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Exchange for mailboxes ONLY

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by dedlbug

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I have setup an Exchange server on a Domain but I wish to use this server JUST for the mailboxes. Meaning I want to setup POP on the workstations locally, and only use the Exchange server for a mailbox location.

My main problem is that when UserA@domain.com sends mail to UserB@domain.com VIA POP, the mail gets routed locally through the exchange server right into the recipients mailbox. This sticks because when UserB@domain.com is away and his computer is off, the messages never reach his Blackberry, because the mail is being routed locally.

I Need ALL mail that is POP to be delivered to the Mail host externally and then brought back in. Any ideas on what I can do to prevent Exchange from sending/receiving any mail?

Thanks for any help in advance. =]

9 replies

by churdoo

With exchange, I don't know of a way to tell it to send even internal mail back out to an external host, only to be sent back in. Maybe you can make a connector for your internal domain, and use the "send to smart host" functionality, but I've never done this for an internal email domain.

Oh wait. You said your desktops are pulling from exchange via POP, that so, then your desktops must also be configured to use an SMTP server for outbound, yes? Which right now you must have your exchange server defined as the outbound SMTP server of your desktops. That said, reconfigure the desktops to SMTP directly to the external mail host instead of the exchange server.

A possible Option 2:
Are you saying that it's your external mail host that is responsible for forwarding copies of inbound email to applicable blackberries?

You can take that service inside. Exchange can do that forwarding just as easily, so if you relocate that function from your external mail host to your internal exchange server, then your original problem goes away without you having to reconfigure all of your clients' SMTP server settings

by dedlbug

Thanks for your help. I setup Outlook on the Workstations. I connected the Outlook to the users mailbox on Exchange, so in Outlook on the Workstations, the mail resides on the server. I also configured POP mail on the workstations. The POP settings are using the external mail servers for POP and SMTP. Whenever a user sends mail to another user in the same domain with the POP account, the mail gets routed locally instead of Externally. It seems to check Active Directory and if the user/e-mail account exist, the message just goes right into the mailbox. Basically this is a small office with 10 computers and don't have a full time IT dept. I would prefer Exchange to not be configured to send OR Receive. JUST a mailbox location and Public folder delagation. I have configured Exchange to send/receive POP before for them, but the same issue still exist. The main problem is when a user is mobile, they wont get the messages because the POP mail gets sent right into the reciepents mailbox on the Exchange server. IE, External mail gets routed locally if the recipent exists in AD. I want all mail to be external...no internal mail transfers.

If I have to Configure Exchange and POP connectors and SMTP smart hosts, I can do that just the same. But how do I get message to the blackberrys if they get sent right into the mailbox of the user. Currently Blackberry users are receiving mail via POP on their devices. I woul dprefer this Exchange server to not be public.

I hope I am clear. It's so hard to explain. Much easier to show. =] Thanks again.

by churdoo

OK I just re-read this post. I was away at training, so my time on TR was limited. Plus I must admit, had to think about this one. :-)

I think the only chance, given all of your criteria, is to change their email domain in EXCHANGE only. If you change their exchange email domain to mycomany.LOCAL instead of mycompany.COM for example, then they can SMTP to user@mycomany.com all day long without exchange grabbing the message and saying "MINE!"

You can also create contacts for each users' mycompany.com email addy so they can still pick each other from the GAL and they won't all have to add each other to their Outlook contacts.

Here's how to change the email domain if you need this:
https://www.techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=101&threadID=229439&messageID=2277705
In your case, you'll just change .com to .local in your Recipient Policy and rebuild RUS.

If you still think I've missed something and still think it's easier to show, then PM me and we'll do a gotomeeting.

by dedlbug

You know, this was the first thing I tried. LOL For some reason, it didn't work right. BUT I think it was because I didn't change the GAL. Everyone was sending mail to the .local address thinking they were sending to the .com address. After I fixed that, it started acting really wierd. A user could send a mail to a .com address. The recipient would get it, reply and the sender would get the reply. THEN, the sender would RE-reply. That's when Outlook tried to send behalf of the .local address. I know...it's not possible, but it was strange.

