails are failing to forward.If I send an email internally to the user, the email gets forwarded to the external gmail account ok.If I send an email from an external account to the internal user, the user gets the email but the email is not forwarded on to the external gmail account. p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:'Calibri','sans-serif';} .MsoChpDefault {;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt;margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} There was a SMTP communication problem with the recipient's email server. Please contact your system administrator. <domain.com #5.5.0 smtp;550 You must send with the domain domain.com not googlemail.com >I've been told that the reason for the rejection is because the message has a BLANK SENDER.Anyone any idea how to overcome this?Had a quick search and couldn't find anything.TIA