Re: Exchange 2000 problem - absolutely desperate, please help...

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From: Meister (meisterification_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 09/27/04 

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 02:30:42 +0000 (UTC)

Quick question to chad - how exactly do I check that SBS is looking to
itself for DNS resolution?

Cheers...

"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" <mwport@no_spam_hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:#PMYw5CpEHA.3428@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Re-run ICW (Internet Connection Wizard) and specify the proper
> email/ISP/FQDN parameters?
>
> --
> Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
> ===================================
> "Chad A. Gross [SBS Community Member]"
<chad.gross@laytonflower.nospam.com>
> wrote in message news:ufFiS1CpEHA.3460@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> > Hi Meister -
> >
> > First - are you getting any errors in the event viewer? Since you
> indicated
> > an error regarding an internal DNS error, I'd check your DNS settings
> first.
> > Specifically, I'd make sure the SBS was looking to itself for DNS
> > resolution. Second, I'd make sure that you took out the old ISP's DNS
> > servers as forwarders and entered the new ISP's DNS servers as
forwarders.
> >
> > --
> >
> > Chad A. Gross - SBS MVP
> > SBS ROCKS!
> >
> > www.msmvps.com/cgross
> > www.gosbs.org
> >
> >
> > Meister wrote:
> > > Hello there,
> > >
> > > Sorry about the life-story, but I think a bit of background
> > > information may help in this case. I would be very grateful if you
> > > would read it all as I am in desperate trouble and really need as
> > > much help as I can get.
> > >
> > > I have a good knowledge of computers generally and a reasonable grasp
> > > of networking but I have never set up or maintained any version of
> > > m'soft exchange. I have to do a lot of broadband installations. I use
> > > an ADSL router and in general it is a pretty seamless transition -
> > > causing a minimum of disruption to the customer.
> > >
> > > What was meant to be a very routine installation has gone extremely
> > > wrong and I am now in a very awkward situation. I am always very wary
> > > about messing around with networks that someone else has set up. In
> > > this case I had no choice - we ordered ADSL (to replace an ISDN
> > > system) and the phone engineers went round and ripped the old box
> > > out, dumped the ADSL modem on the table and left my customer with no
> > > internet/email and me with the task of restoring it.
> > >
> > > The network is comprised of a Windows 2000 server with a few clients
> > > running windows XP, 2000 and 98. They have Small Business Server -
> > > which I believe includes Exchange 2000. First thing I did is restore
> > > internet access to the server by pointing it to the ADSL router. This
> > > successfully got them receiving email again without me even touching
> > > the Exchange configuration. I was very happy at this point, but this
> > > was short-lived. It would not send external mail. I reasoned that
> > > this was because in switching to broadband they had effectively
> > > switched ISP - so whatever SMTP servers they were using before would
> > > no longer allow the mail through. After a bit of sifting through the
> > > Exchange system manager I found the SMTP connector. I checked the
> > > properties for this and found a box that said "forward all mail for
> > > this connector through the following smart hosts". In there it said
> > > "smtp.freeserve.com" (their old ISP). I may be completely wrong, but
> > > I further reasoned that if I could switch this to some functional
> > > SMTP servers, the mail would start sending again. I know from
> > > experience that I cannot use the BTbroadband SMTP servers (you have
> > > to submit the domain to them first and this takes 5 days which I
> > > don't have). So I used some mail server details which I know should
> > > work (I tested the account separately through outlook express). But
> > > still none of the external mail would send.
> > >
> > > I did a bit of further investigation and discovered the queues under
> > > server/protocols/default SMTP virtual sever. All the mail was
> > > accumulating in the "messages with an unreacheable destination
> > > queue". I tried deleting all these just in case they could be
> > > clogging anything up, but this made no difference.
> > >
> > > Based on someones suggestion, I went into the SMTP connector
> > > properties and knocked out the option to use a smarthost and checked
> > > the option to "use DNS to route each address space on this
> > > connector". Apparently because the ISP does not block port 25 it
> > > should just send OK. I then went into services and restarted the
> > > "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol" service. I sent some more test
> > > messages but unfortunately they did not send.
> > >
> > > I checked the queues again (in Exhchange System Manager -
> > > Servers/server01/protocols/SMTP/default SMTP virtual server/Queues).
> > > This time they did not go into the "messages with an unreacheable
> > > destination queue". Instead some new queues had appeared - one for
> > > each domain that the test email was being sent to. It looked
> > > something like: SmallBusiness SMTP connector - hotmail (or whatever
> > > the domain).com (SMTP connector remote deilvery). The connection
> > > state was either active or retry. When I went into properties on the
> > > one it read "an internal DNS error caused a failure to find the
> > > remote server" and on the other "active remote delivery". None of
> > > them sent or arrived.
> > >
> > >
> > > I am absolutely stuck. I am scared to change anything else because I
> > > don't want to mess up their system. But I have to get this sorted. To
> > > make matters worse I have limited access to the system as I have to
> > > travel down there and I can't keep popping in and out and tinkering
> > > with stuff or they are going to get annoyed (so far I have been able
> > > to keep everyone remarkably calm). I need as much help as possible
> > > and I need to solve this as quickly as possible - as I really cannot
> > > afford to lose this customer.
> > >
> > > Many thanks in advance - in case you hadn't realised, I am really
> > > desperate
> >
> >
>
>

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