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Exchange Server Email Issue

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by infosystems

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I had someone set up Exchange server on my Windows 2000 network. We only have dial up access for mail because we are out in the sticks! Any way, we have an ISP hosting our email services. We have a number of remote users that have our domain name email addresses, ie
someone@ourcompany.com. We cannot email them from the main office because the message is undeliverable and says that the email account does not exist at the organization this message was sent to. In other words the exchange server is looking for that someone@ourcompany.com email address here at our local server and can't find it so says it doesn't exist. Is there anyone that knows how I can fix this problem. I hope I have explained it okay.

Thanks

17 replies

by sgt_shultz

could the problem be not in exchange server but in the clients? what do you have smtp server setting in your mail clients? it needs to be set to the ISP's smtp server, not your exchange server...

by cg it

What appears to be happening is that someone send email to .com and that mail server then send out a request to the Internet [e.g.public Internet Name Servers] asking "hey, anyone know "WhoIs" .com, I've got mail for them"? No one answers so your email goes into email limbo [which is just a NDR or looping send request by the sending email server]. This happens when no MX record is available to name servers around the internet providing Name to IP address resolution.

So, since you use your ISP for email service, that's where you address mail to, even remote users. you can configure Exchange to download email to your exchange server at certain intervals and also send mail the same way. If you want to host your own email service [with only a dial up internet connection] using your own FQDN, and DNS service, that's a different story.

by cg it

I'll have to assume that your ISP email service is a POP3 service where you can download email from them via your installed Exchange server. Mail sent to your users [and remote users]need to address it to your ISP POP3 mail service you have. Then, if the guy/gal who installed exchange did so with that in mind, your exchange server will periodically download email from your ISP and make it available to your users via the intranet. Remote users then log in remotely and retrieve their mail from your Exchange server.

by cg it

There are a couple of ways to accomplish what you want to do. One way is to make remote users email address user@..com or have your ISP create a MX pointer record for your remote users that will deliver mail from your intranet Exchange server upload to the ISP mailboxes. The MX pointer record will have each remote user's email address [remoteuser@yourdomain.com]and point it to the ISP mail service. Remoteusers@yourdomain.com goes to the ISP mailboxes and any other user@yourdomain.com goes to your Exchange service. Either way you'll have to work with your ISP as they receive and send email for your domain [your exchange server does nothing more than receive Internet mail from your ISP and make that mail available to your local intranet users and send internet mail from your intranet to your ISP for delivery.

by cg it

Answer # 4 is correct in stating that your ISP DNS [hense their mail server] is authoritative for your domain name. Your exchange server on your lan is nothing more than a back end mail server. It's far easier for your ISP to make a change than you in regards to MX records and user mail addresses for . If at some time you wish to host your own Email, then what answer # 4 states is clearly your only choice [which a migration to Windows 2003 Small Business Server can resolve as it automatically assigns a .local extenstion for your LAN network].

by infosystems

I received two answers but I don't think I've explained the issue properly. I will try to clarify this problem.

The email accounts are looked after by an isp but we use our domain name. For example: Our domain name is: ourcompany.com our email addresses are someone@ourcompany.com, etc. Our server domain is ourcompany.com. Our mail is served by our isp but the pop and smtp are mail.ourcompany.com. The staff that are not in the same building as the servers do not have remote access to the servers because our telephone line cannot handle the incoming calls .. the highest rate we can get is 26400 bps!! Any way so when i email someone in another location that has the ourcompany.com email address, it comes back because the exchange server does not recognize that email account because it is not set up on the exchange server. The reason it isn't set up on the exchange server is that that person does not access the exchange server for their mail, they access the isp that holds our domain name and serves our email. Does that make sense? I hope so. So I need to know how I can configure our exchange server or the clients that are not in this building so that I can email them.

Thanks

HELP!

by hitchcock4

Try this: on the Exchange server, open the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC.
Find one of the users that is having problems RECEIVING e-mail. On the Properties sheet for that user, click on the "E-mail Addresses" tab, and look to see how many SMTP addresses that person has.
If they have more than 1, try sending to the primary address. You should be able to send to the primary address.
I have seen this issue with 1 remote user, and have no explanation for it.

by curacao_dejavu

I am not familar with the term "out in sticks";
does that mean you a "in a galaxy far and away" from civilitation ?

solution 1: install outlook web access so they can check their email via IE.
In this case you have to create the accounts on your domain too of course.

solution 2: You need to relay somehow, or with a registered second domain or with hotmail. create a custom recepient in exchange that forwards to hotmail, hotmail forwards to the isp.
if you register a second domain, the isp has to create an second emailadress for the remote users with the 2nd domain. and you in the exchange you create a custom recepient with the 2nd domain email.

solution 3: did you check for a isp that can provide you with satelite connections. ?

I don't know if this applies: ?
how far away are the 2 buildings from each other, you could connect them via a laser or radio connection or fiber.

Leopold

by rabbit_runner

Here is something you need to check. From your question, your ISP us using the same domain name that your server is. Both are using "ourcompany.com". Therefore, when you are on your LAN, your server is 'authorative' for the domain. When you are outside on the internet (not on your LAN) then the internet DNS server is pointing to the ISP server where your email is located. As long as your Windows 2000 domain server is using DNS (2000 REquires DNS) it thinks it is authorative for that domain name and NOTHING will be sent out from your LAN which uses that domain name. Here are your options, as I understand..
1. Change your LAN domain to ourcompany.local. But since you cannot change a Windows 2000 domain name, it means a complete reload of your server and starting from scratch on your network. This is not recommended.
2. Set your email server as the ONLY email server for your domain. But this will mean that you will need to change the internet DNS servers to point to your email server, not the ISP. However, this raises a lot of more questions that we do not have time or space to discuss here.
3. Adjust your ISP domain name. Something like..... ourcompany2.com. This would need to be registered. Have the internet DNS servers point to ourcompany.com for your own server, and ourcompany2.com on the ISP server.

To put it mildly, your solution will not be simple. If you want to discuss details further, let me know, as I have had to work with this issue for a client.

Michael R.

by rabbit_runner

Here is some additional information...
If your IPS is using ourcompany.com and the Win2k server on your LAN is using ourcompany.com, then ANY TIME you access any resource at 'ourcompany.com from the LAN; nothing, (I repeat, nothing) will get out to the internet. For example, if your ISP were hosting a Web site with your domain name, or an FTP site with your domain name, then no one on the LAN would be able to access that web or FTP resource at your ISP.

Since your internet connection is POTS (telephone) then for your own server to host your e-mail is definitely NOT the answer.

From my observations, you have only two options. And neither will be easy.
A. Change your LAN domain name to ourcompany.local. That will mean a complete reload of your server, your email server, your applications, etc. This would be a lot of work, but will solve this problem.
B. Get a second domain name, as mentioned above. Note: in this case, you cannot get a domain name like 'wan.ourcompany.com' because the root of this name is still 'ourcompany.com' and your current Win2k server believes it is 'authorative' for this name. It will never send any request for this name out, to the internet.
C. There is a third option, but it will cost you a lot of money. This would be to get a DSL internet connection and then have ALL email for your 'ourcompany.com' be hosted on your own server. Not on the ISP server.

You have some business decissions to make to correct this problem. How imporant to you is the solution to this problem? How much money are you willing to spend? How much time do you want to spend on this problem? The owner of this network will need to look at the entire picture, all the options, and make a decision.

As I stated above, if you have particular questions, let me know.

Best of Luck.

Michael R.

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