Problems with connectors/mx records
Hi, I've just installed exchange 2007 on server 2008. I can browse to a temporary website ok from computers outside the domain and from my pda. I can use my pda to connect to my mailbox via pop3. I can send emails from the pda and they will appear in the queue on the exchange server. I have sent several emails to the mailbox from an external email address and none of them have gotten to the server, however the server has decided to send a reply to an ebay system generated message this morning, which is still sitting in the queue. My ISP is orange and the server is sitting behind a livebox with DMZ set to point to the server. I have set up two external connectors, one as mail.domainname.co.uk and one as smtp.orangehome.co.uk. I have the two receive connector set as default ie servername.domainname.co.uk. I have my mx records and dns records set with no-ip and the mx record is formatted mail.domainname.co.uk which matches the mx record that i put into the dns manager is this correct? I'm not sure it is, but when i try to put in servername.domainname.co.uk in it says it cannot be resolved. I can't ping either the website or the mail server from a computer outside the domain, but i suspect this is something to do with windows firewall (ISA is my next project after I have completed getting exchange up and running). I suspect its something to do with DNS/MX records as this is my attempt to train myself on server/exchage technologies. I have read the article on how to set up DNS for exchange 2007 but it didn't help me much. I have read somewhere that my mx record should be formatted differently to how i have put it. Please help!
August 18th, 2008 11:44am

I'm also sending myself spam, which is nice.
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August 18th, 2008 12:20pm

ok, i've added a new mx record and this appear to have solved my receiving emails problem. However I still am unable to send. Is it possible that the names aren't resolving against DNS? What do i need to do to make sure that my DNS server (on the same machine) is finding the addresses?
August 18th, 2008 6:04pm

Right, i have now found out my ISP's DNS servers and input those into the hub transport external lookup. Now I just get DNS query failed. Any ideas on how I can resolve this? I'm sure its something simple..
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August 18th, 2008 9:02pm

Hi, First we must ensure our DNS server has the MX record of the external email server. Please run nslookup q=mx hotmail.com Does any MX record appear? Additionally, please run get-sendconnector |fl in EMS, then post the information on the forum. Thanks Allen
August 19th, 2008 2:00pm

For nslookup i got: Server: localhostAddress: 127.0.0.1 Non-authoritative answer:hotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx2.hotmail.comhotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx3.hotmail.comhotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx4.hotmail.comhotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx1.hotmail.com for the getsendconnector i got: a whole bunch of stuff
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August 19th, 2008 3:42pm

Hi, Obviously, the DNS is fine since the MX record can be obtained normally. After viewing the configuration of the send connector, I didnt find any issue. Now I would like to confirm which queue did the message stopped. Did you find any error message in Event log? Additionally, please improve the Protocol logging level to Verbose on the meteor.mydomain.co.uk connector, then record the log when trying to send the email. You can refer to the below link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124531(EXCHG.80).aspx Then send the log to me v-allson@microsoft.com Thanks Allen
August 20th, 2008 5:56am

Hi, Thanks for the reply. All messages out are being stopped. They are forming queues by outgoing domain name eg. ntmail.co.uk or hotmail.co.uk
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August 20th, 2008 11:26am

Hi, What the error message appeared in the column named Last Error in Queue Viewer? Whether the DNS server and Exchange on the same computer? Or on different computer and Exchange places in DMZ apart from DNS server? What the entire environment of the network? Thanks Allen
August 20th, 2008 12:54pm

the error is 451 4.4.0 DNS Query Failed The network set up is as such: 1 x server machine running server 2008 and exchange 2007 1 x non-domain vista ultimate x64 1 x windows xp pro laptop on the domain mostly used to administer the server. there is an orange "livebox" router through which i have configured dynamic dns, and also the DMZ from this router points to the server machine. The livebox has its own DNS server in it which i have no control over, but which i have put down as an external lookup on the server. I also have 4 orange name servers set as external lookups, although two of these don't resolve properly and none appear to be authoritative.
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August 20th, 2008 1:23pm

