We are running Exchange Server 2003. We have several distribution groups that contain users from our domain and also external contacts that are set up in Active Directory. If an internal user sends an email to these distribution groups, everyone in the group (including the external contacts) gets the email. However, if an external sender sends an email to the group (to its SMTP address) only the internal exchange recipients receive the email. The external contacts do not receive the email. The sender of the email does not get an NDR. Furthermore, a search of message tracking logs indicate that the Exchange 2003 server did not even attempt to send the message to these external contacts; it does not list any attempt at doing so (it does show the message tracking for the internal recipients; only shows "message deliverd locally to store for recipients xxxxxx") I have looked at the distribution group properties; Exchange General; Message Restrictions and verified that the checkbox labeled "Accept Messages- From Authenticated Users Only" was NOT selected, and that "from everyone" was selected

Check the restrictions on the contacts Also, this may not work as it may been seen as relaying, as the email comes in from x address for which exch is not responsible for which then forward on to another external domain.Sukh

Thanks for the response. I did check the restrictions on the contacts, and there were none in place

Thanks for the response. I did check the restrictions on the contacts, and there were none in place A simple test, create a DG. create a contact (hotmail account). Put contact in the DG and internal user. Use another hotmail account and send to DG, do you get the message?Sukh

in performing the above test, i have a distribution group with mixed members; internal Active Directory uses and the external contact that I created (GMAIL). I sent to this DG from another gmail account. The internal recipients received it, but the contact did not

What happens if you send a message from an external account to the just the mail-enabled contact and not the DL? so from gmail account to userContact@yoursmtpdomain.com? Does it then get sucessfully delivered to the external target SMTP address (And if it doesnt check message tracking)

if I try to do this from myaccount@yahoo.com to usercontact@mydomain.com (using one of the smtp addresses in contact properties in AD), the message never arrives to the external target SMTP address. It also never shows up in MS Exchange message tracking. We do use Forefront Online as a mail security solution. Message tracking there shows: Delivered: 250 2.6.0 <1331422706.19628.YahooMailNeo@web121801.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Queued mail for delivery Perhaps this is a forefront issue. I have verified that usercontact@mydomain.com is an enabled user account with forefront

That showa exchange accepted the message and is queued. What do the SMTP logs show? Delivered: 250 2.6.0 <1331422706.19628.YahooMailNeo@web121801.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Queued mail for deliverySukh

logs have nothing about this email

if I try to do this from myaccount@yahoo.com to usercontact@mydomain.com (using one of the smtp addresses in contact properties in AD), the message never arrives to the external target SMTP address. It also never shows up in MS Exchange message tracking. We do use Forefront Online as a mail security solution. Message tracking there shows: Delivered: 250 2.6.0 <1331422706.19628.YahooMailNeo@web121801.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Queued mail for delivery Perhaps this is a forefront issue. I have verified that usercontact@mydomain.com is an enabled user account with forefront That delivery result looks like its sending the message to Yahoo - not from.

hi, >>>Delivered: 250 2.6.0 <1331422706.19628.YahooMailNeo@web121801.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Queued mail for delivery First use the queue viewer tool to check the mail in the queue,under the last error tab,can you find some useful information? Please post here. Use the cmd get-messagetrackinglog -sender - recipient,can you find the mail? About the cmd and more Parameters you can see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997573.aspx Second,i should make sure that have you enable the smtp log on your connector? You can see this link:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997624.aspx Check the smtp send and receive log,find some information about your issue. hope can help you thanks,CastinLu TechNet Community Support

ok, found the answer to this issue. It was actually an issue related to a recent firewall upgrade. However, the situation is odd. For reasons unknown, all of the SMTP traffic that was generated from emailing this distribution list from outside our org was being routed outbound through our front end Exchange 2003 server, despite the fact that the back-end server is configured with a SMTP smart host. Outbound SMTP from the front end server was blocked as a result of a recent firewall upgrade project, so all of the email that was trying to reach these external contacts was queued up at the front end server.