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Urgent - Queued Messages being delayed - 15.Sep.2004 12:01:00 AM

YaST

Posts: 7
Joined: 28.Apr.2002
From: Los Angeles, CA
Status: offline

The Exchange server is sending messages fine to most recipients, but for some, the messages are delayed and in some cases eventually fail.

Our ISP had the MX record pointing to our old Exchange server, but I cleared that up earlier today.

I sent a test message to my GMail account which was always delayed a day or two... still didnt go through. I stopped and started the Virtual SMTP server, and the email appeared in my GMail box immediately. So I sent another mail to my GMail... same thing... didnt go through, stopped and startedt SMTP and it shot through.

Needless to say I cannot send to Hotmail at all, even with the stopping and starting of the SMTP server.

Does anyone know what could be causing these delays, or why stopping and starting the SMTP in System Manager would send some of them off?

Thanks for any responses!

Post #: 1

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RE: Urgent - Queued Messages being delayed - 15.Sep.2004 12:05:00 AM

koggen

Posts: 980
Joined: 31.Oct.2001
From: G�teborg - Sweden
Status: offline

Sounds like you're having problems with DNS, that's a common reason for delivery problems. When you restart SMTP the server will try to deliver queued email, and if the server can resolve DNS properly then, delivery is obviously done as it should.

I would therefore start by making sure that DNS is working properly.

// Johan

(in reply to YaST)

Post #: 2

RE: Urgent - Queued Messages being delayed - 15.Sep.2004 12:21:00 AM

YaST

Posts: 7
Joined: 28.Apr.2002
From: Los Angeles, CA
Status: offline

Thanks for the quick reply... do you believe it is a DNS issues on our ISP side, or inhouse on the local servers?

Just received an email saying an email was rejected because the IP Address is Forged, and it lists the Exchange server IP, which is the MX record IP.

(in reply to YaST)

Post #: 3

RE: Urgent - Queued Messages being delayed - 15.Sep.2004 12:36:00 AM

koggen

Posts: 980
Joined: 31.Oct.2001
From: G�teborg - Sweden
Status: offline

Which DNS server does your Exchange server use? Most likely it's the DNS server on your domain controller server (although you can configure Exchange to use a different DNS server).

In case your domain controller forwards DNS queries to your ISP, that could indicate problems with the ISP DNS servers. Are there any errors logged in the DNS Event Viewer on the DC? Do you experience problems with e.g. browsing the Internet?

The rejection message seems to indicate that your system is blocked by other servers. It's a common antispam technique to run certain basic tests before accepting email from another server. The most common test is to check for a reverse-dns records. If your server is named "server.domain.com" a receiving server might check to see if "server.domain.com" actually resolves to a valid ip address and resolves back! Ask your ISP to make sure that there's a valid PTR record (i.e. a mapping from e.g. ip 123.12.34.56 back to server.domain.com).

// Johan

(in reply to YaST)

Post #: 4

RE: Urgent - Queued Messages being delayed - 15.Sep.2004 1:02:00 AM

YaST

Posts: 7
Joined: 28.Apr.2002
From: Los Angeles, CA
Status: offline

There has only been one error message in the DNS Event Viewer, and that was a packet read error form our ISP. They changed our Forward to the wrong IP, which I believe cause this. The error message has not come up since 10~am today.

As far as the DNS...

Reverse DNS
------------
xx.xxx.xxx.30 resolves to win2kexchange.ourdomain.com

That IP Address is the one being shot back to us in email saying it is forged. There is an A record for our ISP DNS listing that is exchange.ourdomain.com and the MX record points to that A record.

There is no problems browsing the web or anyting else Internet related... just some servers not accepting the mail.

(in reply to YaST)

Post #: 5

RE: Urgent - Queued Messages being delayed - 17.Sep.2004 2:44:00 AM

koggen

Posts: 980
Joined: 31.Oct.2001
From: G�teborg - Sweden
Status: offline

If you have an A record and a MX record for that A record, you should have enough to pass the most common antispam tests. Sometimes, email server administrators might over-do things when trying to eliminate spam. If you can, try using your ISP's SMTP as relay (you can set up a connector to route all outbound email to the ISP).

(in reply to YaST)

Post #: 6

RE: Urgent - Queued Messages being delayed - 17.Sep.2004 3:08:00 AM

YaST

Posts: 7
Joined: 28.Apr.2002
From: Los Angeles, CA
Status: offline

Thanks... I'm going to try that and see how it goes.

Here is the log file of me trying to send to Hotmail, I'm not quite sure what is happening.

220+mc8-f26.hotmail.com+Microsoft+ESMTP+MAIL+Service,+Version:+5.0.2195.6824+ready+at++Thu,+16+Sep+2004+18:01:46+-0700+
win2kexchange.XXXXXXXXXXX.com
250-mc8-f26.hotmail.com+(02.04.01.0017)+Hello+[66.123.131.30]
FROM:<YaST@XXXXXXXXXXX.com>+SIZE=1201
250+YaST@XXXXXXXXXXX.com....Sender+OK
TO:<someaccount@hotmail.com>
250+someaccount@hotmail.com+
1201+LAST
250++<C78A12330A209D499F7591143BDD04BA012C87@win2kexchange.XXXXXXXXXXX.com>+Queued+mail+for+delivery
-
221+mc8-f26.hotmail.com+Service+closing+transmission+channel

(in reply to YaST)

Post #: 7

RE: Urgent - Queued Messages being delayed - 6.Oct.2004 11:23:00 PM

koggen

Posts: 980
Joined: 31.Oct.2001
From: G�teborg - Sweden
Status: offline

Sorry for late follow-up. That particular log part is actually showing a successful delivery. The last line with relevant info says "250 Queued mail for delivery" [edited], meaning that everything went fine.

(in reply to YaST)

Post #: 8

RE: Urgent - Queued Messages being delayed - 7.Oct.2004 2:06:00 PM

acung

Posts: 22
Joined: 10.Feb.2004
From: Jakarta, Indonesia
Status: offline

Hi, I ever have the same problems and it cause by 2 things : 1. At that time my ISP DNS server in repairing process (I've configured my internal DNS Svr to use forwarder to the ISP DNS Svr) 2. I'm use 2 ISP and I set the wrong SMTP address in the virtual SMTP server to the second ISP when I'm using the first ISP in my server.
That's cause our users get the IP Address is Forged DNR when sending emails to external users. Check to your ISP if your domain/Public IP (if you have) already opened for mail relay in their server.

(in reply to YaST)

Post #: 9