Another goofy thing was sending meeting requests. If a sender would send a meeting request to another via the .com address, then the recipient replies...Outlook tries to send via the .local account.

This may not make sense. Like you said. Much easier to show than explain. Either way, I think you are right. I just have to double-check everything afterwards. The most important thing is to remove the .local addresses from the GAL.

Thanks...I'll let you know how I make out. =]

by dedlbug

I re-ran the Internet and E-mail configuration wizard again and selected to disable Internet e-mail. Even though this does not disable local e-mail being sent, changing the e-mail recipient policy to an incorrect setting fixes this. So far so good. Before I had Internet E-mail enabled. I probably just toggles the Exchange Management service? Not sure. Anyway, yet another way to configure Exchange. Or rather misconfigure. LOL

Thanks so much for your help on this one.

by dedlbug

Man Churdoo, I hope you can hear me. LOL Although anyone can feel free to chime in regarding this issue. It's a fun one.

We made some configuration changes recently and now Exchange started sending mail. BUT, the problem with messages being delivered locally is not present. Let me recap my changes:
1.) Changed e-mail hosts. Pointed MX records to new host, and kept website at old host. This works fine.
2.) Reconfigured Exchange. Opened port 25 on router for SMTP from Exchange. Changed the e-mail domain on the server to mail.mydomain.com.
3.) Changed e-mails in AD to user@mydomain.local. Removed GAL from view in Outlook clients. Removed AD users from GAL. (I know there is a better way, but I don't need it)
4.) New e-mail hosts server is POP. Servers are mail.mydomain.com. They are currently NOT being forwarded to my Exchange server.

Basically what I did was setup Exchange in preperation for it to host the mail, but I am not ready to do so yet. Everything seems good, messages are ALL getting routed externally. BUT, now some messages get routed externally through Exchange. I want the Outlook clients to send the mail, bypassing Exchange. While most mail successfully gets routed by Outlook, and the ones that go through Exchange externally, most work, but some messages don't. An NDR gets generated immediately and sent to the sender. (Note it tries to do an Advanced send and it either works or doesn't) What can I do to prevent Exchange from Sending mail, but also ensure that the Outlook clients will then send the mail. (Am I making sense?)

Everything you suggested before was perfect. I am thinking that I can just disable the SMTP connector, but what is causing it to be called upon?

Thanks again guys. =]

by churdoo

I'm not sure I follow completely. Do you have 2 email accounts set up in each Outlook profile? One account for the exchange mailbox and one for the user's POP mailbox? If so, the POP account in this case needs to be set as the DEFAULT in each person's Outlook profile. You may have some peeps that have the exchange account set as the default and this may be where they are trying to send outbound via exchange.

Regardless, these NDR's from exchange trying to send outbound will have to be resolved at some point, and I'm sure it's a fixable problem. In the meantime, I wouldn't cripple exchange by trying to disable it from sending as this won't have the behaviour you're expecting.

In actuality, I think if you step up the conversion to having Exchange do everything for you, your problems will go away. POP is a very basic protocol and it's just hokey getting Outlook to work with an external POP provider when you can do everything you need to in exchange.

Or, if you do insist on using the POP mailboxes, and I think you have SBS, I would consider using the POP connector in SBS and therefore having that pull from the POP accounts into the peeps exchange mailboxes server-side rather than in Outlook. Having Outlook do POP and exchange in one profile has always proved troublesome for me.

by dedlbug

You rock. I have learned a few things in the past couple weeks. Like you said, just use Exchange...don't fight it. =]

I am currently in works to start using Exchange here and I just now have to coridinate with the other offices to ensure that they can use RPC over HTTP in Outlook. Once I confirm this, I will go and point the MX records at our server. That really should help.

I can't thank you enough for all of your help on this.

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