Hi, I forget to confirm one point, that is about the MX record by testing nslookup command. Did you paste thefull outcome by testing hotmail.com? I found there is no A record about hotmail.com besides MX records. The example as below: (This is my lab environment) Server: LocalhostAddress: 192.168.0.20 allen.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = beserver.allen.comallen.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = front.allen.combeserver.allen.com internet address = 192.168.0.1front.allen.com internet address = 192.168.0.3 Thanks Allen
August 20th, 2008 2:13pm

hmmm. now i am getting DNS request timed out
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August 20th, 2008 2:18pm

ok, fixed that. here is everything copy and pasted: Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Users\Administrator>nslookup -q=mx hotmail.comServer: localhostAddress: 127.0.0.1 Non-authoritative answer:hotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx4.hotmail.comhotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx1.hotmail.comhotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx2.hotmail.comhotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx3.hotmail.com C:\Users\Administrator>
August 20th, 2008 2:29pm

Hi, It seems that the issue is caused by the DNS server since no A record was obtained from the command. In order to confirm the root cause, please try to nslookup others mail server, such as Yahoo.com, gmail.com or microsoft.com If still no A record, I suggest we contact the ISP to get more detail inforamtion on this issue. This is because when sending the email, the Exchange need to know the IP address of the mail server so that it can connect and send the email successfully. Thanks Allen
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August 21st, 2008 5:36am

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Users\Administrator>nslookup -q=mx yahoo.comServer: localhostAddress: 127.0.0.1 Non-authoritative answer:yahoo.com MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = d.mx.mail.yahoo.comyahoo.com MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = e.mx.mail.yahoo.comyahoo.com MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = f.mx.mail.yahoo.comyahoo.com MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = g.mx.mail.yahoo.comyahoo.com MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = a.mx.mail.yahoo.comyahoo.com MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = b.mx.mail.yahoo.comyahoo.com MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = c.mx.mail.yahoo.com C:\Users\Administrator>nslookup -q=mx microsoft.comServer: localhostAddress: 127.0.0.1 Non-authoritative answer:microsoft.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail.global.frontbridge.com C:\Users\Administrator>nslookup -q=mx gmail.comServer: localhostAddress: 127.0.0.1 Non-authoritative answer:gmail.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.comgmail.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.comgmail.com MX preference = 50, mail exchanger = gsmtp147.google.comgmail.com MX preference = 50, mail exchanger = gsmtp183.google.comgmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com C:\Users\Administrator> Hmmm. I'm not looking forward to trying to get help from the isp about this issue. Their support guys aren't that bright.
August 21st, 2008 11:46am

Hi, Now, please add the following inforamtion into Host file on theExchange server. 66.196.82.7 d.mx.mail.yahoo.com Click Start, click Run, input %systemroot%/system32/drivers/etc and press Enter. Open hosts file as Notepad, add the above information into it. Then try to send the email to Yahoo account from the client side. Thanks Allen
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August 21st, 2008 1:03pm

The email went into the queue and I got a copy of it in my inbox... I'm currently getting two of each email to???
August 22nd, 2008 7:42pm

Hi, You meanyoucould send the email successfully or the NDR was received in your Exchange account? Thanks Allen
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August 25th, 2008 6:11am

it might have been an ndr, but it was exactly the same email as i'd sent (from me, to test@yahoo.com), with a copy of the email i'd sent attached... The email wasn't sent successfully, it was just sitting in the outgoing queue.
August 25th, 2008 12:22pm

ok, i can expand on this a little more. Whenever I send (or receive) an email i get an email to the account from microsoft exchange with the email attached to it that was sent (or received). The body of this message goes like this: Sender: myname@mydomain.co.ukSubject:Message-Id: <f6b0a141-e3c9-4dee-a16a-38541e085106@meteor.mydomain.co.uk>To: test@ntmail.co.uk
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August 26th, 2008 8:42pm

I have cracked it myself now. I had to change my send connector to smarthostsmtp.orangehome.co.uk, and because their own dns servers don't resolve that (....) I had to change my dns settings to opendns. All's well that end well. Now to figure out how to turn off the duplicate messaging!
August 26th, 2008 9:09pm

Hi, Glad to see that, and thank you for your devoted time on this issue. The final conclusion is the same as I said previouslythat is the DSN issue. Hope this case can help others who has such issue. Thanks Allen
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August 27th, 2008 4:47am

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