When Exchange or IIS SMTP forwards mail to a smart host, does it reference the smart host's mx record, or it's A record? I need it to send to the MX record, as the A record ip does not have an smtp server associated with it, and the MX record has multiple server entries for fault tolerance. Thanks Christiaan

It uses the A record. If you want to use MX, don't use a smarthost. Smarthost is used to send mail to a specific host. You use it in situations where you want to bypass MX, or there are not MX records.[string](0..33|%{[char][int](46+("686552495351636652556262185355647068516270555358646562655775 0645570").substring(($_*2),2))})-replace " "