I have the following symptoms on my LAN:
Bo cannot send email to Fred@isp.com – Exchange returns an NDR after 2 days stating “the server sould not be contacted”
Denise can send email to Fred@isp.com.
So when Bo needs to send the email, he sendsit to Denise and she sends it. Works fine.
But wait… there’s more!
Fred@isp.com cannot send email to Denise.
Fred@isp.com can send email to Bo.
There’s still more….
Grant can’t send email to Joe@otherisp.com – Exchange NDRs with “Recipient name not recognized”.
I can send email to Joe@otherisp.com properly.
Joe@otherisp.com cannot send to Grant. It bounces with an NDR i haven’t seen yet.
Jackie can send email to Joe@otherisp.com.
Grant can send email to most accounts @otherisp.com but some, like Joe@otherisp.com, don’t go through.
These problems seem to be completely random in nature. Some people cannot send email to some other people or domains, and some external people or domains cannot send email to some internal people. Unfortunately, the problems are permanent and don’t go away.
Here is what I’ve noticed:
DNS is set up properly. The MX record for the office is correct. The Exchange server can resolve MX records properly and I can telnet to the remote mail servers successfully.
I changed the DNS server that the Exchange server points to & rebooted, to no effect.
I built a new server and copied email (not the databases… I exported to .PST & imported to the new server) and had no changes to the problem.
I just bought some black candles and I’m preparing to sacrifice a goat.
If any of you know what might be happening, I’d be very grateful for a pointer or two. Goat blood is hard to get out of carpeting.